Hi Seth! I just wanted to let you know that your videos helped me test out of harmony classes going into masters. I recommend these to anybody who ACTUALLY wants to learn music theory concisely, at your own pace, and with a great teacher! Looking forward to more!
I’ll add that these are worth a lot more than what you would get during undergraduate studies at even the most prestigious conservatories. Congratulations for that!
@@PiacentiniChannel It's exactly what MY undergrads got when I taught at the Eastman School of Music. :) But now I don't teach undergrads anymore. And to be honest, I've found that Masters-level students are a hungrier audience for this sort of thing: they're tired of only kind of half understanding things and want to finally learn it the right way. At any rate, CONGRATS on passing out of your harmony classes! Hopefully that'll free up your schedule to take the classes you're most interested in.
I love these lectures but my lack of ear training holds me back. I can imagine the college professor stopping his lecture and pointing me out as a fraud...and he'd be right. But I'll listen in anyway.
This remains one of the best instructional series about music theory, and absolutely the best specifically about common practice period music theory. Clear and engaging, and gets into some of the fiddly details that sometimes get glossed over. I've been basically teaching myself from Music Theory CZcams, and while I may be deep into Dunning-Krugerland, I feel like I get a lot out of these. Looking forward to the video on augmented 6ths. I'm still a little bummed that GUIM stopped uploading before getting to the promised final installment of his series on them.
*Step aside professor, modulation is my specialty.* 😏 _Ok, so what you're gonna wanna do is open up FL Studio, and open up Sytrus. Just right-click the X modulation knob, create automation clip, then use the mod tab and modulation matrix to map the X mod knob to either some FM or RM to another operator. You have now used modulation to make a dubstep bass._ 👏👏
I can only imagine the effort that went into making these videos: using the same font and colour for each T, D, and SD label, and aligning them perfectly showing the same-sized, and same-opacity colour-coded circles to help us follow the bassline overcoming vertical space constraints in the Haydn Op. 20, No. 4 example, by showing the analysis only when the system is playing
I'm really grateful that you noticed the care that goes into these! I've gotten way more fussy (i.e., obsessive) as the series evolved: the visual medium has so much potential, but it's really time consuming to use it to its full potential. Honestly, I'm really happy with how these last few turned out. I like to think the extra effort was worth it. (And OMG, the space issues created by these double-tiered modulation analyses was such a headache. The solution of showing only one system of analysis at a time was a last-minute breakthrough!)
In the Mozart Sonata 18 example, the original score doesn’t include the g# in the left hand. Might swing the perception more towards being an open cadence than a modulation.
Wow-you're right about the G#! I have no idea what that's doing there. I wondered if it was added by an editor in some old edition that I copied it from? Did I add it subliminally? At any rate, I'm of the opinion that if you DO play it with a G-natural, it suddenly sounds deeply un-Mozartean. You end up with a V6/4 chord resolving with a stationary bass into a ii7, which for all intents and purposes isn't a "real" chord progression in this style.
I'm new to this channel and I love the series, and your teaching skills and engagement with the topic steals my attention. Could you recommend us a good book about four part writing
Thanks for the kind words! When you say "four part writing," do you mean actual contrapuntal composition in multiple voices, or pedagogical four-part chorale writing?
@@SethMonahan I meant the four-part chorale writing, in which there are rules like don't make parallel fifths or don't repeat the third of a chord... I hope I'm clear
@@slwankaedbey775 Sure-absolutely clear. I'm guessing that nearly any harmony/counterpoint textbook in print today would have an overview of the "rules" of writing in four parts.
Hi, i'm teacher in Pelotas's Federal University, Brazil, and liked your videos very much. I'd really like to use them in my classes, but they don't have subtitles in portuguese. So i would like to translate to portuguese and made the subtitles for some of them. I'd like to ask you if i could send you these portuguese subtitles so you could put it in your videos and my brazillian students (and other portuguese speakers) would be able to understand your videos. Thanks.
