8-Bit Music Theory Mocked Someone.

[00:00:00]8-bit Music Theory did a mocking voice and it was justified. Me and 8-bit Music Theory are fed up with the current state of education in music theory, especially when it comes to modes. You know, modes like Mixolydian and Dorian. We are so fed up that a mocking tone is warranted.

[00:00:18]That's why 8-bit is winning today's Excellence in Mockery Award. The gameplay on screen is just nice Stardew Valley vibes to hang out and talk about this. Modes are taught in so many counter-productive ways. Spoon-feeding data exhaustively instead of delivering actual strategy. So, we're going to revisit 8-bit Music Theory's timeless satire on the topic of modes from a video that is a very good educational resource on this topic. Take it away, 8-bit.

[00:00:47]>> And it is criminal how often it's taught in a way that's needlessly confusing or completely lacking in perspective.

[00:00:54]Basically, modes are scales.

[00:00:56]Specifically, they're scales that can be derived from your typical major scale.

[00:01:00]When students first learn about modes, they often learn like this. If you take a major scale and then start it on a note other than the root note, you get a mode. This method is great if you just want your piano student to play a Dorian scale so you can get them out of your basement, but it not only doesn't explain what a mode really is or why you should learn about them. It also makes the whole concept of modes much more confusing.

[00:01:24]>> 8-bit Music Theory's ridicule is on point. I mean, sure, it's technically true that if you take the major scale, but then begin on a different note and walk up the full octave, yeah, that explains the origin of where modes came from at the advent of modes. But, that interlocking nature is totally irrelevant for your day-to-day music operations. You really only think about these options in an arsenal of parallel modes for a single tonic you're going to stick to. You're not changing key signatures even. You write a song in D minor and you have moments that emphasize D Dorian. Borrow a chord or have a chromatic melody, but it's all on the same tonic typically. You're not starting in a new spot on the same scale. So nowadays, instead of memorizing seven names that are meaningless when starting out, well, you already know major and minor, so there's two modes right off the bat. So your first new mode could start with Mixolydian.

[00:02:20]You see what happens with that seven chord specifically, wow, game changer.

[00:02:25]Experiment with Mixolydian for a few weeks and then you can start some Dorian eventually. One mode at a time so that each identity can sink in clearly, not jumping into an encyclopedia of just different numbers and values in a barrage. Don't tell me it's harmless.

[00:02:42]It's wasteful as a distraction. Taking up storage space in your semester. You only have one brain. If you're composing for a doom game, you could try composing with D Locrian. Or a daydream sequence that could use D Lydian and so on. But it's not like you're starting in C major and then hopping to a different spot.

[00:03:03]But the point is never the mockery of the person, but just the bad ideas they are pedaling out of indoctrination.

[00:03:10]Doing things a certain way because his music teachers showed him that way, rather than actually buying into its educational utility. Now, I did not coordinate with 8-Bit Music Theory for this video or anything. What I'm going to do in this video now is pay it forward. You can quickly figure out whether someone's ideas are even worth their weight in salt once you hear them talk about, brace yourselves, black notes.

[00:03:37]You see how this piano here has white and black on it?

[00:03:41]Sometimes when people talk about this topic, it starts to feel like you're in some kind of ramshackle kindergarten.

[00:03:49]Like this.

[00:03:50]Are white and black notes the same?

[00:03:53]See, white notes are inside the major scale. We call those white notes diatonic notes.

[00:04:02]Meanwhile, the black notes that are in between the white ones, we can think of those as outside the diatonic major scale. So, they have that smaller like in between sound. They sound more flatty or sharpy like woah, more unusual. We call those black notes chromatic, but the regular sounding notes are all on the big white buttons.

[00:04:28]Totally wrong. There is no difference at all between black or white notes. This is important. It is not trivial. See these 12 notes on the piano? There's exactly 12 in an octave. All you're actually looking at here are let's look at it this way, 12 frequencies measured in hertz. So, if we show all 12 of these notes as frequencies, it starts on C right here going up every chromatic note all the way up to an octave above. And of course, it's a repeating pattern in both directions. So, if I want to make a major chord in a regular way, I can literally click and drag this entire cookie cutter shape anywhere I want as a package deal. Here, what if I move every single note exactly three spaces? Ready? Bump bump bump. And it sounds like this.

[00:05:18]Notice that when we moved each of those notes up, we didn't have to check which notes have a color or a flat symbol versus which are natural. You just go up three units. It's universal because all of these notes perform equal functions.

[00:05:33]You can transplant this anywhere you want. Just like if I take this and now I'm going to move everything down exactly two units.

[00:05:43]Those colors do not exist in any way in the music that you hear when you listen on Spotify or wherever. The black color is a means to an end behind the scenes, not in the sound. It's so that a musician can find the note that they need. It's a superficial visual aid. And the same goes for the size of the piano keys, too.

[00:06:05]They are basically buttons on a machine.

[00:06:07]If you picture a piano in your mind, you know how some buttons are nice and big and easy to spread out your fingers on, but then there's those narrow smaller buttons that can get difficult to press down on. They're a bit more clumsy. If a chord has a lot of those skinny buttons, you have to do a lot more physical contortion with your hand. But, the size of the button has no impact whatsoever on the actual note sound. Like we said, every note has equal status, color blind in every way. If I make the tonic of one right here on this note, well, then a tritone above it is just going to be six units above. All units are equal. Ready?

[00:06:46]Let's find it. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Right here.

[00:06:50]Want me to reveal which note it is? The devil's interval above this tonic? It's C.

