The Circle of Fifths made clear
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- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
- The #CircleOfFifths is a visual representation of the relationships between the 12 tones of the chromatic scale as used in western #music. Although first proposed by Nikolai Diletskii in his 1677 paper "A grammar of musical song" and improved on by Johann David Heinichen in 1728, the mathematical relationship between the tones in the circle can be traced as far back as #Pythagoras.
It is called the CIRCLE of fifths as it takes the form of a circle around which the 12 tones are laid out. As you move around the circle in a clockwise direction, the next tone you encounter will be a 5th above the tone before it.
In this video, we explore how you can use the circle to write key signatures, find out how to transpose a song, or even how to modulate between keys.
This video is part of a larger Podcast about Chords and Harmonies which is available to listen to or download from www.themobilestudio.net/striki....
I apologize in advance for the slightly inaccurate history lesson at the beginning of the video. I say that Pythagoras invented the circle which is not actually true, although he did lay down the mathematical basis on which it is based. - Hudba
You just explained in 19 minutes what I've postponed learning for 17 years.
Me too ! (30 years)
I'm so happy. There is nothing quite like that Eureka moment when something you've struggled with for a long time suddenly becomes clear. I had it about the circle and I am happy that I have been able to pass that moment onto you.
@@MarkNewmanEducation i think its the mr roger delivery wear a sweater hahaah
Yeah...
Yep...same here
One of the cheesiest yet most informative theory videos I've ever watched.
The best kind
Thank you
Gotta admit, the acting deserve an Oscar.
Everyone learning piano during 2020 quarantine raise your hands
So you bored af too?
@@daris3253 Shit yeah, and all I have is a 25 key midi keyboard
@@renaulth2009 me too akai something... i bought it on amazon for 70 euros
Learning guitars
IssanKing Production Good luck with learning guitars my friends from one guitar player to another!
4:58 My friend, you are a gem! I can't believe how many years I've looked at this circle and not clocked that (accidental pun) - the number of sharps and position on the circle corresponds to the numbers on a clockface. Penny drop moment! Thank you :)
The instructional song at the end made me cry. There was an innocence to it that was indescribable. It's like a welcome to a life of music.
it's so funny when he walks into the shot
Haha!! The wonders of Green Screen!
@@MarkNewmanEducation absolutely love everytime you just fade into the circle of fifths, and just start talking with so much confidence and yet a soothing tone of voice, amazing
This is the absolute best explanation of the circle of 5ths on the internet.
Wow. Thank you
I learned more about the circle of fifths from this video than I have in all my years of music. Very simply put, understandable, and to the point. Great job.!
If you told me you time-travelled to 1983 and ripped this from a middle school’s VHF player - I’d believe you.
Probably best made video about this topic. Music theory is very often overwhelming and confusing, but this was really easy to watch and i've actually taken lot of information from it. Thank you for that!
Wow, thanks!
Complicated things are often confusing and overwhelming. But there’s always a “painful” clear and simple “logic” behind it.
As a musician, I love how much of a meme this is
dude you are incredible. way too many eureka moments packed into one video. everything that was necessary was present in this lesson my guy. thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
"and divided his circle into.."
Me: 12 pieces
"1200 pieces"
Me: oh
yup
I watched this video the other day and had to come back - just to read your comment again. When i read it first i started to chuckle. Now i keep thinking about it and laugh every time. Very funny indeed. Well done.
It’s not often that you find a video that is clear, concise, and extremely useful all at the same time. What a triple-threat! This is a truly superb explanation and like many others here, it helped me a lot. Thanks!
We seriously need to find those 922 users who disliked this video.. This is an amazing work. Thanks for the insight
They are nazis
@@darthnihilus4880....
Your description fits
members of ‘Megaherz Band’
LOL
the way he comes out of nowhere lmaoooooo
Started piano lessons over 70 years ago. Thanks to the videos Mark I am finally seeing more light at the end of the tunnel.
