US vs. UK music theory EXPLAINED
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Music theory is like a language, and like any language, music theory has regional dialects and variations. British and American music theory terms are often used interchangeably so it is really valuable to understand both systems (even if one system is clearly superior 😅😅)
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
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0:00 Introduction
0:45 USA note names
2:23 UK note names
6:34 why you should speak both dialects
8:14 Donner
8:59 Semitone vs. Half Step
9:58 Tierce de Picardie vs. Picardy Third
10:30 Cadence names
15:20 Conclusion
May be the first time the USA is credited as having a better/more logical system of measurement
Well we had to make up for the disaster that is the imperial system somehow 😂
I dunno. Don’t you guys use miles when driving, but meters for everything else? Also wtf is a stone.
And finally, we didn’t invent our measurement system, we just imported it from you
And money before decimalization of the Pound Sterling.
LSD? Whoever invented that system was on LSD. Am I right?
Yeah baby yeah!!! We finally got one. USA! USA!
@@RandiRain Stop that! US is the origin for all modern music. Thanks!❤👍
I use the crisp notation. Half a Quaver is known as a Wotsit. Half of a Wotsit is called a Hula Hoop, and half of that is a Skip. Double a Quaver is called a Monster Munch, and double that is a Smiths Salt and Shake.
😊
Best comment ever
The American equivalent is the chip system.
🤣🤣🤣
Not funny didnt laugh
For the notes' names, the Italian system is:
4/4: Semibreve (BTW "breve" means "short")
2/4: Minima
1/4: Semiminima (half a minima)
1/8: Croma (from the Greek word for "colour", as in "it's so short it's just there to give the melody some colour")
1/16: Semicroma (half a croma)
1/32: Biscroma ("bis" is latin for "twice", as in a croma to the croma)
1/64: Semibiscroma (as usual)
1/128: Fusa ("fused" or "blended together", though it's almost never used)
1/256: Semifusa (as usual)
In Spanish:
4/4: Redonda (round)
2/4: Blanca (white)
1/4: Negra (black)
1/8: Corchea (from the French Croche)
1/16: Semicorchea
1/32: Fusa
1/64: Semifusa
1/128: Garraptea or Cuartifusa
@@adb012 Al fin alguien lo dijo. Se le agradece.
In Brazil we use:
4/4: Semibreve
2/4: Mínima
1/4: Semínima
1/8: Colcheia
1/16: Semi-colcheia
1/32: Fusa
1/64: Semi-fusa
I, personnaly, think it would make more sense to have the1/4 note as the "whole note" and adjust the others accordingly.
@@douglasalmeida533 that's how it was when the notes got their names. A semibreve was about the equivalent of what a crotchet is now.
@@JScaranoMusic yeah, makes sense
They teach the british version of note values in australia as well, but pretty much as soon as I left school I switched to the american system of note values. I couldn't wait to stop saying crotchet.
The American system was definitely influenced by German names for notes and cadences. It seems to me that they just translated the German terms into English as the note length names are exactly the same and the German names for the cadences (V-I „authentische Kadenz“, V-vi „Trugschluss“, „Trug“ approximately meaning deception) are very similar…
The German name for half-step/semitone is something in between. It‘s called „Halbton“ (half-tone) or „Halbtonschritt“ (half-tone-step) - depending on context - and „Ganzton(-schritt)“ (whole-tone(-step)).
I think Sweden stole from Germany, we have the same mix, half-tone (halvton) and whole-tone (helton).
Many Europeans used semis, quarter notes and so on before the USA even existed. Somehow funny to hear that this is an „American system“ 🙈
That's true, in Germany, we would call the V-I an "Authentische Kadenz", not a "Perfekte Kadenz". The IV-I is called a "plagale Kadenz".
We do excel at stealing valuable things from foreign lands. It's kind of our forte. 🇺🇸
@@ignatiusjackson235 You didn‘t exactly steal them, the European immigrants brought them…
These very long, ancient notes (breve, longa, maxima) stem from a different music notation system called mensural notation. It was used in the late European Middle Ages for vocal monastery chorale music. Often there is one bass voice that holds a single note basically throughout the whole piece of music, and this then gets "enriched" with some kind of melody in another voice, or even by a pattern of "question and answer" over several other voices. Just in case you wanted to know details about their origin and function.
