Odd Quartet
How Accidentals Work on Different Staves
Hi everyone, today I want to talk a little about accidentals. So far we have only talked about how accidentals act when they are on one staff. But what happens when you have more than one staff of music? Maybe it’s a piece of piano music...
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...
Odd Quartet
Anatomy of a Music Note - Music Theory Crash Course
How do we identify the different parts of a note in music?
Music Matters
Two-Part Counterpoint Masterclass from Bach - Composer Insights
We explore the first of Bach’s 15 two part Inventions in the key of C. This composer insights lesson unbolts the imitative counterpoint, explaining the various contrapuntal ingredients and how they are used throughout the piece....
Music Matters
Rhythm Bootcamp - Pulse, Tempo and Rhythm
What is the difference between rhythm, tempo and pulse? This rhythm lesson looks at these three elements separately and will help you to build a steady pulse and slow, medium and fast tempi. It then moves on to counting and clapping some...
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
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
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
Using a Slow Moving Theme with Cantus Firmus - Music Composition
We explore how to write a free moving line over a sustained melody presented in long notes. The example here uses the first two phrases of “Happy Birthday to you” set as a cantus firmus in long notes in the left hand, while the right...
Music Matters
Four-Part Harmony from a Bass Line - Music Composition
Many people are happy harmonising a melodic line but often are less happy harmonising starting with a bass line. This music composition lesson begins with a bass line and considers the best way to select chords to fit it. He then...
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
Two Against Three Rhythms - Music Theory
Triplets are explained, sextuplets are related to them, then how to play 2’s against 3’s. The “3 for the price of 2” is defined with examples given of triplets using different rhythmic units, as well as examples of triplets using fewer...
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
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
Composing with a 5 Note Pitch Set - Music Composition
How to write a piece of music with only five notes. This music composition lesson takes a set of five notes and considers ideas for composing or improvising a piece based on those notes. We then explore how the Australian composer, Peter...
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
Rhythm Bootcamp - Clapping Rhythms in Compound Time, Including Duplets
Practice clapping rhythms in compound time. Learn how to breakdown various compound time rhythms that include duplets and how to count them correctly in 6/8, 6/4, 9/8, 12/16 and 12/8 time. This rhythm lesson breaks down the rhythms...
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...
Music Matters
What is the Pentatonic Scale? - Music Theory
We explore the Pentatonic scale. As the title suggests the scale comprises 5 notes instead of the 7 notes that make up the major scale and the minor scale. This music theory lesson looks at the different ways of calculating the notes...
Music Matters
Using Minor 5 Chords - Music Composition
We consider the possibilities for using chord V as either a major or a minor chord. In the harmonic minor context used by most composers since 1600 chord V is always major but in the context of the descending melodic minor scale and in...
Music Matters
Improving a Bass Line - Music Composition
How to take a plain bass line and turn it into something much more interesting. By using quavers and eighth notes this music composition lesson works through how to use extra chord tones, harmony notes and non-chord tones, inessential...
Music Matters
Identifying Non-Chord Tones - Music Theory
This music theory lesson works through a short passage of music identifying all the non-chord tones or inessential notes. The video explores the harmonic outline of the piece before covering an explanation of passing tones, passing notes...
Music Matters
How to Analyze Harmony in Music - Music Theory
How to undertake a roman numeral chord analysis of a piece of music. Using a short movement by Schumann this music theory lesson explains how to read the keys then how to discover each of the chords, including designating extension...