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Show Notes

• Archived Blog Post

  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.
  
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  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.
  
  
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  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!
  
  
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  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!
  
  
  
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