Category Archives: Composing

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

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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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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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 10)

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Music Architecture

What has music got to do with architecture?

Is it possible to compare the harmonic structure of a music piece to a building?

The answer is yes!

Music is in fact like a house, a building of variable dimensions.

The criteria of building a music piece is very similar to architectural criteria, for example the building of a skyscraper.

So why this premise?

Because in the lessons of today we will learn the general criteria which allow to build chord progressions of different lengths.

Today we will not go into every detail as we did in the preceding lessons, speaking of key, inversions and alternation of features.

Today on the other hand, we will look at the techniques which can be used to build the harmonic structure.

We will analyse 2 borderline cases and put them immediately into practice. Naturally this will be done through several examples on the piano, in major and minor key.

You have acquired a familiarity in creating the harmony of a music piece.

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	28 mins
1. 1st case: we use very small ‘bricks’ to build chord progressions	4m 23s
2. A secret to make progressions more effective in this way …..	5m 34s
3. …with inversions which may modify them further	3m 21s
4. We try to use ‘bricks’ which are a little bigger	5m 56s
5. 2nd case: one big ‘brick’ to form the harmonic structure	7m 22s
6. How do we build the harmony if the music piece is divided into several parts?	1m 36s

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 9)

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How to mix chords of different minor scales

The lesson of today is very important! We will learn something really fundamental:

How to mix chords of different minor scales.

We have already mentioned during the harmony lessons, how effective it is from a musical point of view to use different minor scale chords.

However, one thing is theory and another thing is practice.

So today on the piano, we will face this very important topic.

Among many things, you will see how on the same degree we will be able to use two different chords, alternating them as we like in the music piece and obtaining a very particular effect.

Moreover we will start another very important subject which will be seen in-depth in the next lesson…

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	25 mins
1. How we can alternate the natural and augmented seventh degree	3m 02s
2. Introduce a major chord on the third degree of the extended key	2m 52s
3. Building new chord progressions using the extended key	7m 05s
4. Analyse a song which we know very well from a different point of view	5m 35s
5. How to avoid a very common mistake	3m 02s
6. Building the harmonic structure of a music piece: the two fundamental cases	2m 53s

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 8)

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Building chord progrssions in the extended key

In the last lesson we learned the fundamental lesson which allows to build chord progressions with chords of the natural minor scale.
Today, we will put this into practice through several examples on the piano.

In particular we will learn:

to use the chords of the extended key according to their function
to build chord progressions using extended key chords
which are the most effective inversions in this key
use the lowered sixth degree also in the extended key

After this lesson you will be able to move around the world of minor keys with ease and compose music pieces with effective harmony.

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	26 mins
1. A simple and rapid way to pass from natural minor scale to the extended key and find all the chords.	4m 59s
2. Examples of chord progressions in the extended key	8m 08s
3. How to use inversions in the extended key	5m 49s
4. We learn to use the lowered sixth degree also in the extended key	6m 49s

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 7)

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The extended key

The harmonic progressions built using chords of the natural minor scale have a great charm and allow to obtain very effective harmonic results.

The fascination of this scale is the lack of the leading tone.

Moreover the sequence of chords of this type allows to obtain a very strong sense of ambiguity which has in fact been used by thousands of composers in the past and present.

Today we will see how to learn and build the harmonic structure of a piece using the chords of the natural minor scale.

As you will see, it is not easy to understand the logic of working in this harmonic scope.

Do not worry!

Together, step by step we will see a little trick that allows us to apply all the knowledge we have acquired up to now including the natural minor scale.
This trick consists in the introduction of the extended key.

It is thanks to the extended key that we will be able to build music pieces with vague and fascinating harmonies. This will be done using the chords of the natural minor scale with logic and coherence.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	29 mins
1. How we can find the harmonic progressions using the natural minor scale.	4m 08s
2. What is the extended key	7m 43s
3. The harmonic groups of the extended key: the tonic and dominant group	8m 42sec
4. The harmonic groups of the extended key: the subdominant group	4m 32s
5. Some considerations about the extended key	3m 26s
+ 1 pdf files

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 6)

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The bass motion

From the start of these lessons, we have stressed how the secret of obtaining a good chord progression is to use all the chord features with the right mix of balance and variety.

Naturally to do this is not simple especially if we do not know the things seen in the previous lessons.

Today we will speak about another very important feature of the chords and try to understant how to use it in the right way.

The most important thing to note is that this feature allows us to introduce a very fascinating topic:

The emotional impact of chords.

Moreover, the moment we are aware of this feature we can decide to use either certain chords or a chord progression in order to convey to the listener emotional impact.

However, this is not the only thing which you will learn in the lesson of today.

Through several examples on the piano, we will learn in detail the bass motion ( intending the general bass note which may be an electric bass or a double bass) in a way to obtain the best possible result.

In order to learn all of this, you only need to follow the videolesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	33 mins
1. The new features of the chords which we can vary	3m 24s
2. How to alternate ‘different type’ of chords	8m 25s
3. How to create different harmonic areas	9m 25s
4. The importance of the bass motion in the choice of harmony	7m 58s
5. Introduction of harmonic structure with the natural minor scale	4m 19s

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How to build the harmonic structure of a piece (part 5)

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The harmonic structure of a piece in minor key

In the lesson today we are going to look at an extremely important aspect:

How to build the harmony of a music piece with chords on the harmonic minor scale.

One of the main faults of people when starting to put into practice the concepts of harmony is to concentrate principally on major keys, leaving out other possibilites offered by the world of minor harmonic scale.

In this lesson you will learn how to move around in this new world. We will speak of various things:

– How to use functional harmony on harmonic minor scale
– Build harmonic progressions obtaining balance and harmony
– Which inversions should be used more frequently on harmonic scale?
– How to obtain very interesting musical results using harmonic patterns

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	37 mins
1. We build harmonic progressions using a harmonic minor scale	10m 16s
2. How to use effectively harmonic patterns	8m 10s
3. The seventh degree chord (minor harmonic scale)	6m 29s
4. Other ways of using inversions in harmonic minor scale	8m 59s
5. Which other chord characteristics can be varied?	3m 35s