Why Top Composers Use Chromatic Mediant Modulations
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- What do John Williams, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore,Thomas Newman, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms and Mendelssohn all have in common? They all use Chromatic Mediant Modulations. In this Episode I will explain the theory and how to use them in your compositions and film music. I will discuss both the use of Mediant and Submediant chords or Pivot Tone Modulations.
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This lesson could also be called "Emotion in Music" As a young child these changes did something to my brain. Beautiful and mysterious.
Beautiful
You are very articulate for being a young child, congratulations
@@Alejandrakoxxx Haha. In his defense, he did use past-tense "did" there. :)
Even I considarating my self a musician in a intermediary level, your way to teach is helping me a lot to study composition by myself and improve my harmony knowledge. Your channel is a kind of public utility content. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
I've been making beats for a while now but it's time to step up my game.
I'll start producing beato's from now on.
You're a hero, dude...
Thank you
Man, I'm so absolutely excited right now. I've been a casual listener to film scores for many many years but didn't have the music theory knowledge to know why it all worked. I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me on progressions and chord relationships I would have _never_ thought of before in my own works. I'm absolutely subscribed for life :D. Thanks a bunch Rick! Incredibly killer video! (I've been on a binge this whole evening watching a bunch of your videos; will need to let my brain digest and come back and study in more detail :P).
If you can hear a whooshing sound, it's the sound of all of this information going over my head.
I hear you, the dots have not connected on this one in my head either.
Mine too. I’m seriously going to try to get my head around this... not sure how, but I’ll give it a good go.
Hey everyone, it was confusing to me too when I was learning about Chromatic mediants, but the main thing to do is make sure the chord you move two has the following characteristics:
1) It has only one common tone from the starting chord, and
2) it is a 3rd away from the starting chord.
You can put this in to action by using a “home” chord to start and come back to. I use this in my own composing with chromatic mediants, and it works really well.
Start off by using the “home” chord, then move a 3rd from this “home” starting chord, and eventually circle back around to the home chord.
* For example, start on an F# minor chord. Then, simply move to any chord a 3rd away, as long as it’s not a diatonic chord. So, you can move to A minor. Then, go BACK to F# minor. Now you are back “home” in this process. Now, move to D minor, which follows the rule of moving a 3rd away from F# minor. (D minor is chromatic to F# minor, so you are still good to go.) Now, move to Bb Major. This is a 3rd away from D minor (and chromatic to D minor). From here, you can cheat a bit and go right back home to F# minor, or go back through D minor to F# minor.
Once you put it to practice, it’s actually pretty easy, and a lot of fun to use. It can really open up your creativity, and can get you out of the boxed-in thinking of having to stay in one key for too long. Also, since the Chromatic mediants share a common tone, and are a 3rd away from each other (which is a strong note-note relationship) the chord movements sound really modern and good!
Three years have passed since this comment. Have you made any progress in understanding? At what point are you confused? Do you know major and minor chords? Can you look at any triad and identify root, third and fifth? If not, review those basics, and it will all make sense.
It gets better with time
In the last week of diving into your videos properly I have discovered so many cool new (to me!) composing tools, I now have so many things to get lost within! I feel inspired and excited about the workings of music once again, its been a while! Thanks so much Rick for what you do and opening my mind again.
Honestly Rick : thank you. Thanky you for sharing all this knowledge. its both incredibly generous and admirable, mainly because imparting this quantity of your knowledge for free is almost unexistent today, and music is a discipline that has become really competitive, mainly because of the mercantilization of it.
Thanks
Genaro Guerrero Hey thats fuckin Steffy boi rite dere in ur pic
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF WELTSEELE AND PERPETUAL INFINITY AND TEN SEPIROTH? ;3; *_*
Yeah, thats him. Honestly, i liked the Akroasis album mainly because of Fountainhead. In the songwriting subject, i prefer Omnivium. That applies to those songs. the intro to Ten Sepiroth
AGREED 100% MY DUDE -James
These are all of my favourite chord changes. Thanks for explaining some of the logic behind them and how there's similar ideas behind all of them.
What a great video again, Rick. Everything presented in a clear way, and finally demonstrated with real examples. Really high quality intruction vids here!
This explains so much of my compositional technique. I never had the name for those modulations I use so often.
