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...

Bach loves to use scalic bass lines within his chorales as a solid foundation for building the harmonic structure. Often the bass lines interact with the other parts within the texture to create a conversational type of movement. Let's...

How to harmonize a melody in four different ways. This music composition lesson begins by using diatonic chords to present two possible alternative harmonisations. We then move on to two further harmonisations using chromatic chords and...

What is doubling the major third? How do you know if its a major third? Can you double thirds? Why is doubling a major third bad? This music composition lesson explains one of the rules of writing four-part harmony, namely the advice to...

Season 3, Episode 19 - Two Minute Music Theory Today we begin a series on Building Chords. Starting with the two most common types of chords in western music: The Major and Minor Chords.

What does a lead sheet look like and how do you play from one? This music performance lesson takes you through the first eight bars of a famous Standard, “Lullaby of Birdland”, explaining how a lead sheet works, unpacking how to read...

Music Matters demonstrates Identifying Inessential Notes

How to grasp extended chords and chromatic chords from a Lead Sheet. Using the opening section of the jazz standard “Fly me to the moon” you will learn how to read a rich chord language and how to organise the spacing and texture of...

Occasionally you'll find that even Bach doesn't follow the rules of four-part harmony however he often has a good reason to break them. This video takes a look at one of his Chorales in which some rules are broken in order to achieve a...

Does it get any better than Mozart? This composer insights lesson explores the first movement of Mozart’s K545 Sonata in C. The simple phrase structure and melodic design are unpacked in the context of the overall Sonata Form. Triadic...

How Grieg builds musical character in “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen”, number 6 of his op.65 Lyric Pieces written in celebration of his own 25th wedding anniversary. The celebratory character is explored through the tonality, the...

Season 3, Episode 21 - Two Minute Music Theory The third installment in our Building Chords Series. Today we look at building all types of Seventh Chords, which are extensions of the basic triad.

Season 3, Episode 22 - Two Minute Music Theory The third installment in our Building Chords Series. Today we look at what happens when the chord isn't stacked like it normally is. When notes aren't in their normal position, we call that...

This composer insights lesson shows how Elgar creates a picture of innocent and passionate love at this significant moment in his life and explores the opening of Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour”, written as his engagement gift to his intended...

As we continue our Chords series, today we look at the chords that can be made using the major and minor keys - which are called Diatonic Chords.

Learn all about the Picardy Third and Picardy Cadence, otherwise known as the Tierce de Picarde. The Tierce da Picardie is a musical device often used by composers to provide an optimistic finish to a piece in a minor key. The Tierce da...

Learn from the master of harmony and find out how Bach uses suspensions to enrich the chords within this chorale. We examine the choice of harmony and modulation, the part writing, the use of inessential notes and suspensions, plus...

How to build augmented and diminished chords

Sometimes keeping things simple works. This Bach chorale is a great example of how Bach keeps things simple and still manages to demonstrate his artistic genius. We examine the choice of harmony and modulation, the part writing, the use...

A look at Fanny Mendelssohn's Melodie

What does pandiatonicism mean in music? How did pandiatonicism come about and which composers used it? This music theory lesson explains pandiatonicism, ‘pan’ meaning ‘all’ and ‘diatonic’ meaning inside a key. Examples are explored which...

Hey there! Looking for fun, awesome piano lessons for kids ages 6-10? Check out this video!

Learn how to write and compose counterpoint combined with homophony. Counterpoint is an advanced music composition technique that involves weaving together multiple melody lines. Working in a Baroque style, this video demonstrates how...

How to read chords on a lead sheet on the piano. Many pieces of music are presented in lead sheet format i.e. where a melodic line is printed with chord symbols above. What do these symbols mean and how does one play from a lead sheet?...