I am a musician and this is one of the best explanations I have ever seen for the circle of 5ths!
This was unbelievably helpful, I'm taking a music composition class at university and basically have to cram study music theory. Your explanation was the most clear and concise I've seen regarding theory
I have the same overwhelmed, sinking feeling I had 35 years ago when my high school chemistry teacher explained how logical the periodic table was.
You're not alone, introducing some clever Pythagoreian concept that was not intended to interpret music followed by an counter-intuitive arrangement of notes on, of all things, a circle isn't doing it for me either; I just use the Circle of fifths in EZkeys (and my ears) and theory be damned. My general observation is that nearly all music theory education and for instance explaining sound synthesis is the domain of atrociously poor 'teachers' who simply assume too much and r-e-a-l-l-y explain too little. Even though the core of musical theory some have called "laughably simple" most instructors cannot resist the temptation to obfuscate and be cripplingly pedantic about it.
you are the only person ive ever seen that can actually explain this.
Jeremy Smith me too! Mark you explain it so well
This clock analogy is genius. I've been looking for this my entire life - to link math and music in a simple way.
I think no body explained circle of fifths so clear before this tutorial. The tutorial very very helpful to understand the magic circle of fifths.
This is simply the best video I found on Circle of fifth!
Thank you Mark.
My pleasure
really great video, well done!
Totally agree!!
Completely agree as well...I was completely ignorant and now I am a bit more informed, giving me a foundation to learn more...Bravo Mark.
Thanks all for your kind words.
This is an incredibly well done instruction. It takes a little work to make sense of it all but is soooo worth the time to learn. Thank you for taking the time to create this video!!!!
25 years of playing music and the circle of 5ths was always a magical unicorn that I could never quite grasp fully until now. Why has no one ever explained it like this before! Thank you
Simply BRILLIANT! Thank you so much for making the Circle of Fifths so simple to grasp...
I knew all these things of the circle of fifths, but gradually the memory fades since I haven't done music for a long while. So whenever I saw that there is a video about the circle of fifths I checked it out, but never found one that really went through it all in a good and concise way, until now. This video does it, very nicely. Thanks!
Wow, wow, wow!
That is hands down, for me, the best explanation of the circle of fifths and its application that I've come across. I'be watched a few video s and read up on this before, but nothing clicked for me like the way you put it all across.
Thanks for taking the time.
...i made it, 7 years later here i am. Perfect. I learned theory the old school way, from a Phd in Theory. After learning chord construction and the modes ...I never really understood what was so special about the Circle. Now i know. All in 1 circle. Pythagoras I salute you.
I have something to share..i'm a total simpleton and have spent the last 24 hours browsing videos on this topic and they are useless..at least to me..this is the video you need to watch...trust me..dont waste your time with others...this really clicked with me,,if you don't get it at first..re-watch a few times..this takes time to sink in
Update. By far the best video on CZcams that explains the circle of fifths.
John Langman agree
Outstanding. As a musician for many years I have never understood the simplicity and power of the circle of fifths. Today, it all became wonderfully clear !!
Same here. Really enjoyed this!
And i hate to say anything negative, but did feel there were just a couple parts that might confuse those just starting out. But for me personally, this was quite valuable and right up my alley.
Of all the circle of fifths I’ve seen yours really made the most sense. Thank you.
This was THE MOST helpful explanation of the circle 5ths I have watched!
The transposition song in the end is dope
I was kinda confused with the part about finding all the sharps and flats in a certain key's scale. Then, it finally dawned on me (I'm from Texas, so I'm a little slow!) This is basically what I got.....
No matter what key you're trying to find all the sharps in, there's two steps that you do. First, start at 0 (no matter what key you're trying to find the sharps in, it's always 0 that you start with) and count all the way to the key you're looking for. In his example, he's trying to find all the sharps that are in E. So, start at 0(C) and count until you get to E and the answer is 4. So now we know there's 4 sharps in the E scale. Now, the second step is...Start at the 11 o'clock position (always the 11 o'clock position no matter what key you're working with) and go clockwise 4 times, (F being the first). So, F C G and D are all sharp in the E scale.
