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Outside Shore Music / Mastering MuseScore

From major to minor

Published over 1 year ago • 2 min read

Hello! Thanks for all of your feedback about my ideas for the MuseScore 4 course. I'm really looking forward to being able to show you all how to take advantage of what MuseScore 4 can do. With any luck, there will be a "beta" release this week that will feature the ability to use the new Muse Sounds library (a separate download, since it is so large) as well as tons of fixes made since the previous "alpha" releases. Keep your eye on the Announcements forum for updates.

MuseScore Café

This week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, we'll look at some of the new playback features in MuseScore 4. Things are still progressing, but I will be giving you a peak at what's to come!

The free MuseScore Café is live on Wednesday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

Tip of the Week

Until MuseScore 4 is out, I will continue to focus on MuseScore 3 in these tips, but in keeping with this week's Café theme, I do want to show something relating to playback.

If you want to hear only certain staves during playback, you have several options. In View / Mixer, you can eithert solo ("S" button) instruments you want to hear, or mute ("M" button) instruments you do not want to hear.

Another method that is useful in large ensemble scores is to create a part for each section of the ensemble. For example, one for woodwind, another for brass, another for percussion, and another for strings. Then you can easily hear any section on its own just by clicking the tab for that part. To create a part for a section, go to File / Parts, click the Single Part button, then add the instruments you want.

Music Master Class

This week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we'll check in with Rod Woodhouse and his symphony.

The free Music Master Class is live on Thursday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

In Theory

A couple of nights ago, I had the opportuntiy to hear a performance of a very profound musical composition - The Sacred Veil, by Eric Whitacre and Charles Anthony Silvestri. It is a twelve-movement work that depicts the death of Silverstri's wife in raw and uncompromising terms. It's really hard to put into words all of the images and emotions conjured by the piece. But one particular aspect was especially striking to me in light of a recent discussion in my Office Hours about the juxtaposition of simulatenous major and minor chords in a composition by Thomas Tallis. Which also related to observations I made about a similar relationship inherent in blues in my discussion of the Beatles' music in my Musicianship Skills Workship and about the main theme (after the introduction) in the Beethoven sonata we've been working on in the Music Engraving Workshop.

The idea of a major chord and a minor chord on the same root being heard at the same time, or at least in very close proximity, is fascinating to me, in that it is inherently dissonant and yet can be exploited in so many very different ways for so many very different purposes. Whitacre uses this sound extensively in the sixth movement while setting a cancer diagnosis to music, and the effect is chilling.

Here is the movement I am talking about. The major/minor harmony begins just after the one minute mark and is used throughout the chant-like portions of the piece.

Here's a measure from the score. Note the C minor chord formed by the sopranos and altos against the C major chord in the tenors and basses, and the way the piano supports the minor chord with Eb's while the cello supports the major chord with E's (and adds the fourth - F - for even more tension):

Outside Shore Music / Mastering MuseScore

by Marc Sabatella

My name is Marc Sabatella, and I am the founder of Outside Shore Music - a pioneer of online music education since the dawn of the web. As the creator of Mastering MuseScore, A Jazz Improvisation Primer, and other resources, I have dedicated most of my life to helping as many musicians as I can. Subscribe to my free newsletter for MuseScore tips, theory insights, and more information on how to create your best music!

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