Music Theory for Violinists
Something that I often hear from violin students is that they feel their knowledge of music theory is lacking, to say the least. The bad news is that music theory is a vast topic with so many different, complicated elements that can only be truly mastered with years of study. The good news is that unless you want to pursue a career in music theory, you don’t have to understand everything. In this article you’ll learn the 5 elements of music theory that actually apply to you as a violinist & how they can impact and inform your playing.
The Basics
By the basics, I really mean how to read music. I don’t consider this part of music theory, as it’s a skill within itself and really the foundation that music theory is built upon. Obviously as violinists we read in treble clef, but ideally we should be able to read bass and alto, too. In addition to understanding how to read notes, violinists must understand all of the relative musical symbols and notation, such as dynamic markings, note values, etc.
Intervals
If I had to choose one single aspect of music theory that I believe is truly essential for violinists to understand, it would be intervals. An interval is the distance between two notes. There are 12 different types of intervals, each with their own unique sound. Understanding how these intervals sound will significantly improve your intonation.
Scales
There are several different types of scales, including major scales, three types of minor scales, pentatonic scales, chromatic scales, and many more. Each type of scale follows a particular pattern of half and whole steps, which gives that particular scale its key signature. For example, the pattern for major scales is: whole whole half whole whole whole half. If we start on D and follow this pattern, we will get the following notes: D E F# G A B C# D, which aligns with the D Major key signature (2 sharps). In addition to being the basis of western music, scales often appear in repertoire, and if you’re familiar with them, pieces can be much easier to learn.
Chords
Chords are typically made up of 3-4 notes stacked in thirds. The majority of intermediate to advanced violin players will play the arpeggio sequence, which is essentially a progression of broken (meaning that the notes are played one at a time rather than simultaneously) chords. Additionally, each note of the scale has a corresponding chord stacked on top of it.
Chord Analysis
Chord analysis is the act of analyzing the chords and chord progressions in music and how they relate to the tonic or “home” key. Chord analysis and analyzing figured bass was the majority of what I did in my 8 years of formal theory classes. Chordal analysis can help inform your phrasing choices.
If you’re interested in diving deeper into these topics, I invite you to join my course, Music Theory for Violinists. This course is comprised of 60 lessons, made up of videos, charts, and aural and written exercises.
