Music Matters
Improve Your Harmony - Music Composition
Improve your harmony with advanced chords and learn how to write more dramatic chord progressions with this music composition tip. In this music composition lesson we analyse the harmony of the opening section of Bach’s C Minor Partita,...
Music Matters
How to Improve your Piano Accompaniments - Music Performance
How to improve your piano accompaniments. This music performance lesson explores how to bring piano accompaniments to life when you simply have a set of chords to read. When piano and other keyboard players read a melody from a lead...
Music Matters
The Best Chords to Follow Chord III (in Major Keys) - Music Composition
Are you struggling to get started in writing a chord progression? If you want to use chord III what are the best options for chords to follow? This music composition lesson gives you plenty of options for chords that progress well from...
Music Matters
The Best Chords to Follow Chord VI (in Major Keys) - Music Composition
Are you struggling to get started in writing a chord progression? If you want to use chord VI what are the best options for chords to follow? This music composition lesson gives you plenty of options for chords that progress well from...
Music Matters
Decoding David Bowie's Harmonic Language - Composer Insights
Is There Life On Mars? A harmonic analysis of one of Bowie's best. We delve into the mind of the composer and explore what makes David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” such an original and iconic song. The main focus is on the harmonic content of...
Music Matters
Burgmuller's Romantic Harmony - Composer Insights
This composer insights lesson explores the Romantic harmony of Burgmüller as written in his delightful character piece for piano “At the Christmas Tree”. It explains the overall Ternary structure of the piece then how the internal phrase...
Music Matters
Identifying Double Major Thirds - Music Composition
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...
Two Minute Music Theory
Building Major and Minor Chords - TWO MINUTE MUSIC THEORY #39
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.
Music Matters
The Rules of Harmony and Some Things to Avoid - Keyboard Harmony
These rules will get you writing better harmony. Avoiding these common mistakes, although not absolutely necessary, will often help your keyboard harmony flow much better than before. In this video, we work through some of the ‘rules of...
Music Matters
How to Modulate - Music Theory
Learn how to easily modulate using something known as a pivot chord. Do you struggle to modulate from one key to another? Then this is for you. Lots of people can write or improvise music but get stuck in one key. Changing key, or...
Music Matters
Improvising Melodies over Harmony - Keyboard Harmony
Starting with a set of chords and finding a melody to fit them on the piano. Building keyboard harmony skills with improvisation but also keeping some of the rules of harmony and melodic techniques in mind. Most people engaged in...
Music Matters
Original Music Matters Theme - Composing for the Piano
In this episode of composing for the piano we introduce the original Music Matters theme. Over the course of this series, we're going to take the music matters theme and arrange it into different styles, discussing music composition...
Two Minute Music Theory
Why Are Pop Songs So Dang Catchy? - TWO MINUTE MUSIC THEORY #20
Pop songs are so dang catchy, whether you like them or not; but why? We look to music theory for the answers.
Music Matters
Playing from a Lead Sheet - Music Performance
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 the...
Odd Quartet
Music Theory - The "Amen" Chords - What Is A Plagal Cadence?
The plagal cadence, also sometimes called the "amen" cadence. In this video we look at examples of the plagal cadence, how it is used in music, and what it sounds like by listening to some examples. This continues our look into music...
Music Matters
Identifying Inessential Notes - Music Composition
Music Matters demonstrates Identifying Inessential Notes
Music Matters
The Easy Method to Work Out Intervals - Music Theory
Discover an easy method to work out and accurately identify intervals using this simple interval chart. In music, an interval is a measured distance between two notes. When the notes sound at the same time it is called a harmonic...
Music Matters
How to Change Key with One Note - Music Theory
This music theory lesson explains how to effect radical modulation by using just a single note. By using a single pivot note, rather than a pivot chord, it is possible to modulate to distant keys without making the music sound strange....
Music Matters
Writing Better Harmony - Music Composition
How to write better harmony and chord progressions. This music composition lesson begins with what is often a typical working of a four-part harmony exercise, which doesn’t sound bad but doesn’t sound good. We explore what works and what...
Music Matters
Writing a Melody Over a Chord Progression - Music Composition
How to compose and develop melody over a set of chords. Are you someone who can come up with a chord progression but you’re not quite sure how to improvise or write a melody to go with it? In this music composition lesson, we take a...
Music Matters
The Interrupted Cadence - Music Theory
Learn all about the interrupted cadence, also known as the deceptive cadence, which chords it uses and how it sounds. Would you like to write an interrupted cadence? Would you like to be able to hear interrupted cadences? Cadences...
Music Matters
Reading Extended and Chromatic Chords on a Lead Sheet - Music Performance
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...
Music Matters
Extended Chords Made Clear - Music Theory
Always wondered what we mean by the term extended chords? Want to use extended chords but not sure how to? Are you a composer who can use chords but want your chords to be more interesting and more colourful? Want to be able to use...
Music Matters
Making Music with 7th Chord Chains - Music Composition
Making music with 7th chord chains and advanced chord progressions in any style, from baroque to cocktail piano. The chain of 7ths has been used by composers since the Baroque period as a means of providing a rich sequence of 7th chords...