Pomodoro 1 : The General Picture

 

The Pomodoro Technique

I’ve been using the Pomodoro Technique for a couple of weeks now, and honestly, I wish I had known it earlier. As a matter of fact, a lot earlier, because I did my university studies more than 30 years ago ! Although I finished my studies successfully, I am convinced that if I knew this technique back then, I would have studied much more effectively and efficiently.

Some time ago, I started a blog about Basic Music Theory for banjo-players. Although it’s incomplete, I was quite happy about it. But then it struck me that it could be re-organized in little chunks of knowledge, that can be served as pomodoros. So, this is what’s this blog is about.

My aim is to give you an overview of Basic Music Theory in 11 Pomodoros. Given that a Pomodoro only lasts 25 minutes, this will take you less than 5 and a half hours to know the basic music theory !  Here a the topics :

1. The General Picture
2. Sound are waves !
3. Organizing notes : scales and keys
4. Things with strings
5. Building other keys in the diatonic scale
6. Building even more keys in the diatonic scale
7. Intermezzo : tempo and rhythm
8. Minor keys and scales
9. The hidden power of Modes 
10. 3-note chords
11. 4-note (seventh) chords beyond

Basic Music Theory : Melody, Harmony & Rhythm

When talking about music, most people will think of it as consisting of three components : melody, harmony and rhythm. And indeed, this is also what this blog will try to explain. When you go over the pomodoros above, you will see that 2 to 6, 8 and 9 will talk about melody. Pomodoros 10 and 11 have harmony as subject. And there’s only 1 pomodoro, nr 7, devoted to rhythm.

So, all in all, this is a quite traditional approach. You should realize however that this blog is NOT about MUSIC, but about music theory ! This difference can be compared to that between language and grammar. You don’t NEED to study the grammar of a language in order to speak it, but it can perhaps help you to learn it faster and more correctly.

If you want to know more about music itself, I strongly recommend to experience the double DVD “The Groove Workshop” by Victor L. Wooten, and its accompanying book “The Music Lesson”. If you are a skeptic, stick to the DVD’s, if you are more open to “fairy dust stuff”, you will be amazed by the book. Anyway, in both cases, Victor L. Wooten breaks music down in 10 elements. Some of these elements are covered in this blog. “Notes” (i.e. melody and harmony) is one of them, “tempo and rhythm” another. But  there are still 8 other elements of which Victor L. Wooten talks about and we don’t. Stuff like “phrasing”, “technique”, “feel” and all those other things that are equally important as notes in making music. I love this quote from the DVD : “What distinguishes an average trumpet player from someone like Miles Davis ? Not the notes : they both play the same notes. It’s the other elements that makes the difference !”.

So, music is more than just knowing the basic music theory. But at least, I hope it will help you to understand it, and more importantly, to listen to it more carefully.

Some disclaimers

1. I am not an accomplished musician or music teacher. I am an bluegrass banjo apprentice (with a very limited big-band jazz guitar background), who’s on a journey to be a better musician. I guess you are on a similar journey too, otherwise you wouldn’t read this blog. While I cannot give you guarantees, I’m quite sure that the theory you’ll find here is quite correct and solid.
2. This blog is about Basic Music Theory. In my mind that is stuff that any musician on an beginning or intermediate level should know. For more advanced subjects, like non-western scales and complex rhythms, I’m sure there are other sources to be found on the Internet.

So, without further ado, let’s get started. I realize this first chapter isn’t a full pomodoro, so what you can do to fill the remaining time of your 25 minutes, is get your guitar out, or sit behind your keyboard, and start playing “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound Of Music !