I was watching an American TH-camr play one of their own songs on piano and i thought it sounded very very Japanese, but couldn’t figure out why. Later found out he went to music school in Japan.
I've always wondered how some of the music in Breath of the wild felt so magical and I think this might be it. Thanks for the video, really interesting stuff.
I wonder if this is the reason so many sad Japanese songs are such bangers, the idea of introducing major poles into sad / minor songs is ingrained into their culture.
This really feels like a giant leap. After learning all the established "rules" of the Circle of Fifths and chord progressions, I come across this video teaching me how to "break" them.
This reminds me of jazz, where you often do II V I changes in different keys (often relative/dominant/subdominant but often not). It also reminds me of modal change like that in jazz, but it is often one chord at a time (like in Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island) (Modern jazz also changes around even more). Also, great video, it's really interesting and opens up a lot of ideas.
This video is extremely interesting, thank you so much for making it. I've adored One Summer's Day and always been entranced by the way it flows outside of its key so effortlessly when I was learning it, I remember searching all over for Hisaishi's secrets, I never thought there'd be a video that so heavily delved into the concept not only, but the same song even.
New sub! I really appreciate hearing theory being explained like this because I trudged through my studies when I was younger, just enough to pass exams, and admittedly retained way less than I should have.
Man, this is super interesting. I'm certainly going to check that book and I look forward to more videos on the subject. On a side note, I've recently had your channel recommended to me and it's honestly one of my favourites. I've been binging your content for a while now and I still have a lot more videos to watch. Thank you for all the knowledge you share.
OMG I was thinking about buying these books but I'd prefer to see if someone on the internet knew about them. And I couldn't find any info. And now, finally, one of my fav youtubers is doing a video about it. THANKS
this is such a great book. and the examples are absolutely lovely. i had to read it literally 17 times but im finally starting to get it. its funny, its deprogramming a lot of the "rules" id taught myself from years of jazz piano and classical theory. in doing so, ive expanded my harmonic vocabulary in a couple of days in amazing ways.
Very interesting, if you consider One Summer's Day to be in C major instead of A minor then all the chords in measure 4-5 can be seen as modal interchanges and Gsus2 as the dominant to go back to C but instead it goes to Am (V - vi cadence), to me the tonal centre of the piece sounds like C.
Just awesome!! Excellent content. I’ve always loved the way multiple tonalities are incorporated in Japanese music, from their film music to anime openings and J-rock. Thanks for making it easy to digest!
I found your channel while writing music for guitar and because of you my Keyboard/Midi comes in the mail today!! EDIT: Additionally, if anyone has good resources for someone familiar with theory but not as much with piano let me know. I'm a quick learner but also have about two hours every day I practice music so I'm not looking for shortcuts.
For the longest time I have wondered the music from Cardcaptors , especially the Cardcaptors S2 Purachina/Platinum theme sounded so awesome. I was able to trace some of the mystique to Bossa Nova, but couldnt find similar progressions anywhere. Thank you for referencing the book!!
Great vid. its so funny to me bc it sounds way easier in my head to hear it borrowed from phrygian (as this helps ascribe its effect to me), but to you it was easier to hear it as borrowed from a subdominant key. love how we all have different ways to see music theory things
There was this comment left by someone in one of Tommy February's music video called Love Is Forever. This person said that even though the song is supposed to be fun the song conveyed a sad feeling to him/her.
I will admit I didn't really follow what you were talking about, except that there is something irregular about the construction of music according to this jp music theory. but I appreciate any attempts I can find to better explain this music. I love the music from anime and games and I've never had any idea what goes into making that music.
