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Thank you for being one of the only two people that took 30 seconds to thank me for my work.

You are exactly correct on all points. Unfortunately hell will freeze over before I start to get more feedback here and that is why almost every week I think about shutting down this whole channel.

Thank you.

Minor is a very powerful and often misunderstood way of making music richer.

If the scale has started on E but ended up on B then it would have been B major. If you know the notes that I played in the name of the scale doesn't really matter.

That bias is probably temporarily necessary for students who are learning I'd later can be thrown out on a more advanced level.

This is the first time I have presented this scale this way and I don't think I was as clear as I have been in lessons. The next time I present this idea it will be better.

Mostly I am trying to talk less because I want most of these videos to be about the music and not my yacking.:)

You know how I am. I have to sneak in just a little bit of something dark to get back to the light:)

You are preaching to the choir! My whole family absolutely adores our two cats!

It was surprisingly easy to play so I think it may be a good piece for students but also advanced musicians because I think there is a good deal of subtlety in it.

I don't know if I'll ever have full use of my hand but I'm getting better.

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols, but I think it is very difficult to make it work on solo piano.

Strangely enough I never wrote a description of what I was doing. I think it is another instance where I was showing that the same romantic chords that were typical of composers like Wagner can also be used in any genre.

Yes it does go back a very long time!

I'm not sure that it is happy but it is very definitely haunting.

Thanks! I'm always looking for new ways to add a little twist to traditional Christmas music.

The kitties always make me smile:)

It is always fun to play with variations!

Very traditional, right?

It’s not every day you find a sneaky Wenceslas in a piece!:)

It is my favorite song for Hanukkah.

I'm always looking for more ways to bring the holiday spirit to life through music and, of course, cute cats!

Maya, I love your comments and I wish I got them from everyone. It is so helpful to get feedback. Of course we all love cats! these pictures are from back when I was doing paint by number pictures because I really loved the look and I knew I could use them. But it also hurt my right hand because of too much swiping. Early in 2024 a friend suggested AI pictures and I found out the pictures I was doing in paint by number were actually coming from the same place (AI). So now I can get the same kind of pictures thousands of times faster and they fascinate me.

About 50% of the music I write illustrates chords or scales or other things that we musicians need to master to make our music. But it is very important to me that the music works for people who don't have any technical knowledge at all about music. That's why feedback is so important!

You are really going to laugh at this. I was looking at a youtube channel and a young guy wrote a piece of music he called death of a lizard. But his title is in Latin. So I was stuck in this idea and I completely forgot that this piece is about a very different kind of Latin, Latin America!:) th-cam.com/video/19dnL0KVU5M/w-d-xo.html

I had a lot of fun with this one because it actually explores strong dissonance in contrast to a much later and quicker tempo. The idea is a mood change. If things are happy and then they get sad and stay that way it depresses me. But I love music that starts off sad and thoughtful and evolves into something uplifting. Thank God I got help with the French because left to my own devices I would mangle any French title.

I love visiting other time periods and trying to get the music right for the older feel. Do you know anything about Jacob Collier?

You don't have to like any kind of movie genre to completely appreciate the music!:)

I am absolutely convinced the best way to practice chords is to almost never play the root position forms simply because we already know them and it is a waste of time.

I'm glad you remember my Goldilocks principal idea!

Some people want Christmas music to only be joyous and uplifting. But to Christmas season is very complicated and also has many dark memories of people no longer with us. I think it is important to express that feeling also.

For some reason I got many negative comments about this video because some people felt I didn't go into enough depth. But of course all of these alternate tuning systems need to be explored and they all have special attractions for the right kind of music.

All of these 7 chord inversions are everywhere. You really can't listen to anything sophisticated and complicated that doesn't have them. And that is true not only for contemporary music, especially jazz, but also going back many centuries.

I think avoiding root position is the way to go for everyone. I'm still working on the best way to do it.

We have a few Trekkies around I see!

I have a friend who would get a show on dvr, then hack away the ads, the explanations and recaps and all that, and out of the 40 minutes of footage only 15 minutes was actual content. And this was Mythbusters, supposedly a more "enlightened" show.

I agree that videos need to be to the point and not waste the viewer's time.

Wonderful composer for sure.

I'm glad you caught it.

@@garydlloyd7718 minor shave and a haircut. for when you only have one bit.

That's the way it should be

This is why I call diminished and augmented chords chameleons.

If you use my music please make sure that people know where it came from.

@garydlloyd7718 Of course, I give the link credits. I think it's a shame when people use something and don't give the credits.

Cats are our best friends too!

I like the idea of a complete package.

I think anyone who does not love these animals does not have a heart.

Polyrhythms are elusive.

Cheers!2024❤

:)

You certainly can imagine Domino, who is our beautiful black cat. But so far he hasn't learned a musical instrument :)

As you know, I wanted to make this light enough so that people would not feel down.