Here in Brazil, because we live in latin country, we call the notes going top to bottom:
Semibreve
Mínima
Semínima
Colcheia
Semicolcheia
Fusa
Semifusa
The logic is every two divisions get a New name, and its subdivision gets the prefix "semi" on It (notice that semínima we only ommit on "mi" syllable)
I think its slightly more complicated than the American system, but still a easy pattern to recognize.
When I searched for tabs I also found in Latin countries they work with the do re mi system. Isn't there a site called Chiffras?
In Brazil we use dó ré mi fá sol lá si. There’s a website called cifras where you can find chords for songs
@@KendyUeno Thank you for the confirmation. I used chiffras regularly when I pick up guitar again. Good memories. Here we use do re mi in a relative way, so do is the tonic (I) of the key, the C in C, the F in F etc. But In Brazil I believe do is always C, isn't it?
@@fritsvanzanten3573 yes. We read the C as Do, D as re, and so on. We never call the letters by it’s regular pronunciation (in music)
It's not it makes sense. How can you call a whole note 4 beats? surely a whole note is a crochet (colcheia) and then everything else is a multiple of fraction of it. If they called a whole note a 4 note I'd be like, yeah but nah, it's bollocks and I refuse to use it.
an interesting thing for me was that i learned music at a very American school, our school mascot was the "Patriot" and had american colors and bald eagles all over the place.
I learned about the quaver as a fun fact about UK music theory but used the US system. We did use semitones in place of half step and it always threw off my classmates in university when we would discuss music theory.
I find it interesting that you mention the way you name cadences is very similar to the way I am learning cadences in university, I am going to an American university but we use British terms for cadences everyday.
That's probably because just about everything in the US is directly influenced by English culture and English Traditions etc etc. We have been around much longer so it makes a lot of sense.
Direct translation of the "whole note", "quarter note" etc. system, is also used in German, Slavic languages, Nordic languages and many others, including languages from outside the Western tradition, like Chinese for example. I'd guess that this system probably actually comes from Germany and is the most successful worldwide, but the countries which were early to codify music had their own ideas, which resulted in all those weird words in Romance languages and British English.
Outside of music, there’s a lot of vocabulary differences because The British borrowed words from the French and the Americans elsewhere. Arugula from Italian, and Rocket from French (via Italian). Zucchini from Italian, Courgette from French (via Latin). Aubergine from French, Eggplant because the white ones look like eggs 🤷.
When I was taking IB Music, we had to learn the British and American musical terms, on top of French, German, Italian, and Latin.
Anything was fair game for the exam and we had to know what they were talking about.
My university music theory class used a mix of British and American terms. US note values, interchanged semitones and half notes, and British cadence names.
Very interesting. I’d heard some of the UK terms but didn’t know where they applied. Thanks!
As a Brit I am wholeheartedly in favour of the American system of naming note values at the very least. I am more than happy for you to carry on in this way.
In Dutch we have a similar system as in the USA (but obviously in Dutch: hele noot, halve noot etc.). A big advantage is that you immediately have an idea of the lenght of the note, because the terms used reflect other daily usages of the terms.
It's actually pretty amazing how it also varies with spanish. I'm argentinian, and here we have some sort of mix between both models.
Love how I've just been taught in 10 minutes the mystery behind what others have tried to explain to me 10 years ago. It might be that I'm older and have watched many of David's videos but; yet again you've lifted the veil on music theory for a simple guitar player who only knew chord shapes. Until I found the circle of fifths video I had no idea how keys worked, or how to understand them, use them or anything, after that, I understood soo much of what used to be just words, now I'm having that same experience.. seriously David, Thank You.
Super-ultra-excellent, David! Thanks.
I’ve always loved the UK note-value names, especially crotchet and quaver - just cool-sounding words - but I kept getting them confused! Thanks, David.
This is crazy. Thanks for the amazing videos all year and for many years. Merry Christmas!
American note durations make perfect sense when you interpret them as being "how much of a measure of 4/4 do they take up." For once, we objectively win the "best way to measure something" contest (though it's a calque of German musical notation). And I've always heard both tone and step used interchangeably in the US.
