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  Date / Time: 12/30/2009 2:00 AM UTC

  Category: Music

  Call-in Number: (914) 338-1526

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  Date / Time: 8/20/2008 7:02 AM UTC

  Tonight's Show #2 Recap

  Tonight's show was awesome!
  
  We started off with an exclusive appearance from Jason White, the gospel phenom and musician-producer who has worked with artists like Donnie McClurkin, Mary Mary, Kurt Carr, Alvin Slaughter, Richard Smallwood, Kevin Bond, Norman Hutchins, Judith McAllister, and more! He's currently the Minister of Music at West Angeles Church of God In Christ where Bishop Charles E. Blake is the pastor.
  
  He's also the instructor on our upcoming GospelKeys "Ministry Musician" Volume 1, which is releasing on Monday, August 25, 2008 (http://www.ministrymusician.com).
  
  We took about 7 or 8 callers live while he was on the phone. Some of the questions asked were (and I'm paraphrasing):
  
  "How do you stay focused and encouraged as a musician when you go through hard times?"
  
  "What keyboard settings and sounds are you using on the online clips?"
  
  "How do you get passed the glass barrier and become creative in your playing again?"
  
  "How do you get members of the band to operate as one unit?"
  
  Jason took his time and addressed each of these questions in depth. Response to what Jason was sharing in the chat room was awesome!
  
  He also addressed being a ministry-driven musician and how talent is only one part of it. He recommended "Talent is Not Enough" by John Maxwell.
  
  He summarized the parable of the talents and how the master left one servant with 5 talents, one with 2, and one with a single talent. When he returned, the servant who had received 5 talents doubled his. The same occured with the servant who had received 2 talents. But the servant who only received one talent dug a whole in the ground and hid his talent rather than returning more than his master had given him.
  
  So along with talent comes responsibility, stewardship, integrity, action, and generousity to share it with others.
  
  After Jason's interview, we took about 6 more live callers, who tried to win free courses by answering music theory questions.
  
  The first question was:
  
  1) What kind of chord is built on a "major third + minor third + minor third" (in order)?
  
  Answer: Dominant Seventh Chord
  
  Recall, that a major third is 4 half steps and a minor third is 3 half steps.
  
  (Half steps are from key to key with no keys in between. Had I said whole steps, that would have meant to skip a key but half steps don't skip *any* keys).
  
  So, let's build this chord starting on C:
  
  C + major third = C + E  ("E" is a major third up from C, or 4 half steps).
  
  Now from E, we need a minor third, or 3 half steps.
  
  E + minor third = E + G
  
  Now from G, we need another minor third, or 3 half steps.
  
  G + minor third = G + Bb
  
  Entire chord: C + E + G + Bb
  
  This is a C7 chord, thus these intervals create a dominant seventh chord.
  
  ----------
  
  2) What kind of chord is built on 3 minor third intervals?
  
  Answer: Diminished Seventh Chord
  
  You already know that a minor third interval has 3 half steps.
  
  So let's create this chord starting on C:
  
  C + minor third = C + Eb
  
  Eb + minor third = Eb + Gb
  
  Gb + minor third = Gb + Bbb (pronounced "B double flat" which is really "A" but Bbb is the proper way to say it).
  
  Let's be informal though and say "A":
  
  C + Eb + Gb + A  (or "B double flat") is a diminished seventh chord.
  
  Thus, 3 minor third intervals create a diminished seventh chord.
  
  Similarly, 2 minor third intervals create a diminished triad (C + Eb + Gb), the little brother or sister of the diminished seventh chord.
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  3) What chord am I playing if I have "F + C + Eb" on my left hand and "Ab + Eb + G" on my right hand?
  
  Answer: F minor 9
  
  First, let's analyze the left hand. It has an F, C and Eb. "F" is the 1st tone of the scale or the root of the chord. "C" is the 5th. So far, that tells us very little.
  
  The "Eb" narrows down our choices. Because "Eb" is the flat seventh and not "E natural," the major seventh, then I immediately start to eliminate the major seventh chord.
  
  That leaves either a dominant seventh chord or a minor seventh chord (or something trickier but I don't start thinking of that until I've ruled out the dominant and minor seventh chords).
  
  Now, let's move to the right hand.
  
  There's an "Ab."
  
  "Ab" is the flat third, which immediately tells me this is some type of minor chord. The "Ab" and "Eb" combined with the fifth ("C") lets me know that this is "at least" an F minor 7 chord.
  
