Music Theory Blues!!

[ahbach]

Hi all,
I'm going to be heading off to college this Fall, and I will be taking Music Theory and I will also be taking voice lessons and some conducting classes. I am completly horrified at this thought, because I haven't had much training, and I won't have a piano teacher before I leave, and I really don't want to get there and completly flunk!!! so if you could give me some tips of what I could be working on to improve myself before I get there, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks 

[Bob]

Make sure you know your scales.  Major, then minor.  And major and minor arps, then dmin, then maybe aug.  I saw that trip up a lot of people in theory, but if you've already taken piano lessons and know that stuff, it's not a big deal.  If you don't... Ouch.  Add to that having to learn the notes of the piano and I wonder how some people survived that. 

Don't expect to be fluent and master it all.  It's more like an introduction.  I'm still working on some things now, basic theory things, just to get them more fluent.

No ear training?  That's another area where it's good to have basic scales and chords down well. 

It might be worthwhile to write out scales and chords to get the visual side down more fluently, but that's a lot more tedious than just playing them on the keyboard.

[ahbach]

Ok, Thanks for the tips!!! I have had some previous training like I said, but do you have any thought's on some good scale books, or something like that? I do need to brush up on those!!! lol!!!

Thanks!!! 

[Bob]

I don't really have any specific books in mind.  But there are many mentioned on here.  I was thinking of having the information solid in your mind, that you would already have something down for scales.  If you're learning them, just make sure to get good fingerings if they're new.

I was also thinking it would be good to understand how chords are created.  Stacked thirds.  And to know about the seventh being added.  that should make things easier to undertand when the profs start talking.

Although you can always ask here too.

[renatog]

It depends what level you are entering.  If you are at college level, then you should already know the basics: Scales (major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, natural minor), intervals (Major 3rd, minor 6th, etc), and rhythmic patterns (quarter note, half note, ties, etc). 
Sight-singing course: You will be expected to know basic rhythm patterns and conducting (3/4 time, 4/4, 2/4, etc); depending on the school, they might expect you to know your pitches (mine didn't, they taught movable DO; easier to learn but harder for you to achieve perfect pitch).
Make sure you know most things on this site:
https://www.musictheory.net/

[Bob]

Bingo.  That stuff too.

By pitches, I'm guessing renatog means solfege syllables.  Instead of the number of the scale degree/step, it gets a vowel.  Do re mi fa sol la ti do.  That could be another good thing to have in your mind before you start. 

I was thinking with the scales, chord, interval stuff, to have that down or better than what you have it now.  The more solid that stuff is, the better, and things will go by fast in college.  It's more like an introduction to things, not so much mastery of all the topics.  There's just too much stuff.

If you do get a book, don't get bogged down too much.  Some of that stuff is like reading five pages of extreme detail on how to change a light bulb.  I would spend time using the material -- thinking/playing through scales and chords and mixing things up with them.

[jgallag]

Don't flip out. They really walk you in to the basics. I myself was placed into Music Theory II - honors and Advanced Sight-Singing III at Ithaca, but from talking to my friends, they truly start you out as if you have no clue. Remember, you're paying them to make you into a musician and to teach you this stuff. Finish up your senior year. If it's anything like mine was, it is truly painful. I took four AP exams that year. Enjoy your summer. Don't practice too hard. You'll be playing (if you're a good student) a minimum of three hours daily, and your new teacher will probably have a lot of bad habits to correct, and it will be much less painful if you take your pieces to your teacher without them already ingrained into the assigned repertoire. As my teacher said to me a million times: "Jason, you're in. You passed the audition. Stop worrying about it."

There will be kids there much better than you at theory, and there will be kids who have absolutely no clue at all, where you wonder what the hell their teacher was doing. Above all, don't freak out. You are there, first and foremost (assuming you are a piano major on pianostreet, go figure) to learn how to play the piano like a professional. Sure, the artists will come back and say they regret not spending more time on sightsinging, but what if they did, and neglected their private instrument studies as a result? I doubt they'd give a damn about sightsinging. Pay attention to your lessons, and any keyboarding classes you might take on sight reading, score reading, etc. That's what you need. Unfortunately, in college, you have to make choices, because your professors will NOT understand. Each has their own demands and believes that you are only taking their class. Do not worry about theory or sightsinging. You'll get what you need, and what you find you don't have when you graduate, you'll know you don't have, and you'll have the resources to learn it.

By the way, you need to know ALL the (chromatic) solfege syllables: going up: Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, Li, Ti, Do; and going down: Do, Ti, Te, La, Le, Sol, Se, Fa, Mi, Me, Re, Ra (watch out for that one, it's different!), Do. You'll also learn in your career fixed-do and scale degrees, but don't worry about those yet. And, eventually, you'll toss all of that crap out the window to learn how to sight-sing atonal music (not my favorite class ).

[ahbach]

Thanks for the tips Jason, 
They were very helpful, I have already graduated though, so this whole matter of college is weighing heavily on my mind!!! I am trying to relax and tell myself that it won't be so bad and that they will start me at the basics, but I still get that sick feeling in my gut when I think about it!!

I am going to look online and see if I can find some theory books, I was looking at some online music theory calsses and they didn't look like they were worth anything, plus they wanted to charge me through the nose!!! 

I have also had people tell me to just relax and I will do fine. I am worried about my fingering though, my sight reading has greatly imporved, and I can sight-sing a little bit. I do tend to get over whelmed though because I have soooo much to get ready for and it seems like sooo little time in which to do it in!!!

But I know I'm not the first person that has ever been stressed out over college, nor will I be the last!!! 

Thanks again!!

[Bob]

If you don't have a lot of time and you're a pianist, maybe work on hearing the scale step tendencies.  Hear do.  Become one with do.  Then work out -- ti, re.  Mi re do.  Fa sol do.  fa, mi re do.  sol la ti do.

And being able to match pitch with your voice.

That would be a good thing to do if you're just a few months away.  Get your ears a little more opened.