Now...To find all the flats, there are also 2 steps and they're quite similar to, but not exactly like finding sharps. First, start at 0 (just like when you're finding sharps), but now go COUNTER clockwise until you reach the key. In his example he was looking for the key of A flat. So Starting at 0, count counter clockwise until you get to A flat and the answer is 4. So now, we know there are 4 flats in the A flat scale. Now, in the second step of finding the flats, start at 5(B) instead of 11 (always start at 5 o'clock when trying to find flats, no matter what key you're working with) and go counter clockwise 4 times, 5(B) being the first. So B E A and D are all the flats in the A flat scale.
So just remember that when looking for sharps, you go clockwise in both steps.
And when looking for flats, go counter clockwise in both steps.
I hope this helped and wasn't too wordy.
this really helped clarify that part for me. thank you!
If you used another example for the sharps it could have crystalised for me. Say I want to find all the sharps in F# do I still count 6 from the 11 o'clock position getting c d g a e b as the sharps in thr F# scale?
@@vincass9392 well, close but, no. Because you have to count f# as well. So when you start counting from the 11 o clock position, you include the f#. So the sharps are f# c# d# g# a# and e#
Good job at over complicating things . 🥴
@@randallhatcher7396 They didn't overcomplicate and explained very articulately what was said in the video. If you think it's still overcomplicated, I think you should develop more patience to learn more stuff.
This is the best explanation there is on this topic. Very clearly presented and easy to understand. Thank you very much!
I came from another video that left me more confused. What a relief to find this one with a clear explanation
You're most welcome.
Wow I must say, you are a really good teacher. I've been looking for ways to understand this concept and I literally understood this within 5 minutes of watching your video. Props to you sir! Keep up the great work!
Wow, thank you!
OMG Thank you! I truly understood Circle of Fifths by heart now, thanks to this video. Best wishes x
I need to watch this one a few more times..
7 years, 7, I spent studying music. This was never explained to me in such a clarifying way. Congratulations and thank you for this video.
Best instruction I've seen so far about the circle of fifths! Great! Thanks!!
I always thought of the circle of fifth as a good way to remember the orders of sharps and flats, and never thought it could be that useful! Many thanks! for sharing!
Dude. People have tried to teach me this on and off for 25 years. I just now get it. You blew my mind. This is a great explanation. Thank you so much.
I know it did the same for me. Why do they not teach this in school.
Good job. Easy to follow, and I enjoyed the lack of annoying tendancies in your speech. Good pacing, diction and inflection.
Oh my God everything clicked when I heard the absolute banger tutorial music video at the end! Thank you!
This is.... the best music theory learning material ever. Learned more in 15 min, then the last 10 years (admit that I have not spend much time with music theory, just been playing). Now I have a foundation to understand why, and whats going on. Thanks a lot...
I'm flattered and you're most welcome.
Mark, you added a clearer and insightful idea about Circle of Fifth. Plus, showing and demonstrating and composing and sing an application of how to move from one key to another. Keep up! God bless.
Everyone let's clap for the great effort he put in this.
Thank you. It was a labour of love.
Absolutely outstanding. Also there is the relationship of the three minors (inner circle) to their direct counterpart Majors in the outer circle, when considering chords most readily available in a given key. So looking at C we have F and G closest and instead of traveling clockwise to find D, A and E (which of course are capital letters on the outer ring), we look inside at the relative minors - and voila, we find d minor, a minor and e minor adjacent to the aforementioned three chords F,C and G. This "introspective" method of finding the available 6 chords in any key does however leave out the ever elusive diminished chord in the 7th position.
Thank you sir, for this informative and clear look at the single most important "key" to unlocking musical relations of keys and chords. Well done.
