The next topic I would like to cover is the nomenclature of the intervals. This is as much for me as it is for you. Knowing the names of the intervals (more rightly, degrees) will make it easier for me to write about, and you to read about, music theory. In addition, the names of the intervals give a clue as to the function of the notes in the scale.

The degrees of the scale are most often either named or numbered. When numbering the degrees of the scale, it is traditional to use roman numerals i.e. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. When speaking it is traditional and proper to speak of the "first" (degree), "fifth" (degree) etc. rather than "one", or "five". When speaking of particular notes, one can use the numerals, when speaking of intervals or jumps between notes, one can also use the roman numeral system. So for example, the distance between the I(st) degree and the IV(th) degree is a IV(th) interval. So far so clear? One final point, the numerals can also be used to designate chords (where the numeral refers to the root note of the chord) and chord progressions e.g. I, IV, V, I. Since the notes aren't named except by their relative position in the scale, instructions written this way function without regard to key signature.

Besides the numbering system, there is a naming system which is also useful. In this system, the degree names are derived from their melodic function within the scale. The seven names are: Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Subdominant, Dominant, Superdominant (or Submediant), Leading Tone.
So the tonic is where the melody comes to rest, it resolves melodic tension, usually it is the last note of a melody, the final resting point, the most important note of the scale.
The next most important note is the Dominant. It also provides a sense of restfulness and resolution, though not as strongly as the tonic. In some musics, it is not uncommon for a melody to resolve to the dominant rather than the tonic (this is one of the identifying features of Ukrainian music). The tonic and dominant often recieve special emphasis in a melody.
The mediant is midway between the tonic and dominant. This is the infamous "third" interval, which most often determines whether a scale is major or minor. After the tonic and dominant, the mediant is the next most important note. It is the 3rd note in a I chord, which is the resting chord of a melody.
The leading tone is so named because it has a strong tendency to want to resolve to the tonic, therefore, it "leads" the melody to the tonic. A leading tone which doesn't resolve to the tonic creates a strong tension within the melody. A true leading tone must always be a major VII, a minor VII doesn't qualify since it doesn't lead to the tonic as strongly. In scales where the VII is minor, the proper name for the VII is subtonic, rather than leading tone. In practice, this distinction is often ignored.
The remaining notes have relatively weaker status within the melodic framework, therefore they are named relative to the stronger notes around them. The supertonic is "above" the tonic. The subdominant is "below" the dominant, while the superdominant is "above" the dominant. I think it is fair to say that these notes tend to want to resolve or move the melody to one of the stronger notes, for this reason, some people call them "passing tones". In actuality, "passing tones" are more rightly tones which aren't part of the harmonic structure. Just because these notes are relatively weak, doesn't mean that they are not of interest. For example, the subdominant happens to be the root of the IV chord which plays an important role as the third chord in a three chord trick. In fact, all 7 notes in the scale are used somewhere within the I, IV, or V chords of the 3 chord trick, so they all have a function and a role to play.

As stated earlier, the "normal" configuration of a chord is 3 notes (I, III, V). An alternate formation is a four note chord, and the most common fourth note is the VII. In point of fact, jazz musicians often will layer many more note into their chords. There is such a thing as a 13th chord and, believe it or not, a 13th chord has all 7 of the diatonic notes of the scale in it. And yes, this chord does get used in jazz. I'm told its all a matter of getting used to how it sounds.

At any rate, it is important to know that there are at least 3 types of 7th chord, there is the major 7th, minor 7th, and dominant 7th. What we will concern ourself with here, is the dominant 7th chord. This is by far the most common 7th, and the one that is meant when you see a chord written e.g. C7 (major 7th would be written CM7 or Cmaj7, while minor 7th would be written Cm7 or Cmin7).

In normal usage, the dominant 7th chord is used only on the V (dominant) chord in a chord progression, and there is a good reason for that which we will now examine. Remember that I told you that the basic chordal accompaniments for most tunes is made up of the following chords I-IV-V. Now, lets take an example of the key of C. The I chord in the key of C is C-E-G and if we add a 7th it would be B (thats a major 7th). The IV chord in the key of C would be F-A-C and if we add a 7th it would be E (again a major 7th). So far all the notes we have worked with in these chords are part of the C major scale. Now lets try the V chord in the key of C. The V chord would be G-B-D and if we add the 7th it would be F# (a major 7th). Here we have run into a problem, the F# is not part of the C major scale! The way we fix that is to lower the F# to F and call it a dominant 7th (we don't call it a minor 7th because those are reserved for scales which don't have a true leading tone i.e. where the I and VII are seperated by 2 half steps.) It's an 'artificial' chord in that it has been adjusted to fit the scale.