  Let's keep going...
  
  There's an "Eb," but that's just repeated from the left hand. I already know that's the flat 7.
  
  The last note is "G." This changes things because G is the 2nd tone of the scale. But when played up there, it's called the 9th. Here's why...
  
  Repeat the "F major" scale twice (two octaves) and number each tone. You'd get:
  
  F = 1
  G = 2
  A = 3
  Bb = 4
  C = 5
  D = 6
  E = 7
  F = 8
  G = 9
  A = 10
  Bb = 11
  C = 12
  D = 13
  
  (...and so on).
  
  
  So that's where you get 9th, 11th, and 13th chords from... when the "2nd," "4th," and "6th" tones are in the chord but usually played higher up. But that's another lesson.
  
  So adding the "G" gives us a 9.
  
  That makes this an F minor 9 chord.
  
  Straight out of the text book!
  
  
  ----------
  
  4) What is the difference between a diminished triad and an augmented triad?
  
  Answer: The diminished triad has a lowered 3rd and lowered 5th while the augmented triad has a raised 5th.
  
  A "C dim" chord would look like this:
  
  1 + b3 + b5  (b3 = "flat 3rd" / b5 = "flat 5th")
  C + Eb + Gb
  
  Note: "Flat, flatted, and lowered all mean the same thing."
  
  
  A "C aug" chord would look like this:
  
  1 + 3 + #5 (#5 = "sharp 5")
  C + E + G#
  
  Note: "Raised, sharp, and sharped all mean the same thing."
  
  
  Congrats to the two winners who finally answered this question correctly! :)
  
  ----------
  
  
  This call was jam-packed with insight, motivation, and education! I hope you'll agree.
  
  
  See ya next week!
  
  
  
  • Tags:
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  • musicians
  • gospel
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• Date / Time: 8/13/2008 7:50 AM UTC

  Tonight's Show Recap

  Wow, where can I start...
  
  Tonight's show was awesome, especially for a "first" show.
  
  According to our BTR stats, we had 407 live listeners, 53 callers (only got to about 7 or so), and hundreds of people still catching the archived recording! That's great for a first show, yeah?
  
  We gave away an Ipod Shuffle, an Ipod Touch, and a free course to three deserving callers!
  
  Here were the questions and a recap and explanation of the answers that got these three listeners over $500 in prizes tonight...
  
  (Not all questions were awarded prizes. Some were incorrectly answered, skipped or discarded).
  
  Question #1:
  
  In scale degree language, there's a particular name we call the 4th degree. It's not the tonic, it's not the mediant...it's the what?
  
  Answer: Subdominant
  
  The first degree is the tonic... it's the homebase, the key that your song is in.
  
  The second degree is the supertonic ("super" as in above)
  
  The third degree is the mediant (as in middle because it splits the 1 and 5 tone)
  
  The fourth degree is the subdominant (as you'll learn next, the 5th degree is the dominant and "sub" means below).
  
  The fifth degree is the dominant (another very important degree in music... leads strongly to the tonic, which is homebase. So if tonic is homebase, the dominant is like that street that leads to the driveway of your home!!!)
  
  The sixth degree is the submediant (it splits the sub dominant and tonic... sub means "below")
  
  The seventh degree is the leading tone or subtonic. Like the dominant degree, it produces a strong pull back to the tonic as well.
  
  So the correct answer is subdominant.
  
  
  
  2) What major key has 7 sharps?
  
  Answer:
  
  This was a tricky one because most major keys only go up to 6 sharps (F#) or 6 flats (Gb). So I expected 7 to throw some people off.
  
  7 sharps is associated with the key of C#.
  
  C# major scale:
  C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#
  
  Notice that EVERYTHING is sharped. No natural notes. All tones are sharped.
  
  E# makes the same sound as F but you can't say F because F is not in the key of C#... but E# is because it's one of the 7 tones you sharp. B# is like that too even though we know it commonly as "C."
  
  RULES FOR MAJOR SCALES:
  
  1) Must use every alphabet letter.
  2) No skipping alphabet letters.
  3) Must go in order.
  4) Never repeat the same alphabet letter (other than the first and last notes, which in this case are both C#)
  4) Don't mix and match flats and sharps. Major scales either features sharps or flats, not both.
  
  So here's the problem with using the natural enharmonic equivalents of this scale (in other words, using the "F" and "C")...
  