Much gratitude Ryan for this very interesting video and for introducing me to these Harmony principles... I am looking forward to the following more in depth video explanation of the three key fluctuations. Kind regards and blessings, MaxT
I have always preferred to be open to the idea of multipolar tonality and relative harmonic rooting. I sometimes felt that pedantic teachers would get tense if one questioned this logic (we all must sometimes use oversimplifications to teach and I don't at all fault it really). Now I'm really glad more people want to acknowledge this possibility. The idea of a focused tonal center is one exceedingly common factor in popular music. The idea of a tonal center plus a defined and certain set of notes is helpful because it explains the majority of cases. But today there is commonly a flexibility in such a set of tones - like when borrowed chords come into play, or when in Blues when there is a "home" in a sense of Key, but momentary modulations as well as minor and major 3rds flexibly being used over each another. You can have that tonal center, but set of pitches can become changed, morphing into any of the "borrowed from related key" chords. Straying into multipolar tonality means the listener gets comfortable with the idea that there will be not just different available pitch sets, but multiple possible key resolutions. Its not that favored, like prog rock rhythmic changes are not that favored by the masses. But the possibility has been there. Probably it is used in film music if we stop and analyze it. Perhaps people will become bored with having a strong sense of key, they'll want to spread out their interests and I predict these kinds of changes will become .
I feel like there's an easier way to analyse that Spirited Away theme, which is to simply see it as being in C major, but starting on the vi, and with then some mixture from the parallel minor a couple bars in. Still, very interesting theory, and I hadn't heard of this book before, so thanks very much for alerting us to it, and for all the great examples!
You are actually correct (I go more into it in my comment on this video). Literally the song is in C major, to take this isolated section of the song and claim it's in A minor and then try to make sense of the C minor is a bit naive. It's way easier when you realize both A minor and C minor are closely related to C major (relative minor and parallel minor respectively), which is the main key of the whole theme and it's established in the music that precedes the bars he separated.
@@ChizFreak Ah yeah, I just had a look at your comment and totally agree--it does seem like a lot of making new words for things that already had words for them.
@@Cherodar from my point of view, thinking in the way of multipolar tonality will make you contrust melody more smoothly, if you stay in the key of C major when borrowed chord is happening, you will find it is a bit troublesome to come up with melody since there is just a new scale going on. But when you switch your mind in those two bars when borrowed chord is going on and tell yourself that ok now my "do" is Eb, you will come up with more lyrical and smooth melody
@@wuzhexi4845 It's totally fine and good if thinking that way helps a composer to do a better job, but I don't think there's anything particularly Japanese about doing so (except insofar as a lot of Western pop music is completely diatonic these days).
@@Cherodar thanks for the reply, and yeah, in terms of japanese music, one of my friends just coming back from a japanese music production college said that what they do is they extensively use modal interchage to compose music as well as the extensively usage of reharmonization, non-functional relationship, and of course, complex voicings such as upper structure to introduce tons of tension notes. I have read the two multipolar books and I would say, this book in nature, there is nothing new here, he just explained the thing we have seen in another way, but I still think this way may benefit me more or less in the future.
C is the major parent key of Am (relative minor). Cm is the route chord of C minor diatonic chords. I've heard of chords being "borrowed" from the minor equivalent, but its usually the major chords from the minor diatonic chords. Old man by Neil young is a good example, (D F C G), D and G fall under the D major diatonic chords (I and IV), where as F & C ( III & VI) are borrowed from the D minor diatonic chords, if Neil threw in a Dm it would sound okay I guess, this is maybe why the Cm works?. Apologies if my terminology is wrong/ confusing but this is how I would make sense of the opening chord progression.
This video is going into my Japanese writing playlist. Thanks for summarizing this book. It was rather difficult to digest!... clearly, I didn't drink enough coffee!
Great Video. Never heard of the book, but definitely will give it a try because these techniques sound super interesting. Also I have to admit that when it comes to music theory I can be a little nerdy.
Great video, I’m a bit confused though. At 4:30 it’s showing a flat VI in A minor but it’s an F playing. Shouldn’t that just be a VI rather than flat VI? I would think the flat VI would mean E major?
E major would be V. A 6th above A is F#, a b6 (aka minor 6th) above A is F. In classical harmony they don’t distinguish but in jazz harmony VI and bVI mean different things which I think is way more clear!
