I made a blog?!

Finally got this started.

http://ryanleber.blogspot.com

First post about what makes heroic music heroic, and some other compositional theory stuff.
Might make a post about hemiolas on Wednesday. I mentioned it today, and figured it'd be a neat thing to cover.
Next week is sad music.

Comments / Feedback / Suggestions?

I have no idea what I'm doing, lol.

BOOKMARKED. :3

I guess that means you liked it! Thanks!

... This is the kind of blog I've needed all my life.

Good voice, too.

I'm no music major so my comments are more directed at the blog itself.

I like it. It's informative and simple enough that I can follow it.  I love music. I love how it makes me feel. Reading your blog almost felt like "this is why it affects you the way it does" which I liked.   Anywho, my two cents, for what it's worth, from someone who just enjoys music and doesn't study it, I liked.

That's great. I really wanted to make something that's useful for hardcore music people, but still approachable for the casual listener.

Thanks, guys!

Interesting! Although I don't have any interest in bombastic heroic epic music, it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

I look forward to the next article.

Wednesday's post will be about the key change I used in that heroic track I posted Friday (also on blog), since I had a few people wondering why I did it, and why it works. That might be more interesting for you.

I really love this. I have a hard time understanding what it is I love certain parts of pieces and the actual idea behind using some specific technique, but you're explaining it very well. It was a very fun read, too.

Your heroic theme is pretty snazzy, man. It does remind me of Soulcalibur, heh.

I enjoyed this :3

Update! Key changes! Wee!

http://ryanleber.blogspot.com

Side note, I never knew your last name was pronounced "leh-burr." Always thought it was "lee-burr"

Damn, dude, it's like you went to school for this or something!

Seriously, you put it in a friendly and accessible format. Even I, the theoretically handicapped, understood after the second read-through. Beyond that, though, it's an enjoyable peice.

Thanks for reading, guys!

Can I ask what why both the flat and sharp enharmonic key signatures coexist? Is it to express that eg Cb is supposed to be lower than B? Or does that even make sense? or actually for the convenience of instruments that usually tune to flat keys?

It's because, as an example, C# major has 7 sharps in it, but Db major has 5 flats in it. Dealing with 5 accidentals is easier than dealing with 7. As for why C# and beyond still exist, it's for the sake of completing the circle of 5ths.

C
G
D
A
E
B
F#
C#
G#
A#
E# (F)
B# (C)
And we're back!

Now the other way!
C
F
Bb
Eb
Ab
Db
Gb
Cb (B)
Fb (E)
Bbb (A)
Ebb (D)
Abb (G)
Dbb (C)
Done!

Okay so I also asked my sister and she also added a couple things: that you need to maintain the distance between notes in a scale for all key signatures (I guess this is kind of another way of saying what you said though), and for instruments with "variable" pitches (like non-fretted or keyed instruments) there is an actual difference between enharmonic notes.

Keys with alternate enharmonic spellings are not entirely useless. A harp sounds much better in Cb major than B major, for instance, due to the way the pedals on a harp work. Let's not forget transposing instruments, either. For many of them it's easier to play in Cb than in B, for instance.

and for instruments with "variable" pitches (like non-fretted or keyed instruments) there is an actual difference between enharmonic notes.

...what

Okay so I also asked my sister and she also added a couple things: that you need to maintain the distance between notes in a scale for all key signatures (I guess this is kind of another way of saying what you said though)

Oh yeah, you do need to keep changing letters. In using the most extreme terms, it'd make more sense to use:
C D E F G A B C

Rather than:
C C## E E# E### A A## C

Keys with alternate enharmonic spellings are not entirely useless. A harp sounds much better in Cb major than B major, for instance, due to the way the pedals on a harp work. Let's not forget transposing instruments, either. For many of them it's easier to play in Cb than in B, for instance.

Well this is what I thought, but I wasn't sure. Cool.

...what

I know it sounds weird, but it's true. On a fixed-tuning instrument like guitar or piano you can't do anything about it so they are effectively the same, but the pitches have an actual mathematical difference. So on non-fixed pitch instruments you'd only ever use this.

My understanding as a former violinist is that violinists also must retune or play differently to play with pianos, or else they sound out of tune.  Even solo violinists don't use the same note locations for the same chord for melodic and harmonic passages, because the notes would be out of tune. Never got this far into theory or listening as a violinist to recognize this, but as an observer and listener I certainly do now.

aha, google never fails, found it:

If a=440

C#as the tonic is 275 or 550
Db as the tonic is 278.44 or 556.88

C# as leading note in key of D is 556.88

Its just physics

http://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=16397&view=findpost&p=347049

Oh, I read your post wrong. I thought you were saying the opposite.

New post!

Sad music.

New post! Doing a miniseries on video game music, generation by generation!

That was a great read.

That would have been more interesting if games back then actually had music.