[00:06:58]That note is wobbly and shaky right now because the sturdy diatonic note of one is down here, six units below it. Six color blind units. So, when you come across one of these knockoff kindergarten types, their fundamental understanding of the building blocks is so inaccurate that the next question becomes, how much will they lie or misdirect to kind of hide it? All you have to do is just ask about this note right here. Where is it on a piano?

[00:07:27]Well, that would be right here.

[00:07:29]Now, if you look at that note here, you see how skinny this note is and what color it is? That note is the one in this case, the diatonic anchor note of one, the tonic. And where's the tritone, that woo, wacky, wobbly in between note?

[00:07:45]It's exactly six semitones away, and that note would be C. This is just the same thing that I showed you a minute ago, but on an actual piano. See how right now a black note is the diatonic one, and the white note is the chromatic note outside the do-re-mi scale. That's why you got to take that unlicensed kindergarten color guide and burn it ASAP. Erase it from your brain. Clear out those wasted neuron circuits promptly.

[00:08:14]Someone has failed you, but it's okay now because we documented the universal structure of notes as color blind and size blind. These stubborn types will dig in their heels and say, "Oh, F sharp major is one of those weird, obscure scales that they make you learn at music college." But that's just forced bureaucratic bullcrap. And it's like, "No way." We are talking about the most simple scale of all time, major.

[00:08:42]Do-re-mi has an identical function anywhere you start it. Getting mixed up about this will sabotage the success of aspiring music students. Do not waste brain space or time. What can you even do at that point? If you're Will Smith, you slap the guy. If it was me though, I'll tell you how I deal with that situation because it's happened to me so many times, it's not even funny. After this word from our sponsors.

[00:09:10]This has happened to me so much at, you know, music theory classes or with people I've jammed with in bands and their plus ones. I don't do the Will Smith slap. It would undermine all credibility. I take the high road. You know, "Hey Francis, could I talk to you out in the hall by the water fountain?"

[00:09:27]I don't want to put them on the spot if it's not necessary, but just having an exchange of ideas. And eventually the person will have to acknowledge that the black note thing is totally false. You think that's something else. I went to the cafeteria for a bite and then I come back and the dude is talking to the group, looking around, trying to find some way to talk about black notes.

[00:09:50]Like, "Hey guys, when I want to brainstorm what chords to use in my song?" They're like looking around. "I check the circle of fifths because the circle of fifths will tell you how many black notes each key has so you can use chords from nearby keys.

[00:10:06]Such a weasel.

[00:10:08]Let's quickly destroy the credibility of this idea and bury this idea so deep underground that its kind doesn't respond. Ready?

[00:10:18]These symbols on the circle of fifths are not black notes. They are accidentals. Not all accidentals result in black notes. This is a mathematical clarity that all music students deserve.

[00:10:32]And when you confuse budding music students on this concept early on, you are an enemy opponent of music theory education.

[00:10:41]It's a horrible betrayal because with that line of thinking, you might as well say that the circle of fifths tells you each key's white notes. Guys, it's really only telling you which notes that it has. Stop with the colors. It's color agnostic. That's the strain of dishonesty you can encounter. This is not just anonymous Reddit users. We're talking professors, musicians that teach instrument lessons, full-time composers even. So, you got to stop and ask yourself, "How is it possible that all these myths could persist even among adults who earn money in the field?"

[00:11:20]And there is an explanation.

[00:11:22]Here's the big reminder everyone. You can be a composer without music theory.

[00:11:28]For example, the Stardew Valley guy never studied the field. He just gleaned things over the years by intuition and experimenting. So, if you can compose without music theory, it follows that if your theory understanding is partially broken, you can still be a composer. Yep, you can do it with 0% theory. After all, look at Stardew. But, it's another thing when those half-broken theoreticians start to advise aspiring composers and train them on the foundation of this fundamentally skewed data. How are those black notes working out for you? How's your career been trending? There was one guy at the Bart Simpson blackboard, and his agent got him an opportunity with Activision submitting compositions for an upcoming game. That's completely legit.

[00:12:14]But, come to find they rejected his song outright. Not just that, went out of their way to say that out of the five people submitting music compositions for this game, his was the worst, particularly terrible. That's a good reminder that music is a form of communication.

[00:12:33]So, if you have a pivotal moment of a song you're working on, and you think a black note is going to accomplish a certain effect that will be perceived by the audience, no. The audience is not going to receive what you think you're sending.

[00:12:46]So, it isn't surprising Activision's convinced your music sucks, and they have the balls to give you free consulting advice. You can encounter stark realities at a moment's notice in life.

[00:12:58]Watching my videos can help you get ready in places. Here at the Alex Yard Zone 91.6 FM terrestrial internet radio, deep in the heart of Boston, David Ortiz, Red Sox MVP in the World Series.

[00:13:13]This is our city. Boston is weathering the storm of black note fallacies, those zombie ideas that do nonetheless manage to walk the planet like the walking dead.

[00:13:24]Time and again I find myself vindicated, reassured, and just sort of shocked that no one else out there is getting the scoop before me. This is not the first time I've exposed this kind of thing. This kind of flat Earth thought process in music theory education settings that are otherwise seemingly legitimate. Both of these videos are available in a pinned comment below. So, like this video now and check out those two iconic case studies, historical landmarks of YouTube music theory. By doing this, you can join the cause to help achieve better music understanding for everyone. It's not about making me famous, just that once you buy into the value and importance [clears throat] of these ideas, circulate them to everyone in your orbit to pay it forward.

[00:14:13]Good afternoon, everyone.