Added: 3 years ago
From: Lypur
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  • 11:05 - 11:50 My humble opinion is that you have understood the "world" of music theory and music in general,perfectly.And i don't say that for your theoretical knowledge but for your general perception about music.After so many years,I've come to the same conclusion...There are no rules.

  • I'm confused about something. Towards the end when talking about what notes to double, you say in a vii chord to ALWAYS double the third. I don't think I see a doubled third in the vii chord you have in second place there on the board. I'm thinking that the F should be doubled? Is there another reason why you have the D note doubled? Thank you.

  • @ImAzzee Never mind, I see what has happened there. The third is doubled, the third being a D. Thinking about this has caused a light bulb moment on inversions! :D

  • All I'm saying is closed captioning adds a whole new dimension to your videos, especially this one!

  • 2:37 with CC

    his reforms work, now constitutional he works out to different stuff, his craft eisenstein them, finishes here all right thank you and stuff, is more to do with uh... plunking down lol

  • Great lesson. Are there any good harmony books and well as music theory books that you know of ?

  • Hello. What books would you recommend for learning harmony? I really want something that is comprehensive and as complete as possible (what one can expect from a collegiate course on harmony).

  • Incredibly informative, thanks

  • You should do a tutorial on how you did that to your hair.

  • you're that nerd from American Pie aren't ya

  • @dtjesus101 nah!! im sure he's the geek from Grandma's Boy!

  • Oh and one more small mistake:

    5) The distance between the Bass and Tenor could go up to a 12th not 10th.

  • @MrAnthonysaab i bet you're as fun at parties as the author

  • @oxoflavourcrisp I bet you're as stupid and shallow as the comment you've just posted.

  • So you can't leap to a M6, m/M7, and then you went back to the high F. (2 mistakes :p)

    4) You should have probably ended in a perfect cadence since its basic harmony. So use G in the bass then C.

    Hope i didn't offend you or anything, I'm just correcting what to me are harmony mistakes.

    Good job anyways, keep it up. :)

  • No offense but you have 4 mistakes in your tutorial:

    1) The second chord is a v (fifth degree) dominant without the fundamental, you don't use the vii degree especially in "Basic" Harmony and especially in major tonality.

    2)There is a parallel octave between the 4th and 5th chords, the F's in Bass and alto and G's in Bass and altos .

    3) I don't know why you leaped from F to bottom G between 4th and 5th chord. The maximum leap you are allowed to make is a m6 OR and octave. Continued ...

  • I Like your hair dude..

  • thanks for lessons and gosh people I just turned volume up simple.

  • yay! got it all. thanks for another great lesson

  • Audio too quiet :-/

  • dealing with music and you don't know how to normalize audio

  • I'm no music expert but I expect these things to be the same as with any other art form. You need to learn the rules before you start breaking them.

  • booooooring

  • Honestly, I did learn many things, so thank you!! : D

  • My speakers are on full and I can't hear a damn thing. You really need to re-upload this because it looks fairly comprehensive and well explained but shit I can't read lips.

  • i personally want you to go on and on and on about harmony. I am enjoying this video a lot. it is reinforcing a lot of stuff and adding a lot of new information for me. thank you

  • There's a parallel 5th in the first bar, between the alto and the tenor chords. Is this acceptable?

  • Comment removed

  • I've taught classical harmony at the university of london for many years, and, though the creator of this video clearly has good intentions, the information and examples he gives are flawed and potentially misleading (not to mention spelling mistakes). so I wouldn't advise anyone to take this as gospel. the thing is that different teachers say different things, so I'm not claiming omniscience - it's just that when the teacher isn't in the room with you it's hard to check things out with them.

  • @dowen679

    I'm struggling to find good information on Music Theory Harmony. Are there any sources you could generously reference me to? Online and/or text.

  • @drjamx could you say a bit more about what level you're at?

  • @dowen679

    I've played the clarinet and alto saxophone for 7 years, but I'm a beginner piano player. I understand rhythm, key signatures, and generally how to read music. I just don't have a good understanding of music theory and harmony.

  • @drjamx Online there's the Dolmetsch site, which has a lot of information and links that you may find helpful. In print if you're in the UK the AB Guides to Music Theory are quite good as a starting point and can be used in conjunction with the ABRSM Music Theory in Practice books Grades 1-8. However, as I suggested in my first comment on the video, there's really no substitute for a good teacher, as they will be able to structure your learning and address your questions (which there will be!).

