Music Matters
Bass Sequence Using Falling Thirds - Music Composition
This music composition lesson explores one idea for writing a sequence based on a pattern in the bass line. In this case, the bass alternates falling thirds with rising seconds to generate a melodic pattern at the bottom of the texture,...
Music Matters
Alternating Inversion Chords when Harmonizing a Descending Bass - Music Composition
We explore one idea for harmonising a descending scale in the bass line. Many people find it easier to harmonise an ascending scale than a descending scale and most people find it easier to harmonise a scale at the top of the texture...
Music Matters
How to Harmonize a Fast Moving Melody - Music Composition
Discover how to harmonise a fast moving melody with chords. The temptation is to harmonise every note, resulting in a harmonic rhythm that moves too quickly. We explore how to determine which notes are harmony notes / chord tones and...
Music Matters
Harmonic Sequences - Music Composition
How to write simple harmonic sequences over a bass line that is derived from the pattern of the circle of 5ths. By alternating intervals of the 4th and the 5th in the bass a descending bass line is created above which a systematic chord...
Odd Quartet
How To Build Seventh Chords
Today I want to talk about seventh chords. Seventh chords are a type of four note chord used in western music. The two types we will talk about today are the Major Seventh and the Dominant Seventh. We will go over how to build them note...
Odd Quartet
How to Add Different Voices - MuseScore tutorial
Sometimes you need to have two different music parts to be playing at the same time in the same staff. Or, you might want to save space by having two voices share a staff. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use the voices feature...
Odd Quartet
Building Seventh Chords - Part 2
In this lesson we will go over three more complex versions of the seventh chord - minor, augmented, and diminished. We will go over the different scale degrees used in the chords and how to build them. We will look at examples of each...
Curated Video
Hearing Differently
Award-winning violinmaker and acoustician Joseph Curtin describes how many musicians would benefit from learning to listen like recording engineers.
Music Matters
Why Learn Figured Bass? - Music Theory
See why every musician should become familiar with figured bass. For harpsichordists and organists needing to realise figured bass in performance realising figured bass fluently with style is essential. For others it’s a useful way of...
Music Matters
Why is White Christmas So Popular? - Composer Insights
We explore what makes the harmony of this iconic Christmas song so iconic and durable. Irving Berlin’s song from 1940 includes a rich blend of diatonic, extended and chromatic chords, which skilfully add distinctive character to the song...
Music Matters
Which Chords Can You Borrow? - Music Composition
Learn about the most commonly used borrowed chords and chromatically altered chords. Many composers and arrangers find themselves limited to diatonic chords and lack the confidence to use borrowed and chromatically altered chords. Yet...
Music Matters
What Can You Write Before an Augmented 6th Chord - Music Composition
Which are the most common approach chords? We consider the reasons why these chords work better than other options, examining voice leading, the smooth progression of parts, and the avoidance of parallels & false relations. This music...
Music Matters
Using the Circle of Fifths on Piano - Music Theory
Learn the quickest and most efficient methods of modulating from one key to the next on the circle of 5ths. The first part of the video is devoted to movement from key to key moving left around the circle of 5ths, then the second part is...
Music Matters
Hallmarks of Chopin's Poetic Style - Composer Insights
Chopin’s E minor Prelude is one of his most popular and most beautiful Preludes. What makes the impact of this piece so poetic? This composer insights lesson begins by examining the melodic line in the right hand. Through much of the...
Music Matters
Composing Twelve-Tone Music - Implications of Tonality in Serialism
How to approach constructing a note row that also incorporates a sense of tonality. The music composition lesson explores how to build in some implication of a key within a twelve-tone serial piece and explains how to achieve a...
Music Matters
Upside Down 7th Chords - Music Composition
A clever little music composition technique for you to try in your next piece. This music composition lesson begins with a reminder of how to extend triads to 7th chords in the conventional manner. It then goes on to consider an...
Music Matters
Turning Chords into Arpeggios - Music Composition
This music composition lesson demonstrates how to take a succession of block chords and turn them into melodic lines with arpeggiated accompaniment. The chord sequence is analysed then organised as a melodic line at the top of the...
Music Matters
How to Vary the Harmony for Repeated Notes - Music Theory
Many composers and students of harmony worry about harmonising repeated notes in a melody. Repeated notes can make for melodic stagnation and the remedy is often to create harmonic interest but how is this achieved? This music theory...
Music Matters
How to Approach a Flat II Chord - Music Composition
Some examples of chords that would work well approaching a Neapolitan flat two chord. This music composition lesson begins with a reminder of how to form a major chord on the flattened supertonic, otherwise known as a Neapolitan chord....
Music Matters
Creating a Moving Bass Line - Music Composition
Discover how to transform a piece of music that is using block chords into a much more engaging presentation with a moving bass line. Taking the opening of the British National Anthem this music composition lesson demonstrates how to...
Music Matters
Bach Goes Wacky - Inside the Mind Bach
The key movement is fast and chords do not always resolve as expected. In particular, we discover how Bach uses a number of unresolved dominant 7ths back to back, making this a radical approach for Baroque times. Discover what Bach is...
Music Matters
What is Colour in Music - Music Appreciation
Colour in music can mean a number of different things. Some musicians experience Synesthesia in which particular notes, keys or chords are experienced directly in relation to particular colours. We talk about the Blues or about white...
Music Matters
Who Needs the Rule of the Octave? - Music Theory
This music theory lesson summarises the rule of the octave and explains how it offers insight into harmonic thinking and into Baroque harmony in particular. The rule of the octave begins with the notion of harmonising an octave of the...