Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 6)

The suspension

Today we will cover an essential topic. In fact we are going to introduce a new kind of non-harmonic tones that will allow to change the harmonic result of our pieces:

The suspension

Why are they called ‘suspensions’?
How can we use them?
Which are the main features of these notes?
And, most of all, starting from a single note, how can we obtain many different musical tools?

Today we will answer all these questions and start using this new kind of notes.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	31 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	3m 17s
2. What are suspensions?	6m 25s
3. The four most effective kinds of suspensions	8m 41s
4. How to compose some short melodies by using suspensions	4m 55s
5. Other exemples	7m 33s
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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 5)

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How to compose a great melody even starting from a very simple one

Today’s lesson is very important.

In fact we will put into practice everything we have learned up to now.
By mixing all the different knowledge about harmony and composition, we can reach some very interesting results.

On one side we will obtain some very effective results by mixing seventh chords and chromatic ‘appoggiatura’.

On the other you will see how it is possible to compose a great melody even starting from a very simple one.

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	46 mins
1. How to compose in a progressive way	2m 38s
2. Other chords with ‘appoggiatura’. Descending chromatic ‘appoggiatura’	6m 25s
3. Other chords with ‘appoggiatura’. Using inversions.	7m 31s
4. How to change seventh chords with ‘appoggiatura’	6m 25s
5. How to write a very fascinating melody by using ‘appoggiatura’ (part 1)	12m 11s
6. How to write a very fascinating melody by using ‘appoggiatura’ (part 2)	11m 16s
+ 1 pdf files

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 4)

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The ‘appoggiatura’ chords

How can we apply everything we learn about ‘appoggiatura’ to the world of chords?

In some pieces there are often ‘magic’ moments even using very simple chords. How can we obtain such a result?

All we need to do is to change the chord itself by using one or more ‘appoggiatura’.

In this way we will be able to get many new chords. And finally obtaining also an ‘appoggiatura’ chord.

We will cover all these topics in today’s lesson.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	37 mins
1. How to apply ‘appoggiatura’ to the world of chords	2m 20s
2. Simultaneous ‘appoggiatura’ and double ‘appoggiatura’	8m 32s
3. How to change a chord by using ‘appoggiatura’	5m 53s
4. Changing chords with simultaneous ‘appoggiatura’	9m 07s
5. How to use chromatic appoggiatura to change chords	10m 32s

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 3)

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How to change the harmonic perception of a chord

‘Appoggiatura’ has the power to change the whole harmonic result?

What does this mean?
How can we obtain some very effective harmonic results even by using only simple chords?

Today we will answer all these questions.
But maybe the most important aspect of this lesson is that we will start understanding the relationship between harmony and melody in depth.

Moreover we will learn to prepare ‘appoggiatur’a in different ways depending on the strength that we need to give our melody in that moment.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	32 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	4m 32s
2. How ‘appoggiatura’ changes the harmonic perception	7m 31s
3. Other ways of changing harmony by using ‘appoggiatura’	6m 35s
4. How to use ‘appoggiatura’ by step	6m 14s
5. How to use ‘appoggiatura’ by skip	8m 33s

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 2)

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The Chromatic ‘Appoggiatura’

The ‘appoggiatura’ is an essential tool to obtain some very effective melodies.
To get the most of ‘appoggiatura’ we need to know them in depth and for this reason in today’s lesson we will focus on some very important topics.

Moreover we will understand how to compose some melodies with ‘appoggiatura’ working in different tonalities.

Most importantly of all we will introduce a new effective kind of ‘appoggiatura’:

The chromatic ‘appoggiatura’

What is it? How can we use it?
By introducing chromatic ‘appoggiatura’ we will leap in composing melodies!

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	44 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 40s
2. Examples in different tonalities. How to switch from a chord to an ‘appoggiatura’	9m 07s
3. How to use appoggiatura with particular chords (lowered sixth degree)	9m 02s
4. The ‘leading-tone appoggiatura’	7m 15s
5. The chromatic ‘appoggiatura’	7m 40s
6. How to mix different kinds of ‘appoggiatura’	7m 46s
+ 1 pdf file

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 1)

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The ‘appoggiatura’

Today we start a new cycle of video lessons that will allow you to learn very effective kind of notes that should be used to compose a great melody.

There are many reasons why these notes are so fascinating, but maybe the most important is that:

these notes can change the whole harmonic result.

Remember, all great songs are made up of notes like these!
For this reason we need to know them in depth and how to use them in the right way.

To make the most of this lesson, I suggest you to watch the following lesson (if you haven’t already done):

Strong beat and weak beat, rhythmic accents, downbeat and upbeat

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	40 mins
1. Introduction to the new cycle of videolessons	2m 06s
2. Non harmonic tones and strong beats	7m 40s
3. What is the ‘appoggiatura’?	8m 58s
4. How to use ‘appoggiatura’ on secondary strong beats	7m 53s
5. Ascending ‘appoggiatura’	7m 36s
6. Hot to mix different kinds of ‘appoggiatura’	6m 15s
+ 1 pdf file

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

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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

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 11)

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How to differentiate the verse and the chorus of a piece

Today we finish the cycle of lessons that has allowed you to learn chord progressions in an in-depth way.
During the course of the lessons we have learned to understand the role of different chords inside different keys.
We have also learned the ability to use inversions – all of this both in major and minor keys.

We have also managed to find a method to build harmonic structure using the chords of the natural minor scale.
Many things have therefore been learned through more than 70 examples on the piano.

We have built harmonic progressions imagining our piece to be made up of one part.
As you may well know, in reality each music piece is often divided into different parts.
You only have to think of the verse and chorus of a song.

Today, among other things, you will be able to give something different to the verse and the chorus of a piece and obtain a good variety.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	20 mins
1. How to differentiate harmony in the case of a piece divided into 2 parts	4m 12s
2. The first way to differentiate chord progressions	2m 53s
3. The second way	3m 41s
4. The third way	4m 51s
5. The fourth way and a look at future lessons	4m 21s

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Harmony, other secondary seventh chords

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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

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Harmony, the ‘preparation’ of secondary seventh chords

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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