Thank you so much for sharing ! Classical composition is hard to learn alone without going to school, and there are not a lot of ressources on the internet (I mean there are some but none is as clear and detailled like yours) ; So thanks a lot !! Cheers from France :)
„just part of the Star Wars soundtrack“ - exactly my childhood memory :D Thank you for your fantastic work, this whole lesson series is all I was hoping it could be, bravo.
Many thanks for the kind words! My love of music pretty much began with the sound of Alfred Newman's fanfare, as a kind of miniature overture to the explosive opening chords of the Star Wars title sequence. In fact, the first time I ever heard an orchestra play in person was a John Williams concert; I was 8 or 9 years old and completely blown away. Surely that thrill has something to do with me going on to write about Mahler's music as an adult!
@@SethMonahan Well, I also thank Alfred Newman then! I can only image how bombastic a John Williams concert must have been at that age, what an introduction to orchestral music. My version, although similar in effect, is far less spectacular: I just 'heard' Star Wars long before I saw it. Back then, I was told I was too young to watch it but fortunately vinyl audiobook versions of movies were a thing. I listened to that record day in & day out. So when I finally saw the actual movie it was weird in two ways: first, I already knew all dialogues by heart & second, I realized that Newman's miniature overture (well put) wasn't actually part of the score! I'll never forget my startled disbelief and even that innocent feeling of 'loss'... as is often said, it was simpler times. Anyway, thanks again for that fond memory, keep it up & all the best!
While I realise that Brahms' works are probably a little outside the terms of reference of these videos, the opening of his folk song In stiller Nacht (26 Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 34 Nr. 8) twice uses a ii-6-5-flat 3 chord ("borrowed" from E flat minor) between tonic chords. www1.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/In_stiller_Nacht,_26_Deutsche_Volkslieder,_No._8_(Johannes_Brahms)
Ooh, that's another Plagal ii example I can add to my list of Plagal Function examples for my music theory book, thanks. I think I've got a sufficient number of examples of Plagal Function now.
Thanks again for these great videos! Becoming a real fan and enjoying being a music theory geek again, 20 years after my music degree - Hollywood cadence, love it! Speaking of which, I would love to see you do a series like this on film music, or pop, or jazz, or all three! By the way, I might have found an answer to my previous question about an appoggiatura with an anticipatory note of the same pitch in the Grove dictionary - does a “prepared appoggiatura” sound feasible? Thanks again and all the best!
I love the sound of the IV -> iv -> I I think it's kind of peculiar how it seems like that's the only movement that allows a major chord to go to a minor chord of the same root without sounding a tad off. Another similar movement is the picardy 3rd, or the i -> I. It almost seems like this has something to do with the overtone and undertone series. The undertone series emits the iv chord of the fundumental, while the overtone series emits the major I chord. Check out the missing fundemental effect if you haven't seen that yet. It seems like our brains produce the undertone series of the tonic somehow.
Yes, and in neoriemannian theory, which is a really nice tool for analyzing romantic and postromantic pieces, there is actually a name for this major to minor (or minor to major) chord transformation and it's called the "R transformation." It is used so often in romantic and postromantic music, and not only on the 4th or 1st scale degrees
Thank you for making these videos! Just to add a little something about the progression IV6 - I64 - IV - I6 : it seems to me that this progression is also used in reverse, although rarely. So we can have: I6 - IV - I64 - IV6. I don't have any example in mind though :)
Glad you like the videos! And you're 100% correct that the reverse of IV6-I6/4-IV-I6 happens pretty regularly. I talk about this progression in Lesson 37, on the "Passing Tonic Six-Four." I've separated the two because, in my hearing, the I6/4 has a different character in each. In the contrapuntal idiom I discuss here, the I6/4 sounds (again, to me!) like a real tonic chord, a point of relative stability, despite being in an "unstable" inversion. But in other cases, explored in Video 37, the tonic 6/4 serves more of a connecting role, one that doesn't really disrupt the function of the surrounding chords. (In fact, there are instances of the IV6-I6/4-IV-I6 progression where the same could be said-i.e., that the tonic is "just" a connecting chord. Rhythm, of course, plays a huge part in how one hears a series of chords!)
Would the first phrase of first movement of Mozart's piano sonata K.V.330 be another example of ii6 going to i6, with a tonic pedal? The first part of the sentence has just I and ii harmonies!
