The Major's Bass Boot Camp - Session 25

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp - Session 25

Getting Started with Sight Reading - in A minor


Before we look at Reading in the rest of the Major Keys (A Eb E Ab etc), I'm going to do the Relative Minor keys of the Major keys we have already looked at.

So the first one is A Minor - the relative minor key of C major - so no sharps or flats in the key signature. However, if we want to play certain notes from the Harmonic or Melodic minor scales, we will need to use "ACCIDENTALS". These are sharps or flats not in the key sig, but which are placed in front of the natural notes to transform them accordingly. This is why I wanted to look at these minor keys at this stage - to get you used to seeing accidentals.

Also new in this session:
Minim and Semibreve rests.
These 2 rests look very similar and always cause some confusion till you learn to recognise that the minim rest sits ON the middle line and the semibreve rest hangs UNDER the 2nd line.

I've now increased the length of each phrase to 8 bars, which is then repeated. So the first 8 bars you play along with me, then you are on your own for the repeated 8 bars.

All 5 exercises are playable using only the first 2 positions.

MBBC25a
[attachment=50593:MBBC25a.pdf]
[attachment=50598:MBBC25a.mp3]
In bars 19 20 and 21 you will see the first MINIM RESTS ie for 2 beats don't play.

Now look at bars 34 and 36. Here are SEMIBREVE RESTS taking up 4 whole beats.




MBBC25b
[attachment=50594:MBBC25b.pdf]
[attachment=50599:MBBC25b.mp3]
In bars 18 and 19, you will see "guide" accidentals. Its not strictly necessary to put these "natural" signs in here, but a good copyist will usually try to put them in. Accidentals only last for the remaining beats of the bar that they are written in, so, for instance, the G# in bar 17 only affects that one note. If there was another G# following it in the same bar, that note would not need an accidental as the # sign on the G affects the rest of the bar.
Bar 18 starts afresh, the G is automatically a G natural as per the key sig. However, to make it absolutely clear to the reader, a "guide" accidental (which can sometimes be written in brackets) is added.
Just to be clear:
The G# in bar 17 is a tied note ie one single articulated note but written with a quaver joined (tied) to a minim. This simply shows the length of the note (2.5 beats). The sharp sign (#) applies, of course, to the whole length of that note.



MBBC25c
[attachment=50595:MBBC25c.pdf]
[attachment=50600:MBBC25c.mp3]
This point is not relevant to the pieces here, but its worth clarifying at this time:
As we've already said, once an accidental appears in a bar, that same accidental applies to any note in that same bar which is at the same pitch. As usual with these little rules, it came about to save the copyists time and effort in the old days ! Say you had a bar of 8 quaver G#s, it would be a real pfaff to have to write a # before each note, so this rule made it much easier.
BUT the accidental applies to only the one octave. So if, in my bar of G# quavers, there are other G#s in other octaves, they would need an accidental placed before the first note of each octave.
Having said this, the American Jazz world thinks differently on this subject (well they would wouldn't they !!). In their (short) tradition, an accidental apples to all octaves of that particular note within one bar.



MBBC25d
[attachment=50596:MBBC25d.pdf]
[attachment=50602:MBBC25d.mp3]
So in bar 8, we get an example of an accidental affecting another note later in the same bar:
The # on the G on beat one also applies to the G on the 6th quaver of the bar.

In bar 49, you will see I have used a quaver and quaver rest on beat 4 rather than a crotchet. This is to indicate a short articulation. I could have just written a crotchet with a dot OVER the note, which also indicates that the note is to be played short.
Either method is valid. More on articulation signs in a future Session.



MBBC25e
[attachment=50597:MBBC25e.pdf]
[attachment=50603:MBBC25e.mp3]


The Major

[stevie]

Major, this is just the most amazing resource. Please keep it up if you can.

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='stevie' post='849185' date='May 27 2010, 09:35 AM']Major, this is just the most amazing resource. Please keep it up if you can.[/quote]
At my age, any reference to "keeping it up" causes a certain amount of angst !

But I'll keep producing these reading sessions till I've covered everything you might find on a typical reading gig.

As long as at least some of you basschatters can gain from them, it's worth doing.

Please do PM me if there is anything you are struggling with. Any feedback is most helpful.

The Major