Here's this, if anyone is interested: (I maj) (II maj) = Protagonism (I maj) (bV maj) = Outer Space (I maj) (bVI maj) = Fantastical (I maj) (III min) = Sandness/Loss (I maj) (IV min) = Romantic/Middle Eastern (I min) (IV maj) = Wonder/Transcendence (I min) (II maj) = Mystery or Dark Comedy (I min) (VII maj) = Dramatic Sound (I min) (bV min) = Antagonism, danger (less character based) (I min) (bVI min) = Antagonism, evil (more character based)
As a soundtrack composer with a degree in comp I search out Hollywood cliches because symphonic layered music is difficult to transcribe. Its the first lesson I learned in soundtrack music: “First make them.comfortable with sounds (cues) they are familiar with like rising strings and romance or aleatoric gliss strings and horror THEN dazzle them with your actual skills” If you do not first start with something which is already in the musical vocabulary of the lowest common denominator and from there expand it to something more- most of the audience will experience “transitory deafness” eg they'll ignore the music the way you would ignore a language you do not know. Therefore to make your music popular or to make money from it knowing these cliches are invaluable.
"It's ridiculously easy. You don't have to be a trained musician or even be able to read music to do it." Seems easy enough "Just have to be able to count." *Oh*
This reminds of the meme about drawing owls being easy: "Draw an oval, draw another oval, now draw the rest of the owl", the way he just casually adds the signature melodies over the chords at the end.
I'm willing to bet this is the same method used by most composers when starting from a blank slate. I do this on my guitar all the time and then find a third triad, then add some movement to the chords with a couple added notes and then a melody usually pops out. Just playing with patterns.
Sometimes, all it takes to start a new song, is by randomly hitting a certain chord, when you might be in a certain mood, or you are inspired by it somehow. Then you add a few, with some melody perhaps too, then a beat, then you have something right off the bat.
Some aspects of both music and math, on their own, are confusing to me, weirdly though seeing both mesh together makes them "click" quite a bit better, maybe schools should make some more overlap in those classes to help them both make sense. As it stands I'm probably just going to abuse this knowledge to make funny noises with my Microfreak synthesizer XD
I don’t play any musical instruments and I don’t need to make any Hollywood music to any film but I still watched til the end and now I don’t know what to do with this information.
At least you can say to many people, that an University of Kansas music theory professor has impress you for 10.12 minutes, When they ask you with what, every time you say to the people, that Scott Murphy impress you with something that you just can not explain to someone who don't understand the language of music. All the best Kate Lim.
For those that actually know music theory and hate the way he names chords, here are the chords used. Enjoy! (5:40) I--> II Protagonism (5:56) I-->Vb (that's flat V) Outer Space (6:20) I-->VIb (flat VI) Fantastical (6:42) I-->iii Sandness/Loss (7:14) I-->iv Romantic/Middle Eastern (7:42) i-->IV (that's a minor tonic) Wonder/Transcendence (8:04) i-->II Mystery or Dark Comedy (8:30) i-->VII Dramatic Sound (8:53) i-->vb (that's a minor flat v) Antagonism, danger (less character based) (9:18) i-->vib (minor flat vi) Antagonism, evil (more character based)
Without a key reference this is a bit strange to comprehence for me. I know my theory but does this mean for example that the first one is in a lydian key (due to 2 mayor chords being in a row)? or are we just talking all about mode mixture because the second example isn't related to 1 specific key and neither is the 3rd one. In that case I would for example say the 2nd example is a mixture between a mayor key and a locrian key. all together I think its hard to say much about keys and progressions with only 2 chords. I hope you can till me a bit more about it?
Finally found someone else besides me who's trying to identify the chords. Btw the flats should be before the Roman numeral, as it is the root that is flattened (eg I -> bV, I -> bVI,). but other than that nice!
This is great, thanks! Another way of thinking about it: depending on whether you're going from major to minor, minor to major, or staying in the same mode, tritone relationships signify either outer space or danger (clearly related); chromatic mediants signify fantasy or loss; quartal harmony represents wonder/orientalism; whole-step shifts indicate some dramatic moment (hooray the hero is here, or uh oh what just happened)... And of course, these can probably be combined for more nuanced/complex expression.
Yeah but if lieutenantkaya sais I->II While both chords are Major then it's not right because II in a normal Major scale is a minor chord not a Major chord. In the video it is Major to Major but I->II is major to minor
I often believed there is a composer in everyone. The years I taught piano I gave my students similar composition exercises to stimulate their interest in creating music, not just playing it. If more music teachers would incorporate composition in their lessons, students would have a different perspective on making music.
Marc Parella frankly, if you don’t want to learn to make your own music, there is really no point in learning to play an instrument. I mean in our time we can listen to music without having to have someone playing it on an instrument. So I believe creating ones own music should be part of playing an instrument always.
