History UsefulNotes / MusicTheory

Sharp-eyed readers have probably noticed that there's a quantity of half-steps that has been skipped: six of them. There's a reason for this: six half-steps, exactly half an octave, is called a "tritone" (because it's three whole steps)... and, for whatever reason, it ''[[BrownNote sounds really bad]];'' for proof, look no further than the {{memetic|Mutation}}, {{Creepypasta}}-inspiring "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ywWpaTE-h4 Lavender Town]]" theme from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' (the signature {{ostinato}} goes C-G-B-F♯, forming a tritone with the first and last notes). The tritone has been called "''el diablo in musica''" (the Devil in music) and it is so dissonant that CommonKnowledge maintains that its use was actually ''banned'' by the Vatican for many years. This is not to say that it cannot be used well and artistically; like the aforementioned Lavender Town theme, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B4KxTMUsOo opening titles]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' uses it (from "The" to "Simp-"), as does the eponymous figure in "Maria" from ''Theatre/WestSideStory''. Let's not talk about Music/JohannesBrahms adding them to the fourth movement of his ''Ein Deutches Requiem'' and making them heartbreakingly beautiful. Even the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii makes use of it: the very first of the famed "doot doot doots" from the Mii Channel Theme, in the ''second measure'' of the song, are a tritone chordioid, both notes of the interval played simultaneously. Rules are made to be broken, and it's absolutely possible to make tritones work. But it's challenging.

Each instrument is played a certain way, and having things in common with other instruments does not guarantee much of anything. A guitar has 6 strings and a ukulele has 4, so you can't play things exactly the same on them. And forget things like "piano vs. harp". While a piano has 11 keys per octave, the harp has 7 strings and sharps or flats them using pedals; it can't deal with accidentals nearly as easily as a piano does.

* '''Art Music''' is meant to be listened to attentively and carefully and may require a certain amount of music-theory background to appreciate.

Genres are further subdivisions within each of these larger categories. Most genres are defined by combinations of the things already discussed: specific chords or cadences, specific rhythms, specific instruments, specific time signatures, specific techniques, specific languages or lyrics or subject matter, and so on. For instance, "Rock and Roll" music is defined partially by how it uses drums, whereas a song does not qualify as a UsefulNotes/{{Barbershop|Music}} composition unless dominant-7th chords are used enough times.

* '''The human voice''' is powered by the vocal cords, which vibrate to produce pitch. Consonants and vowel sounds are shaped by the mouth and tongue. Certain consonants are "plosive" (like P and T) while others are "sonorant" and can actually be held on a pitch (M and R). The original instrument, the human voice is quite versatile and should not be underestimated; there is an entire field of music, ACappella, which utilizes nothing but singing. Voices are typically sorted into UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes, both for musical and dramatic purposes. While voices can be used in relatively unregulated quantities, it should be pointed out that they are often used in very close configurations of harmony: an experienced singer typically has a vocal range of about two octaves, a 15th. If you run a bow over the strings of a violin, you will find that it has a range of a 14th -- long before you start putting fingers to strings to increase their pitch. The human voice is also very powerful, because it can transmit information not just via pitch, tone and timbre, like other instruments can, but also by ''lyrics''. This means it is possible to ''overuse'' voices if you're not careful, overwhelming the listener with too much information that they can't meaningfully parse.