GROUP CLASS - MUSIC THEORY FOR PRODUCERS

Music Theory for Producers - A 3 week Zoom-based class diving into the building blocks of melody and harmony, breaking down the myths and misconceptions that surround theory and composing.

The class will take place on three consecutive Thursdays at 7pm Eastern (New York) Time, 90 minutes each: September 28, October 5, October 12

This class will be about empowering music creators to make use of music theory in an intuitive and personalized fashion. We will explore the architecture of scales, chords, and intervals to find the combinations that resonate with you as a composer and allow you to have greater control in your future works. We will take an electronic producer's perspective rather than the traditional classical music perspective, to open up music theory's benefits to those who've felt excluded from them in the past.

And one point about the class that is sort of hard to articulate in a description - the way I think about and teach theory is very emotions and/or personal experience focused. I think music theory is much more useful when you are relating every sound to the very individual reaction you have to it, rather than the technical or historical standards that have often been taught. So, while we'll be talking about many of the same topics as traditional musical theory we'll be taking a more 'feel' based approach. I'll be urging you to find your own relationship to each sound.

Topics:

• melodic and harmonic intervals
• scales
• chords
• voicing, open vs. closed, inversions
• the role of bass notes
• diatonic vs. chromatic
• modal scales and chords, and the dark/light continuum
• modulating key
• chromatic chord motion
• melody/chord interactions
• using theory to create melodies
• using theory to create chord progressions
• using theory in various songforms and styles
• using theory to get 'unstuck' in a track

Attendees will be given short musical assignments to be presented in class. Also, plenty of time will be allocated for questions and discussion.

Requirements: Just that you know the names of the notes on the keyboard. Also, it would be best if you have at least a basic understanding of what a scale is, what a chord is. No need to have every major scale memorized, every chord memorized. Also, no need to be able to read music.

Feel free to email me questions: blankforms.music@gmail.com

You can learn more about me here and here.