JJ Rocks article # 4: The Simple Math of Music

By James (JJ Rocks) Johnston

Of course this is the fun column. Hey, come on you guys (and ladies)! You only get out what you put in! So let’s get in time and in tune! Ok, enough yelling from me. Let’s practice.
No matter how you write music down, whether it is standard notation, tab or ancient hieroglyphics, it all boils down to the same thing. The sound of the music comes first, then the written version. I feel that too many people get that backwards. It seems that a lot of us believe that written music should be in command of the actual performance. Not true. Even if this performance is just in your head and goes right to the paper, the sound still came first.

We all know that writing something down is sometimes crucial to memorizing a piece of music. But I teach my students that it’s only an aid for learning, and not to be used for performing.(that is unless someone throws a song at you on your break at a gig that you’ve never heard before and you’re forced to use duck tape and a bar napkin) Just think about being at a party and somebody hands you a guitar and you have to say “I don’t have my music book with me”. I wouldn’t want to be that guy. And how about that one band you see sometimes that sounds good but they’re always reading out of their books. That’s when you think, “They’ve been playing those songs for a long time. Why are they still reading the music?” Now I’m not talking about a band made up of students who are still learning a song.
I’m talking about players that have been around for awhile.

I use a lyric book when I sing. Why doesn’t that rule apply to me? Well, it’s because I don’t like singing. I don’t hate it, I just don’t like it. It just happens that sometimes I wind up being the singer by default. And what’s that got to do with the price of picks? Here’s what. This is my own opinion of course, but as long as I’ve been playing it seems that the people that remember the most music are the ones that love it the most. Just like the singers who remember all those lyrics (which amazes me), you can tell that they love it. Sometimes they love it so much you have to leave the room. I’m only kidding. I’m just poking fun at you singers out there!

So, besides loving your music, what else helps you to remember the music that you want to play? The answer lies in what music really is. It’s sound plus simple math. What’s written on paper is just a visual interpretation. That used to be the only way to record music. Now it’s used by most of us to only help retain it. Here’s an easy way not only to remember the structure of a melody, (not the rhythm) but it also helps you understand the basic math involved. So, for the beginner to intermediate students, let’s go over an easy formula system.

Let’s say you already know how to do a major scale on your instrument in at least one key. (Unlike guitar players, some instruments have to completely change their fingering for different keys) Now play your scale in just two octaves. Seeing how most melodies fall within a two octave range, I’ll write out the scale steps for a two octave major scale. Since the scale steps 1 and 8 overlap, we can use the word root. (R) By the way, I request that my students remember the rhythm of a melody. Come on, you don’t want to have to write down everything!

The formula system:(Go to www.stcroixmusic for example)
Starting with the root (R), up to the next root of course is one octave. The dots on the bottom of the numbers represent the steps in your lower octave. They are only used on top starting from the high root and when you go above the upper octave. From the middle root to the seven there are no dots and it represents your upper octave. When you reach the end of your upper (second) octave, there’s a dot on top for your high root. Sometimes a melody will reach above the upper octave, so just keep your dots on the top of the scale steps for those notes. So, within two octaves there are three roots. It’s a piece of cake.

Now the trick is to remember the names of the scale steps and not just a finger pattern. Just go slow and say them out loud like, low root, low two, and low three and so on up to the middle root. Then from the middle root, count up to the high root by just saying the numbers and not using the word” low”. Be sure to say “high root” when you get to the top. Most melodies will revolve around one octave and just venture a little into the next. Let’s start by mostly using the upper octave and a little of the lower one. I’ll write them in easy to understand phases using small groups of numbers. First let’s do an old favorite. Here’s a piece of the main theme to “Somewhere over the Rainbow” using this simple formula. This piece has no steps above the upper octave, only below.

Somewhere over the rainbow:(Go to www.stcroix music for example)


Now use that same formula for something a little more complex. This is the basic theme from Bach’s “Jesus Joy of Mans Desiring”. The highest note again will be the high root. Don’t forget that the dots are used to mark the octave that a scale step is in. Watch out for the ones in the lower octave.

(Go to www.stcroixmusic.com)


So by now you should be getting the hang of it. Now, hum something that you know real well and find what scales steps the melody falls on. Then write it down to help you remember the song. If the melody falls in between any of the scale steps, just use the step above that note and add a flat.
Example: R, 3, 5, b7 (flat 7) Of course a flat seven would be between steps 6 and 7, seeing on how there’s a whole step between those notes.
Well, just listen close, practice, and watch your steps! And don’t forget, you are what you play, not what you read!


- JJ Rocks www.stcroixmusic.com

October, 2006