The Seven Modes

The 7 Modes are sometimes called the Church Modes, because they were used in sacred (and secular) music during the time of the Renaissance. The modes were given names of the ancient Greek tribes by composer-scholar-monks in the late Medieval era, mistakenly thinking...

Cadences and Chord Progressions

The Cadence is the essential chord movement that establishes the feeling of the Key. The Bass outlines the harmonic movement up a 5th (Dominant) or down a 5th (Sub-Dominant). Dominant The Leading Tone (here: B) in the V chord creates melodic and harmonic tension and...

Figured Bass

I’ve been talking a little about Figured Bass in the last couple lessons, now I’d like to share something special:  A Guide to Figured Bass written by J.S. Bach.  It’s a brief introduction to the art, which was widely practiced during the Baroque era...

Triads & Inversions

Now we can look at the Triad in more detail.  We already know that the Triad is made of 3 tones: the Root, the Major/Minor 3rd, and the Perfect 5th.  Let’s look at some of the relationships between these tones. The Major Triad The Minor Triad Notice the Symmetry...

7th Chords

Now that we have mastered the Triad in the Harmony of Major and Minor Keys, let’s expand the chord structure further! Our 3-note Triad is a structure built from a pair of Third intervals. The Seventh Chord adds an additional Third interval to the basic Triad....

The Minor Key

In earlier lessons I’ve hinted at the connection between the minor scale and the major scale, but avoided a full explanation until now because the minor scale is a little more complex. Let’s recap: The major scale contains 3 major chords on I, IV & V....