Amazing video! One of the best explanations I've seen thus far. Just a suggestion, but I think it would be beneficial to include at least one example of how these techniques apply to music outside of the classical/romantic era. Every book and explanation I've seen always does it with classical era music, but it would be neat to see how these same techniques apply to orchestral music of the 20th century and beyond. Do you by chance know of any books that has a modern take on these techniques? Whenever I'd compose, for the longest time my modulations sounded very "classical" when I wanted to get that modern sound, but I can't seem to find many resources which can explain it from the perspective of say Shostakovich or Bernstein or any other 20th century composer.
I would you describe this modulation from Mozart K167? czcams.com/video/UTeLX4xSkw4/video.html. Isn't it like G minor (bar 29) -> E major triad, dominant major of A minor (bar 32)?
Wow-that passage is nuts. I think there might be a typo in the score shown in the CZcams video, so I need to check it against the critical edition. More soon. (Also, your comment about the Michael Haydn piece disappeared. That was a bullseye-it would have been a perfect example to include in that lesson about III and VII!)
So the K. 167 modulation: m. 29 pretends briefly to be tonic in G minor, but it's revealed to be iio6 of Dm. The next bar, predictably enough, is V7 of Dm. But bar 31 is HARD. I think the harmonic rhythm speeds up to one chord per quarter-note beat, and that the implied chords are viio7 of A [beat 1], A minor [beat 2], and viio7 of V in A minor [beat 3]. So the harmony, to the extent we can perceive it (which is doubtful), is pointing forward to the Am music ahead. The implication of Dm in mm. 29-30 is a phantasm. I need some Advil...
Just three this weekend, alas. (That's about two months of work.) I hope to get at least two more done by mid-August, though. Starting work on no. 35 today!
22:42 bar 3, beat 4, isn't that a French augmented 6th chord, with the G in the bass? Not sure what the figured bass notation would be but...FR+6 something something?
Ack-there's a missing accidental there. The tenor voice should be D-natural rather than Db. (As written, it would indeed be some kind of inverted FR+6. But I've never seen a FR+6 inverted so that scale degree ^2 is in the bass.)
@@castronaut2000 Ironically, I'm working on the video for augmented sixth chords at this very moment. I'll be sure to check it a bit more thoroughly for typos! :)
@@castronaut2000 I very much hope so. But it might be a while. I've got a list of provisional harmony topics I'd like to cover. But since I only have time to make videos in the summer, I don't expect to be done with those for another 2-3 years.
GREAT question! I avoid the term "tonicization" because it means different things to different people and tends, in my experience, to confuse matters. Some textbooks use the term "tonicization" to describe the use of any applied chord. (I think that's crazy. Not every applied chord makes the chord that follows "into a tonic.") Other people use it interchangeably with "modulation." (Then why use the word, if we already have "modulation"?!?!) Still others use it to refer to very weak key changes, those in which the new "tonic" might feel fleeting or insubstantial. I kind of like the third usage, but on principle I don't like using words that could convey the wrong meaning to my viewers/students.
I see a tonicization as something that might be a key change but it is too weak to be that (the third usage). It is too short or it lacks enough strong cadence to establish a new key. Typicaly, something that is annotated as a sequence of two or more secondary chords, like viio/V - V/V - V. Sometimes, I find that it is hard or subjective to decide whether something is a modulation or tonicitation. However, even without using the term of tonicization you still have the same tricky question to decide: is something modulation or it is not.
