help with my assignment

[kylaak16]

hey guys im on a national diploma pop music course and ive been set my first assignment which is in for friday (25th!!) and im stuck on 1 part of it and have no idea what to do :S

as written on sheet:

using writing and notation demonstrate examples of the following three chord sequences in both treble and bass clef.

in D major - I - IV - I - IV - V - I
in A major - I - VI - I - VI - VIIm - IV - I
in Bb Major - VIm7 - I7 - IV - V - I - IV

bassically its all about naming the chords with roman numerals rather than note names but i just dont know what to do :S please help

many thanks
confused bassist

[MaestroX]

I can help you out. Is there any style that this needs to be done? Does it have to be 4 part? Chorale style?

[reith]

Originally Posted by kylaak16

hey guys im on a national diploma pop music course and ive been set my first assignment which is in for friday (25th!!) and im stuck on 1 part of it and have no idea what to do :S

as written on sheet:

using writing and notation demonstrate examples of the following three chord sequences in both treble and bass clef.

in D major - I - IV - I - IV - V - I
in A major - I - VI - I - VI - VIIm - IV - I
in Bb Major - VIm7 - I7 - IV - V - I - IV

bassically its all about naming the chords with roman numerals rather than note names but i just dont know what to do

Hmm, well, there are ways to go about this. Frankly, if you've got this far but haven't received tuition about the roman numeral stuff and triads then you're really pushed and out of depth.

I could give you the basic answers (and will for one example) but here's hoping this helps enough to get started.

i) Work out the key sig then write out the scale (starting on the tonic, the key-note).
ii) Under each note, write the roman numeral in ascending order, so for example, you get this:

(in alphabet - but you should write the notes on music paper with the correct key sig)
A major:

A...B...C#..D...E...F#..G#..(A) .<= (these are the "roots"/ root notes)
I....II..III...IV..V...VI...VII

iii) Now write the third above each note.
iv) Now write the fifth above each note.

So for the A major thing, you get:

E....F#...G#...A....B....C#...D....(E)
C#..D.....E.....F#..G#..A.....B....(C#)
A....B.....C#...D....E....F#...G#...(A)
I.....II....III....IV...V....VI....VII..(I)

These are the triads on A major in their root positions. You can "invert" them but worry about that later. You can apply the same system to any major key once you can work out the key signatures. Minors get a bit more complicated.

I notice the A major question asks for VIIm - this must be a trick because it is neither major nor minor (and I don't think they're asking for chromatic harmony here - well, let's hope not). It's a "diminished" triad - the interval between G# and D is a diminished 5th. If you mistyped and it said VII7m then it's G#-B-D-F#, otherwise just use VII as is, I reckon.

You can add 7ths 9ths etc on top as needed.

So there you have it for A major - just write out the roman numerals on your assignment sheet then look up the triads and write out the notes.

for the D major one - I - IV - I - IV - V - I

A.....D.....A.....D....E.....A
F#...B.....F#....B....C#...F#
D.....G....D......G....A.....D


Of course, these are only the raw maps of these chords - triads, as said. You rarely use them in this form but refer to them for harmony. You might choose to elaborate for your assignment. If I get time I'll do a finale example.

As for the 7ths, just add them over the top of the Root(lowest note) 3rd and 5ths.
(posting this temporarily in case I lose it)

Prophetic - the moment I pressed enter the site went down! Dear me - did I do a consecutive fifth?

As I was saying - 7ths:
7ths are just added over the top of these triads. I can’t quite understand what they mean by VI7m – I’d understand it as “minor 7th” (which it is in this chord anyway) in which case the chord (root position) is G-Bb-D-F. If it was:
IV7
b3 (flat 3)

or iv7

that would be different.

I7 is easy – Bb-D-F-A.

What do others think?

Anyway, here's the D maj one on notepad - not the best for this sort of thing. The violin part has the basic triads, the piano is a 4-part example (pretty boring but these chords don't allow much scope).

[stevel]

Originally Posted by kylaak16

hey guys im on a national diploma pop music course and ive been set my first assignment which is in for friday (25th!!) and im stuck on 1 part of it and have no idea what to do :S

as written on sheet:

using writing and notation demonstrate examples of the following three chord sequences in both treble and bass clef.

in D major - I - IV - I - IV - V - I
in A major - I - VI - I - VI - VIIm - IV - I
in Bb Major - VIm7 - I7 - IV - V - I - IV

bassically its all about naming the chords with roman numerals rather than note names but i just dont know what to do :S please help

many thanks
confused bassist

Reith gave you some really good pointers. I wanted to add some tips as far as writing things out.

For the D Major example, the chords will be:
D - G - D - G - A - D

Now, you said this is a pop music course. While this is a gross oversimplification, a LOT of pop music uses root position chords, which means the note that the chord is named for is the lowest sounding note - played by the bass typically.

You usually make chords from 3 notes, but 4 is actually a little easier. You also usually write them as a pianist might play them, called "keyboard style" with the bass note in the Bass Clef (played by the pianist's LH) and the other 3 notes in the Treble Clef (RH).

To make this simple, you should literally put the notes D-G-D-G-A-D in the bass clef (one chord per beat, or more likely in pop music, 2 chords per measure, or even one chord per measure).

In the treble clef staff, you want to put the notes as close together as possible, and three different notes, one of which will be a duplicate of the Bass clef note. You also want to move the notes as little as possible from chord to chord.

For instance:
D - G

The notes in a D chord are D F# A, and in a G chord, G B D. You see there's a D in both, and the remaining two notes, F# and A can both move up a step to G and B. So writing this out (highest note on top), you might have:
F# G
D D
A B

D G (bass)

There's traditional voice-leading to consider in typical harmony courses, but if this is really pop music, those rules are out the window. Instead, you're basically doing: 1. the notes that make a chord, 2. the bass note making root position, and 3. moving as little as possible (makes it easier to play!!!).

For the two 7th chords, it's best to put all four different notes in, the root in the bass clef, and the 3rd, 5th and 7th in the treble clef. However, people often leave out the 3rd or the 5th in 7th chords so there is one duplicate (almost always the root note). Thus for a G7, you could have (lowest to highest each example):
G| B D F (and the upper thre notes could be in any order)
G| G B F
G| G D F

The last two are used sometimes when moving to or from the next chord might present a difficulty if the first version was used.

Good Luck,
Steve

[reith]

Looks like we're getting no thanks for that!

Oh well, live and learn.

[MJFoster]

I have played music all my life but never taken a formal theory class. I hung out with my music major friends and tapped into them. I really have wanted to take a class though. Now that I am in NYC surely I will have no problem finding a class.

[reith]

Hope you find one and wish you all the best. I've found (in hindsight) that though theory can be a bit constricting if you take it too seriously, or study it as an end in itself, it's been 100% worthwhile in helping me control what and how I write/translate my thoughts to paper. A class is better than just books because you always have someone there to comment and check your excercises.

It'll certainly help also with studying scores, should you be so inclined.
Good luck,
Reith.