The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 3)

The circle of fifths

What do we mean with the term ‘circle of fifths’?
Why the tonalities are sorted in a circle?
Why do we need the enharmonic relation to create the circle of fifths?

These are some of the questions we will answer today. Then we will understand all the practical benefits of the using of circle of fifths.
At the end of the lesson we also introduce the essential concept of ‘closely related keys’ and we find a very quick method to find all the closely related keys.

In this way, after these video lessons you are ready to use modulation in a very effective way!
To get the most of this lesson I suggest you to watch before the following videos (if you haven’t already done):

The Equal Tempered System and the Enharmonic relation (part 1)

The Equal Tempered System and the Enharmonic relation (part 2)

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	39 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	3m 20s
2. The fifth relation and the circle of fifths	4m 53s
3. How can we obtain the circle of fifths	7m 23s
4. Closely related keys and distantly related keys	10m 53s
5. How to understand modulations through the circle of fifths	4m 50s
6. The major scale degrees and closely related keys: a very strong relation	7m 05s
+ 1 pdf files

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 2)

Leave a reply

The fifth relationship

Is there an easy way to know the key signature for every tonality?
The answer of course is yes and today I will show a step by step method to do it.

This is not the only topic we approach today: in fact we will also introduce the ‘fifth relation’ which allows us to understand more in depth modulation and how all the keys are tied to one another.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	30 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	4m 07s
2. The fifth relation between major keys	7m 09s
3. The fifth relation between minor keys	3m 36s
4. Key signature and fifth relation	5m 26s
5. A very easy method to find the key signature for any tonality	10m 02s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 1)

Leave a reply

How to understand relations between keys

What does ‘to modulate’ mean?
‘Modulation’ is the switching from one key to another.

Up to now in our video lessons we have worked only in one key at a time, but when we compose we often need to switch from one key to another. In order to be able to modulate in the right way, we need to understand in depth relationships between the different tonalities which are all tied together.

For this reason today we will start learning relations between keys that will allow us to understand modulations in depth.

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	29 mins
1. The relations between tonalities	3m 17s
2. Different keys, common notes	6m 40s
3. A typical feature of tonalities, the key signature	4m 52s
4. Flat keys	3m 55s
5. The key signature for minor keys: permanent and temporary accidentals	4m 18s
6. Relations between major and minor keys	6m 13s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

The harmonic colour; what it is and how to change it with seventh chords

Leave a reply

How to change harmonic colour through the use of seventh chords

Today we will conclude our journey in the world of seventh chords and this will be done in a more than one hour lesson, rich in content.
This is practically a double lesson!!

Indeed today we will speak of lots of topics including:

Major seventh chords
Minor major seventh chords and augmented major seventh chords
The passage seventh in secondary seventh chords
How the use of secondary chords has changed during the course of time
How to change harmonic colour through the use of seventh chords.
We learn to improve chord progressions with seventh chords.
How to represent seventh chords graphically in classical writing.
The notation of seventh chords in pop music.

As you can see, the material is very much, so let’s get down to the videos.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	41 mins
1. Minor major seventh chords	8m 37s
2. Augmented major seventh chords	3m 54s
3. The passage seventh: a case in which ‘preparation’ is not necessary	3m 53s
4. Seventh chords, a way to obtain different harmonic colours	5m 08s
5. How to modify chord progressions thanks to the use of the seventh	4m 21s
6. How to represent graphically seventh chords	9m 04s
7. The notation of seventh chords in pop music	5m 44s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

Harmony, other secondary seventh chords

Leave a reply

Half-diminished seventh chords

In the lesson of today, we will conclude the topic of minor seventh chords and we go on to see half-diminished seventh chords.
We will see in-depth these chords with an extremely evocative sound.
We will learn their preparation and successively their resolution.

But the most interesting thing consists in an artifice through which we will build a new secondary seventh chord on the second degree of the major scale.

Thanks to this we are able to obtain a very evocative harmonic effect!
At the end of the lesson you will find a video containing some advice for you to put into practice all that you have learned up to now.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	30 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	1m 52s
2. Minor seventh chords in minor key	7m 40s
3. Half-diminished seventh chords	5m 27s
4. How to build half-diminished seventh chords in major scales	8m 04s
5. Practical exercises	7m 00s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

Harmony, the ‘preparation’ of secondary seventh chords

Leave a reply

The preparation of secondary seventh chords

In the lesson today, we will see a very important topic:

The preparation of secondary seventh chords.