  • @dowen679

    Thank you for the information! I plan on getting a teacher sometime this month. If I want to learn what he is trying to teach, I would just mention writing harmonies?

  • @drjamx Well it sounds like you're interested in theory in general and harmony (that is SATB, or 4-part writing) in particular. I would say for a harmony teacher you need someone who's able to teach Grade 6 and above, and I would check out that they have that level of experience. Good luck!

  • @dowen679

    Thank you!

  • @drjamx introducing music by otto karolyi has some good chapters on harmony

  • Comment removed

  • nice hair

  • your a freakin tool. your hair looks rediculous. you dont have to wear the same outfit in every video.

  • Thank you Andrew for all your efforts.

    This is how Beethoven wrote music. Now we know!

  • Trying to listen to this but can't because I don't have external speakers right now. Please fix the audio.

  • stand still laddy. how can you have any pudding if you haven't eaten your meat.

  • The hardest part for me, was that I was singing and analyzing the barbershop style of music while taking music theory and proper singing lessons. Needless to say (for anyone who knows anything about the barbershop style) I was very confused during those two years, lol. (*note, for those who don't know, Music Theory is a two year course)

  • thank you for the lesson . it is really a great help

    God Bless You...

  • i cant hear you you fool

  • To anyone who thinks they don't need to know this stuff in order to write music using harmony and multiple voicing ... unless you are 1 in 10,000 or have the last name of Mozart you will probably suck at it and even if you don't you could sound so much more interesting if you did. What you don't know can kill your listener .

    Thanks for the vid ...

  • Thanks for the video. I used these things called HEADPHONES. For those still complaining about the sound. *holds up middle finger* no sound needed.

  • Well, to put up a video explaining audio without giving your audience the ability to actually hear it is the height of stupidity.

  • hey, Could you please give me the name of a good book i could buy to learn this more in depth? im willing to put the time and effort down.

  • umm you say your into music well you should know that if you put compression on the audio track itd lower the volume of the keys at the beggining and raise the volume of your voice bringing everything to an even volume, this allowing you to boost the overall volume so people can hear what your saying.. im not evn a proffessional and even i know that

  • the volume of this video is very low... I am struggling to hear you. but this is a topic i'm really interested! Please could you do something about it?

  • You have what's called a hidden fifth in the alto and soprano voices from beat 4 to 1 of the next measure. (IV to V chords) If you're not sure what that is, it's parallel motion to a fifth. Although the preceding chord's interval between alto and soprano is not a fifth, you can't move in the same direction to a perfect fifth. Nor can you do so to an octave interval. Just some musical conversing! =]

  • Are you aware that people cannot hear this lesson?

    Sorry, I couldn't resist.

  • hey i loved this lesson. one question though.... im a guitarist and i want to improvise songs. does harmony have to do with any of this video??

  • This is actually very well explained. Kudos to you. Just wanted to say a thing about all the rules...I thought the same thing when I was first exposed to harmony. I later realized that applying the "rules" correctly on beat one, will keep you out of trouble on beat three. Most of these seemingly arbitrary rules are to keep the voice-leading rich and smooth. In the English language are tons of rules, but out of it comes ee cummings and Ulysses, etc. Congrats for tackling a difficult subject!!!!!

  • It's a good thing he made a video for the hearing impaired.

    It's about time someone focuses on the greediness of those who can hear.

  • @globe199 hahaha! that's the best comment so far about this video not having proper volume.

  • @globe199

    Yes because people with normal hearing are all evil and greedy.

    Nab.

  • Great video !

    ps. I love your hair, lol

  • As a teacher you SUCK!

  • @pluskvamperfekat Pay for lessons you moron, he is tired

  • What you were talking about regarding not following an octave with another octave: I've only been playing a few weeks, but two songs that I have learned so far- Rocket Man (Elton John) and Hey Jude (Beatles) do this ALL the time throughout the songs! So I guess its guidelines and not set in stone

  • @Tossphate These were rules, but in the 17th and 18th century. They are based on tonality, something the Beatles and Elton John still practice. The difference is that that rock music is more based on rhythm. Also hip, but these are concepts made when our music and tuning system were still being established. Soon after they were being broken, but with reason. Also this was for choral music not backed up with drums or a groove.consecutive octave can make melodic/harmonic music sound dead if sudden

  • @Tossphate The point about this is that a line doubled in octaves for textural reasons (e.g reinforcement) is not a case of 'parallel octaves' because there's no intention to create independence between the original line and the doubling line. Voice-leading rules (e.g. octave to octave) apply when there is an intention to create genuinely independent voices (as, say, in a fugue), in the context of a pre-C20th Western classical style.

