“2 Sounds of Music”
PIANO IMPROV METHOD
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You can instantly play favorite songs or free improvisation by ear and sight without formal training or note reading. The new “2 Sounds Of Music” Theory identifies two basic sound domains in music structure that make playing piano easy. Watch the method videos and read the concise theory.
“2 SOUNDS OF MUSIC” THEORY
Will Caldwell Productions, Sun Valley, Idaho
On a fundamental level, music structure relies on a flow between two unique domains of sound. Recognition of this “duality” in the musical form can be of primary value to music students and teachers, song writers and composers, and musicians who improvise. Surprisingly, the dual framework of music has never been identified in established music theory.
Jazz legend Miles Davis said, “a painting is music you can see, and music is a painting you can hear”. As a preface to factual evidence for the “2 Sounds of Music” theory, the concept may be more compelling and comprehensible when compared to the universally recognized duality in the color spectrum that is foundational for visual artists in creating their compositions.
Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Isaac Newton and others have addressed a relationship between the seven basic colors and music’s seven sound pitches, both of which we know are manifest from wave vibration frequencies. Those sage voices speak from the perspective that universal patterns are repeated in multiple natural physical phenomena. A profound example of that dynamic, which scholars have overlooked, is an alignment of music’s seven primary chords in two interdependent sound domains in similar fashion to a duality existing in the color spectrum. Color theory for artist’s composition identifies two contrasting yet complementary hues of the rainbow; “warm” red, orange, yellow, or, “cool” green, blue, indigo, and violet.
In music from pop/rock to classical masterpieces, we can hear movement between two domains of sound underlying a multitude of creative chord forms, melodic note patterns, or major / minor tonalities. A flow from one sound domain to the other is essential for creating expression, beauty, and resolution in the musical form; without this transition we would hear a kind of continuous monotone. All commonly used chord progressions include a shift of chords from one sound domain to the other. Favorite songs can be improvised by conscious movement of chords and melody notes between the two domains.
The existence of music’s two sound domains is explained as follows: Elemental to music structure are the seven “triad” three note chords, each anchored by a note representing one of the seven elemental pitches, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So La, or Ti. These chords can be identified in two unique groupings. The 1, 3, and 5 chords each share a pattern of two harmonically related common notes which gives all three an analogous and similar sound that forms a distinct chord group. The 2, 4, and 6 chords also share a unique ascending pattern of two common and harmonically related notes, giving them all a similar and analogous sound that forms a second distinct chord group. The 7 chord is excluded because it is discordant or “diminished” in major scales. The three chords in each group are entirely harmonious with each other when played anywhere on the scale. The chords of one group are generally not harmonious with chords of the other group. This structure applies within any key signature.
Because of the shared notes in each chord group, there are a total of four individual notes in each group. These notes can be recognized as two separate four note scales, “tetratonic” scales, the 1, 3, 5, 7 note scale, and the 2, 4, 6, 1 note scale. Thusly, each chord group has it’s own unique scale repeating through all octaves of the entire music scale. The fact that music’s fundamental chords fall within two separate sound categories, each containing it’s own four note scale, inescapably results in the existence of two primary sound domains.
Criticism of the validity, significance, or utility of the ”2 Sounds of Music” theory is encouraged at willcaldwell@cox.net. Why has this basic concept not been identified before now; does the allure of complexity obscure core simplicity? If the theory is correct, shouldn’t it be integral in all music education?
I, Will Caldwell, am retired from 35 years as a visual arts painter having exhibited in leading art galleries in eleven western US states. I have produced over 300 jazz and popular music concerts ongoing for 24 years in the world famous resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho. I play conga drums in a bossa nova jazz ensemble, and I teach free piano improvisation lessons.
