mDecks Music Podcast

Click here to watch the video for this episode How does Beethoven think about music? Would you like to sound like Beethoven.  In this video we look at how to write music like Beethoven. In his first Symphony, Beethoven creates a main theme to drive the entire movement using tonal harmony and sonata form.  Let's try to think like Beethoven and how he uses music theory and tonal harmony to compose music like no other composer.  #beethoven #composition #musictheory  Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/fMTXsD5-e9I  Watch part 2 here: https://youtu.be/6LWq6iKyqU4  As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam this map shows the three regions in tonal harmony: The Tonic (our home), the Sub-dominant (shown as the mountain region) and the Dominant (represented by a boat on a rough sea) These 3 regions are always present in any tonal piece and the functions are always located in the same place.  So if we view the tonal harmony map functionally, we can see the I and iv belong to the tonic region in the major key, the Im the bIII and the vim7b5 are the tonic functions in a minor key. Remember the map shows major and minor keys simultaneously since composers often borrow chords from the minor mode when in major and. Sometimes vice-versa.  T o learn more about Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro you can visit:  https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml Study Tonal Harmony like never before!

Click here to watch the video for this episode How does Beethoven think about music? Would you like to sound like Beethoven. In this video we look at how to write music like Beethoven.  In his first Symphony, Beethoven creates a main theme to drive the entire movement using tonal harmony and sonata form.  Let's try to think like Beethoven and how he uses music theory and tonal harmony to compose music like no other composer.  #beethoven #composition #musictheory  Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/fMTXsD5-e9I  As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam this map shows the three regions in tonal harmony: The Tonic (our home), the Sub-dominant (shown as the mountain region) and the Dominant (represented by a boat on a rough sea) These 3 regions are always present in any tonal piece and the functions are always located in the same place.  So if we view the tonal harmony map functionally, we can see the I and iv belong to the tonic region in the major key, the Im the bIII and the vim7b5 are the tonic functions in a minor key. Remember the map shows major and minor keys simultaneously since composers often borrow chords from the minor mode when in major and. Sometimes vice-versa.   To learn more about Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro you can visit:  https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml Study Tonal Harmony like never before!

Click here to view the video for this episode How does Beethoven think about music? Would you like to sound like Beethoven. In this video we look at how to write music like Beethoven.  In his first Symphony, Beethoven creates a main theme to drive the entire movement using tonal harmony and sonata form. Let's try to think like Beethoven and how he uses music theory and tonal harmony to compose music like no other composer.  #beethoven #composition #musictheory  As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam this map shows the three regions in tonal harmony: The Tonic (our home), the Sub-dominant (shown as the mountain region) and the Dominant (represented by a boat on a rough sea)  These 3 regions are always present in any tonal piece and the functions are always located in the same place.   So if we view the tonal harmony map functionally, we can see the I and iv belong to the tonic region in the major key, the Im the bIII and the vim7b5 are the tonic functions in a minor key. Remember the map shows major and minor keys simultaneously since composers often borrow chords from the minor mode when in major and. Sometimes vice-versa.   To learn more about Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro you can visit: https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml

Click on this link to watch the video version on YouTube We look at iconic jazz standard recordings and study the chord progressions, reharmonization techniques and stylistic decisions taken by the masters. In this video we take a look at Erroll Garner playing Misty in his 1955 album Erroll Garner Plays Misty.  This is part 2. You can watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/bbYkK_jFmAU  By the end of the video you will have the exact progression played by Erroll Garner in this iconic recording and a whole set of music tools and harmonic techniques you can apply to any song.  We use the tonal harmony app Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro (macOS & iOS) https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml  #jazzstandards #musictheory #tonalharmony  0:00 Intro 0:20 Modal Interchange (half diminished scale) 2:34 Harmonic Reinterpretation 6:15 Dominant Alterations and subV7 (Tritone Substitution) 8:53 Passing Diminished 10:36 Cadential Reharmonization 12:00 Full version of Misty   The Jazz Standards Progressions Book contains the entire Jazz Standards repertoire fully analyzed with harmonic analysis, chord-scales and arrows & brackets.  https://mdecks.com/jazzstandards.phtml  Erroll Garner plays Misty (1955 Album) https://music.apple.com/us/album/misty/1440912155?i=1440912491  This is part 2 of the harmonic analysis comparing the real book version with the recording. Find out what Erroll Garner plays in his version of Misty from the 1955 album "Erroll Garner Plays Misty" and compare to the harmonic progression in the Jazz Real Book.