@@hstanekovic Yeah. I see it that way too. If it's by Beethoven, I tend to err on the side of modulation. Even if it involves parallel keys and thus would become "Parallel Modulation" which some people don't think of as really being a modulation as the tonic note is the same(I personally disagree, especially in Beethoven, the move to the parallel minor or major is just as modulatory as a move to a distantly related key), I still err on the side of modulation. That is unless chords show up that don't really make sense in the new key. This, chords not making sense in the new key, is why I analyzed the entire introduction of the Pathetique Sonata as being in C minor. A V -> I cadence in Eb is evaded(no full Bb chord and the right hand goes by too fast for the cadence to stick), and soon after, what would be vii dim7/vi alternating with ii in Eb shows up. vii dim7/vi doesn't make sense to me, it's so uncommon, so that made me second guess whether it modulated from C minor at all. Keeping the analysis of the Pathetique Sonata introduction in C minor simplified this diminished seventh chord. It did however make a lot of the harmonic analysis more complicated in that section, having to analyze a lot of chords as being tertiary applied chords(things like V/IV/IV).
@@caterscarrots3407 Yes, harmony analysis can be very challenging. For educational purposes, it's good to choose examples that clearly demonstrate theory. However, once when you decide to make harmony analysis of complete works it's possible to find sections that are very hard to explain on satisfactionary way.
Thanks for helping us along, Seth.
You're very welcome, Kevin!
I love your term “breakaway chord”! Something I’ve often referenced but never had a concise term for
These lessons are just marvelous!
simply the best teacher on youtube. the quality of your videos is second to none in content and implementation. big thanks for your effort! cheerz
Hi Seth! I just wanted to let you know that your videos helped me test out of harmony classes going into masters. I recommend these to anybody who ACTUALLY wants to learn music theory concisely, at your own pace, and with a great teacher! Looking forward to more!
I’ll add that these are worth a lot more than what you would get during undergraduate studies at even the most prestigious conservatories. Congratulations for that!
@@PiacentiniChannel It's exactly what MY undergrads got when I taught at the Eastman School of Music. :) But now I don't teach undergrads anymore. And to be honest, I've found that Masters-level students are a hungrier audience for this sort of thing: they're tired of only kind of half understanding things and want to finally learn it the right way. At any rate, CONGRATS on passing out of your harmony classes! Hopefully that'll free up your schedule to take the classes you're most interested in.
These lessons are a gem. Don't stop uploading!
You’re a literal godsend thank you
I love these lectures but my lack of ear training holds me back. I can imagine the college professor stopping his lecture and pointing me out as a fraud...and he'd be right. But I'll listen in anyway.
Insane video, you explained me so well that I can imagine while sleeping
This remains one of the best instructional series about music theory, and absolutely the best specifically about common practice period music theory. Clear and engaging, and gets into some of the fiddly details that sometimes get glossed over. I've been basically teaching myself from Music Theory CZcams, and while I may be deep into Dunning-Krugerland, I feel like I get a lot out of these.
Looking forward to the video on augmented 6ths. I'm still a little bummed that GUIM stopped uploading before getting to the promised final installment of his series on them.
*Step aside professor, modulation is my specialty.* 😏
_Ok, so what you're gonna wanna do is open up FL Studio, and open up Sytrus. Just right-click the X modulation knob, create automation clip, then use the mod tab and modulation matrix to map the X mod knob to either some FM or RM to another operator. You have now used modulation to make a dubstep bass._ 👏👏
I oughtta be taking lessons from you, kid. I'd get a heck of a lot more subscribers...
@@SethMonahan That's some high praise.
Well thanks, if you ever wanted to try looking at electronic sound design you know who to ask. 😅
One of your best lessons yet. And you'd already set a really high bar!
Keep making these beautiful lessons! Big Thank you!✨
Was waiting for this video. Thank you soooo much. Love from India, dear Seth Monahan.
Thanks so much Shombit! This is an important topic; I'm not sure why I waited so long...
I can only imagine the effort that went into making these videos:
using the same font and colour for each T, D, and SD label, and aligning them perfectly
showing the same-sized, and same-opacity colour-coded circles to help us follow the bassline
overcoming vertical space constraints in the Haydn Op. 20, No. 4 example, by showing the analysis only when the system is playing
I'm really grateful that you noticed the care that goes into these! I've gotten way more fussy (i.e., obsessive) as the series evolved: the visual medium has so much potential, but it's really time consuming to use it to its full potential. Honestly, I'm really happy with how these last few turned out. I like to think the extra effort was worth it. (And OMG, the space issues created by these double-tiered modulation analyses was such a headache. The solution of showing only one system of analysis at a time was a last-minute breakthrough!)
