Tonal, Atonal

Tonal refers to the eight notes that make the scale as we saw before. The same eight notes repeat over and over up and down the keyboard. It is a primary scale that does not have a lot of dissonance associated with it. Dissonance is the quality of sound that is responsible for it sounding sad. If you look at the keys of something like a piano, the tonal scale would be considered the white keys on the board. The little black keys on the piano are considered half steps above every whole step. The whole step describes the space between every white key which takes up exactly one space on the staff. These make up sharps and flats as seen in sheet music. The sharps what the black keys are called as you move up the scale. On the other hand, the flat notes are found moving back down the scale compared to the relative position of the hand to the keyboard. Traditional music, which came from Europe during the Middle Ages originally, looked something like this. Back then, it was a time of starving artists who would later become famous classical composers such as Bach and Beethoven. What they did was arrange groups of these sharps and flats and record them into the sheet music as part of the notation or the directions for performance. These then determined the key in which the song would be played as well as the sound of that song.

The number of keys that can be had are approximately eight, ranging from having no sharps or flats to having as many as them all. This approach required a great deal of memorization and also took a long time to learn. Additionally, it was also very complicated. Now, I don't necessarily agree with this method because I think there is a simpler approach to music. Suppose there are no set rules that govern musical expression and no keys in which to play. This allows you to see the sharps and flats as a set of tones rather, which I think is a little truer to form. Thus, the white keys would be considered primary or tonal sound, and the black keys would be the secondary or the atonal sound. This view frees up the musician to express themselves in a much broader way. A good example of this type would be the jazz musicians that sprang up in say the past seventy years. Their music, as are most tribal melodies, composed mainly of memorization, tradition, and playing by expression or feeling. The tonal and atonal view allows for musical expression and creativity in a much broader way. The other, much older, approach uses the sharps and flats as part of the musical keys and is strictly inflexible. The use of musical notation and memorization for this method is extremely high. Classical, European, American, and even more modern music all use this approach. A good way to view tonal and atonal is that of a man looking into a mirror. The man doing the looking would be considered the tonal figure. His reflection then that he sees looking back would be the atonal figure. Imagine music layered on top of each other in the tonal, atonal pattern creating a mirror-like effect. The sound would be haunting, rich, and at the same time full. It would draw you in and the memory would haunt you for days, if you let it. Just as with a mirror though, the possibilities for variation are endless allowing for the creation of what sounds like musical echoes.

Maybe

May it be

That you will see

Jesus' love on Calvary.

May it be

That then you'll know

Why it is God loves you so.

At thirty-three

Jesus came and bled and died

To remove all our guilt inside.

God as man withering passed

Like us; death held him at last.

The empty tomb

Is no more his room;

The Father raised him up again.

Now he stands at God's right hand

Victorious over Satan, death, and sin.

May it be forevermore

On Heaven's far distant shore

We will see in other light

Our faith yet made sight.

May it be

We'll meet again

Up in Heaven where

There will be no parting there.

Tales

Perhaps you're doing well.

Maybe you've decided to sit a spell

To rest your weary legs

Before they become two wooden pegs.

Have pigs from their slumber woken

To invite you to bring a token

Of food for hungry scavengers;

Think not of those as harbingers.

Should you fail in this task

Then the pigs will don masks

And sneak throughout the house

Looking for their wayward grouse.

Soon, two wonders you'll behold

Since you ever were so bold

To think such things were truly tamed

That henceforth shall go unnamed.

Still their feeding should remind

You of smarting eyes and sore behind

Lest you too should rue the day

You ever ceased to them obey.

Now this silly rhyme I'll close

Before they up and smack me on the nose.

My Kitty

There's a sleepy kitty in my arms;

He's sheltered safe from all alarms.

With gentle, contented sigh

His paw stretches towards the sky.

This morning we two tempers lost

As claw marks and blows were our cost.

But after loving amends

All's forgiven; we're now best friends.

Existence

Existence is more than mere

Motions or simply earnest devotions.

At times it can seem like you're trapped

In a cycle of perpetual motion.

At times you're feeling so small

And the fees stack up tall

With some certain realities

Of making no progress at all.

Nor is time lost spent on billows,

As failures come crashing back,

Small wins earned from when

You successfully made your attack.

At times it would simply be nice

To perfectly trust that Jesus Christ

Would one day carry you through

Shipwreck into fair lands of spice.

Christmas Day

See in Bethlehem long ago

Jesus was born on Christmas night.

To be the truth, to light the way

No matter what any men may say.

He died on cruel Calvary's tree

That at last from sin we might be free.

Defeating death he rose again,

Jesus the savior of men,

Up to his Father's side in Heaven

Resting from his work at 7-11.

We're not alone in this world below.

But one day soon we'll go

To meet him in the air

And finally live with him there.