That song in the end was lowkey a banger
Marvelous presentation! Thank you.
This is great, It took me 25 years to find out everything about this cricle of fifths in detail. Until now I interpreted this circle wrongly. Many thanks and long live YT
Oh my God I am so mesmerized by the way you explained the circle🤩🤩 I have never understood the circle of fifth as much as I did now. You are a brilliant teacher 😍 you explained in a matter that no other teacher has ever done before well done well done you are literally the number one teacher on the whole universe.
Thank you so much 😀
I've watched quite a few Circle of Fifths videos. This one is magnitudes better than any other--dare I say the best.
An easy intro to the circle of fifths. This video was super interesting, well thought out and superbly produced. I learned a lot in 20 minutes. Thank you for taking the time to teach us.
You're welcome. Thanks for your comment.
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Brilliant, many thanks, I'm 74 and never been formally trained but this has taught me heaps
I am 37 and for the first time in my life I am trying to learn how to read and play music, this video has been immensely helpful and I deeply appreciate the fine work! Thank you!
Wow. I love helping beginners to discover the rich world that is the world of music. Music is a thing of beauty and the theory of music is beautiful to no lesser degree.
Thank you I have emailed this to myself so I can watch this multiple times and retain this .I wish someone explained it to me like this years ago.
Wow! I finally found someone who is making sense of this. I have to go through it more times, but this is making sense finally. Thank you!!!
Really happy I have helped you understand the circles beautiful logic.
KrackerVision same for me , I'll have to print out the circle for reference . makes such great since.
Amazing and so helpful!!!! Thank you!!! Key of C/ G - Great song - and Singing 18:00 + Harmonies!!!!
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent video. Laid things out in an incredibly easy, visual way. I know this is a five year old video, but thanks!
The song about pivot chord is just brilliant!!! Overall, a great video.
This is the best video on the CoF that I've seen on CZcams. Well done.
Perfectly Visually laid out and explained!
when he sings with himself..i almost lost it. love it brother, great work !
The best explanation and illustration of the Circle of Fifths on CZcams. Many thanks indeed.
Amazing video! One can see all the care he put into making it crystal clear.
Absolutely amazing. For the first time, I understand how the Circle of Fifths works, and I have been playing guitar for 47 years. Thank You!
This is the best lesson I have ever had on the Circle of 5ths! Thank you!!
Wow, thanks!
This is the most helpful video on this subject I have seen
By far the best video on the circle of fifths I've seen!
Thanks Mark, this opened up a whole new door me.
Apart from that strange error near the beginning that several people have commented on (which will only be noticed by those with perfect pitch or access to a pitch reference such as a tuning fork or musical instrument), this is a beautifully made video that explains the circle of fifths really clearly. As a music educator myself, I would recommend this video to my students.
it's easier for me to think of the letters in that case. If you can remember this "FATHER CHARLES GOES DOWN AND ENDS BATTLE" then you would always start with "FATHER" or "F". So, using his example of E Major, first ask yourself, "Is E Major on the sharp side of the circle or the flat side"? It's on the SHARP side....ok, then ask yourself "How many sharps does the key of E have?" Well it's in the "4 O'clock" position so 4! Then use the first 4 words. So, the key of E has 4 sharps, they are Father, Charles, Goes, Down or F#, C#, G#, D#. But what do we do about the flat side? REVERSE the ACRONYM, simple. BATTLE ENDS AND DOWN GOES CHARLES FATHER.
So try Aflat. Ask yourself:
"Is AFlat on the sharp or flat side"? flat side of course! Well if it's on the flat side you reverse the acronym.
next
"How many flats are in A flat"? It's in the mirrored 4 O'clock position so 4!
"What are they?" Battle Ends And Down or Bb Eb Ab Db
PLEASE DON'T BE CONFUSED ON THE FLAT SIDE, THIS IS HOW IT COULD HAPPEN
How many flats are in the key of Bb?