Just to touch a bit on usage, the stereotypical chord progression is I-IV-V7-I. The V7 is a very nice, full chord, which pulls strongly toward the tonic chord. Incidentally, the V chord is always a major chord, no matter what. If it doesn't work out to be major on its own, then adjust it and make it major by raising the 3rd. The reason is that the 3rd step of the V chord happens to be the leading tone to the tonic. Look at our example above, the 3rd step of the V chord is B, which is the leading tone to the tonic, C. This is what gives the V chord the strong pull towards the tonic chord. This is what you want. So even in minor scales, make sure your V chords are always major. This is reflected on the button accordion. Generally, the basses are set up to accomodate one minor chord, which happens to be the relative minor tonic chord to the key of the inside row (Amin for the key of C or Emin for the key of G). The reversal of this minor tonic chord button is the major V even though the 3rd step of this major V chord is not within the diatonic scale! This used to cause me confusion. I wondered why this chord wouldn't be minor to stay within the diatonic scale, but now, with a little music theory under my belt I understand that it functions much better with a leading tone for the 3rd step. A much more satisfying chord progression results.

Probably the most common application of music theory is to set chords to a melody. It is an operation which is part art and part science. In the end, your ears are the final judge, and everything must be given a proof-listen. The proper chords are determined by the notes in the melody as well as by the chords which come before and after it (the progression). Often there are several chords which could work, and you must then choose the one which will create the strongest progression.

Start by examining the music and decide whether there will be one or two chord changes per measure (you can also have more than two, e.g. a slip jig might have 3). Usually there are two. It is mainly determined by the number of bass strikes per measure. If you have 3 basses per measure, like a waltz, you will only have one chord change per measure. On the other hand, a jig or polka, which have 4 strikes per measure will have 2 potential changes per measure.

So, each chord will need to harmonize with its own section of the melody, be it 1 measure, 1/2 measure, 1/3 measure or what have you. Look at the notes in that section. You should get in the habit of looking at those notes from a rhythmic viewpoint. In other words, certain of the notes occur on a strong beat, others on a weak or off beat, and others still on no beat at all. The notes that occur on the strong beats will have the most weight in determining the chordal accompaniment, and those between the beats will have the least weight.

Now, figure out what chords contain the melody notes which occur on the strong beats. Probably, you will have more than one match. It helps if you make up a table which shows the notes in all the major, minor, and dominant 7th chords. Look to the notes on the weak beats next to see if you can narrow it down. If you still have more than one potential chord, examine the remaining melody notes to try to figure out the most likely match. There is a chance that even with all that, you still won't be 100% sure of the chord. If that is the case, you look at the chord progression and decide which is the most likely next chord. In one of the following sections, I will attempt to give you a feel for some typical progressions for the button box, but one develops a feel for what works after long practice at assigning chords. You already know the I-IV-V7 rule which is the most common, so start there. Another nice progression is a progression of IVs. In other words, it duplicates the sequence of chords from the circle of 4ths.

At this point, all that remains is to listen to the music with the chords. If something doesn't sound right, or if it sounds wishy-washy make some changes until it sound better. Remember that changing one chord can impact the chords that follow it, so work your way through the music methodically, making one change at a time, and be sure to listen to the effect of each change before proceeding. Also remember that the most common ending for any tune, or section of a tune is the V7-I progression. 99% of all tunes end on the tonic chord.

Another very useful skill for the button accordion player is the ability to transpose music. Since our instruments are specific to a few keys, you won't always be lucky enough to find the tunes you want to play in the key you want to play them in. In cases like this, the thing to do is to transpose the music into a key that is more useable for you. Its really a very easy (though potentially laborious) process. Basically, what you need to do is determine how many half steps are between the key of the original music, and the desired key. It will be somewhere from 1-12. Then you just methodically go through the music and add that number of half steps to every note in the music. Do the same with the chords. All the major chords will remain major, and all the minor chords will remain minor. Make sure you revise your key signature.

Lets take an example. Here is a little tune in C: CDE CDE DCD ECC
We want to convert it to the key of G. First we determine how many half steps seperate the two keys. So we count from C to G: C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G That's 7 half steps. Now we go through and add 7 half steps to each note in the tune: C+7=G, D+7=A, E+7=B. Now we write the tune with the new notes. GAB GAB AGA BGG Now the tune is in the key of G. Remember to change the key signature from no sharp and no flats to 1 sharp.

If you do better with graphical input, you can use the circle of 5ths diagram to help you. Just count the number of spaces you must move clockwise around the wheel from one key to another, then apply that same number of spaces to every note in the tune. In the above example we would have only need to move 1 space clockwise to go from C to G, all the notes would have thus been moved 1 space clockwise to get the new notes.

If you are really creative, you could print off the circle of fifths and then photocopy it at 50% reduction on a piece of transparency film. Then punch a hole in the middle of both circles and rivet them together with a paper rivet (transparency on top). Now you can simply dial in the coversion and directly read the notes. Easy!

I'm not going to attempt to teach you how to read music, not even the basics like time and key signatures. There are many good books and good websites on that topic, and I'm not going to duplicate that effort, given that music reading is basically the same for all instruments. The only thing specific to button boxes is tab, and I have another section which explains about that.

I do want to say, however, that the ability to read music is one of the most useful skills you can have as a musician. It will open the doors to a whole world of music. Tunes you've never heard before, stuff that nobody has ever played on a button box can be yours for the asking. If you can read music, you can always write up your own tab, if you are more comfortable with that. So make the effort to learn to read music. Even if you never become fluent, at least you can hunt and peck your way through a new tune if you want.