I'm learning a ton from your videos, thanks for making them!
Glad you like them!
In the Mozart Sonata 18 example, the original score doesn’t include the g# in the left hand. Might swing the perception more towards being an open cadence than a modulation.
Wow-you're right about the G#! I have no idea what that's doing there. I wondered if it was added by an editor in some old edition that I copied it from? Did I add it subliminally?
At any rate, I'm of the opinion that if you DO play it with a G-natural, it suddenly sounds deeply un-Mozartean. You end up with a V6/4 chord resolving with a stationary bass into a ii7, which for all intents and purposes isn't a "real" chord progression in this style.
Brilliant stuff! Thank you!
Thanks for the great work! Waiting for the next video!!!
Seth, are you available for skype lessons? I'm looking to do score study and absolutely love your approach. Your channel is exceptional!
Hmm, interesting-drop me an email at my yale.edu address and we can talk about it!
Good lesson . What is a PAC?
PAC is the abbreviation for "perfect authentic cadence"; see Video 11, I think?
I'm new to this channel and I love the series, and your teaching skills and engagement with the topic steals my attention.
Could you recommend us a good book about four part writing
Thanks for the kind words! When you say "four part writing," do you mean actual contrapuntal composition in multiple voices, or pedagogical four-part chorale writing?
@@SethMonahan I meant the four-part chorale writing, in which there are rules like don't make parallel fifths or don't repeat the third of a chord... I hope I'm clear
@@slwankaedbey775 Sure-absolutely clear. I'm guessing that nearly any harmony/counterpoint textbook in print today would have an overview of the "rules" of writing in four parts.
Hi, i'm teacher in Pelotas's Federal University, Brazil, and liked your videos very much. I'd really like to use them in my classes, but they don't have subtitles in portuguese. So i would like to translate to portuguese and made the subtitles for some of them. I'd like to ask you if i could send you these portuguese subtitles so you could put it in your videos and my brazillian students (and other portuguese speakers) would be able to understand your videos. Thanks.
Hi Rogerio! I'd love to talk about this further. Please feel free to email me at my work address (seth.monahan@yale.edu).
Amazing video! One of the best explanations I've seen thus far. Just a suggestion, but I think it would be beneficial to include at least one example of how these techniques apply to music outside of the classical/romantic era. Every book and explanation I've seen always does it with classical era music, but it would be neat to see how these same techniques apply to orchestral music of the 20th century and beyond. Do you by chance know of any books that has a modern take on these techniques? Whenever I'd compose, for the longest time my modulations sounded very "classical" when I wanted to get that modern sound, but I can't seem to find many resources which can explain it from the perspective of say Shostakovich or Bernstein or any other 20th century composer.
I would you describe this modulation from Mozart K167? czcams.com/video/UTeLX4xSkw4/video.html. Isn't it like G minor (bar 29) -> E major triad, dominant major of A minor (bar 32)?
Wow-that passage is nuts. I think there might be a typo in the score shown in the CZcams video, so I need to check it against the critical edition. More soon. (Also, your comment about the Michael Haydn piece disappeared. That was a bullseye-it would have been a perfect example to include in that lesson about III and VII!)
So the K. 167 modulation: m. 29 pretends briefly to be tonic in G minor, but it's revealed to be iio6 of Dm. The next bar, predictably enough, is V7 of Dm. But bar 31 is HARD. I think the harmonic rhythm speeds up to one chord per quarter-note beat, and that the implied chords are viio7 of A [beat 1], A minor [beat 2], and viio7 of V in A minor [beat 3]. So the harmony, to the extent we can perceive it (which is doubtful), is pointing forward to the Am music ahead. The implication of Dm in mm. 29-30 is a phantasm.
I need some Advil...