I find the US system confusing for signatures other than 4/4
*Bar not measure
How is that objectively the best way when various other time signature exist? 😂😂
@@DDoubleEDouble because it is by far the most common. Naming conventions should make as much sense as possible to people who are learning the thing for the first time, and pretty much all music for begginer musicians is in 4/4.
More dumbing down to the thickest in society.
Being a german, I was never aware of the different terms you use in the UK and US. I‘d say half note, quater note like in the US (also like in German) but I would say semitone.
yeah, americans also use tone/semitone interchangeably with whole step/half step.
Very well presented, Mr. Bennett! I learned something today.
Interesting video! A treat to have so many videos from you these days--I thought you were done for the year!
What a lovely Christmas gift! 🥰
Christmas came early. Enjoying your music theory videos.
With both of my teachers in the UK and me in the US, it’s so nice to get this crash course in US/UK musical terminology. Thanks David!
As an American student, I'm pretty sure I remember being taught "perfect cadence", and I don't recall "authentic cadence" let alone "perfect authentic cadence". It's been a really long time though. Certainly that concept (that a cadence would be named differently depending on the inversion of the chords) doesn't ring any bells for me.
I also thought an "imperfect cadence" was an alternative name for a plagal cadence (IV-I), but that might just be me misremembering...
That’s funny, im an American too and I don’t think I heard of a perfect cadence. I definitely am familiar with authentic and perfect authentic.
I didn’t finish watching the vid yet so idk if he explains. An Authentic Cadence is any Dominant to Tonic function (ex: V-I). A perfect authentic cadence is a V-I but the top voice plays the root of the tonic along with the bass (ex: PAC in Cmaj will have a G chord (or G7) move to a C chord and the top voice plays a C)
I have heard plagal cadences referred to as an “Imperfect cadence” but I also know an Imperfect authentic cadence is the V-I mentioned before but when the top voice plays the third of fifth (G-C and the top voice plays either an E or G on the I)
My guess is either one of the 4 is the umbrella term, and the other 3 are specific types of said cadence.
I also learned perfect cadence and not authentic. I also learned resolving on the V as a hanging cadence.
I learned music in Alabama and Mississippi and I was only taught perfect cadence.
I learned theory in the 80s and 90s in NY and Boston and we learned the terms for both authentic and perfect authentic cadences.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt NO WAY!!!! I love your videos man!!! I never knew that about u. That’s awesome!
Dear David, thank you so much for your musical teaching! I enjoy your channel very much. Have a wonderful Christmas season, peace, love, and joy for you and your beloved ones! 🎄🎶❄☃🤗
Good job, as you have us accustomed. Making the viewers in America happy. You’re even wearing a Yosemite shirt. That’s an awesome place. What a view!
This was very informational! Thank you!
Thank you!
Wow David. Thanks for sharing this valuable info. I didn´t have any idea you use a different system in UK. All my life I was taught the American one. Happy New Year David
thank you for sharing your own learnings from making these vids, prior to watching this I wasn't even aware of a difference between American and British music theory terms
Wow… I’ve been watching your videos for awhile and everything makes so much more sense now
Good video David! The idea of the longer notes is fascinating. I imagine if the breve were ever a thing over here it likely would've been called a "double note" or some such... I have seen the equivalent of such in modern sheet music albeit notated with two whole notes joined by a tie. The only one of the UK terms I was actually familiar with in terms of note values was the quaver for the eighth note.
I appreciate this vid . . . it was a refresher . . . oh, my. I've forgotten so much!
I've used the Sibelius software forever and got quite used to "translating" between the two languages!
Thanks...
Semitone and half step are actually used interchangeably in the US. Although we say "whole tone" instead of just "tone".
My American theory professors used semitone and half step interchangeably - my studio teacher was French (studied at Paris Conservatory and lived in Quebec) so he used a lot of the French terminology you mentioned.
Aluminium
You can use aluminium to build a bridge or a pre-chorus, but some might say you should save it for the middle eight.
German music theory: Wouldn't it be fun to take the B Note and just rename it H for no reason and then take the Bb Note and rename it B for ultimate confusion?
Same in Polish
I was just thinking that this might be an interesting topic for another video, because of course there are good (historic) reasons why German musicians use "H" and "B" instead of "Bb" and "B" (which also can lead to weird and sometimes funny miscommunications :-)
It's the correct way t. Finnish
Historically, it was the other way around. Non-German theory said: wouldn't it be fun to take H and rename it B and then start calling B by the name B flat?
