You know that song that is trapped in your head?
Yeah, the one you can’t forget and are resenting my existence for bringing up that very tune?
For most successful music, there is truly a logical reason why that music gets stuck in your head. Although not apparent at first until you hear and recognize the patterns, most music has a simplistic structure that will keep you hooked so that the massive music writing corporations can keep you buying their music.
But for me to illustrate some of the simple ways hit songs keep your attention, I need to update you on some basic music theory jargon and explanations as to how music works in a way that some of you may understand it (I acknowledge some readers may have greater musical backgrounds than others).
To start off in a simple way, I think it is best if I introduce the musical scale. Without going into the importance of keys in music, every scale in music can be defined as eight ascending notes labeled in a way called a scale degree. For the sake of simplicity, the scale will be a major scale since the analysis of major scales is more simplistic.
Source: meggrace.com
As you can see, there are 8 notes in the scale, each note getting higher up on the 5 lines (known as a music staff). The top note on the scale, which is the same note as the bottom, is truly just a higher pitch of the first note which is why each is labeled with a one. This may not make sense now, but hopefully, at some point throughout this blog it will.
For each instance of a note on the scale, there is a number to represent the scale degree. The first note is lower than the second, which is lower than the third, you get the gist. Through the structure of this seemingly simplistic scale, we will find in the upcoming weeks just how popular songs stay with you after you hear them.
Duncan, I know absolutely nothing about music theory or how to read music. Although many of my friends take music theory and play instruments, I do not. I wish I did though. Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to break down the scale so readers like me have an understanding of what is going on. I can’t wait to keep reading your blog so I can learn the logic behind music. I have never really thought about music having logical techniques behind it that keep us listening to songs. However, it does make a lot of sense that there are patterns that keep us listening to and remembering songs. Especially in the capitalistic society we live in, it makes sense that there needs to be techniques that keep songs relevant in our mind so all parties involved can make a profit.
Duncan, I thought reading your first post was really interesting! I have been playing music for a while, but I am interested to see what else you will post and if I will learn anything new! I like how you explained step by step what each note is because it would be helpful for people who may not be familiar with the structure of music. I am excited to see what you will post next about music theory and the reason why music gets stuck in our ears! I haven’t learned much about music theory in the past; I have only really learned the basics in high school. So, I am eager to learn more, especially about how music gets stuck in our heads.
Hello. Thank you for the simple introduction to music. There’s not much to say, since it’s pretty much a string of factual statements. I guess, to be somewhat unique, I like the mention of patterns in pop music; I’m interested to hear how you articulate their traditions– especially with so little word count >:)