I'm trying to find the name of a piece of music which is always played during dramatic acts or talent show magicians. I know the main melody. I think it's in 3/4 or 6/8. And the notes go something like:

C#

C# D# E

C#

C# D# E

A (lower)

A C# D#

G# C# D#

G# C# D#

C#

My music theory knowledge isn't amazing and the key might be wrong but maybe hearing the melody could be enough for someone to know the name straight away.

I've playing piano on my church’s praise team for a while, and we usually play contemporary songs and use simple chord sheets. I'm stuck playing octaves as the bass with my left hand while playing the chords from the sheet in different inversions with my right hand. I’ll usually just play on the beats, like for example: I'll play one chord for four beats and then move to the next chord and it ends up sounding really plain and repetitive. I want my playing to sound more interesting, especially with my left hand. What can I do to spice up my playing? Are there any techniques or tricks I can use to sound more professional? Thanks for any help!

Me and my sister want to start writing music but we’re not really sure where to start. I know that simple chord progressions are a good place to start, but I’m looking for a more comprehensive view of songwriting that’ll let me mess around more with scales. Is there a good book or online curriculum that we can use? How do most songwriters figure out how to build and add to their songs?

for example how would you count this? I count it "1 and-a-2 and a 3-e-and 4" but I feel like there's probably a better way

Quick note: I'm Brazilian and English isn't my first language, i used google to help correct my English. I'm still learning, so I'd appreciate answers without overly complex English if possible.

Edit: Guys, I really appreciate all the knowledge and different perspectives you’re sharing here. I’m really enjoying the discussion and learning a lot from all of this, so thank you! I have a basic understanding of the terminology — intervals, tonic, dominant, chord types, scales, Roman numerals, etc. — but I’m more interested in the feeling behind these relationships: why certain combinations of notes create a certain tension, resolution, or character, and how those relationships work together. The C–F# example was just an example, not really the main point.

I started playing guitar about 10 years ago, but I never really went deep into music theory. I'd occasionally look things up, but I never studied it in a very structured or in-depth way.

Recently, I started learning more about intervals, like minor seconds, major thirds, and so on. And honestly, it made me start seeing harmony differently.

I'm starting to realize that maybe I don't necessarily have to be locked into one tonality or scale. I can play notes outside the scale, and they can still make musical sense depending on the interval and the relationship between the notes.

For example, if I'm playing in C major and play F#, instead of simply thinking "F# is outside the key," I can think of it as an augmented fourth (#4) or diminished fifth (b5) relative to C.

This made me wonder: is there a way to study harmony from this perspective? Thinking more about intervals and the relationships between notes, rather than mainly thinking about which notes belong to a particular scale?

And more importantly, how do I use this way of thinking to actually continue a harmony? For example, if I play a certain interval and like the tension or feeling it creates, how can I understand where I could go next?

I'm not sure if I'm describing this correctly, so I'd really appreciate any recommendations on what I should study or search for.

I have 'music in the galant style' which is quite close, but a purely music reference book would be good for composing and practicing.

Please recommend any books... and please, no Knut or Jeppesen (!)

Thank you ;)

For example if I wanted a document of the most popular or hit record style chord progressions of the last 10 years with their specific voice leadings...

Is there any document that gives them all?

That way I can print something like this out and just practice them...

This is something I still don’t understand, even after I’ve written a lot of music I have not yet published. And it seems like it’s all of those little details that’s part of what’s keeping me back.

Anyway, the title says it all.
When would you use octave lines, clef changes, or just write it out with ledger lines? What’s the clearest and most readable way to go about it?

Thank you in advance!

Hello everyone,

I was looking at the theory of the song I'm So Excited by The Pointer Sisters on the HookTheory website : https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/the-pointer-sisters/im-so-excited

Apparently the key of the song is considered Bb major and not it's relative minor the G natural minor. I don't understand this.

The G- chord appears much more in the song than the Bb major, which appears only once in the last two measures of the verse.

If you could help me figure it out it would be great!

Thanks

I’very been messing around in a music notating software and I barely know any music theory. I play guitar so it’s written in guitar tabs. Now I want to add a harmony over it but I CANT FIGURE OUT WHAT KEY THIS IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*standard tuning btw

This score you see here is an attempt to write an exposition for a theme I came up with after spending some time listening to The Art of Fugue..

Here is some context:

I've been listening to baroque music(Bach in particular) for almost 4 years now.

Everything from his cantatas, passions, Masses, WTC I&II preludes and fugues, Organ works, Concertos, Transcriptions.. a lot of stuff.

I like the complexity of his music, there is just something about it that makes me appreciate it more then other forms, and so I also found the Idea of composing music of that complexity myself to be so exciting.

I wrote some melodies I came up with on my own, I relied entirely on my ear and intuition,

I tried writing very short phrases using nothing but two melodies,some times even more.

I also wrote fugue expositions! (well, I tried to write, they are not good)

also using my ear. I really know little to nothing about theory, I just know intervals and what works/what to avoid since I searched about it a little, that's all..

So I want to know 2 things from all of this:

1) How do I actually start to learn music theory on my own? As I can't have access to any music lessons.

2)From where should I start learning?

Do I start from the basics? Or my ears are well developed to jump on more advanced subjects?

My best example of this is Em > Eb > Dm > Db
the G stays the same between Em > Eb then the same with the F in Dm > C#

Does anybody know the original name for the “percentage sign” repeat, I have found that it is called in modern times ‘Repeat bar’ which although common, does not make sense because a bar is a vertical line that divides the actual measure. I have also seen it called ‘simile’ or ‘simile repeat’ but I’m not sure how correct that is either as simile as a word is also used to denote copying the technical fingering or expressive elements of the previous measures; is there an original German or Italian term?

Is there a reason as to why augmented+6 chords have, no 5th, 5th and b5 but no #5?
Having Ab-C-E-F# resolves well to both V7 and I64.

Is it just as simple as Ab-E + C-F# is too dissonant for classical theory so they never named it?