So becoming a father is getting more real and more exciting as the days fly by. I now spend a good few minutes each day huddled up tight against Mel's tummy to feel Layla kick and to talk to her. Apparently she can hear now and the more daddy talks to her before she's born the more likely she is to find my voice soothing when she comes into the world. It's my greatest hope these days that Layla will love me to death so I talk to her to win her love early on.
One other neato thing is happening now that she can hear...we're realizing what kind of music she likes. Her favorite band you ask? David Crowder I think! Every time she hears DCB music she start bouncing in the womb...without fail...every time. It's awesome! DCB is one of my personal favs these days. Talk about winning her daddy's heart...I'm a music guy and she loves the same music I do. Rock on sweet baby Layla!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I like linking...
Sometimes a blog just serves as a good place to remember other blogs. Here's one I read this morning that brought a tear to my eye:
http://2007artsconferenceblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/story-of-hope-determination.html
http://2007artsconferenceblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/story-of-hope-determination.html
Chord Theory part 2 - What's in a chord, really?
Ok gang here we'll chat about what a chord actually is. Remeber last week we discovered that a major scale has seven notes, uses a set of intervals to determine the names of those notes in relationship to one another and by following the steps w-w-h-w-w-w-h starting on any note we can find that note's corresponding major scale. So armed with that information let's dive into what makes up a chord.
Simply put, a chord is any three or more notes played together. Strictly speaking, 2 notes are an interval and one note is, well, a note :) But how do we come up with names for these chords? They're definied by the major scale they are derived from. See we stack notes from the major scale in order to create the most basic chords and then name all other notes we add to them based on the intervals we've created in that scale. So lets take our favorite C major scale and work from there. Remember the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (octave) right? So a to determine the chords for the key of C we stack 3rds on top of each note. A 3rd is alway two notes away from the previous note. So if we stack 3rds on top of a C we get C-E-G. C-E-G are the three notes essential to a C chord. Go grab your guitar or keyboard and check. Make a C chord...now what notes are you playing? See, some notes are repeated, but in a plain old C chord there are only 3 notes C-E-G. Every other major chord is made and named the same way. Take a G major scale G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. the 1-3-5 is G-B-D in this case. Go look...those are the only 3 notes in the chord.
So that my friends is the essence of how to create a chord and how to name a major chord. Next time, what happens if we use a C amjor scale and stack thirds on the other notes? Stay tuned!
Simply put, a chord is any three or more notes played together. Strictly speaking, 2 notes are an interval and one note is, well, a note :) But how do we come up with names for these chords? They're definied by the major scale they are derived from. See we stack notes from the major scale in order to create the most basic chords and then name all other notes we add to them based on the intervals we've created in that scale. So lets take our favorite C major scale and work from there. Remember the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (octave) right? So a to determine the chords for the key of C we stack 3rds on top of each note. A 3rd is alway two notes away from the previous note. So if we stack 3rds on top of a C we get C-E-G. C-E-G are the three notes essential to a C chord. Go grab your guitar or keyboard and check. Make a C chord...now what notes are you playing? See, some notes are repeated, but in a plain old C chord there are only 3 notes C-E-G. Every other major chord is made and named the same way. Take a G major scale G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. the 1-3-5 is G-B-D in this case. Go look...those are the only 3 notes in the chord.
So that my friends is the essence of how to create a chord and how to name a major chord. Next time, what happens if we use a C amjor scale and stack thirds on the other notes? Stay tuned!
Just...wow...imagine this at Christmas...
I'm stunned...follow this link and watch the video...
http://www.vimeo.com/940292/
http://www.vimeo.com/940292/
Monday, April 21, 2008
Chord Theory part 1: The Major Scale
So at our music clinic on Saturday we spent a lot of time discussing chord theory. Basically Brendan explaned that we need to understand chords in order to understand why simplicity in our playing is actually better than complexity. We talked about how often guitarists and keys players will add notes to chords (playing a C2 instead of the C written on the page) and not really let anyone else know about it. When we do add something not written on the page we need to be able to explain that to our fellow musicians so that too many of us aren't doing the same thing. If both guitarists and keys players were all to add one note to a chord (say C2, Csus, Cmaj7 and Csus4) there are bound to be some sour notes going on there. The problem is most of us don't know what the exact name of the chord we're making is. So I'm going to do my best to transfer my chord theory knowledge to you. The best place to start is the major scale.