This is exactly what led me to quit music at 19. I had studied violin since the age of 9, and I could sight read sheet music and fill my seat in the orchestra just fine for impressing the parents. But I got so frustrated because that was literally all I could do, and back then there was no internet. So I quit altogether because I couldn’t jam or improv the tiniest bit with what I was taught. But the parents sure were impressed with the great sounding classical pieces we’d play at our symphonies.
Music theory is pretty much essential if you want to take it seriously. It makes it very easy to communicate with other musicians on how you want your music played. It just makes it the process of music making much smoother. It's essentially a very helpful tool.
Hi Scott. Lovely stuff, beautifully explained. I have read your papers and they where invaluable when I finally got to write some music for a film !.....please do more
projektmelodik Glad to hear it! I'll post the follow-up video soon. In the meantime, I have another video that takes a closer look at M4m and includes several examples of this "sad progression" at the end: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jHvLtuyHADQ.html
Just started studying film composition, and I found this 'cheat sheet' extremely useful! Definitely will make my workflow faster! Thanks for the video!
6 лет назад
I was planning on studying music, you just saved me 100k! :)
What Hollywood doesn't want you to know! Film Producers hate these Tricks! 4 easy music Tricks that make you sound Professional! Anyone else get that vibe from the beginning?
But Scott Murphy didn't ask us for money, nor did he string us along to find out what he knows, unlike the web marketers who promise you the world - with a money back guarantee. And he showed us how these simple progressions work in actual music that most people know. So perhaps you misread him?
Thank you so much for this! I find it so difficult to break out of primary chords, I have a very "locked" mindset to chord progressions, so seeing these seemingly-random chord pairs put into their actual songs was a huge eye-opener! (It also served as a great exercise for me by running them through MuseScore before the examples, so I could identify the chords myself.)
You can hear it in a lot of Spanish music but with some other chords in between. It's also in Heathens by TOP. (But it starts on the minor chord, so it's actually an m7M)
This is great! As a silly digital composer with no musical theory this was extremely helpful to learn. I feel like I've been doing it all wrong, I've been stuck using a very, VERY small set of nearby chords and changing between them, making my music feel very monotonous. To anybody else reading, yes, this video is VERY helpful and encourages musicians to experiment with chord changes.
Have you gotten Muse Score yet? It'll help. Try basic music theory at a city college with piano lessons, Aural skills, and group piano. It's cheap to free.
Music theory, as it is descriptive should always be inspirational, letting you know of either a cool new thing you've never tried or finally formalising this cool thing you've noticed. And then with enough theory you start noticing the gaps, and that's where you can start experimenting with uncharted waters inside those gaps but without going so far that you lose your audience on the way
Absolutely correct. These chord combos go back to vaudeville, burlesque and then silent film accompaniment. My father in law, who played bass in a vaudeville group in the early 30s could entertain my wife as a little girl by playing these chord combos while reading stories. He couldn't play piano, but knew the chords that would set the mood. It is an old and well practiced craft that plucks the brain like the brain is a musical instrument of emotions.
1. about to play m8m, antagonism, character-based 2. expecting Darth Vader 3. Darth Vader theme plays 4. me: The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural
genius. because this is the explaining I like. someone grasps the whole concept and then summarize it....unlike many other teachers or manuals that would let you start with pressing key, then this key then this then this, until you are lost and have no clue what you are doing, but giving you this overview is what matters most.
M2M: Protagonism M6M: Outer Space M8M: Fantastical M4m: Sadness, loss M5m: Romantic, Middle Eastern m5M: Wonder, transcendence (also M7m) m2M: Mystery or dark comedy m11M: Dramatic sound popular in early 21st C m6m: Antagonism, danger (less character-based) m8m: Antagonism, evil (more character-based) You're Welcome now copy and paste to your note pad and open your DAW and get to work. ....and clean that crap off of your desk, its been there for days! Stop smiling.
I II: Protagonism I ♭V/♯IV: Outer Space I ♭VI/♯v: Fantastical I iii: Sadness, loss I iv: Romantic, Middle Easter i V: Wonder, transcendence (also I v) i II: Mystery or dark comedy i VII: Dramatic sound popular in early 21º Century i ♭v/♯iv: Antagonism, danger (less character-based) i ♭vi/♯v: Antagonism, danger (more character-based) (I think) It was harderder for me with those numbers. Who the hell counts steps? :P
It's cool for people who really don't know music. Like when you teach someone how to play "Smoke on the Water" on the guitar.@@Stemma3 I appreciate your version tho
This is an excellent lesson. If anything, the very simplistic way it's present probably means many people have skipped over it, not realising just how good it is.
