Major vs Minor Scales
The major and minor scales differ in the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes of the scale. Major scales are believed to be more bright and happy while minor scales are believed to be more dark and dreary.
Octave
Why is an octave, which is 12 notes, named as if it were only eight? It is called an octave because there are eight notes in the primary major and minor scales. Even though we recognize 12 semitones in an octave now, historically music used whole number ratios to determine the fifth and third and resulting in an eight notes (the notes of the scales) representing an octave. However, these ratios did not work well if many octaves were in play. The Church was strongly behind whole number ratios in music as they considered them holy. It is only recently (16th or 17th century) that we have moved to the 12 tone equal temperament scale for music.
Mellotron
The mellotron is an analog sampler invented in the early 1960s. It was used by many artists, including The Beatles, The Moody Blues, and others. It functioned by having piano-like keys that, when pressed, caused a length of magnetic tape to roll past a tape head. Each key had its own tape with a recorded sample to match the pitch of that key. Sample tapes were only about seven seconds long and had to rewind before they could be played again.
Symphony
A symphony is a musical piece composed for performance by an orchestra.
Orchestra
An orchestra is a musical group usually combining woodwinds, brass, percussion, string and others. Orchestras perform several varieties of of music, including symphonies.
Philharmonic
The word philharmonic, while it has an etymological definition, doesn’t really mean anything when used adjectively, such as in the name of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Philharmonic comes from the words for “love” or “love of” and “music”, thus literally translating into “love of music”. Just as the London Symphony Orchestra is so named and literally means “an orchestra in London that plays symphonies”, the London Philharmonic Orchestra simply uses the word to differentiate itself (literally, “an orchestra in London that loves music”). The word itself was originally used to name a music society, so it has always been used as a pronoun or adjective, having no real musical definition.
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