The major scale is the basis for all western harmony and theory actually. It's a 7 note scale and we all know it...think of "The Sound of Music". You know... doh-re-mi-fah-so-la-ti-doh? That's what it sounds like. Any note can be the start of a major scale...let's use C for an example. Basically, from the root note (C in this case) we make steps in a certain pattern to get back to C in 7 notes and make the scale. The pattern is made of whole steps or half steps. The pattern is like this W-W-H-W-W-W-H. On a guitar a whole step is the distance of 2 frets and a half step is one fret. On piano, a whole step is two keys, half steps are on adjacent keys. So from C we go one step up to D, then E, then a half step to F then G-A-B and the half step takes us back to C (the octave above). So the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. A G amjor scale is G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. One more...how about the key of D? D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D. Do you see the pattern? Good!
The next thing to know is that each note in the scale gets a number or interval. So in C the D is the second or "2". D is the third or "3" etc. And so if you play the C and any other note you're playing an interval (the name we give a two note "chord"). So playing a C and G at the same time is called C5. A C4 would be C and F etc.
I think that's enough for now. The important thing to note is that the major scale is made of certain steps starting and ending on the root note and that the root note has a relationship to all the other notes in the scale and the interval name corresponds to the step or number given to that other note in the scale.
Up next...what the heck is a chord?
The major scale is the basis for all western harmony and theory actually. It's a 7 note scale and we all know it...think of "The Sound of Music". You know... doh-re-mi-fah-so-la-ti-doh? That's what it sounds like. Any note can be the start of a major scale...let's use C for an example. Basically, from the root note (C in this case) we make steps in a certain pattern to get back to C in 7 notes and make the scale. The pattern is made of whole steps or half steps. The pattern is like this W-W-H-W-W-W-H. On a guitar a whole step is the distance of 2 frets and a half step is one fret. On piano, a whole step is two keys, half steps are on adjacent keys. So from C we go one step up to D, then E, then a half step to F then G-A-B and the half step takes us back to C (the octave above). So the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. A G amjor scale is G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. One more...how about the key of D? D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D. Do you see the pattern? Good!
The next thing to know is that each note in the scale gets a number or interval. So in C the D is the second or "2". D is the third or "3" etc. And so if you play the C and any other note you're playing an interval (the name we give a two note "chord"). So playing a C and G at the same time is called C5. A C4 would be C and F etc.
I think that's enough for now. The important thing to note is that the major scale is made of certain steps starting and ending on the root note and that the root note has a relationship to all the other notes in the scale and the interval name corresponds to the step or number given to that other note in the scale.
Up next...what the heck is a chord?
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Thanks to Justin and Brendan
Hey Gang,
I thought it would be appropriate to post a thank you here to Justin Kudding and Brendan Waters for their excellent leadership to us yesterday at our first musicians clinic. We had a great time learning to take a less is more approach to arranging instruments for worship. A great time was had by all.
We spent a long time talking about chord theory yesterday so I think I'll do a series on chord theory here on my blog. Watch for part one, the major scale to come this week.
I thought it would be appropriate to post a thank you here to Justin Kudding and Brendan Waters for their excellent leadership to us yesterday at our first musicians clinic. We had a great time learning to take a less is more approach to arranging instruments for worship. A great time was had by all.
We spent a long time talking about chord theory yesterday so I think I'll do a series on chord theory here on my blog. Watch for part one, the major scale to come this week.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Layla Grayce in 4D/3D
Yeaterday we went to http://www.3dbaby.ca/ to determine the gender of our soon to be born child. The 18 week ultrasound didn't produce anything and we were really keen to know what we were having. It was mostly a great experience although I'd say the girl doing the ultrasound wasn't the most friendly...not unfriendly just seemed disconnected and disinterested. Anyway, more important was that we saw for the first time little Layla Grayce Heerebout. She's beautiful! It's really amazing that we can see with suh detail what God is knitting together in Melissa's womb! For all you soon to be parents I'd reccomend the experience...it's not that much money and it makes this whole time a bit more real from a father's perspective. Here's what the pictures look like:
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