So, kind of weird comment, this is how I thought modulation worked. I never studied music theory (formally) and so when it came to integrating different ideas into my music, I figured the best way to do it was to move into a new key and then move back down to my original. For example, I explicitly lined out for a piece how I would move up and down the circle of fifths (C to F to C to G), and this made sense to me because it would be easier to "disguise" the transition. So many notes were in common that a lot of the "natural" relationships would help secure the introduction of my new notes. PMT though... LOL. I don't think I thought any thoughts that ever remotely reflected that. I DID, thanks to some prompting by one of your videos, write a piano piece that goes from F Major to C minor to C Major! Very amateurish but I am proud of it.
Interesting. I really like the notation and am going to give it shot! Great way of thinking about how to add in some spice from semi ambiguous keys, without getting completely lost in the weeds. Shares a couple ideas from Neo-Riemannian theory.
No I see it as the sixth chord in the key. I come from a jazz harmony background where the root of the chord is made explicitly clear in the roman numeral. For example the chords in natural minor key are i iiº bIII iv v bVI bVII. If we called it VI it could be misinterpreted as F or F#, by calling it bVI it's very clear that we're talking about the chord a minor 6th above the root of A.
I don't understand how F is a bVI or flat 6 of Am, isn't it just a normal 6th? Same thing with the C, how is it a bIII and not a regular third? Btw its at 4:10. Please explain, thank you.
depends on if your background is jazz or classical. In classical theory In A major VI means F#m and in A minor VI means F major. However in jazz harmony we are more explicit with the roman numerals, so VI will always mean a major 6th interval above the root. So in both A major and A minor bVI would be F major because it's a major chord a b6 interval above A. So in C bIII is a major chord a minor third above C, or Eb. III would mean E major.
Awesome video and generally amazing and very useful channel man!!! I can't wait for the follow ups on this because I still can't help to try and explain some of these chords in a more typical fashion. For example in the piece starting with Gm7, I tend to see the Cm and Dm chords as subdom and dom of G but I still can't explain that A7 in the end! Thanks for the videos once again!
Hey man! Got a question for ya. I've been analyzing J-Pop for a bit now and trying to wrap my mind around the music theory, I understand basic stuff like parallel/relative keys and what a modulation is, but when I see things like @4:12 "F is the flat 6 of A minor" I become confused lol. I thought it would be just the 6 seeing as F is already in the key of A minor. Do you recommend any books that would maybe bridge the gap for me in general? Not TOO basic (like triads or modes) but something that would be a good transition to be able to analyze tons of Jpop after
My original theory background is jazz. So in traditional music theory you just call the 6th chord "The six chord" wether it's F# in the key of A major or Fm in the key of A minor. But here I am explicitly saying "flat six" so you know it's an F and not an F#. Because what if I wanted the F chord in the key of A major, am I still supposed to call it a "six"? Saying "flat six" makes it clear that I mean a minor 6th interval above the tonic A.
@@heyitsempyre7145 for a very orthodox but approachable grounding in capital C Classical chord function i would recommend Seth Monahan's channel ... th-cam.com/users/SethMonahan .
🧑🏭👨🔧👨🍳i luhhhhhve this. Thank you so much for putting this up! This is gonna definitely help in structuring future writing and helps conceptualize a lot of what ive d trouble expressing
Iv'e watched this video a few times and recommended it to others. It's very insightful. Did you also do the more detailed videos on each different type? If so can you please share the links to them? I couldnt find them. And thanks again for sharing!
Your Video is very intresting already saw something similar in book Theory of Harmony Arnold Schoenberg he said something about the topic fluctuating tonality and suspended tonality and in another book Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality Rudolph Reti or Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality a study of some treands in twentiesh century music Rudolph Reti with subjects like Melodic Tonality, Fluctuating Harmonies, Moving Tonics, to me a example is Debussy clair de lune, it´s tonality but is there is some more, fluctuating tonality.
Okay. So. You and Gavin doing a collab made me scream like a little girl. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I am sure that I can't wait for the video!
someone please help me understand. at 5:59 he talks about the first phrase is in c major and than the 2nd phrase is the relative minor which is A minor. But he uses a B minor and a E7. Wouldn't it be B diminished and E minor in the key of A minor??? Please help me understand lol
@@RyanLeach But what about the E chord? I only have a really basic understanding of keys, so I'm getting stuck on the "raised leading tone." Shouldn't it just be Em in the key of Am?
