MandoSimean Postings to Resume Soon Steve Horn, the author of posts on the MandoSimean website has been busy at work writing a book on Mandolin Improvisation. This has done two things to bring posting on the MandoSimean website to a standstill: Steve didn't know if anything he posted here would be need to be reserved for the book The book simply consumed all of Steve's attention and time he … [Read more...]
Jazz Chord Theory
This area of this fledgling website is, itself, a work in progress at this time. There is a lot of information online about jazz chords and music theory. What is planned for this site is to offer a beginning reference to accompany other articles on the site to help with a better understanding of that content. This will never be an authoritative source on the subject of music theory or jazz but … [Read more...]
Where This May Lead
The internet offers us such a wonderful tool for communications, offering many media sources to experience and to learn from. We are lucky today to have such convenient access to so much information available at our wish and not the wish of someone else. Our wish is to share with you and hope you will share back. We hope you enjoy reading and enjoy learning from the content you find on this … [Read more...]
Major and Minor Tonalities
Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine in Major Key followed by the same in a minor key. (Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine in Major Key followed by the same in a minor key.) We hear nearly all tonal music (particularly Western tonal music) in either a major or minor key. The home base of any key is the tonic triad made up of scale degrees 1, 3, and 5. What makes the key sound major or minor is whether the … [Read more...]
test video post
[embedwidth src="https://ouibis.com/mandoSymmetry/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/susie656.mov"] … [Read more...]
Density/Expansivity in Music
Sound can be dense or expansive, relatively speaking. In fact, any element of sound or of music can have its own density/expansivity attributes that contribute to the overall density/expansivity of a sound, of a piece or music, of an ensemble, or any element of music or sound. This will be referred to as the Density/Expansivity Factor or D-E Factor. Every musical instrument has it's own D-E … [Read more...]
Diminished and Half-Diminished Seven Chords
The diminished seven (1-b3-b5-bb7) and half diminished seven (1-b3-b5-b7) chords are built upon a diminished triad. Despite this similarity and despite the tendency of some musicians to treat these chords the same, the two can function very differently. Each can serve in a dominant function and resolve to a major or minor triad whose root is a half-step higher. However, the half diminished seven … [Read more...]
Tetrads – the 6 and 7 chords
While conventional harmony is based on the triad, the basic building block in jazz is the four note chord or tetrad, a basic triad with a 6th or 7th scale degree added. There are 6 basic tetrads that serve as these fundamental building blocks: three major six chords seventh chords (aka: dominant seventh or major-minor seventh) major seventh chords (aka: major seventh or major-major … [Read more...]
Altered Upper Tensions
C7b9 C^#11 … [Read more...]
The G-L Factor Found in the Diatonic Modes
The Seven Diatonic Modes: an established system for comparison The seven diatonic modes are have their roots in early music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. These modes survived and thrived through the centuries in folk music and can be found today in popular music, rock, country, blue grass and jazz. Although the original modes of early times have been expanded upon (even Ionian and Locrian … [Read more...]
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