And now David made a video about it :D
I never fail to learn something from your videos. I had been aware of quaver, semi-quaver, and that's about it. Being I'm from the US, I am fully versed in the US terms. Thanks you, and please have a pleasant holiday. (Or is it Happy Christmas....I don't wanna assume.)
I really enjoyed that. Thank you!
When I learned to play music (in Sweden), we used the scale C-D-E-F-G-A-H
The H flat was called B. It was said this was because someone misread a 'b' as an 'h' a few hundreds years ago. I think the H note was/is used in some other European countries too.
"PUT IT IN H!"
Yep, that's the German system.
H for B natural and B for B flat seems to be just about the only feature of German music theory terminology that Americans did not adopt.
Yep, in Czechia it is the same. I literally hated music theory in primary school because of this because I just couldn't get my head around it. When I starting learning music theory again as an adult and realized it's just a bloody alphabet A-B-C-D-E-F-G everything suddenly became so easy.
The reason for the B/H thing is much older and more complex than just “misreading”: it comes from the realisation that there are two “Bs” that occur “naturally” when singing different modes: the “soft” B and a “hard” B which was then called “H”.
Bonus funfact: symbols like ♭ , ♯ or ♮ all come from stylised b or h letters. They literally have the same origin.
I remember my dad thought decimalisation of British currency was the best thing ever, despite continuing to use imperial terms for weight and length to my amusement. Decimalisation is the sensible option for ease of understanding.
I had no formal musical training apart from one class a week at high school for a year, so when I went deeper into my self-study on guitar I was drawn more to the American guitar magazines as they didn't use cryptic note names of the British ones.
Thanks mate. But stuck it.
I thought I was fairly familiar with both "britishisms", and music, but I had absolutely NO inkling of this British systems of notes. It was so strange and unfamiliar, I thought at first I might be getting trolled! But no, obviously it's real... and honestly fascinating! Makes me want to dig into musical history.
SAME!
As a kid in primary and early high school I learned the UK terms (I’m Australian by the way). However most of my theory education has been through TH-cam so now I’m most familiar with the American terms with a few UK terms thrown in. There was actually a moment a couple of months ago when I was rehearsing for church and both the bassist and one of the singers referred to V-vi as an interrupted cadence, where as I only knew the term deceptive cadence. Now I know that they most likely learned the term from having had more formal musical education than me.
I already knew the UK terms for note values (I learned both in college), but I had no idea there was a difference in cadence names!
I learned this the hard way on my short stint in Malaysia as a US musical peep. Add onto that that my teacher for awhile was Russian and didn’t speak English. She spoke Russian, some Malay and very little English. Our only common language was Italian & German in purely musical terms.
As a British person who learnt basic music theory in school in the UK, but watches a lot of music TH-cam (and has learnt more music theory after I left school)...I feel like I'm in this weird in-between space of American terms and British terms. There's some stuff that I think of in American terms, and there's some stuff that is just drilled into me from music lessons. I keep forgetting the British names for stuff and it does make me sad sometimes that I've lost this information in my head, that it's been replaced from American TH-camrs and music theory websites etc.
Same. I'm Australian and learnt pretty much exactly the same terms as the UK ones, but I mostly see the US ones online.
Now you know what it's like to be Canadian
Me too. I say semitone but I forgot this whole system except for quavers.
In Canada we learned the American note names but we also learned tone and semitone instead of step and half step.
What in the world, I got an ad with David Bennett Piano in it before this video! That was surprising
A perfect authentic cadence is when the melody finishes on the tonic over the V-I progression.
An imperfect authentic cadence is when the melody doesn't - it might finish on the mediant over the V-I, making it sound slightly less finished. I love this kinda stuff!
In Spanish (Mexican) we have: La redonda (the round one), La blanca (the white one), La negra (the black one), La corchea, La semicorchea (half a "corchea"), La fusa, and La semifusea (half a "fusea"). As far as I know, the word "corchea" uniquely referred to an eighth-note in music. It didn't have another translation and I had no idea what the root of the word was. After watching this, it seems to me that "corchea" is probably derived from the French "croche" (hook) used for their eighth-note. I'm still not sure where the word "fusa," which also means "a fuse," for a thirty-second-note comes from.
