Music Matters
Simple Soloing using the Pentatonic Scale - Music Performance
Never been quite sure what the pentatonic scale is? Know what the pentatonic scale is but not sure how to use it? Want to improvise or compose a really effective piece without having to know much about theory or chords? Get creative with...
Schooling Online
Perfecting Poetry: Rosemary Dobson - Amy Caroline
Discover Dobson’s poignant reflection on her grandmother, Amy Caroline. Dobson offers a lively and quirky description of Amy Caroline. She always had time for others and loved caring for the birds and flowers. But life hasn’t always been...
Music Matters
How Chord Inversions Work - Music Theory
Learn how chord inversions work, what they are, how and when to use them, and how to label them. This music theory lesson includes U.K. and U.S. terminology to describe inversion chords and you will learn how to use all the diatonic...
Music Matters
Generating Rhythmic Movement and Embellishment - Inside the Mind of Bach
A look at a Bach chorale where the embellishments work in conjunction to create rhythmic movement within the piece. We examine the choice of harmony, the part writing, dealing with harmonic and melodic minor, plus other features of the...
Music Matters
Horizontal and Vertical Sight Reading
Learning to sight read advanced piano music involves improving your skills in both horizontal and vertical sight reading. Some keyboard players tend to read individual lines from left to right on the score. This is useful for absorbing...
Music Matters
Creating Melodies from Chord Progressions - Music Composition
Learn how to create melodies from chord progressions. We start with a set of chords in four-part harmony and find notes which fit the progression before going on to add melodic variation and input some non-harmonic tones. This music...
Music Matters
How to Compose a Melody from a Chord Scheme - Music Composition
Learn how to write a melody over a chord progression. Have you got a great set of chords that need a melody to fit with them? In this music composition lesson we learn how to compose or improvise a melody that fits with a given chord...
Music Matters
Common Notes Between Chords - Inside the Mind of Bach
How does Bach create stability when writing harmony? Let's find out as we take a deeper look into a fantastic chorale harmonization and examine the choice of harmony, chromatic chords, secondary dominants, borrowed chords. and...
Odd Quartet
How Style and Instrumentation Affect Chord Progressions
Today we will look at a chord progression, but we will look at it in two different ways. First, as an 18th century piano composition. Then, as a 1950s American dance music. The trick is that we will use the same chord progression for...
Music Matters
Reading and Understanding Intervals - How to Read Music
How to work out intervals and develop the ability to hear and pitch them. Many people struggle to pitch notes accurately from a score, whether you’re a singer or someone needing to sight sing in an instrumental exam. In this video you'll...
Music Matters
Rachmaninoff's Lyrical Use of Motif - Composer Insights
How Sergei Rachmaninoff makes use of motifs when composing music. This composer insights lesson explores the opening of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”. The melodic design is explained alongside the rich harmony, which features extended and...
Mr Henry's Music World
Music Theory for Kids Quarter Rest
Learn about the Musical Alphabet and Lines and Spaces on the music staff in this animated video about music theory.
Music Matters
Using a Common Note in Harmony - Music Composition
How to convert a less than satisfactory passage of harmony into a passage that works much better. In particular, there is a focus on how to use common notes (common tones) to maintain stability in the part writing when moving from one...
Music Matters
The Best Chords to Follow Chord One - Music Composition
Are you struggling to get started in writing a chord progression? When you're writing a chord progression it often makes sense to start with chord one but which chords could you use next? This music composition lesson gives you thirteen...
Music Matters
3 Ways to Modulate from the Same Opening - Music Composition
This music composition lesson takes an opening bar and demonstrates how to modulate into three different closely related keys. The opening bar is used as a departure point for modulations to the dominant, the subdominant and the relative...
Music Matters
Music Theory Exam Tips & Advice - Music Theory
These music theory exam tips could make all the difference in your exam. Are you taking a music theory exam soon? Then this music theory lesson is for you. Find out what to take to the exam, how best to prepare, how to work through the...
Music Matters
What are Messiaens Modes of Limited Transposition: Music Theory
Learn about the 7 modes of limited transposition used by Olivier Messiaen in his music. The difference between these and more common modes is explained, along with an explanation of how each mode has a particular number of possible...
Two Minute Music Theory
Why Eric Whitacre's Clusterchords Work
Today we're looking at the 14-part clusterchord from Water Night by Eric Whitacre, how it is constructed, and how it all works - thanks to a good preparation of voicing and voice-leading.
Music Matters
George Michaels Skillful Use of Extended Chords Composer Insights
An insight into the introduction of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” to discover the skills employed to create the opening to this iconic song. This video lays out the chord scheme used during the introduction and demonstrates the...
Music Matters
Why the Notes E# B# Cb and Fb Really Do Exist - Music Theory
Yes, the notes E#, B#, Cb and Fb really do exist and it's important to know why. In this music theory lesson we explain the often confusing topic of enharmonic equivalents and why in music we sometimes have to call a note E# instead of...
Music Matters
How to Harmonize a Major Scale - Music Theory
Would you like to be able to harmonize a major scale? Improve your keyboard harmony and learn how to easily harmonize a major scale. Being able to harmonize a major scale gives you a good feel for the key - useful for players and...
Music Matters
False Relation - Music Theory
Learn all about false relation and the two ways in which it commonly occurs. A false relation comes about when there are two notes of the same letter but with differing accidentals that either occur simultaneously or between one chord...
Odd Quartet
Listener's Guide To Carnival Of The Animals By Camille Saint-Säens - Movement 13 - The Swan
Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...
Music Matters
Orchestration & Writing for Woodwind - The Oboe
A look at how to write for the oboe in detail. During this orchestration video you will discover the range of the Oboe, the clef it uses, how it functions as a double reed non-transposing instrument, and how to write for it in such a way...