Category archive: music theory
- Diatonic Mode Cycles
- Generated Collections
- Understanding Key Signatures
- Visualizing the Diatonic Ic Vector
Key signatures are a fundamental part of tonal music, and are typically taught in early stages of learning music theory. However, the manner in which they are normally taught obscures some important aspects of diatonic collections, which this article will seek to illuminate.
A generated collection is formed by repeatedly adding a single interval, termed the generator. These collections include some of the most important collections used in jazz and tonal music generally.
Key signatures are a fundamental part of tonal music, and are typically taught in early stages of learning music theory. However, the manner in which they are normally taught—through rote memorization—obscures some important aspects of diatonic collections, which this article will seek to illuminate.
The diatonic collection has the deep scale property: each element in its ic vector is unique. By looking at the collection as a 'stack of fourths,' we can easily visualize how and why each ic is unique.