This is below my pay grade, but I never want to miss an opportunity to learn from Music Matters. And I picked up a nugget of information about the harmonic minor. BTW I am at this level of music theory geekness because of watching hundreds of Music Matters videos, even though I had no knowledge to start with. But Gareth is so calm and thorough that I was like a sponge. My piano teacher is very appreciative since we can discuss topics he doesn't have with his other pupils. There is another music channel with millions of subscribers who has a music theory video for beginners online. I didn't watch it since I don't yet have a doctorate in musicology. He cannot explain things simply. That is the beauty of Music Matters. Merci.
If this isn't eye-opening and eminently useful, I don't know what is. I am in awe . . . This is like biting into the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Thank you once again for all you do.
I am blind, and I am also a guitar player. I enjoyed pausing the videos, and working out the cord chemistry in my mind. It’s a great way of visualizing the fretboard. Thank you for the videos.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Gareth I absolutely love your teaching style and subject matter. I have been studying music theory for a few months now and you are absolutely wonderful. You are a big source of sunshine to my soul every day🌄Thank you!!!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
I like your door analogy; to expand on it slightly - a door is part of this room, it forms part of the "furniture" of this room, like a window, a fireplace - but, unlike those things, the same door is also part of the other room. It's not just a threshold, its actually part OF rooms A and B. Just as pivot chords are part OF keys A and B.
very thankful for your generosity & work, putting together these videos. regarding the charts, i know they may take extra time for you to draw up, but they are an excellent way of allowing students to visualize the material, take screenshots, etc. I personally write out charts for things I'm trying to put together, like secondary chords, common chords, etc. all the best to you sir & I look forward to other videos of yours!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
As a composer myself, and having listened to much music from all periods, I respectively suggest that the closest related keys, in a major key context, are not necessarily those with adjacent key signatures in the circle of fifths, as is so often stated, but rather those that are situated a minor third apart, or put another way, three signatures removed. In C Major, aside from A Minor, that would be A Major in one direction, and C Minor and E Flat Major in the other. An easy way to remember this is "the relative of the parallel and the parallel of the relative." Keys that are so related are practically synonymous in tonal stability, there is no polarity between them, and they can stand in for one another in almost any situation. Modulating between such keys takes the least amount of effort accordingly. At the same time, we have to consider the following: keys a major second apart or two signatures removed by definition cannot be related directly. Moreover, a dominant by definition must be major. Accordingly, we have the following chart of first degree of related keys, going by degree of the scale: Flat VI Flat III IV I V VI III iv i vi iii
That’s an interesting if unconventional approach. In musical history great play was made on modulating to neighbouring keys on the circle of 5ths throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Certainly composers became more adventurous from the 19th century.
@@MusicMattersGB One can say that as composers became more adventurous, they discovered these tonal affinities which go beyond merely adjacent keys in the circle of fifths. If one looks at the baroque concertos by Bach, Handel, and before them Corelli, we will note that in the key of the slow movement, usually the one to vary from the original tonic, it is almost always the closest one, namely the relative minor. This minor third relationship was instinctively felt even if not fully understood. But I suggest that this should be approached as to how keys relate and react to one another, and that it is not entirely a matter of keys with adjacent signatures in the circle of fifths. It gets far more complicated when you are dealing with a minor tonality as the primary tonic.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
I think one of the troubles people experience is when you've identified the pivot chord, then getting stuck choosing a cadence or progression afterwards to ensure you've established yourself in the new key.
Yet another excellent video. Once you've this got a good grip on this concept, it takes only a little more magic to gain easy access to 6 more keys--the parallel keys of c, g, and f minor AND A, E, and D Major. (Roughly speaking, the composer's version of a magician's "sleight of hand").
The discussion of F major having a B flat in it was helpful. Because so many chords are common to both C major and F major, I sometimes think I have modulated, but my ear tells me I never left C major.
Excellent video! Have you done a video on modulating to a parallel major or minor? So a shift from C Major to C Minor, of vice versa. That might be an interesting topic if you haven't done it yet. Great stuff as always, Gareth! Cheers from Maryland, US!
At this early stage of my learning it's great to have all the options laid out with an example played for each. Is there a PDF or MusicXML score somewhere with all the examples notated?
