Hi Sir, I intend to buy your online theory music courses for my son. He is not good at English, and he needs the subtitle , so I opened CC on the preview video but it did not work. Can you please help me, thank you!
Unfortunately we are unable to provide subtitles on our course material. Sorry about that. You can slow down the speed, pause and replay. Hope that helps.
Once you've watched a few of Gareth's videos, it becomes obvious. Gareth has actually said all these things many times before, just in different ways. And remember, this is just one approach. Genre and instrumentation has a huge influence on your approach as, too, your own style. Gareth has a heavy baroque style so keep that in mind.
I'm trying to get my head around Figured Bass notation. If I were describing a major chord in first inversion and counting up from the Bass note, I would say 6/4. but you just write 6? I'ts also confusing because I keep thinking your talking about 6th chords which is a different thing altogether. Do you do a figured Bass tutorial?
This is the clearest and most logical coverage of this subject I have ever seen. Thanks so much. Those Baroque composers were smart explorers too. The pinnacle of technical music until the advent of the jazz age.
Excellent. I asked if the rule of the octave would ever be covered on this channel last year or so, and you said "sure!". This is the most coherent I've ever seen this rule explained. You did not disappoint
This rule of the octave is explained in almost every old book of composition from Italy and France, it was a good tool for starting composers in that era Maybe we can add this one to our toolbox today, it's really intuitive
Bonne idée. Which means a good idea, in the French. I've made noticeable progress since I watched this 3 months ago. Gareth and Alex have a great channel.
For a complementary approach to the rule of the octave, there is a very interesting video from Early Music Sources. Interestingly, this has different harmonies for the descending major scale as well as the minor.
"different harmonies for the descending major scale as well as the minor". Absolutely. If the mayor scale descends the cord over the 6th tone is #6/3 instead of 6/3 and over the 4th tone is 4/2 instead of 6/3. For the descending minor scale over the 6th tone #6/3 instead of 6/3 and over the 4th tone is #4/2 instead of 6/3.
The most important "progression" in western music-sadly ignored today. Nice Job! You might really enjoy Remes translation of "Grundriss des Generalbasses" 1783. This was the bestselling "method" of 1800, and is incredible. Remes translation $20 on his website, and he demos it on YT channel. Thank you so much for this video!
Short perfect tutorial, lots of lessons in harmonizing and keyboard playing. What a lesson!!!!!. Music matters is a home to stay... Keep it up sir, your tutorials has really helped many.
Thank you for the amazingly lucid explanation! Quick question (not sure if this is still possible for this post but I'll ask anyway): must the alto remain silent in the final harmonization with IVb? For if it goes up from G to A, it creates a parallel 8th with the bass; if it goes down from G to F it creates a parallel 5th with the soprano; if it stays at G it creates a IV9b extension which is fine but seems somewhat unusual for the baroque period (let alone going up to B for a IV11b).
Interesting , these progressions in major scale eliminate the subdominant chord ( IV functional chord) and the minor ii & iii chords ...... all due to choosing the 6 - 3 position. Thoughts?
This is an outstanding teaching video that I found clear, and even more, enables me to understand an approach to how the rule is constructed. Nicely done!
Here’s one Gregory Barnett, "Tonal organization in seventeenth-century music theory." The Cambridge History of Music Theory, Th. Christensen ed. Cambridge University Press 2002
Hey there, I hope this message finds you well. I've been diving into the fascinating world of musical scales and tuning systems from the Renaissance period, and I came across something that I thought you might find intriguing. It's about the real enharmonic scale, specifically in the 1/4 comma Meantone tuning system. You know, the one where C# and Db aren't just different names for the same note, but actually different pitches? It adds such a unique flavor to the music that you don't get with the Equal Temperament system we're used to these days. I thought it might be a fun and challenging exercise to try and harmonize this scale. The unexpected intervals and "wolf" notes could lead to some pretty cool and unconventional chord progressions. And get this - apparently, there was a movement in the 18th century to develop what's been referred to as a Rule of the Enharmonic Octave. The idea was to systematize the wild enharmonic shifts that these tuning systems introduce, to make full use of chromatic and enharmonic possibilities without ending up sounding out of tune. How about it? Fancy exploring this with me? It could be a fun challenge, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what you think! C-C#-Db-D-D#-Eb-E-E#(or Fb)-F-F#-Gb-G-G#-Ab-A-A#-Bb-B-B# (or Cb)-C’ - and backwards C# is lower to Db, and E# is higher to Fb.