  • hello Mr. Andrew you are realy great .

    you are my best hero in the world.

    And I am your best fan from India by

    Beni

  • thank u so much Andrew :)

  • waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaa

  • i just want to sit down at a piano and come up with a grade five piece of my own..... unfortunately, i can't because i can never think of anything... not to mention the fact that i can't actually write music. i can read it though. by the way, when you see a note with a rest over it, what does it mean?

  • even by blasting the volume at max with my ears at my speakers its hard to understand =/

  • hey finally a video where i learn something new!!! btw awesome lesson dude, the funny thing is i probuly know (or im more familiar with) more music theory than my band teacher and i plan to keep it that way, keep on making more lessons!!!!

  • Nice lesson. I have a dumb question, cuz I'm such a neophyte, I possibly see the big pix here, but not how to use this specifically in real world.

    This is for song writing I presume? But what is the context? Would this chart just be for one certain harmony you are working on for a certain song where you already have the key and time sigs figured out? Or can you apply this exact chart to many situations?

  • Sorry man, I just needed to know a few things. Firstly, I don't think you mentioned what happens to the 5th in the resolving chord. You mentioned that the 3rd falls to the root but i never heard you say what happens to the 5th, could you please clear this up for me? Also with parallel octaves and thirds, is it 'allowed' to have two 5th intervals or 3rd intervals in different voices in two consecutive beats or is it ruled out altogether? Thanks a lot man, this video really helped me!!! :-)

  • at 11:00 u said a chord say C maj. you can only play the notes that are in that chord up or down...?

  • i cant hear you, maximum volume already, still cant hear you.

  • lmao... yeah i suggest you go to college... love that saying

  • Alguien que traduzca por favor!!!

  • wow this course was really great. I've been doing harmony for 2 years now but it's only now I get it with the parallel octaves and fifths. same with the doubling of the notes for primary and secondary chords. Thank you so much, I wish you were my harmony teacher because you are so funny and explain everything clearly. keep up the good work

  • your hair annoys me

  • @FunkMasterFelix i no rite!

  • Can you just re-record this please as I have turned my speakers up and the volume on the tab bar and I still cannot herar you. Please re-record as I am interested in what you have to say.

  • ....u tha piano guy from Chat Roulette?

  • can t hear...

  • Yes, it's hard to hear but I learned a couple of things. thanks

  • Nobody knows a trick to raise the volume, this is the information i am looking for longtime.

  • Fuckin hell, I can't hear a thing..

  • I couldn't even tell it was mute when I accidentally clicked on it. :'(

  • Coral style, tehe... you mean chorale style? ^^ And there's parallel 8ves ^^

  • I can bearly hear even though my PC's speaker's volume is max....

    It looks like a great video, so I wish I could hear...

  • great video...definitely have to come back and dissect it. thank you.

  • shite i cant even hear it bud :@

  • we can hear just fine.

  • Right now im looking for a video on techniques of harmonizing bass notes with a melody for piano in the c major scale you should do a simplified version of that. I can mess around but i would like to see you explain it in detail maybe with a little basic theory

  • Hi Andrew, I enjoyed your video! Well done on cramming 3 months of info into 25 minutes. Just as a matter of interest, I spotted a consecutive octave between Alto and Bass between chords 4 and 5. It's pernicious because the voices move in contrary motion...but technically it's still a consecutive.

  • Some theory books consider going from a diminished 5th to a perfect 5th an error. Should this be the case, then there is an error between Alto and Tenor in chords 2 and 3. Personally, I wouldn't consider it offensive!

  • I guess it comes down to which theory books you use. Lovelock "First Year Harmony" p22 para 8 allows it, so long as neither of the parts involved is the bass. But to be honest, I don't always trust Lovelock. We'll have to trawl through Bach's chorales to see what he actually does... You're right about the parallel octaves in bars 4 and 5, by the way.

  • Comment removed

  • I have no speakers.

    :(

  • Subscribed.

  • as i go in this lesson, i understand how much its all important. the theory. 10 lessons more ! Now i enjoyed practicing. Thanks andrew !

  • Comment removed

  • @bwag8008

    you got no idea.

    what you call "sounding good" you would create with your instinct. but a mast of his art doesn't rely on his instinct. he uses rules to make his piece

    not the rules make the sound but the sound defines the rules.

    go and recite some ugly music somewhere else but don't write about stuff you don't understand.