F# major is a long way from C major so is not a closely related key. You would normally go through intervening keys on the way but you could use a more dramatic modulation
Gareth, great stuff, thank you. I try to look for patterns through all of this to make it easier to remember. Couldn’t find any. I think this is because the circle of fifths is based on the major scale….but the modulations above are based on harmonic minor chords. Hard to find patterns between two systems. Any thoughts anyone?
Remember that the middle circle of the circle of 5ths is for major keys while the inner circle indicates minor keys. You can then see which keys are close to each other plus which major keys relate to which minor keys
10:05 - Great lesson, as always! I was taken aback by your statement that the Harmonic Minor is the 'default' when one employs harmonization from 1600 to the present. I've never come across this scale in pop music. Are you speaking strictly classical, here?
Raising fifth by semitone when in minor key is pretty common in folk music. It is not just classical. I mean raising seventh by semitone when playing fifth chord so it becomes major instead of minor. E.g. in A minor natural scale the fifth chord is Em chord but it is often replaced by E major chord
Hello Gareth, I'm a fan of British TV series for several reasons and one of them is that the music is often excellent. I notice that often at marriages and funerals the church bells in what I here as a (part of a) diminished scale. Do I here that correctly and if so is there a meaning or reason behind it?
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
I am so grateful for your work. I am considering how Bach breaks some of these rules to create a pivot chord, perhaps? Does the use of a dissonant passing note also help create a pivot?
Sir, I have came across a piece where the piece is in D harmonic minor. the First phrase is entirely in D harmonic minor with a Perfect cadence (A maj - D min ). Then the second phrase immediately starts with a D major chord followed by a Gm chord .../ what kind of modulation is this sir?
Super Demo! Curious why they decided upon "M, sub,dom,rel m,sup ton then mediant m" order. I'm trying to get used to M,m,m,M,M,m&mdim. Just to mess up everything; Why wasn't C (esp. middle C) named "A"! Alphabet starts w/A.
I modulate via the Monty Python method: First thou shalt pick the target key. Then thou must pivot to three. Three shall be the number of the pivot chord and the number of the pivot chord shall be three. Four shalt thou not pivot, neither shalt thou pivot two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out.
I think that this idea of harmony is all a result of equal temperament tuning, and in fact the idea of J.S. Bach as the ideal composer comes from that belief.
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This is below my pay grade, but I never want to miss an opportunity to learn from Music Matters. And I picked up a nugget of information about the harmonic minor.
BTW I am at this level of music theory geekness because of watching hundreds of Music Matters videos, even though I had no knowledge to start with. But Gareth is so calm and thorough that I was like a sponge. My piano teacher is very appreciative since we can discuss topics he doesn't have with his other pupils.
There is another music channel with millions of subscribers who has a music theory video for beginners online. I didn't watch it since I don't yet have a doctorate in musicology. He cannot explain things simply. That is the beauty of Music Matters.
Merci.
Thank you. I’m so pleased it’s helpful.
If this isn't eye-opening and eminently useful, I don't know what is. I am in awe . . . This is like biting into the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Thank you once again for all you do.
That’s most kind. I’m glad it’s helpful.
Seconded!
Clear and in detail. Thank you!
Very well said, and oh so true.
You’re most kind
I am blind, and I am also a guitar player.
I enjoyed pausing the videos, and working out the cord chemistry in my mind. It’s a great way of visualizing the fretboard.
Thank you for the videos.
That’s brilliant. I’ve taught a number of blind musicians over the years. Always a total inspiration.
Thank you so much, this just helped me!!!
A pleasure. Glad it’s helpful
Thank you so much! I only wish I had a teacher like you when I was still at college!
Beautiful explanation!
Wow. I remember being confused by this at school. This explanation makes so much sense. Thank you.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Gareth I absolutely love your teaching style and subject matter. I have been studying music theory for a few months now and you are absolutely wonderful. You are a big source of sunshine to my soul every day🌄Thank you!!!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Extremely concise and helpful! Thank you so much!!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Thanks!
A pleasure. Thanks for your support
This was so well laid out! Thank you!
Glad it’s useful. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
I didn't want you to stop the practical examples lol! I love the experience of witnessing pivot chord modulation presented so cleanly! ❤️ Much love!