Do you mean the last 8th-notes of mm. 1 and 3, when the LH goes to F? It's hard to parse, but I actually hear those as very (!) brief vii diminished triads (B-D-F) over a tonic pedal.
@@naoentendonada1 Thanks so much, José! I'm delighted to hear it. (There are more coming soon, too; I work on them pretty much full-time in the summer.)
S region means the bass note is 4th scale degree which is a IV chord and the bass note 6th scale degree will be IV6 first inversion chord, is this what you mean by S region? The Hollywood Cadence is using two "borrowed" Minor chords the iv and ii diminished 6/5 ending with a Major I chord?
Hi seth, in the big 18 there are no chords with mediant function. the only avaliable chord with the third scale degree in the bass is the I6 chord which has tonic function. So that leads to my question, what is the purpose and where is there a place for mediant chords? ie chords that have the third scale degree in root position. Thanks again for your amazing videos, they've taught me so much and have been so beneficial.
Good question, Romyn. There's only one use for the mediant that's common in both major and minor keys: they regularly appear in harmonic sequences (see Lesson 39). Beyond that, it plays very different roles in major and minor. In major, composers just tended to avoid it until the mid-19th century, when turns up as a beautiful new color. But in the time of Mozart and Beethoven, it's missing from most pieces altogether. In minor, the III chord is more common, but only slightly. Usually, it's a signal that the music is about to modulate to the relative major. Only occasionally do we find III playing a functional role in minor without changing keys. Lesson 33 talks about this at length.
Hi Seth, what is the iio (dim) chord? Is that just a ii chord that is diminished? I have seen it pop up a few times but am not sure why it is so common and thought I would ask about its function/ purpose.
Thank you so much for sharing ! Classical composition is hard to learn alone without going to school, and there are not a lot of ressources on the internet (I mean there are some but none is as clear and detailled like yours) ; So thanks a lot !!
Cheers from France :)
Thanks so much; I'm glad you like the videos! I've got another bunch in the pipeline, hopefully to come out later this summer-pandemic or not!
„just part of the Star Wars soundtrack“ - exactly my childhood memory :D
Thank you for your fantastic work, this whole lesson series is all I was hoping it could be, bravo.
Many thanks for the kind words! My love of music pretty much began with the sound of Alfred Newman's fanfare, as a kind of miniature overture to the explosive opening chords of the Star Wars title sequence. In fact, the first time I ever heard an orchestra play in person was a John Williams concert; I was 8 or 9 years old and completely blown away. Surely that thrill has something to do with me going on to write about Mahler's music as an adult!
@@SethMonahan Well, I also thank Alfred Newman then! I can only image how bombastic a John Williams concert must have been at that age, what an introduction to orchestral music. My version, although similar in effect, is far less spectacular: I just 'heard' Star Wars long before I saw it. Back then, I was told I was too young to watch it but fortunately vinyl audiobook versions of movies were a thing. I listened to that record day in & day out. So when I finally saw the actual movie it was weird in two ways: first, I already knew all dialogues by heart & second, I realized that Newman's miniature overture (well put) wasn't actually part of the score! I'll never forget my startled disbelief and even that innocent feeling of 'loss'... as is often said, it was simpler times. Anyway, thanks again for that fond memory, keep it up & all the best!
I'm really glad op. 32 no. 2 nocturne for a mention here it's my favourite Chopin nocturne
Thank you, Professor Monahan!
Great lesson! Love the musical examples to illustrate the concepts! ❤ 😂
While I realise that Brahms' works are probably a little outside the terms of reference of these videos, the opening of his folk song In stiller Nacht (26 Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 34 Nr. 8) twice uses a ii-6-5-flat 3 chord ("borrowed" from E flat minor) between tonic chords.
www1.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/In_stiller_Nacht,_26_Deutsche_Volkslieder,_No._8_(Johannes_Brahms)
Ooh, that's another Plagal ii example I can add to my list of Plagal Function examples for my music theory book, thanks. I think I've got a sufficient number of examples of Plagal Function now.
Thanks again for these great videos! Becoming a real fan and enjoying being a music theory geek again, 20 years after my music degree - Hollywood cadence, love it!
Speaking of which, I would love to see you do a series like this on film music, or pop, or jazz, or all three!