@@AardvarkAdventure Traditionally we use the harmonic minor scale to raise the leading tone (the 7th note of the scale) for a strong pull home. th-cam.com/video/-amnre-0I3w/w-d-xo.html
Sorry this may be a stupid question, but is there any guidance on how to actually move between these different polar keys? Like do I need to employ direct modulation or pivot chords or voice leading or something? Or is the idea that I should be able to move between them freely?
okay, call me stupid, (i'm not versed well in music theory,) but why is it a major fifth on 6:13 RMT? shouldn't it be a minor fifth since you are in a minor at that point? I'm not good at structuring chord progressions and nothing online really helps :(
This is a brilliant form of analysis honestly. I feel like this is such a solid system. Have you ever experimented using this form of Analysis with things such as Bach, or Jazz? Do you think it would be as useful, or are the genre's too different?
I'm not sure it would work for Bach, he's probably pretty well explained with current music theory. But I'm sure there's plenty of jazz tunes that could be approached with this "key fluctuation" approach and might make them a little more logical than just strings of secondary dominants and ii-Vs
i liked you bro, thanks for these content, i will watch and study your videos, you explain very well i've watched this gavin video years ago, I was trying to understand japanese music, and i learned a bit, but i'm new into this so it's difficult to understand everything could you make a video about berklee and your degree? do you recommend any online courses from there? i'm into soundtracks (animes, games)
RMT: th-cam.com/video/SSbEV5BHDQg/w-d-xo.html DMT (sort of): th-cam.com/video/f8TMmnBu0eI/w-d-xo.html PMT: I don’t think I made this one yet!! Thanks for the reminder
So the book gives us this brand new theory that allows us to talk about this practice of moving to another tonal centre but without fully modulating to it. ... um, isn't that just tonicisation? I'm not totally convinced that we need new theory, new symbols and new terminology to describe a quite common technique, that's already explained within the framework of vanilla functional harmony. That theory would make a lot more sense if we're talking about non-functional relationships between remote key centres, e.g. like when Strauss alternates C major and B major in Also Sprach Zarathustra, or maybe when Queen unexpectedly goes from E-flat major to A major at the beginning of the choral section from Bohemian Rhapsody. But, apparently, those cases fall outside of what the theory describes. And that's one thing that I particularly hate about theories like these: they introduce a framework that allows *a lot* of flexibility and freedom, but then impose only the most vanilla choices known to man. Going from C major to A-flat major is not that unusual or difficult. According to the diagram shown at 10:00, going from C major to E major would be more "adventurous" than that, and even Celine Dion has done that in her version of _All by Myself_ (okay, that's an example of modulation, but if she can use the b6 as a pivot to go from A major to D-flat major to make one of the coolest and smoothest modulations in the history of pop diva music, I'm sure those anime composers could do something like that!!).
I don't believe it's a new theory meant to "replace" anything else. It's another lens we can use to look at things. For a small example, if we had the progression C F Am B7, by pairing the Am with B7 we will consciously use an F# if we need a 6th instead of what might seem like the more natural F natural. It's this thinking at the phrase level and not just the chord level that I think is interesting. And all you have to do is rotate that chart and you can see C and E major are easy to relate. You even get this interesting perspective of subdominant and dominant key relationships, which could inform you what kind of energy you're creating by going in one direction or the other.
All of this music theory sounds like a different language, what would you recommend if I want to learn composition for electronic music, and implement Japanese orchestration?
But Am and Cm are such a long distance away in the circle of 5ths, wouldn't it make more sense to just call it the key that's a minor third away? Cuz that's the feeling it gives me when I hear these shifts... Awesome vid btw, got a lot of insight!
For the DMT example starting around 8:00, wouldn't the key be Gmin(IImin, Vmin) instead of IVmin?
Loved the video btw!
100% yes, you caught a typo! It should say Gmin[IImin, Vmin]. Good catch
@@RyanLeach Hi! And Dm should be v(0) instead of iv(0) right?
Ah damn, yes it should. I hate that there’s no way to amend a YT video!
what song was this example?