That’s great. Much appreciated
any individual triad, aside from diminshed ones, can appear in three different keys.
😀
Very clearly explained. Thank you.
A pleasure
I like your door analogy; to expand on it slightly - a door is part of this room, it forms part of the "furniture" of this room, like a window, a fireplace - but, unlike those things, the same door is also part of the other room. It's not just a threshold, its actually part OF rooms A and B. Just as pivot chords are part OF keys A and B.
Absolutely
Thank you, Sir. A genius!
😀
Mr. green you are the man. I think I am going to be purchasing your grades 1-8 music theory courses.
That’s kind of you. The 1-8 course really goes through the whole journey step by step. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
@@MusicMattersGB thank you so much sir
YES! Very useful for every songwriter. Thanks.
very thankful for your generosity & work, putting together these videos. regarding the charts, i know they may take extra time for you to draw up, but they are an excellent way of allowing students to visualize the material, take screenshots, etc. I personally write out charts for things I'm trying to put together, like secondary chords, common chords, etc.
all the best to you sir & I look forward to other videos of yours!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Thank you so much for all these videos they are helping me survive grade 6 theory!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Excellent explanation. Thanks!!
A pleasure. Thanks
Wow this is so helpful
As a composer myself, and having listened to much music from all periods, I respectively suggest that the closest related keys, in a major key context, are not necessarily those with adjacent key signatures in the circle of fifths, as is so often stated, but rather those that are situated a minor third apart, or put another way, three signatures removed. In C Major, aside from A Minor, that would be A Major in one direction, and C Minor and E Flat Major in the other. An easy way to remember this is "the relative of the parallel and the parallel of the relative." Keys that are so related are practically synonymous in tonal stability, there is no polarity between them, and they can stand in for one another in almost any situation. Modulating between such keys takes the least amount of effort accordingly.
At the same time, we have to consider the following: keys a major second apart or two signatures removed by definition cannot be related directly. Moreover, a dominant by definition must be major. Accordingly, we have the following chart of first degree of related keys, going by degree of the scale:
Flat VI Flat III IV I V VI III
iv i vi iii
That’s an interesting if unconventional approach. In musical history great play was made on modulating to neighbouring keys on the circle of 5ths throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Certainly composers became more adventurous from the 19th century.
@@MusicMattersGB I can name one. The ever rebellious Beethoven !
Looks like Beethoven's approach !
😀
@@MusicMattersGB One can say that as composers became more adventurous, they discovered these tonal affinities which go beyond merely adjacent keys in the circle of fifths.
If one looks at the baroque concertos by Bach, Handel, and before them Corelli, we will note that in the key of the slow movement, usually the one to vary from the original tonic, it is almost always the closest one, namely the relative minor. This minor third relationship was instinctively felt even if not fully understood. But I suggest that this should be approached as to how keys relate and react to one another, and that it is not entirely a matter of keys with adjacent signatures in the circle of fifths. It gets far more complicated when you are dealing with a minor tonality as the primary tonic.
Thank you! Wonderfully systematic and well explained. Greatly appreciated :D
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Amazing video sir. Beautifully explained. You are a phenomenal teacher. Thank you so much for the wisdom.
That’s kind. Hope you’re well.
@@MusicMattersGB Thank you sir. We are fine. Hope you all are fine there. Take care.
@@5966ramesh Recently recovered from Covid but doing well now thanks.
@@MusicMattersGB Please take utmost care of yourself sir.
😀
I think one of the troubles people experience is when you've identified the pivot chord, then getting stuck choosing a cadence or progression afterwards to ensure you've established yourself in the new key.
Absolutely
Indeed. This is the tough part !
😀
Yet another excellent video. Once you've this got a good grip on this concept, it takes only a little more magic to gain easy access to 6 more keys--the parallel keys of c, g, and f minor AND A, E, and D Major. (Roughly speaking, the composer's version of a magician's "sleight of hand").
Absolutely
The discussion of F major having a B flat in it was helpful. Because so many chords are common to both C major and F major, I sometimes think I have modulated, but my ear tells me I never left C major.
😀
Excellent video! Have you done a video on modulating to a parallel major or minor? So a shift from C Major to C Minor, of vice versa. That might be an interesting topic if you haven't done it yet. Great stuff as always, Gareth! Cheers from Maryland, US!