    "Anxious inexperienced writers obey rules; rebellious unschooled writers break rules; an artist masters form." -- Robert McKee

  • Comment removed

  • @Knorck you have to know the rules in order that you can break them.

  • get a harmony chart and learn how to use it, thats how you do harmony or learn your chords

  • when composing in something like the enigmatic minor or an altered mode, modal tonal center, do these rules change at all in the grand scheme of harmonic rules. are there any little things that change. Do you know of a place you would suggest to look for such answers or a place to study (for free) to suppement your videos?? Thanks soo much for what you do by the way. You are awesome!

  • So then why all the rules, or better yet, why adhere to them? Didn't music evolve into the e.g. avant-garde or a-tonality, not to mention the fundamental changes like going from unison to harmony singing centuries ago, because rules and convention were discarded, or to put it more aptly, ignored? I like "musica ficta" just as much.

    My apologies for the bad grammar... as you can see I'm not much for rules...

  • exactly, me either, i hated studying this stuff I always lost marks for getting creative. I knew I'd get a better mark doing something one way, but it was boring and predictable. but once you know it, it can be useful when you want to apply something at a certain time. Kind of bust out the rules at will for certain effects?

  • @Lypur : Touché.

    It doesn't seem to matter what you study in life, as long as you relinquish creativity and do as you are told. Even in the most creative of subjects, orthodox seems to be the rule at hand.

    PS. You may not be the most eloquent of teachers for now, but I'm pretty sure you are on the right track Andrew. Even though I know the basics, I am going to watch all the theory lessons... (for when I need them :)

  • @RaRaLandTV

    really the main reason why we study this style of composition is to understand past works from the baroque period to the romantic. After that, these rules were basically viewed as guidelines and nothing more. However, their existence doesn't limit you as much as you would expect. Most of these rules really help if your writing something in four parts. If you follow them, it is less likely you will find yourself writing something hollow or mal-proportioned.

  • @JDiCiara88 Thank you for your verbose reply, but to be honest it doesn't follow the thread of the conversation I was having with lypur, dealing with the exaltation of and/or strict adherence to the rules, not the premise on which they are studied.

    I thank you anyway :)

  • @RaRaLandTV

    You have to know the rules to break them, example: lawyers.

    Basically music theory gives you words for ideas that you would otherwise have to describe every time you mentioned them. That's the reason I like it.

  • @Danarbed. Ápropos, yet, it is not necessarily a prerequisite for breaking the rules.

  • @RaRaLandTV music is both a universal and cultural thing, so some rules add to better understanding music and some clash with rules in other cultures. i mean, some of these rules also apply also to jazz, avant garde, eastern music, etc. and some clash and form contrary to other schools or cultures. it's better from many schools as possible to understand and appreciate the "universal" aspect of music. even these rules change from period to period in western classical music, so just let it go easy

  • @RaRaLandTV It is good to understand why they are what they are. It trains you to be better at making individual lines flow within progressions. Bach actually broke rules all of the time but his music thrives under the principles of voice leading and smoothness. You can throw out rules but you can't just throw them in without having trained yourself to use them.

  • Comment removed

  • u should do a video on composing! XD

  • Hey there! Fair play to you for bothering to do this! Are they not consecutive 5ths in the first 2 chords between the tenor and the alto parts??

  • No, not consecutive fifths because the second fifth is diminished.

  • Comment removed

  • that was so pretty!! and you wrote it in 10 min ?! thanks for the harmony lesson. very helpful..

  • "Hi Folks! Harry Caray here..."

  • Why dont you submit a differwnt video where someone could hear this maestro?

  • i get it now!!!!!! i always thought harmony was sooo different.

  • heck yea! even If you did this lesson in sign language, Id still be grateful. ^.^

  • thanks for the lesson dude!

  • I cant hear your voice Andrew :(

  • this video shows me what PP (piano piano) means xD

  • Thank You very much for best lesson, Dear Sir.

  • Can you do more videos on harmony?!

    thanks for all ur lessons =)

  • Ok, i love music, but i dont mean to sound stupid but, i do not know what harmony is. How can you tell where the harmony is in a song.

  • WELL... it looked helpful at FIRST, but then when I watched the video I can't even hear this guy talk. With the volume up all the way you can still barely hear it.

  • "yeah sweet i get to make up my own songs !! but- NO "

    ROFL

  • i could hear it fine, and i thought you were very enthusiastic :)

  • I can fix the audio in your video if you want.... you have great videos

  • @JMRVmusic

    Please do so....Lypur has given good lessons free...your expertise would help....thanks!