Holy crap... this is one of the COOLEST music lessons I've ever seen. I have to try this stuff out!
Lord of the rings theme uses this heavily as well.
John Huldt Your right!! Didn't catch that until now lol. Howard Shore (I think that's who) was very good at this technique.
especially the stuff after Rick disappears!
And the Brinstar theme in the first Metroid game.
Might explain why I, currently in my beginning years of self-taught music education, associate the sound of this modulation with a "magical new world, adventure" sound? :$
listen to the modulation at 5:11 I think thats used in a lortr main theme
Thank you very much, mr Beato. You've revealed the secret to just about every film score of the past decade and the secret to how my own modulations can suck less! Much appreciated. I love what you're doing with this channel.
Immensely useful video. I loved hearing all the permutation examples of it in action. I may not understand it on paper fully, but my ears immediately light up with ideas just hearing two chords. I have definitely been hearing these all my life. It's very cool to start to hammer home what they actually are... The joys of being self taught :(
Fantastic video Rick, lots to take in here. The examples at the end were brilliant. Will be trying these out on my own compositions. thanks
this is incredible. I've always wondered about the theory behind these progressions. excellent video
An easy way of thinking of this is. If a chord shares one or more notes with another. You can mix them up.
Bruce Gilsenan THIS
@@jamespeterson4275 Isn't is even for sharps though? I see he modulates C with a C#?
@@chazmichael7967 Good question, I have a guess, it's a bit complicated, but let me know what you think about it! I think it has to do something with the harmonic series (each and every note you play, a lot of other (phisically relative) notes "will also appear", in a certain order (some of them has stronger presence, while the others has weaker) Basically the harmonics that has the strongest presence, are the octaves, the perfect fifths and the major thirds (like a major chord, even thogh you play only one note. So when you play a "C", then at the same time "E" and "G" will also appear, And if you play an Eb note, the G and Bb (A#) will also appear, even though we play D# (Eb) - F# (Gb) - A# (Bb). There we have the "G", and this way I can understand, why Ebmin and Cmaj are related.
@Bruce Gilsenan, you are correct, but I think it also needs to be a M/minor 3rd away from each other
I wish I could comprehend everything as quickly as you explain it Rick, but just hearing you speak expands my brain. Your videos are like a gold mine with so many nuggets lying about I don't know what to pick up first! Thank you! Where do you get the energy to make so many fantastic videos? You are amazing!
I didn't realize I did this in my own compositions until I watched this video. Thanks! Its basically keeping common tones between chords. Its nice to have a chart to look at now when composing!
Thanks, Rick - I’ve been hearing these for years and now I know what they are. Awesome. Time for some study.
I can't believe how easy this was to understand once I watched it a second time! Thank you so much!!
thanks Rick!
I was hitting a wall on where to go with this song I was writing and this inspired me to go in a whole new direction - you're The Man!!!
What a great content! So useful for my improvisations. Thank you so much for sharing, explaining and showcasing those chromatic modulations in an easy to understand format/scheme. Really wonderful! Tnx
this is gold, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge Rick!
I just spent a full hour (and counting) playing on these chords!
Thanks for the lesson Rick! I'm in my last year of music college and needed more explanation for chromatic mediants for a composition project in my last Theory class.
12:55 Rick! You disappeared, neat trick.
Boredom Ensues I thought it was funny :)
lol nice moves
I actually LOLed (and if you knew me, that's not easy), so I would have to agree.
Boredom Ensues parallel disappearance. Common tones: everything in studio, but the dude.
Rick Beato musical magician disappearing act?
Brilliant! Always wondered why Cmaj to Emaj sounds so good! You filled a big theory hole for me. Thanks a lot, Rick!
Cmaj to Emaj - especially when you play E maj with the d natural (E dominant 7th) is simply the tonic chord going to V7/vi. Sounds great even if vi doesn't follow (often followed with a IV). Elton uses this one a lot.
Thank you for your time man. Feel privileged to be able to learn this stuff!
This is great! I remember you (and some others) talking about how much (or how little) the Beatles were actually aware of some of the complex theory contained in some of their music. I've done some limited work in film score composition and used this technique without being aware of exactly what I was doing. I am a firm believer however, that it's better to be good than lucky so - THANKS AGAIN RICK!
