Pop quiz, y’all. What was the first thing that was ever recorded in audio? Since we’re all music fans here, then it’s good to know a little history. Was the first line: a)  “Oh, Romeo. Oh, Romeo. Where for art thou, Romeo?” b)  “Mary Had a Little Lamb … whose fleece was white as snow.”

So … it’s 2010 now. And the next decade is going to be awesome. The music we’re making these days is really good, too … like the newest wave in an ocean of sound. Every new song we hear is influenced—in some way—by the music of yesterday. Which has got me thinking … what are

It’s true … squares and circles really are everywhere. And they’re more than just the inspiration for song lyrics. Over thousands of years, these two basic shapes have worked their way into our everyday lives. Maybe it’s because they each have such a simple design. The square, with its solid corners … and the circle, with its

Okay, can you name this face? I’ll give you three hints: He was a monk He lived during the Middle Ages He’s one of the most famous musicians who ever lived That’s right … it’s Guido d’Arezzo—the guy who invented modern (black-and-white) musical notation. He lived from about 995 to 1050 A.D. And, in his time,

Since we’ve been looking at the chromatic scale a lot lately, maybe it would be nice to stop for a moment and take a little quiz. That way, we can stretch our hands, rub our eyes, and think about something else for a change. After all, we don’t want to go crazy, do we? What if we even

So … music notation was designed to favor the key of C. And that’s why the grand staff is centered around the note we call “middle C.” But back in the day, when musicians developed notation, they decided to take things even further … and they actually based the layout of the staves on the C major

By now, you may have noticed that I’m not making this up. The truth is that Color Music is real … which means both color and music follow the exact same patterns. Once you see this connection, you can simply follow these patterns wherever they go. So what started with a basic color wheel is now

So all the colors follow the exact same patterns as the scale degrees in music … which is cool. You can see how the different notes are spaced out at whole-step and half-step intervals. And nothing is really complex at all. But you might still be wondering, “Wait a minute … why do we use both letters and numbers

In music, the first and most basic pattern to know is the chromatic scale. It’s actually so basic you might even say it’s the mother of all note patterns. Every scale and every chord comes from the chromatic scale. And nearly all instruments are based on this pattern of notes. The most common example of

Okay, so color is simple. There are just 12 colors in the color wheel and we all know how they work. You’ve got primaries … and secondaries … and tertiaries. Oh yeah, and there are complementary colors, too. It’s basic, really. As it turns out, music patterns are just as simple—seriously. They just look a little strange.