Isn’t the Roman numeral after the dominant in root position (V) supposed to be VI rather than IV (in both the Major and minor key scheme)? I was confused because I tried to followed what was said but what was written here is different.
I'm not sure whether others have this problem, but on my computer the lines on the score are too faint to be able to determine what notes they are. Can't be rectified on my computer (a relatively new Macbook Pro) by adjusting the lighting.
In major on the way down I think you will do an augmented 643 on the sixth degree …what you called the zingy chord I think…thanks for a great video. 🙂❤🙏🏼
Hi Gareth. Thank you so much for making this video. I wonder if you could clear something up for me please? Once the last modifications are reached at 9:57 for C Major, how would one go about incorporating harmonisation of the ‘A’ bass note or minor chord into the system? Because as far as I could tell, I couldn’t see the A minor chord in root or any inversions. It is probably a straightforward solution and in the video but as I’m still somewhat of a newbie, I couldn’t quite grasp it. Hope this makes sense. TIA 😊
Great video. If you could further explain: How would one approach RO harmonization of a more modern bassline that doesn’t use much stepwise movement? (2-5-1, 1-4-5, etc). And would doing this essentially recreate some of the voice leading problems that I am trying to avoid in the first place?
With the rule of the octave one never has any voice leading problems, however one jumps around in the bass, I think. That's what the whole thing stands for. It's the sound proof essence of 200 years of composing and improvisation, being in rule of the Baroque era and still the basis for most of the Galant style ... One cannot go wrong with the rule of the octave - for the sake of sounding baroque ...
Great explanation! I have never heard it explained so progressive before. As I recall it the downwards motion can also be altered similar to the minor one, so that when the bass is on the sixth scale degree you would play a V7/V as a 43 chord (or maybe just a V/V 64 chord) to precede the V when the bass comes to the fifth scale degree - and also V7 as 42 chord when the bass is on the fourth scale degree leading to the Ib when the bass goes to the third scale degree like you had in the minor key.
Ah I now see to what you are referring. It’s a matter of choice really. Resolve the 7th and then double the major 3rd or avoid doubling the major 3rd by concealing an unresolved 7th.
Delightful video. It's one thing to write the chords out (and be pleased with the resulting sound). It's quite another to UNDERSTAND why they sound the way they do--and why the resulting chord progressions work so well. Several university courses I've taken (over the years) throw a lot of potentially useful information at the students, but don't bother to explain (or explain sufficiently) why the information is important--nor how the concepts build upon each other to create beautiful music. Thank you so much for taking the time to TEACH us how to use the information presented. (BTW-- your example of a melodic minor scale harmonized was delightful. I heard bits of Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary within your scale example.)
Watching this again for a third time. I timed myself going around the circle of fifths in root position, and only made one mistake. I really have to work on my rhythm, but my fingers are starting to understand what to do. I'm also playing Bach Chorales and have seen scores of your videos on harmonizing. They are the best music lessons on the web. I try to sightread once or twice, and then I play it with my organ feature, since I believe Chorales sound better with an organ. Were you trained as an organist? I would love to hear you on that instrument.
I watched this one month ago and forgot to comment on the video that completely changed my musical life. I've been practicing this every day and my piano teacher has noticed a big difference in my playing. And I started thinking about my Method Books. I had tried Faber and La Méthode Rose (French/British bilingual) and had stagnated. I made better progress when I tried John Thompson (French version), which is an old fashioned book but I'm an old fashioned type. And I sterted thinking about fingering and figuring. I'm going to go back through some of those books and try to try the exercises using a figured bass instead of their chord based discussions. I had been playing Bach Prélude en Do Majeure for months, but I rewrote it in my version of a figured bass and it was much easier. And I played it in Sol Majeure with no problem. I think there are many students that are struggling with their Method books, maybe Gareth can do a video to help them use figured bass along with those books to help them progress.
Finally I have stumbled over the explanation why I find so many ii7 in J.S. Bach! Such an easily understandable insight into these secrets of the art. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
