Music Theory Lite

Here's a cool recent find of mine. While browsing the podcast directory on iTunes, I bumped into Pandora Presents: The Musicology Show. The Musicology Show is a series of short podcasts courtesy of internet radio provider Pandora, that cover a variety of musical topics from the "The Art of Sampling" to "Melodic Construction." They're basically pocket-sized music theory lessons.

Take the episode on "The Basics of Vocal Harmony." Host Kevin Seal and guests Greg Giles and Kelly Atkins from 20 Minute Loop, broke down types of harmonies including tutti harmony, unison singing, parallel and contrary motion, and call and response, with clear discussion and examples of each one.

The Musicology Show won't make you an expert, but it helps dial down the ignorance. The episode on guitar riffs was pretty slick. We all know what a guitar riff is and what one sounds like, but pinning down specifics and learning the language (definition: a repetitive melodic line apart from the actual melody) is helpful for articulating thoughts on a piece of music beyond, "that one part was pretty sweet."

Of course, the real goal is to be able to sling as many polysyllabic music terms as possible the next time you have a listening party with your friends.

Diatonic!

A Word About Pandora

Through some stroke of irony, I can be a bit slow to get on board with tech trends, so this might be old news. Recently I've started using Pandora, which is internet radio, in the realm of Last fm. etc.

The gist is that you sign up and create stations based on bands or songs that you pick. There's no guarantee that you will hear that band or song-- that's how they deal with licensing issues-- but you'll hear music that is similar in some way.

It's radio, in other words. Turn to the station that plays the music you like. Where this differs though, is that there are no obnoxious disc jockeys or advertisements to deal with, only a box ad awkwardly shoved in the margin.

Terrestrial radio is not what it used to be. Many once counted on it for exposure to new music. These days playlists are so shallow, radio doesn't completely fulfill that function as well as it used to, plus song ids are few and far between. Services like Pandora are just so freaking convenient, how can you compete? And it's free, unlike XM and/or Sirius which require monthly fees plus the initial investment to get the radio.

Don't like a song? You can skip three times in an hour. Want more info on what you're hearing? There's a tab for that. You can "thumbs up" a song, or "thumbs down" it and never hear it again. Not a bad deal.

And the catalogue? Seemingly endless. 50s/60s oldies formats have been fading out in the past few years in favor of classic rock of the late 60s and 70s, but the internet can provide a selection of music that doesn't have to exist merely because it's moderately to wildly popular. Even if the Greatest Generation isn't on Pandora or the like, their music is. (True story: I have a station seeded to The Four Freshmen.) In a respect, that's a point of comfort, that maybe older music won't disappear as the years continue to pile up.

There are many reasons to check out Pandora. Give it a try. A word of warning though, I've barely opened my iTunes in the past two weeks. Just sayin'.