19th March 2010

Today was the last music class of this term. It was also the last day of school, so people were really excited about the holidays but not so much about the class. We had a review of the 7 chords, because next term we will be assessed on music theory. Most of us still had trouble with them. Mr Herry reviewed about 3 types (major, dominant, minor) of 7 chords, but I think there should be at least one more (minor major). I still remembered the note formula (1,3,5,7 for major, 1,3,5,7b for dominant, etc). However, this time Mr Herry asked us to do the chords with scales I am previously unfamiliar with. It came as a surprise as I have never tried doing the A flat major scale (among others). But, when I tried using the usual method (take root note, then 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2), it worked out just fine. By the end of the class, I learnt how to do the other scales and became more comfortable with them. It turns out that even flat-scales like A-flat also use the same formula as the major scales. Once the scales were done, the chords were much easier since we have a reference. For the next term, we'll have group performances and also study about background music (like the jingles in advertisements/elevator music).