En Español de España también se usa ese sistema, creo que es universal en todos los países donde se habla el idioma.
The Spanish system is a mix of the French and Italian systems.
The 3 big values come from the French ronde, blanche, noire.
Fusa comes from the Italian, meaning "fused together" but that was used for the 1/128th.
That was how I learned it in Spain and I'm surprised of the weird names that other languages have, while in Spanish many types of notes are called literally by how the look
Yes, the Spanish system is the French system in rhythm values and German system in cadences.
All this notation comes from Latin and then goes to the whole romances languages. It is not that one comes or goes to another, all comes from latin and develope in the local language and sistem
Really interesting! I had never heard any of those UK not names before and I'm from Canada, where we often favour British linguistic practices. To make it more complicated though, we generally say semi-tone.
Legally, but not in practice.
great vid mate! cheers
When he got to Crotchet for the name of a quarter note, I had to check the date of the video post to make sure it wasn't on April 1st.
Thanks for helping me learn something today. I never even knew about the UK note values. I didn't know it was at thing, since all of TH-camrs I watch relating to music, even the British ones, all use the American notation. I guess it's necessary if most of your viewers are American. However, this does finally explain something I heard in a movie that always baffled me. Although, in a way, it still baffles me, because it's an American movie. In the move Close Encounters of the Third Kind, during the last act, where the Mother Ship is communicating with the scientists using musical tones, one of the engineers/analysts (not a main character, so not sure of his character name) starts commenting about the way the aliens are playing the music, and he uses terms I recognized, like thirds and fifths. But then he mentions quavers and semi-quavers. I knew it must be musical terms from the context, but I had no idea what he meant. And it's the only time in my whole life that I've heard those terms used in a musical context. So that explains it...except that he was an American, and pretty much everyone on the team was American except for Lacombe--and Lacombe was not the one commenting on the musical tones. So I'm not quite sure why they used these terms if they are UK terms. But at least now I know what he's talking about in that movie!
Being familiar with the US system, I didn't know the terms semibreve and minim. Thanks a lot!
Omfg I got your Artmaster ad for this video fkin perfect😂
Loving these videos David..
I've been teaching piano for about 7years in the UK and hadn't appreciated the US terminology on cadences.. like you say, the US note value terms make more sense than "ours". Also, what about measures instead of bars?🎹.
Keep up the good work ☺️🎹.
I've just learned from this that here in Canada, we've apparently adopted music theory terms from both the US and British systems.
For example, for the note names, we're used to the US note name systems as not only are they our neighbours, their note name system makes more logical sense.
Another example, in terms of the semitone vs half step, I remember being mostly taught semitones and tones compared to the US half step and whole step. Hence, we've adopted that from the British system (in the case of the picardy third, I'm not entirely sure what's the common term we use in Canada).
For cadences, I remember learning the British terms, as I've never heard of the American terms until I watched your video here.
All-in-all, this was a very insightful and informative video. Thanks for making this, David. 🙂
I think “semi-tone” and “half step” are used interchangeably in the US, though “half step” is more common. Same with “whole tone” and “whole step.” “Whole step” is more common except for the Whole Tone Scale. Simply “tone” is never used.
Thanks to the internet being my primary method of learning music theory, I've heard of many of the British conventions. I'm glad our musical notation system actually makes sense, because you should see our measuring system!
Turkish system for notes:
4: birlik (1st note) - dört vuruşluk (4 hit)
2: ikilik (2nd note) - iki/çift vuruşluk/noya (2/double hit/note)
1: dörtlük (4th note) - bir/tam vuruşluk/note (one/whole hit/note)
1/2: sekizlik (8th note) - yarım vuruşluk/nota (half hit/note)
1/4: on altılık (16th note) - çeyrek vuruşluk/nota (quarter hit/note)
1/8: otuz ikilik (32nd note)
1/16: altmış dörtlük (64th note)
Multiple names for a bunch of them.