Click here to watch the video for this episode on YouTube 221 years ago (Today April 2nd) Beethoven's Symphony No.1 was premiered in Vienna Austria at the Berg Theatre. In this video we analyze Beethoven's Opening in his Symphony No.1 in C and show you how Beethoven composed the intro like no other composer before.  Let's explore why Beethoven is one of the best composers ever and how he used music theory and tonal harmony to create this famous symphony opening.  Come, join us and learn how to write music like Beethoven, how to sound like Beethoven and how to think like Beethoven. In this video we used Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro (PDF version: The Composer's Guide to Tonality) to study the harmonic progression and functional harmony used by Beethoven in his first Symphony.  0:00 Intro 0:55 Other Composers Openings 1:44 Listen to Beethoven's Opening 2:10 He starts on a weird I7? 3:00 How did he compose it?  https://mdecks.com/the-composers-guide-to-tonality.phtml  An interactive, simple to use book in PDF format based on the music app: Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro, with all the maps in every key, in different levels and styles. Get the benefits of having a landscape that reveals the secrets of harmony without having to learn any software. Compatible with Windows, Android, macOS & iOS (Acrobat Reader recommended)  It also includes: Links to 80+ Master Classes in Video format: Tonal Harmony Fundamentals, Reharmonization techniques, Decoding Beethoven, Decoding Jazz, Decoding Pop 3 Traditional Harmony Workbooks w/exercises & solutions (3 PDFS) 3 Jazz Harmony Workbooks w/exercises & solutions (3 PDFS) Artwork for 72"x 48" Extra Large Map Banner (functional) (HQ JPEG) Artwork for two 18"x 24" Map Posters (in C and functional) (2 HQ JPEGs)  https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml  Study Tonal Harmony like never before!  Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro 7 is an interactive music theory app accompanied by 7 workbooks to teach and study tonal harmony.  Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro is an app for iPad and iPad Pro available on the App Store.  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mapping-tonal-harmony-pro/id566767002?mt=8   For Mac OSX  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mapping-tonal-harmony-pro/id599212305?ls=1&mt=12 

Click on this link to view the video on YouTube We look at iconic jazz standard recordings and study the chord progressions, reharmonization techniques and stylistic decisions taken by the masters. In this video we take a look at Erroll Garner playing Misty in his 1955 album Erroll Garner Plays Misty.   By the end of the video you will have the exact progression played by Erroll Garner in this iconic recording and a whole set of music tools and harmonic techniques you can apply to any song.   We use the tonal harmony app Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro (macOS & iOS)  https://mdecks.com/mapharmony.phtml  #jazzstandards #musictheory #tonalharmony  0:00 Intro 1:16 Transposition 2:20 Interpolation 3:01 Modal Interchange 4:52 Interpolation 5:46 Extended dominants 7:50 Cadential Reharmonization   The Jazz Standards Progressions Book contains the entire Jazz Standards repertoire fully analyzed with harmonic analysis, chord-scales and arrows & brackets. https://mdecks.com/jazzstandards.phtml Erroll Garner plays Misty (1955 Album)  https://music.apple.com/us/album/misty/1440912155?i=1440912491  This is part 1 of the harmonic analysis comparing the real book version with the recording. Find out what Erroll Garner plays in his version of Misty from the 1955 album "Erroll Garner Plays Misty" and compare to the harmonic progression in the Jazz Real Book.

Click on this link to view the video on the mDecks Music Youtube Channel In this video we discuss how to develop a song and its harmonic progression from a simple 3 chord progression using different reharmonization techniques and viewing the chord progression and harmonic functions in Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro 8 for iOS and macOS.   Learn how this amazing music app can help you develop your songwriting skills and find new harmonic progressions and chords in no time. Music theory is much more than just music notation and how to play chords. #songwriting #harmony #guitar  0:00 Intro 1:00 Chord Substitutions 3:30 Seventh and Tensions 8:30 Sus Chords & Alternative paths 11:40 Bass-lines slash chords 13:45 Secondary Dominants 17:20 Borrowing from minor 21:13 writing and outro 24:00 conclusions and entire evolution of the song

Click on this link to watch the video on the mDecks Music Youtube Channel In this video we look at the songwriting techniques used in Olivia Rodrigo's song "Driver's License" In fact, is there a wrong chord in this song? How does it still work harmonically? There are plenty of great songwriting techniques used in this song: from the use of the Pentatonic Scale to pedal points and the lydian scale.  Music theory is essential when we write songs, but dow we need to understand all these music concepts, or can we write songs using our instincts? Let's discuss this beautiful song by Olivia Rodrigo. #chords #songwriting #musictheory  In this video we explore songwriting techniques within modern pop music   0:00 Intro 0:21 The wrong chord? 2:09 Chords in the song 3:35 The Pentatonic Scale 6:30 Melodic Clave & Rhythm 7:19 Tonic Pedal Point 7:45 The B Section 9:02 Lydian 10:39 The iii chord 11:51 C Section (wrong chord?)

Link to the video on the mDecks Music Youtube Channel There are 3 diminished chords that work on a completely different premise (than the other regular diminished chords) In this video we discuss the use of these chords in harmonic progressions from the Gospel and Jazz genre.  Jazz players and composers have used these diminished chords in their songs many times. Do you know these functions? They are diminished chords that break all the rules. In this video we explain how these chords work and how you can use them to write your own songs and harmonic progressions.