Joe Rogan joined the chat
That minor part of "one summer's day" is the music equivalent of looking back at what you're leaving one last time.
I was watching an American TH-camr play one of their own songs on piano and i thought it sounded very very Japanese, but couldn’t figure out why. Later found out he went to music school in Japan.
What video did you watch? It sounds interesting.
I want to know too
What's the video?
Bruh you really left a cliffhanger what’s the source?
brev
I've always wondered how some of the music in Breath of the wild felt so magical and I think this might be it. Thanks for the video, really interesting stuff.
I wonder if this is the reason so many sad Japanese songs are such bangers, the idea of introducing major poles into sad / minor songs is ingrained into their culture.
Man the spirited away music always gets me. It’s like this beautiful bittersweet nostalgia and adds a whole new dimension to the movie
This really feels like a giant leap. After learning all the established "rules" of the Circle of Fifths and chord progressions, I come across this video teaching me how to "break" them.
I've been trying to figure out this Japanese chord thing for so long I am really grateful to you for making this video.
This reminds me of jazz, where you often do II V I changes in different keys (often relative/dominant/subdominant but often not). It also reminds me of modal change like that in jazz, but it is often one chord at a time (like in Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island) (Modern jazz also changes around even more).
Also, great video, it's really interesting and opens up a lot of ideas.
I always heard DMT would expand my mind, thanks for this!
This video is extremely interesting, thank you so much for making it.
I've adored One Summer's Day and always been entranced by the way it flows outside of its key so effortlessly when I was learning it, I remember searching all over for Hisaishi's secrets, I never thought there'd be a video that so heavily delved into the concept not only, but the same song even.
New sub! I really appreciate hearing theory being explained like this because I trudged through my studies when I was younger, just enough to pass exams, and admittedly retained way less than I should have.
📘 Check out the book: amzn.to/3Kh6l5z
Man, this is super interesting. I'm certainly going to check that book and I look forward to more videos on the subject.
On a side note, I've recently had your channel recommended to me and it's honestly one of my favourites. I've been binging your content for a while now and I still have a lot more videos to watch.
Thank you for all the knowledge you share.
Nice, that's awesome to hear. Many thanks to whoever recommended my channel!
OMG I was thinking about buying these books but I'd prefer to see if someone on the internet knew about them. And I couldn't find any info. And now, finally, one of my fav youtubers is doing a video about it. THANKS
I have the book
this is such a great book. and the examples are absolutely lovely. i had to read it literally 17 times but im finally starting to get it.
its funny, its deprogramming a lot of the "rules" id taught myself from years of jazz piano and classical theory. in doing so, ive expanded my harmonic vocabulary in a couple of days in amazing ways.
Very interesting, if you consider One Summer's Day to be in C major instead of A minor then all the chords in measure 4-5 can be seen as modal interchanges and Gsus2 as the dominant to go back to C but instead it goes to Am (V - vi cadence), to me the tonal centre of the piece sounds like C.
Just awesome!! Excellent content. I’ve always loved the way multiple tonalities are incorporated in Japanese music, from their film music to anime openings and J-rock. Thanks for making it easy to digest!
I found your channel while writing music for guitar and because of you my Keyboard/Midi comes in the mail today!!
EDIT: Additionally, if anyone has good resources for someone familiar with theory but not as much with piano let me know. I'm a quick learner but also have about two hours every day I practice music so I'm not looking for shortcuts.
I love it when I get the opportunity to think about harmony in a different way. Thanks!
Loved this, Ryan! I didn't notice that One Summer's Day could be described using this framework. I also quite liked your original examples.
Thanks! I wonder if anything could be described with this analysis method. Coltrane? Beethoven?
Love the suspended note in the 4th bar. 07:57 😊
Love these types of vids! Can't wait for your deeper explanation of the 3 diff types of MT's and the Gavin collab! Cheers!
Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll probably space them out a bit, probably next week will be small ternary form.
@@RyanLeach Can't wait
This is the second video i've watched of yours and i absolutely love your channel
For the longest time I have wondered the music from Cardcaptors , especially the Cardcaptors S2 Purachina/Platinum theme sounded so awesome. I was able to trace some of the mystique to Bossa Nova, but couldnt find similar progressions anywhere. Thank you for referencing the book!!