No one of USA or British names for beats apply or literally translate into spanish. In spanish we got very different names. In spanish, the whole note is called "rounded", the half note is called "white", the quarter note is called "black" and the rest are named on the number of crochet (or "corcheas"). God to know names in english (both, British and USA)
In Spanish we're graphical about the first notes' names: "Redonda" ("circular") for the whole note, "blanca" ("white") for the half note, and "negra" ("black") for the quarter note. The eighth note is "corchea," which may probably be related to French "crochet"? Below the eighth note we also add "semi-" as a prefix down the line.
I’ve come to use many of the terms interchangeably, except for the note types. Thanks from 88 west latitude😊
Man, you are a good teacher. Thank you.
Thank you 😊
This may have just been a quirk of the classes I took, but some terminology I never heard used in the US are first/second inversion. It was always just (using C major as an example) C/E, C/G, etc...
I got an ad for your course on this vid lol.
Thank you. That explains a lot. In the film: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," characters refer to quavers, and until now I never understood what that was.
Also, George Martin, producer of the Beatles' music mentioned that two different recordings or takes of the song "Strawberry Fileds Forever," were a semitone apart.
Now, I know what that means.
Another thing that's different across the pond is the connotations of the word "Donner." I didn't want to mention this but it was really eating at me.
I wondered if you were joking at first! I’ve somehow never encountered the British note value names. Wild
I actually learned cadence names from you before learning them in Music Theory class. I was a bit confused at first because I thought I knew them when I didn't 😂
In Australia, I learnt the UK system, then went to teach at a music school where the school taught the US system. I picked up the US system very quickly, and it actually also helped me under stand rhythm! The irony is that the principal of the music school was British. She obviously saw the benefit of the US system, and how it makes teaching reading music so much easier.
In spanish we have a very logical way to name the first note values:
4/4: Redonda (means rounded)
2/4: Blanca (means white)
1/4: Negra (means black)
1/8: Corchea (from french=twisted)
1/16: Semicorchea (half corchea)
1/32: Fusa (I think comes from italian =melted(? fusion(?)
1/64: Semifusa (half fusa)
1/128: Garrapatea (means scribble) or cuartifusa
1/256: Semigarrapatea (half Garrapatea)
I learnt to play the drums in the UK following the RSL exam board. My teacher was excellent and we only ever used the American note names. Previously playing piano I had learnt the British system. In drumming where rhythm is fundamental (there's no melody), it makes much more sense to have a clear name system for rhythm and now I only ever use the American system.
Ahahaha when I was 7 or 8 and I learned the term "quaver" in my first piano lessons, I totally thought they were named after the crisps!
In my (American) music theory classes, we were told both "half step" and "semitone". "Crotchets" and "quavers" though, are about the most British words imaginable... :)
Basically the German and US system are very similar in contrast to the one in the UK although I recognize these terms from medieval ages as well. But as you consider the note names, the confusion kicks in: according to the German system, the note B is called H while we call a Bb a B.
This is the funniest thing ever, I got an ad, and it was of this guy, right before this video
Chord inversions are also different. Ia, Ib, Ic, etc. vs. I5/3, I6/3, I6/4, etc.
Something similar happens in song structure. americans now call a bridge a pre-chorus, and they call a middle-8 a bridge!
I remember being taught about cadences at college and there was a plagal cadence which if I remember correctly is iv - i
I seem to remember from music history class way back that early notation did not use filled in notes because the ink would burn through the paper if they filled in the note heads.
Here are the french translations (if I didn't make mistakes), because I'm part of the french audience 😄:
4 - Ronde (Round or Circle, feminine noun)
2 - Blanche (White, feminine noun)
1 - Noire (Black, feminine noun)
1/2 - Croche (still feminine noun)
1/4 - Double-croche
1/8 - Triple-croche
1/16 - Quadruple-croche
1/32 - Quintuple-croche
"Double", "Triple", "Quadruple" stands literally for subdivisions equals respectively to 2, 3, 4, etc.
- Semitone / Half step = Demi-ton
- Tone / Whole step = Ton
- Tierce de Picardie is also called Tierce Picarde or Cadence Picarde
- Perfect Cadence / Authentic Cadence = Cadence parfaite ou Cadence harmonique
- Imperfect authentic cadence = Cadence Imparfaite
- Imperfect cadence / Half cadence = Demi-cadence (closer to US, this time!)
- Interrupted cadence / Deceptive cadence = Cadence évitée or Cadence rompue
The spanish way is very similir to the french. I think both are very easy to learn.