This is an extremely interesting concept which allows to understand how to get the most out of secondary seventh chords.
As we will see, there are three distinct phases in using chords of this type.

We will put all of this into practice, speaking of minor seventh chords.

Finally, we will see how from a balanced mix of all the chords we know (triad or inversions, seventh chords and their inversions) very important harmonic effects can be obtained.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	25 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	2m 19s
2. The preparation of secondary seventh chords	7m 07s
3. The three phases of secondary seventh chords	3m 14s
4. Minor seventh chords	5m 57s
5. Application of minor seventh chords	7m 26s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

Harmony: the secondary seventh chords

Leave a reply

The secondary seventh chords

What are secondary (or artificial) seventh chords?
Why do they differentiate from natural seventh chords and what are natural seventh chords?

These are some of the questions which we will answer in the lesson today.

Furthermore we will introduce a very important category of chords with a very impressive sound.
But this is not all!

Once we can distinguish these two categories of chords, we will learn a very important concept of harmony.

Have a nice lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	16 mins
1. Secondary seventh chords	2m 25s
2. Natural seventh chords and the overtones theory	5m 22s
3. Dominant ninth chord	3m 46s
4. Difference between natural and secondary seventh chords	4m 41s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

Strong beat and weak beat, downbeat and upbeat: let’s define these concepts clearly

Leave a reply

Strong beat and weak beat

Rhythm is an essential element of music.
For this reason it is necessary to understand how it is really structured and how it gives music the feature of movement.

Today we will go more in-depth into this concept and introduce some fundamental concepts including:

what are downbeat and upbeat
what are rhythmic accents
what distinguishes strong beat from weak beat
why strong beat is so important in melody and harmony

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	20 mins
1. Why music is motion	2m 54s
2. What are downbeat and upbeat	1m 51s
3. Binary, ternary and quaternary rhythmn	3m 21s
4. Rhythmic accents: strong beat and weak beat	4m 28s
5. Two considerations about the importance of strong beat	7m 27s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

The diminished seventh chord: a big harmonic resource

Leave a reply

The diminished seventh chord

What is it that makes the diminished seventh chord unique?
Its enormous harmonic flexibility.

This chord built on a minor scale grade by superposing thirds, can be used in many other situations.
It is a wildcard in the world of harmony

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this chord is that it allows us to put into practice everything about enharmonic relation.
As we shall understand in this lesson, the diminished seventh chord is the key to modulate easily, in particular with cases in which this would be very difficult.

In order to understand how all of this is possible and to learn all the characteristics of this chord in-depth, you only have to follow this lesson.

If you have not already done so, I suggest you watch:

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	40 mins
1. Leading tone seventh chord and half-diminshed seventh chord	4m 12s
2. The diminished seventh chord	9m 26s
3. Why the diminished seventh chord has such a strong tension	4m 42s
4. Extended use of the chord	5m 30s
5. The case of third minors: any part we look at it, the chord is exactly the same	5m 32s
6. How enharmonic relation allows the change of the chord	5m 30s
7. The diminished seventh chord: not only one, but… four different chords	5m 34s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.

The leading tone seventh chord: here is the chord that allows your music to have a magical atmosphere

Leave a reply

How to use the leading tone seventh chord

Among the seventh chords, the leading tone seventh chord is maybe the most fascinating.
It is in fact a chord with a very particular atmosphere and difficult to define just as it is usually difficult to define music.

Today we will get to know in-depth the leading seventh chord in order for you to use it correctly in your composition.
Here are some of the things you will learn in this lesson:

How to resolve the leading seventh chord

How to get the most out of inversions

Should we use the passing seventh?

The direct and indirect resolution

Before introducing the leading seventh chord, we will conclude dominant seventh by looking at when it is best to use it and in which musical situation it gives the best results.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	31 mins
1. When to use dominant seventh chord and why it has a strong tension	4m 45s
2. Seventh chords on the seventh degree	4m 13s
3. The leading tone seventh chord and how to play it at the piano	4m 41s
4. Resolutions of leading tone seventh chord	7m 51s
5. Inversions of leading tone seventh chord	10m 04s

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

If you are already registered you can simply log in.

Not a Premium Member yet?

Register today, or upgrade if you are already a free member, to access this and all the other lessons of the premium membership.

Upgrade

Free Access

With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

Free Registration

Info

This content is for members only.