  • this was the most helpful video ever, could here it fine i just turned up the volume on my laptop lol cheers for all the hard work if i'm ever in canada i'll buy you a beer

  • I think if you had thought the lesson out a bit you could have explained it a bit better. But I commend you on doing a video on this, its a long and complicated subject. You should do a video on figured bass explaining what all of the inversion symbols mean to help people learning this.

  • If the bass note is a C and there's a 5 over a 3 under that C, you'd play the third and fifth up from C, or a C major chord, in whatever form or or octave you want. A 5/3 under G is a G major chord. 7/5/3 is a seventh chord starting from whatever bass note it's under. Sometimes it's just writtn as 7, and the 3/5 is implied. If you're in a key with accidentals, and there's a b3 under a bass note, you play the third above it, but without the sharp that it may usually have.

  • Oh, I know how to read figured bass very well, I meant for everyone else lol. And who thumbs downed my comment, I was giving him constructive feedback to help his lesson, plus I complimented him. =(

  • Oh ok! Heh. I didn't thumb it down.

  • wow this helped me so much!!! Now i have to get a paper and write all the rules down.

    i still got one question... can you just play this 3 notes in the cord? because in the music i listen to, they often play one chord for a long time, but they have a lot of crazy melodies over it... and i don't think they got only 3 notes in it...

  • of course you can! this is music it's supposed to be creative! these "rules" are more like suggestions

  • oh okay :P

    this was finaly the songwriting lesson, i was looking for so many times on youtube xDD

    thanks a lot!!!

  • yea it's a free lesson people don't complain! i can hear much better with earphones on =). thanks andrew

  • you're welcome! :D It's nice to hear positive comments on this video.

  • what's up with the hair?

  • you should refilm this cant hear you sorry

  • try using a headphone or something... maybe it might be heard

  • Please get a deaseant microphone.

  • it's the same microphone i've been using for the other 30 lessons. Volume was just turned down by accident. Now almost a year later i'm still hearing the same comments. There's nothing I can do except re film it.

  • to me the microphone sounds pretty good lol are you sure its not your speakers?

  • i cant hear anything & my volume is up high

  • i know, i messed up when i recorded this, i had the volume at the level you have to have it for recording piano. There's nothing i can do to fix it, i'm well aware people say it's too low. If people keep complaining about a free lesson, then maybe I'll just pull this video...

  • sounds to me you been listening to too much metal music and its deafened your ears LOl i can hear it fine lol

  • I don't understand your rush ! Why are you trying make all the previous lesson(the old one) so fast ?If you are not in the mood to make something i think is important to relax and then to start your work again.The audio quality of this lesson is poor ! I try to listen very carefully but is impossible (even with my speakers at high level of hearing). Please do it again this movie if you want help us(i refer here at the foreign person which must hear clear to understand something).Thanks!

  • the guy has taken the time out of his own life to help all of us with this, if hes rushed a little bit thats his perogative he's not forced to do these videos, i think some people should show a bit more gratitude

  • I have to watch this like 10 times to grasp every single thing that you explained. xD

    Good job though. :D

  • yea, it's a bit complicated. It took me awhile to understand this when I first started harmony back in the day.

  • hi Andrew..you are not audible..

  • PUmp up the volume ! Pump up the volume!

  • SHERMINATOR

  • VERY informative, I think your channel and others like it are VERY important, American schools are slashing music programs left and right like Freddy Kruger, young people are SO musically illiterate it's not even funny.

    I appreciate you taking the time to break it down, this is a good refresher and this information is very useful for anyone who's serious about music.

  • thanks :)

  • I CANNT HEAARR A THING

  • Is your volume turned up? I can hear it just fine.

  • that was tough, i took notes :/

  • yea! harmony's a little more complex.

  • CANT HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!!!

  • Cool stuff...were you ever taught what it means when a sound is Dark versus Bright, or Warm versus anti-warm...?

  • your hair is out of control

  • great, no problem about the volume, if problem persist download the video and fix it yourselves. great job mate. keep it up

  • How could you post this without checking the sound quality? Please repost after fixing sound, generalable inaudible. Otherwise, well done for speading the knowledge, an honorable pursuit.

  • this guy really needs to stick to the point, turn up his mic sens, and move the camera closer to the board with the information on it. He is acurate I just don't think he is clear. But hey you've gotta respect him for botherin his arse to put this stuff up.

  • Think outside the box, BREAK THE RULES!!!!!!

  • first though u gotta have that box to break

  • i can hear..but put your vol- to the highest...you are soo cool man