  C# D# F F# G# A# C C# (WRONGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!)
  
  1) You skipped the alphabet letters "E" and "B." You went from the D letter to F.
  2) You used "F" twice and "C" twice (not including the first and last C#)
  
  So there's some background on why it must have 7 sharps.
  
  But here's the thing. It's much easier to write a song in Db because you don't have to mess around with all this. The Db major scale simply has 5 flats and nothing "crazy" going on.
  
  Db major:
  
  Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db
  
  Notice all the rules are kept.
  
  
  Congrats Terrence for getting this right and winning the ipod shuffle.
  
  Note to other listeners: Call in live or press the "TALK TO CHAT" button to be a live caller and get a chance at winning a cool prize next time!
  
  3) What is a crescendo?
  
  Answer:
  In music, it's when volume gradually increases. Decrescendo is exactly the opposite, when volume gradually decreases.
  
  4)  Being that the 1st tone of a scale is usually associated with the major chord... the 2nd tone with the minor chord... the third tone with the minor chord... the fourth tone with the major chord and so on... what key would you be in if there was an E minor chord present, an F# minor chord present, and a G major chord?
  
  
  
  Answer:
  
  Only one key has an E minor, F# minor, and G major. It's D major.
  
  You have to understand what chords correspond to what tones of the scale in order to get this question right:
  
  1 = major chord
  2 = minor chord
  3 = minor chord
  4 = major chord
  5 = major chord (dominant chord when you're doing 4-tone seventh chords)
  6 = minor chord
  7 = diminished chord (half-diminished when you're doing 4-toned seventh chords)
  
  
  So in the key of D, this would be:
  
  1 = D major
  2 = E minor
  3 = F# minor
  4 = G major
  5 = A major
  6 = B minor
  7 = C# diminished
  
  
  You could have also used the process of elimination to narrow down your choices.
  
  Here's how you do it.
  
  Since minor chords only fall on the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th tones, what major keys feature E as their 2nd, 3rd, or 6th tone.
  
  D major has E as its 2nd tone.
  C major has E as its 3rd tone.
  G major has E as its 6th tone.
  
  Now, as you figure out what keys have F# as their 2nd, 3rd, or 6th tone, you are disregarding anything that doesn't hold true for E because both E and F# have to be minor (not just one or the other). If E isn't in the key or turns out to be anything other than major, then that major key is not the correct answer.
  
  E has F# as its 2nd tone.
  D has F# as its 3rd tone.
  A has F# as its 6th tone.
  
  No matches for "E" and "A" but our D is still holding up in both cases. In the key of D major, both "E" and "F#" are minor.
  
  Now since we are this far, we don't even have to analyze the G major like we did the others. All we need to know is there a Gmajor in the key of D?
  
  And the answer is YES!
  
  D major has these chords:
  
  1 = D major
  2 = E minor
  3 = F# minor
  4 = G major
  5 = A major
  6 = B minor
  7 = C# diminished
  
  Congrats to Kameron for getting this right and winning the grand prize (IPOD TOUCH)
  
  
  5) Spell out the notes of a B aug 7 chord.
  
  Answer:
  
  Augment literally means to make larger.
  
  Augmented chords have a raised 5th interval. So you basically take a major chord and raise the 5th tone. Cmajor (C+E+G) turns into C+E+G#.
  
  When you create an Augmented 7th chord, you use the b7th interval (flatted seventh). So in the case of C major, you then add Bb. It's one of those chords that have a mix of sharps and flats...
  
  C+E+G#+Bb.
  
  But that's C aug  7. Luckily B aug 7 is just one half step down.
  
  The answer would be:
  
  B + D# + F## + A
  
  Don't be confused by the F## (pronounced "F double sharp"). I can talk all day about why F double sharp is used there.
  
  For informal purposes, you can just call it "G"... if you were taking a theory test, you might get in trouble though... :).
  
  So that's an augmented seventh chord for ya!
  
  No one got that :(.
  
  
  The very last question was pulled from our chat room.
  
  6) Name all the modes of the major scale.
  
  Answer:
  
  Ionian
  Dorian
  Phrygian
  Lydian
  Mixolydian
  Aeolian
  Locrian
  
  Congratulations Gerald for getting this right and winning a free Hearandplay course of your choice!
  
  ------
  
  Enjoy the archived recording of this first show and join us next week for a new one!
  
  Invite a friend!
  
  Until then, take care...
  
  JG
  
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