B is never the III, flat or otherwise, of Am. It is the II of A. I'm guessing Bart made a typo.
BTW, the NNS people do not favor lower case Romans ever. They want us to say III minor, bVII Major, V augmented, etc...
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
According to the NNS site I checked, https://www.howmusicreallyworks.com/...ter_6/6_4.html you use the chord/degree names for C major for A minor. Am is the 6 minor in the key of A minor. They also discourage lower case Roman numerals, while conceding that it is not a universal standard.
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
Nashville Number System, ok, understood you desire to follow NNS conventions Jim. But NNS is not what I'm describing, but simply the conventions used in music classes and music theory writings quite apart from NNS. The way I learned was from theorists who used capital Romans to indicate major chords and lowercase Romans to indicate minor chords. I think it eliminates confusion when teaching diatonic harmony. However, I've heard more than one proponent of NNS make the similar statement as your article:
But, personally I think it only breeds confusion in the minds of those who are fully immersed in NNS.Don’t do this. Do not use lower-case Roman numerals, ever. It only breeds confusion.
I believe NNS was developed originally for writing charts for session musicians in Nashville who couldn't read music. Something to that effect, anyway. Over time it has been refined to notate timing etc. So as a system of charting or notating changes in music it is a wonderful tool. I don't know if it will ever dominate the entire world of music, or bend the practice of teaching diatonic harmony concepts exclusively to its conventions, though.
I learned a while back (before picking up the mandolin) when playing with guys who had played in sessions in Nashville, that they would consider a song to be in the key of D when I was playing a tune in B minor - and to me it has really simplified things to think only of the major key as "the key". So a tune in a "minor key" is called by its relative major key name ... that makes total sense in our system of music, to relate all modes to their relative major key.
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On the contrary, I prefer Upper/lower Romans for Major/minor. I was just relaying what I learned. I personally would call Am the 1 in the key of A minor. Saying "6 minor" and all the other conversions necessary to follow a song would make my head explode.
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
BTW, my last post and Jim Broyles' previous posts just underscore the point I was trying to make in my post #25 - that the numbers are confusing to any student or player of music unless he has a good grasp of the context. Numbers can be thrown out in many different contexts and even in different formats. To me it just emphasizes why studying music theory, notation, tablature, NNS and anything else you can handle is a good thing if you want to discuss music with other musicians. It can make it easier to play music with other musicians if you can understand where they're coming from and what "music theory dialect" they use. Not necessary for being able to play, but helpful in communicating verbally or on the written page.
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Phil
“Sharps/Flats” ≠ “Accidentals”
That may be the case. It sounds pedantic, but this is theory forum, after all: the 3 of A anything has to be C something, even if it is enharmonic with B natural.
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
According to the site I linked they use both.
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
I'm a firm believer in using the number "one", or "i" for the tonic in a minor key. Using the numbers for the relative major key is misleading and bad theory. The numbers should show the function IN THE PROPER KEY. I'm also a proponent of using lower case Roman numerals for minor, as is it simple and saves time and ink.
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