Good suggestion. Thanks for your support
At this early stage of my learning it's great to have all the options laid out with an example played for each. Is there a PDF or MusicXML score somewhere with all the examples notated?
Sorry we haven’t got docs but I’m glad the video is helpful.
I read conflicting information regarding modulating on the Dominant. Can you please elaborate on the subject?
The principles of modulation to closely related keys are explained in the video.
Very useful. What happens if the new key is F# major from C major ?
2 5 1 ? Thank you
F# major is a long way from C major so is not a closely related key. You would normally go through intervening keys on the way but you could use a more dramatic modulation
Gareth, great stuff, thank you.
I try to look for patterns through all of this to make it easier to remember.
Couldn’t find any.
I think this is because the circle of fifths is based on the major scale….but the modulations above are based on harmonic minor chords. Hard to find patterns between two systems.
Any thoughts anyone?
Remember that the middle circle of the circle of 5ths is for major keys while the inner circle indicates minor keys. You can then see which keys are close to each other plus which major keys relate to which minor keys
10:05 - Great lesson, as always! I was taken aback by your statement that the Harmonic Minor is the 'default' when one employs harmonization from 1600 to the present. I've never come across this scale in pop music. Are you speaking strictly classical, here?
Yes. In the ‘Classical’ tradition.
Raising fifth by semitone when in minor key is pretty common in folk music. It is not just classical.
I mean raising seventh by semitone when playing fifth chord so it becomes major instead of minor.
E.g. in A minor natural scale the fifth chord is Em chord but it is often replaced by E major chord
Hello Gareth, I'm a fan of British TV series for several reasons and one of them is that the music is often excellent. I notice that often at marriages and funerals the church bells in what I here as a (part of a) diminished scale. Do I here that correctly and if so is there a meaning or reason behind it?
That may well be the case. I’m not aware of a particular reason other than the evocation of a particular mood.
Excellent
Glad it’s helpful. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Based. Once I get the funds together I'll invest in some of your courses for sure
That’s kind of you. The 1-8 course really goes through the whole journey step by step. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
.Thank you........ just thank you sooooo much!!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ua-cam.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
I am so grateful for your work. I am considering how Bach breaks some of these rules to create a pivot chord, perhaps? Does the use of a dissonant passing note also help create a pivot?
That’s great. A dissonant passing note might contribute to a modulation but the pivot chord is what moves the music from one key to another.
Sir, I have came across a piece where the piece is in D harmonic minor. the First phrase is entirely in D harmonic minor with a Perfect cadence (A maj - D min ). Then the second phrase immediately starts with a D major chord followed by a Gm chord .../ what kind of modulation is this sir?
It sounds like a modulation to the subdominant key.
@@MusicMattersGB understood sir, thank you!
@user-bx8xd5pz9c That’s brilliant. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
What is a chord with a bridge?
Chords and bridges are two separate issues
Gareth you had a stream on Saturday about Chopin's music which I missed , is there a way I could view that?
If you go to www.mmcourses.co.uk and click on Maestros you can join level 2 and access all previous livestreams
great vid Gareth
Glad it’s helpful
Super Demo! Curious why they decided upon "M, sub,dom,rel m,sup ton then mediant m" order. I'm trying to get used to M,m,m,M,M,m&mdim. Just to mess up everything; Why wasn't C (esp. middle C) named "A"! Alphabet starts w/A.
Bottom note of the piano is A. That’s where it starts.
@@MusicMattersGB OK Now I know. I'm a different type of inventor. They know more.
😀
Thank you
A pleasure.
I modulate via the Monty Python method:
First thou shalt pick the target key. Then thou must pivot to three. Three shall be the number of the pivot chord and the number of the pivot chord shall be three. Four shalt thou not pivot, neither shalt thou pivot two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out.
Interesting approach
@@MusicMattersGB Joking aside, your videos are fantastic. You're truly a terrific teacher!
@@BinaryBard64 That’s most kind
I think that this idea of harmony is all a result of equal temperament tuning, and in fact the idea of J.S. Bach as the ideal composer comes from that belief.
That’s certainly part of the story
Thank you.
The really tricky part is doing this on the fly while improvising, isn't it?
Sure. A skill worth developing