I remember learning the 'american' system of note names (with Dutch translations, since i am from.the Netherlands, 'hele noot', 'halve noot', 'kwartnoot' etc.)
In Israel we use the American system for note values, but the British system for note intervals (and Italian for other intervals).
Very interesting!
The main example of an Authentic Cadence Vs. Deceptive Cadence that jumps to my mind is the "This Day Aria" from My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic Season 2 finale.
The song tells the story of the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (yes; her name is "My Love Candence") that we were following in Part 1 of the finale to be a fake singing her part of the Aria in a Deceptive Cadence, whilst the real Princess that had been trapped in mines under the city sings her part of the Aria in an Authentic Cadence - both parts of the Aria being sung by the same VA/singer playing both the Real Princess Cadence and the Fake Princess Cadence.
In Mexico, musicians that play regional mexican music (banda, mariachi, norteño, etc.) refer to the I chord as primera (first), the V chord as segunda (second), and the IV chord as tercera (third). It really confused at the beginning. At first I thought they were talking about inversions, but I learned that's the way they refer to these chords, since most progressions are I-V-IV.
The US names for note lengths are only more logical in 4/4. In other time signatures you could say they're more confusing. In either case they're just names that have no meaning outside of a time signature.
Indeed. If an American was playing a waltz, would they say "It has three quarter notes per bar"?
My first piano book was La Méthode Rose, since I saw I had to learn the French terms for music. But they translated this into British English, so I had to learn three languages.
Gareth Green over in the Music Matters channel has a different terminology for chord inversions. For example, a I chord in first/second/third inversion would be named as Ia/Ib/Ic ... Is this another British thing? I had never seen this anywhere except on Music Matters.
The nomenclature in Poland is the same as the American, just in Polish. Itresting! Thank you for making me realize that :)
In the Czech Republic, where did you create your course, @David Bennett Piano, we use the system like in the US, but with one major difference...
Tone "B" in US we call it "H". And for Bb in the US, we use B.
I think that convention (based on a mis-translation several hundred years ago) stretches right across Europe including Norway and Russia too. I don't really understand why it wasn't abandoned when someone pointed out that it is clearly wrong. There should be no note called H.
American guitar player. The British note names were new to me. I've used both semitone and half step. I would say we use perfect cadence usually, and plagal, but probably deceptive like you said. Deceptive cadence works really well for a song that is something of an unresolved song lyrically, it kind of leaves the whole thing hanging.
The British note naming gives me a better appreciation for why the Beatles didn't bother much with learning to read music.
"How's the song coming along?"
"Eh, it's going okay, but she's a couple corn chips shy of being complete, if you catch my drift." I like the sound of that.
Hi David! Thanks for your videos, I do enjoy them.
One "off topic" question: could you name the species of your plant? It has always cought my eye and here un Buenos Aires I can't seem to find anything alike. That's my silly question :) Again, thanks for your videos!!!
I bet he can't
It looks like some form of rubber plant, although it's less "bushy" than the ones usually seen in British homes. Ficus elastica robusta would be the Latin name, but I'm not enough of a specialist to know what that particular variety might be.
As an American who has learned the American note naming system I’ve gotta cut some slack for the British system. Because the American system is great for 4/4 time but then after that it gets confusing. Like a whole note in 6/8 time is more than a bar. So I kinda like the whole semibreve and minim thing
In Spanish the system is:
Whole note = Redonda
Half note = Blanca
Quarter note = Negra
Eighth note = Corchea
Sixteenth note = Semicorchea
Thirty second note = Fusa
Sixty fourth now = Semifusa
And the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B are:
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si
The dynamic expressions we use in Spanish are the traditional Italian expressions, and in the case of the cadences we use just translations I think
I grew up in Canada and we used the American system for note values and the British for tone/semitone. 😁
same here
And for the American audience, you have to refer to your Yosemite jumper as a “sweater”.
But we Canadians end up being familiar with both sets of terminology, though over time the American set has taken on more relevance here. We are fairly inundated with it coming through our southern border. For instance, not being a music student (I just play it), I never really understood the UK note terminology (crotchets and all their offspring) until just now, but I did understand the semitone/half step terms.
At about 3:05, I was checking to see if this was posted on April 1.