Everytime i sit down to watch your theory videos i end up learning the proper termonology for things ive been doing by ear for years and something just clicks in my brain finally after years of fumbling around in the dark having such difficulties with how things like modes worked and now i have somewhat of a grasp on how they relate to each other.
Thank you for championing the beauty and majesty of music Rick!
It’s really amazing how each one has a unique emotion.
Wow. This is amazing stuff. As is often the case with music theory I've bumped into some of these modulations just fooling around but didn't have the theoretical underpinning to give it a name and the ability to explicitly and purposefully use them instead of just bumping into it.
thanks!
This is one of those videos that completely opens my brain up. If only Rick knew how many times I have paused the video and referenced all of his combination chords. This is an impressive video for sure, because I don't really know a ton of music theory, but this is one of those vids that lets you hear it to understand it first.
All this time I have been hearing these sounds and not knowing what they are. Goonies soundtrack is my reference point. It's our time down here, and BOOM Chromatic Mediant swells in the background. Long enough, Mikey. Long Enough. BOOM!
Thank you rick. My playing has improved because of your teaching. 🙂
You have the best theory videos that I've run into yet! Loving the content!
Excellent video (once again!). Without getting into any arguments about 'jazz' vs. 'classical' vs. 'it's been done before', etc. etc. the great thing about common tones creating movement and having them lead to 'different' chord progressions (compared to traditional jazz or classical theory) is that it's all about opening up room for new discoveries. It's like giving permission to ourselves to be like wide-eyed children again... which is great, because after all, music has the power to shed light on emotions, show new 'colors', and tell a story through sound. (....if it's been done before, there are plenty of good reasons for this.) All of which goes to show the power of the simple triad!
"Pivot Tone Modulations" are exactly how I use them in Film Scoring and Orchestration and Voicing.
I've come across your videos just recently. Since Ive started watching them I keep getting those "Ah ha"and "Ohhh" moments. Great stuff.
Thank you for a video about chromatic mediant modulations. This subject is super interesting for composers.
Just discovered your channel, this is great! Loads of new videos to watch. These are often known as "borrow" chords, certainly the ones which relate to the parallel minor or major. Describing chords as lydian rather than #11 is interesting, I guess it works just as well.
This video has taken my chord progressions to the next level. Thanks Rick!
Well put together. It's all clear and I appreciate it.
Great stuff rick, really intuitive the way you put that together.
Thank you for the examples! Will take time but will be fun to practice!
thank you for including examples from real music, they make the lessons feel so much more alive
Best music theory teacher on CZcams. Great teaching!
Very helpful Rick (as usual) thanks once again for opening a new world of understanding. I use these in my writing but had no idea there was a name for them.
It’s so nice to finally have a term for these other than “minor major accidental modulations” which I’ve been using for what... 10 years. Cheers.
Just THANKS! and keep the amazing work. Cheers Rick!
I love how you explain things, Rick! Thanks!
Fantastic lesson. So many unexpected options held together with common tones. Keep up the exceptional content. With gratitude from London.
Owen Wilson To think this one simple but masterful debut album by the band Obsidian Gate is what got me fascinated with all this stuff.... haha
I love you Rick :) Thank you very much for everything :) I am working on a film score right now and these lessons took me to another level as a composer...Writing something that I couldn't even think about before...Thank you very very much :)
Really helpful video. Thanks, RIck!
Loving this scoring playlist Rick.
Hi! I've just found your videos, and as an amateur film composer I really appreciate these videos! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! Cheers
Rick you're awsome!... I sometimes I used this sore of modulation but without knowing exactly why sound good to me. You explained perfectly.
This is brilliant! Thanks Rick!
Rick thank you very much for all this explanations in your channel, Greetings from Portugal.
Great simple analysis thank you!
Awesome video Rick! And I loved the disappearing trick!
Wow im 33 now, if I had your tricks and lessons years ago I would be so much better! This generation has a real powerfull weapon on their hands: your knowledge and the internet!!! Thank you so much to share with us this preciousness!
Every Sci-Fi movie, series and most video game wouldn't be aa captavating without these progressions💪🔥😏
great info Rick, thx !!
Awesome video man, very interesting stuff!
This stuff is very inspiring!! Makes me want to experiment in my own compositions with these techniques
In case it's of any use, I come back to this one a lot. It's really handy 👍
I've had a massive light bulb moment from this video! I made a chart of chords I can modulate to and from in my writing. They all work! Thank you!