That's how long it took me too. I've been playing piano for over ten years and I never had a teacher so I just play what sounds good to my ears albeit slowly with my fingers in "the wrong" positions. Meh I like it this way and then I came across this video and it taught me something cool I can use without learning everyone else's "popular" theory on how to do it. Gimme another ten years and I'll probably be somewhat bearable and entertaining to listen too.
What an incredible eye opener this video is for me! I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the first music lesson that I understand, and which I can easily put into practice! Thanks a lot for this.
I loved his work on Interstellar. Hans Zimmer does copy a lot of (his own) music usually, some soundtracks of his are quite generic, but from time to time he pumps out a beautiful, original soundtrack. Interstellar didn't need many chords, the soundtrack portrayed exactly what it needed to do: ambience, mystery, drama and some sadness.
A lot of filmmakers specifically ask composers to mimic a certain sound to fit a scene they've thought up, which may be a large part of why Zimmer seems to be reusing ideas. Even so, I personally I find all of his music very powerful.
OMFG!......after countless hrs trying to make sense of major and minor chords, this video pushed me right into such an "AA-Haa" moment that I can't describe how helpful this has been to me in construction of chord patterns....Scott, you are the man! Thank you immensely....you presented the info in a most concise and simple layout....easily one of the best videos that I've seen here, and I've seen hundreds...thanx again
Thank you for the Black Gold (aka Day of the Falcon) example! In Michael Giacchino's score for John Carter a year after Black Gold, one can also pick up on the Middle-Eastern, or at least desert, references of M5m in general and Maurice Jarre's Lawrence of Arabia score in particular.
+Scott Murphy Most Legend of Zelda (namely Ocarina of Time, since that's what I know) uses major 7 chords, or minor 7. Using the terms in this video, continue stacking the triads like this to get them, again using that counting system: Major - 4-3-4 minor - 3-4-3 That's just a stub of a much larger idea, but hopefully it gives you something fun to mess with. Enjoy, and God bless.
Your teaching style is wonderful. It builds curiosity and empowers. I want to go through my favorite film scores and see what patterns I can find. Maybe now I can figure out why Pixar always makes me cry...
I've been playing bass and guitar for 27 years, and recently a few other strings, and learning piano now-and currently into DAW recording. I've ALWAYS FELT these things, and can imitate them, but i never understood the language. Like an old man who never learned to read, but is a motivating inspirational speaker...
that M5m is the most notable chord progression See in *Zorro* _"I Want To SpendMy Lifetime Loving You"_ the interchange between A Major and D Minor It is also used in other "romantic" sounding songs Extraordinary Girl AM - Dm Hotel California F#M - Bm Toreador Song CM - Fm interchange
What's great about this video is it shows 1) How many great progressions are non-diatonic, and 2) How a simple formula, however bereft of music theory, can yield these wonderful progressions.
My lucky day. I just found a channel created by someone who is smart and funny. Great lesson. A good teacher is a treasure. Thanks for the lesson or insight or whatever it is.
Thanks for this great video Scott Murphy! Thanks again for sharing. EDIT: I hope to learn if or how these relate to the various modal scales. Seems some do, but not all.
Oh, this was so nice! In more guitarist-comprehensible way it looks as: F G - protagonist F H - outer space E C - fantastical C Em - sadness, loss E Am - romantic, Middle Eastern Am G - mystery or dark comedy Fm E - dramatic sound of the 00s Fm Hm - antagonism, danger Am Fm - antagonism, evil
Trevor Reynolds yeah don’t worry, I had some fellows musicians from America and when I gave them some sheets to play along they were wtf what’s that H chord hahaha
They are also pretty cool changes borrowed from the diminished scale for example in Em (Em Gm) or in Am (Am Cm), which Scott unfortunately didn’t mention...