2!
What are they?
Bb and Eb
Write the scale
Bb C D Eb F G A Bb
How many flats do you see? There are only 2 in the key but because you see Bb twice it may look deceiving .
This video, by the way is the tip of the iceberg. It is absolutely amazing how much information is in the Circle of 5ths. Guitar players, see anything familiar? Think of how your guitar is tuned, other than B string.
Ill call it fat charles
Thank you for making this Mark, this is a fantastic presentation. I've glimpsed at videos on this before and none have been straightforward or engaging enough for me to bother with. It's an excellent introduction and really inspires me to learn more about music theory!
man i really loved all the explanations in this video but he really sold me in the end with his little duet C to G transition. so silly. This guys a visionary
When I was first learning how it worked, the way I visualized was that part from Diamond is Unbreakable where Crazy Diamond and The Hand swing each other upward to climb that building.
started simple,in the midle of the video i smell sonething burning.....my brain...
This was incredibly helpful and well presented, thank you! I learned a lot of new concepts that I wasn't aware of before.
Thanks, I played piano for nearly 15 yrs and no one ever explained this to me like this. It was as overwhelmingly confusing to me as math! I obviously didn't have very good teachers. Thanks again...side note, I just noticed your name is Mark Newman. That's my next door neighbor's name. Lol
Sending love and gratitude. My mind is blown! Thank you so very much!
Best explanation on youtube about the subject. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I love the production here. I feel like I'm watching 90's PBS. Beautiful!
Nothing short of enlightening. Wow. Thank you so much!
Ok, I just had the “eureka” moment I was waiting for years!! Thank you so so much sir you did an amazing job explaining one of the most important lessons in music!
Amazing. So glad to have helped. I had a similar Eureka moment when I learned how the circle could help me modulate musically between keys. Love this Eureka moments!
Wow Mark... I have always told everyone that music was science more than art, but you managed to clarify it in less than 20 minutes. For me anyhow. This will help me and at the same time it makes me feel stupid for trying all these years without understanding it. Your singing is no part of my thumbs up ;-), but I thank you more than I can tell for making this video. You're a good man.
Take care and know that your effort is much appreciated... J
Music is the most wonderful mixture of science and art. On the one hand it is SO mathematical, what with the division of the timing into a rhythm and how the powers of 2 become so important when studying the frequencies of the notes in different octaves etc.. on the other hand it is definitely an art form, as if the all those mathematical rules are just waiting for an artist to come along and mold them into a thing of beauty. Glad you enjoyed the video.
I once actually PURCHASED a book that taught the Circle of 5ths. After about an hour of studying it (YAWN) I put it down, never to pick it up again! As a retired professor of education, I admire people who have the talent for simplifying apparently complex concepts and methods. I salute you: This is SIMPLY BRILLIANT! Please keep up your enlightening service.
"a retired professor of education," Sure you are.
Wow. Thank you Mark Newman. Jun 28, 2015 and it will last forever.
Hi Mark, we want more of these...the way you translated the complexity of circle of fifth to an enjoyable topic with graphics
Excellent video on music theory. If anyone wants to grasp the concepts of how the 12 keys are linked together this is a great video. Thank you Mark for you work on this.
Wow I never knew how much info was contained in the circle of fifths.
I can't get over what a wonderful job you did with this lesson and this video. Thank you. I've shared it with many people.
As a young musician starting out on the accordion, I was hit straight in the face with the Circle of Fifths. What a wondrous gift to someone wishing to play a song in a " NEW " key while maintaining the same group. It's been my constant friend and companion. Who'd thought from choosing the accordion instead of guitar in the rock era!
Brilliantly done! Thank you!
Wow super informational and I’ve never seen this broken down so well, thank you very much.
Thanks very much. Loved your clear explanation. I look forward to viewing your podcasts.
You are super!! The song was lovely too! You are a great teacher and player! Thank you thank you. Great help.