Yess this is what I was looking for 😁😁
Thank you so much 💓
These lessons are extremely useful. Thank you! Are the slides or musical examples available somewhere (so that I can print them)?
Hi Hans. I'm glad you like the lessons. There aren't any supplemental print materials, but you could always take screen captures and print them.
@@SethMonahan okay. Thank you so much for answering my question.
Wow, you’re on a roll. How far do you plan on going?
Just three this weekend, alas. (That's about two months of work.) I hope to get at least two more done by mid-August, though. Starting work on no. 35 today!
22:42 bar 3, beat 4, isn't that a French augmented 6th chord, with the G in the bass? Not sure what the figured bass notation would be but...FR+6 something something?
Ack-there's a missing accidental there. The tenor voice should be D-natural rather than Db. (As written, it would indeed be some kind of inverted FR+6. But I've never seen a FR+6 inverted so that scale degree ^2 is in the bass.)
@@SethMonahan thank you! This series is great by the way, hoping for more!!
@@castronaut2000 Ironically, I'm working on the video for augmented sixth chords at this very moment. I'll be sure to check it a bit more thoroughly for typos! :)
@@SethMonahan looking forward to it! Will you be covering large scale forms by any chance? Or musical structure?
@@castronaut2000 I very much hope so. But it might be a while. I've got a list of provisional harmony topics I'd like to cover. But since I only have time to make videos in the summer, I don't expect to be done with those for another 2-3 years.
Great lesson, as always! One question, if I may: it looks to me that you do not use the term tonicization, at least it was not explained here?
GREAT question! I avoid the term "tonicization" because it means different things to different people and tends, in my experience, to confuse matters. Some textbooks use the term "tonicization" to describe the use of any applied chord. (I think that's crazy. Not every applied chord makes the chord that follows "into a tonic.") Other people use it interchangeably with "modulation." (Then why use the word, if we already have "modulation"?!?!) Still others use it to refer to very weak key changes, those in which the new "tonic" might feel fleeting or insubstantial. I kind of like the third usage, but on principle I don't like using words that could convey the wrong meaning to my viewers/students.
I see a tonicization as something that might be a key change but it is too weak to be that (the third usage). It is too short or it lacks enough strong cadence to establish a new key. Typicaly, something that is annotated as a sequence of two or more secondary chords, like viio/V - V/V - V. Sometimes, I find that it is hard or subjective to decide whether something is a modulation or tonicitation. However, even without using the term of tonicization you still have the same tricky question to decide: is something modulation or it is not.
@@hstanekovic Yeah. I see it that way too. If it's by Beethoven, I tend to err on the side of modulation. Even if it involves parallel keys and thus would become "Parallel Modulation" which some people don't think of as really being a modulation as the tonic note is the same(I personally disagree, especially in Beethoven, the move to the parallel minor or major is just as modulatory as a move to a distantly related key), I still err on the side of modulation. That is unless chords show up that don't really make sense in the new key.
This, chords not making sense in the new key, is why I analyzed the entire introduction of the Pathetique Sonata as being in C minor. A V -> I cadence in Eb is evaded(no full Bb chord and the right hand goes by too fast for the cadence to stick), and soon after, what would be vii dim7/vi alternating with ii in Eb shows up. vii dim7/vi doesn't make sense to me, it's so uncommon, so that made me second guess whether it modulated from C minor at all. Keeping the analysis of the Pathetique Sonata introduction in C minor simplified this diminished seventh chord. It did however make a lot of the harmonic analysis more complicated in that section, having to analyze a lot of chords as being tertiary applied chords(things like V/IV/IV).
@@caterscarrots3407 Yes, harmony analysis can be very challenging. For educational purposes, it's good to choose examples that clearly demonstrate theory. However, once when you decide to make harmony analysis of complete works it's possible to find sections that are very hard to explain on satisfactionary way.
Have you been saving these up for everyone, professor?
I make them assembly-line style in batches of two or three. I finished all three of these on Friday. Now on to the next batch...!