Trevor Reynolds you can hear them in Yu-Gi-Oh Theme is Em Gm Cm Ebm. Or in Backstreet Boys „Everybody“ with the Halloween video and Tower Of Power’s „Soul With A Capital S“. They both are playing in the key of Dm and basically they play a diminished chord with four minor chords - Dm Fm Abm Bm. It‘s used in Hollywood aaaaall the time especially in horror movies (can’t think about an example from the film music industry sorry but you get my point haha)
Well, I'm an old musician. I learned how to play piano as a young boy...very young. Then, I went on and played in high school and on into college, where I became a music teacher. I don't want to say that this is a good way to learn to play the piano, but for those not wishing to go any further into music than this, it might suffice. But, if you intend on going further into music, this will damage your perspective, if not your whole understanding of chord progressions. First, he only showed you tonic or root chords. There are inversions to these chords. The songs he played sounded similar to the real thing, but more than likely, he should have played inversions, in some cases, to have the song sound closer to the real thing. He also didn't use the correct chord names, which would hinder anybody learning this way trying to communicate with a musician. Music has a language associated with it and if you don't understand the terms, you will be lost. But, as long as you play by yourself, go for it. Impress your friends, but if you have any friends who are musicians, they will probably laugh at your lack of understanding of the instrument and the actual chord names. While it doesn't mean you can't produce any music from this quick and unorthodox lesson about the keyboard, it is very limited in what it told you about music. Like I said before, the chords have inversions that can make a song sound totally different than always playing the root position of the chord. Doing so will quickly show actual musicians just how little you know about anything musical. There are sharps and flats, time signatures and many other things that would blow your mind, if you understood just how limited this little video is, when telling you that you can play Hollywood theme songs after watching. Might I suggest that you learn a few chords, what inversions are, what sheet music is and how to read it and with a little bit of time, you could sound a lot more like a musician than playing these triads. It's really not that difficult, but it does take a little bit of time and practice. This video doesn't help you any, if you want to do this. What are you going to say to someone who has a better musical ear and says the song you are playing doesn't quite sound like the song you say it is? More than likely, it will be because you didn't play the correct inversion of one or two of the chords. That's the first thing you'll be up against. Next, did you learn how to figure out what triads to play for another song? How about "Suicide is Painless", the theme song for M^A^S^H. Or maybe the theme song for CHEERS. That's a nice little piano song to impress your friends with. How many triads are in those songs, do you think? There's that old saying..."you can't get something for nothing" and that's basically what this video has to offer. You still want to use this video and attempt to learn a few Hollywood songs by playing these triads? Don't let me stop you. Good luck.
The fact that I've been trying to understand good triad progressions for 4 years now. This literally just fucking fixed that issue right up. Now, if you could do other music theory videos like this, it'd be a hoot and I'd fucking pay you.
I can't believe it's that freaking easy. I'm over here struggling my butt off to get this right, and he's just like "Hey look what I can do... wha bam!". And I'm like "Whaaa!?"
Thanks for the kind words. Your diatonic intervals (e.g. maj7) work great if you know the major (diatonic) scale. I designed this video for those who may not necessarily know the major scale. There's also something to be said for using a labeling system that more consistently reflects what it is labeling. For an extreme example, I-V-I (M-p5-M) is very different than I-bV-I (M-d5-M); the first is perhaps the most common three-triad progression in Western classical music, while the second is much more rare and exotic (it's the outer-space-y progression). But the diatonic labels make them look like one is a modified version of the other. This is kind of like how the labels "flu" (influenza) and "stomach flu" look similar, but what they represent are quite different from one another. Those who know this difference can get along with using these two labels. But if you call stomach flu gastroenteritis, then the label better reflects this difference, although it is a less commonly used (and more technical) label. M6M and M7M are less commonly used (and more technical) labels, but I believe their difference in appearance better reflects their difference in sound than I-bV-I (M-d5-M) and I-V-I (M-p5-M).
Scott Murphy yeah, it was confusing to me to think in terms of chromatic semitones. When you say 5, or 3 say, I think 5th and 3 Rd, diatonically speaking, and the exact number of semitones would be determined by the scale/mode. Do you have a video where you explain this with what modes are used? I would be very interested in that. For example, I wrote a tune in Phrygian that goes 1m, b2M, b3M. It sounds interesting to hear a major chord a semitone up from a minor chord, and then move to another major chord a whole tone from that. And then resolve back to the minor. I bet Phrygian is used in movies because of that.
This is one of the most helpful things I've ever seen on music theory. This is what applying music theory is about! Learning how to express something you want to express. You can ramble on all day about complex chords and obscure scales, but how does that help you express a feeling through music? "I want my introduction to sound very fantastical?" This is one of the very few videos that answers something like this. And the answer is of course M8M, or I - bVI (C major, A flat major)
Well sh!t, I just wasted a quarter of my life learning music theory. Ok, not really, but this is good stuff. Never really put 2 and 2 together when it comes to emotional Maj min chords although I just kind of emulate them. This is a nice shortcut.
I just ran across these videos and they are the best explained and understandable versions to date. The visuals helped me a lot. Need more like this for theory and such as it helped me tremendously!
i have known traditional music theory most of my life, and i found this video and the triad progressions an interesting useful thing to know. new approaches ,tips, tricks and ways of thinking are alway good i'd say. :)
I've been teaching myself music theory for the past year or so, so this explanation felt really weird to me. That being said, you explained the concepts very well, and in a way that's accessible to newcomers.
My brain went on autopilot when you started playing those melodies. I was alone at work, 9:30 pm, and forgot I was actually listening to something. When you said “if you liked this video” I almost shat my pants.