By the way, I might have found an answer to my previous question about an appoggiatura with an anticipatory note of the same pitch in the Grove dictionary - does a “prepared appoggiatura” sound feasible?
Thanks again and all the best!
👏Thank you, this is amazing!
You're very welcome!
I love the sound of the IV -> iv -> I
I think it's kind of peculiar how it seems like that's the only movement that allows a major chord to go to a minor chord of the same root without sounding a tad off.
Another similar movement is the picardy 3rd, or the i -> I. It almost seems like this has something to do with the overtone and undertone series. The undertone series emits the iv chord of the fundumental, while the overtone series emits the major I chord. Check out the missing fundemental effect if you haven't seen that yet. It seems like our brains produce the undertone series of the tonic somehow.
Yes, and in neoriemannian theory, which is a really nice tool for analyzing romantic and postromantic pieces, there is actually a name for this major to minor (or minor to major) chord transformation and it's called the "R transformation." It is used so often in romantic and postromantic music, and not only on the 4th or 1st scale degrees
The cadence in the Haydn sonata is remarkably similar to the Beethoven concerto! Coincidence?
Thank you for making these videos!
Just to add a little something about the progression IV6 - I64 - IV - I6 : it seems to me that this progression is also used in reverse, although rarely. So we can have: I6 - IV - I64 - IV6. I don't have any example in mind though :)
Glad you like the videos! And you're 100% correct that the reverse of IV6-I6/4-IV-I6 happens pretty regularly. I talk about this progression in Lesson 37, on the "Passing Tonic Six-Four." I've separated the two because, in my hearing, the I6/4 has a different character in each. In the contrapuntal idiom I discuss here, the I6/4 sounds (again, to me!) like a real tonic chord, a point of relative stability, despite being in an "unstable" inversion. But in other cases, explored in Video 37, the tonic 6/4 serves more of a connecting role, one that doesn't really disrupt the function of the surrounding chords. (In fact, there are instances of the IV6-I6/4-IV-I6 progression where the same could be said-i.e., that the tonic is "just" a connecting chord. Rhythm, of course, plays a huge part in how one hears a series of chords!)
This is beyond my pay grade, but is inspiration to work on my ear training.
Would the first phrase of first movement of Mozart's piano sonata K.V.330 be another example of ii6 going to i6, with a tonic pedal? The first part of the sentence has just I and ii harmonies!
Do you mean the last 8th-notes of mm. 1 and 3, when the LH goes to F? It's hard to parse, but I actually hear those as very (!) brief vii diminished triads (B-D-F) over a tonic pedal.
@@SethMonahan Exactly this! Thank you very much for those videos! They changed my
life!
@@naoentendonada1 Thanks so much, José! I'm delighted to hear it. (There are more coming soon, too; I work on them pretty much full-time in the summer.)
S region means the bass note is 4th scale degree which is a IV chord and the bass note 6th scale degree will be IV6 first inversion chord, is this what you mean by S region? The Hollywood Cadence is using two "borrowed" Minor chords the iv and ii diminished 6/5 ending with a Major I chord?
Hi seth, in the big 18 there are no chords with mediant function. the only avaliable chord with the third scale degree in the bass is the I6 chord which has tonic function. So that leads to my question, what is the purpose and where is there a place for mediant chords? ie chords that have the third scale degree in root position.
Thanks again for your amazing videos, they've taught me so much and have been so beneficial.
Good question, Romyn. There's only one use for the mediant that's common in both major and minor keys: they regularly appear in harmonic sequences (see Lesson 39). Beyond that, it plays very different roles in major and minor. In major, composers just tended to avoid it until the mid-19th century, when turns up as a beautiful new color. But in the time of Mozart and Beethoven, it's missing from most pieces altogether. In minor, the III chord is more common, but only slightly. Usually, it's a signal that the music is about to modulate to the relative major. Only occasionally do we find III playing a functional role in minor without changing keys. Lesson 33 talks about this at length.
@@SethMonahan Very cool! im on my way there :D
Thank you teacher
Hi Seth, what is the iio (dim) chord? Is that just a ii chord that is diminished? I have seen it pop up a few times but am not sure why it is so common and thought I would ask about its function/ purpose.
Hi Romyn. The ii chord in minor is always diminished, owing to the diminished fifth between scale degrees 2 (the root) and 6 (the fifth).