Thank you. That is an excellent explanation, especially the chart.
Music Love lifted me I-Mediantly! Bravo Maestro!
Interesting video and a lot of interesting concepts that on the surface of it some would say look weird but deep down it works well. I haven't watched all your videos yet because you have so many, but I'll try to lol. Hopefully your videos keep getting better as you learn what you can improve on from past videos. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, Rick, it's very interesting!
Just plain awesome. Great vid !
Top-class instruction again Rick.Thanks.
This was great. Makes you think how you can incorporate new chords that seem "out" into one's playing.
Thank you! Amazing knowledge.
great stuff Rick Beato!!
I have heard these common tone modulations in many scores. I believe Jerry Goldsmith also uses it prominently in the Basic Instinct theme.
Hi Rick. Love these videos - well done. The two chords at 9:15 seem a little different than you label them here. There is a G in the first chord - the violins are outlining a C major triad. So it's just a C/Db. The second chord continues the C major triad in the violins and outlines an A major triad in the low strings - making it C/A or A7#9. The mediant relationship is still there from Db to A. Very cool progression and voiced brilliantly. Keep the vids coming!
I must've missed that video, fortunately came across some different channel explaining this topic and found my way back to Rick. One should never lose his way to Rick.
this is some top quality stuff!! i recognise alot of the changes cmaj to emaj always reminds me of that bond song goldfinger, but knowing how to catagorise it in theory will help me assimilate it into my playing! gonna try to slip some of these into my next reharm! suscriber earnt!
They have a very augmented type of sound and feel to them, giving them this oddly bright yet eerie happy tone to them. It's like a harp.
That was good fun and is exactly how I start with my compositions. I want to hear your secret compositions, Rick!
Such a big mood change. Gorgeous.
One of your best video !!
In case anyone is wondering about the two chord changes that appear to move by 4th/5th (and not by third)...it is just a matter of chord spelling. When Rick writes, "E-minor to Ab minor" (at 11:09), the Ab is really a G# chord, thus a mediant to E.
When he writes "Bb-sus2 -F# Lyd" (at 11:27), the F# is a "really" a Gb chord, and thus a submediant to Bb. Depending on context, a musician will often re-spell the same chord with different note names.
Great video as usual!
That was very informative! thank you!
I have learned a lot ... great video !
great video rick thanks
... and the most confusing is that here in Bulgaria we use the word "паралелни" ('paralelni') for keys like C major&A minor, while we use the word "едноименни"('ednoimenni', or 'same-name') for C major&C minor ;)
Same here in Germany. a-Minor is the parallel key to C-Major (Mollparallele) and the other way around for example G-Major is the parallel key to e-minor (Durparallele). In English those are called relative keys, e.g. major and minor scales that have the same key signature. In Geman c-minor is called a "Variante" of C-Major (Mollvariante)
Vasil Belezhkov yes, I guess the Slavic countries follow the German nomenclature.
Right, I can tell the same about all post- Soviet area.
Yes, that German-style terminology is due to Hugo Riemann, an extremely influential 19th-early 20th century music theorist.
Same in Russia, and, I guess, everywhere where german-style theory is used
This is so cool. I love this channel!
I was working on a piece and was loving how C major to E major sounded but wanted to know theoretically what was going on. Thanks, Rick! Can't say I've understood what is so interesting about the chromatic mediants to me just yet but I am going to make this a part of my repertoire.
brilliant video rick
Amazing ! I have run into these Modulations but to give them graph and reference placement makes them reliable tools instead of "happy accidents .Thanks Rick !
Awesome Rick !
Thank you very much for sharing your precious knowledge and experience. Thanks a lot sir !!😇
Great lesson. Thank you.
A very good video from which I have learnt a lot. Thank you.
All of these relationships have become such staples of contemporary harmonic vocabulary in jazz and film scoring. Thanks to Schubert, Wolff, Brahms and others for reaching into these key areas and finding ways to link more distantly related key areas in a seamless and inspired way. Unfortunately, the film-score examples you cite aren't really modulations but examples of modal interchange (mode mixture/borrowed chord harmony are other terms for this) within a key area. They are great sounds indeed. Some nod to functionality (Riemann) might be of value and assistance here.