Great vid. its so funny to me bc it sounds way easier in my head to hear it borrowed from phrygian (as this helps ascribe its effect to me), but to you it was easier to hear it as borrowed from a subdominant key. love how we all have different ways to see music theory things
I know very little music theory, but aspiring to write a song. Cheers for the lesson :)
There was this comment left by someone in one of Tommy February's music video called Love Is Forever. This person said that even though the song is supposed to be fun the song conveyed a sad feeling to him/her.
Glad I came across your channel! I have a very basic understanding of music theory and the format of your videos is helpful and interesting!
This is incredibly helpful. Thank you so so much for making these kind of videos.
6:23 - Joe Rogan approved
Dude - you are speaking right to what I needed. Thank you!
I will admit I didn't really follow what you were talking about, except that there is something irregular about the construction of music according to this jp music theory. but I appreciate any attempts I can find to better explain this music. I love the music from anime and games and I've never had any idea what goes into making that music.
one summer's day always makes me cry and this explained why
I always found the Pokemon Theme (japanese version) difficult to analyse... this helps a lot! It is really really eye opening.
Question:
When using chords outside of the main key, do you use outside notes of the main key for the melody or stick to the notes of the main key?
use notes that go with the new chords
That spirited away song hits hard when it's the 1st thing you hear at 7 in the freaking morning
Much gratitude Ryan for this very interesting video and for introducing me to these Harmony principles... I am looking forward to the following more in depth video explanation of the three key fluctuations. Kind regards and blessings, MaxT
I have always preferred to be open to the idea of multipolar tonality and relative harmonic rooting. I sometimes felt that pedantic teachers would get tense if one questioned this logic (we all must sometimes use oversimplifications to teach and I don't at all fault it really). Now I'm really glad more people want to acknowledge this possibility. The idea of a focused tonal center is one exceedingly common factor in popular music. The idea of a tonal center plus a defined and certain set of notes is helpful because it explains the majority of cases. But today there is commonly a flexibility in such a set of tones - like when borrowed chords come into play, or when in Blues when there is a "home" in a sense of Key, but momentary modulations as well as minor and major 3rds flexibly being used over each another. You can have that tonal center, but set of pitches can become changed, morphing into any of the "borrowed from related key" chords. Straying into multipolar tonality means the listener gets comfortable with the idea that there will be not just different available pitch sets, but multiple possible key resolutions. Its not that favored, like prog rock rhythmic changes are not that favored by the masses. But the possibility has been there. Probably it is used in film music if we stop and analyze it. Perhaps people will become bored with having a strong sense of key, they'll want to spread out their interests and I predict these kinds of changes will become .
Great video Ryan. Never heard of this technique before and you explained it really well
Thanks!
I feel like there's an easier way to analyse that Spirited Away theme, which is to simply see it as being in C major, but starting on the vi, and with then some mixture from the parallel minor a couple bars in. Still, very interesting theory, and I hadn't heard of this book before, so thanks very much for alerting us to it, and for all the great examples!
You are actually correct (I go more into it in my comment on this video). Literally the song is in C major, to take this isolated section of the song and claim it's in A minor and then try to make sense of the C minor is a bit naive. It's way easier when you realize both A minor and C minor are closely related to C major (relative minor and parallel minor respectively), which is the main key of the whole theme and it's established in the music that precedes the bars he separated.
@@ChizFreak Ah yeah, I just had a look at your comment and totally agree--it does seem like a lot of making new words for things that already had words for them.
@@Cherodar from my point of view, thinking in the way of multipolar tonality will make you contrust melody more smoothly, if you stay in the key of C major when borrowed chord is happening, you will find it is a bit troublesome to come up with melody since there is just a new scale going on. But when you switch your mind in those two bars when borrowed chord is going on and tell yourself that ok now my "do" is Eb, you will come up with more lyrical and smooth melody
@@wuzhexi4845 It's totally fine and good if thinking that way helps a composer to do a better job, but I don't think there's anything particularly Japanese about doing so (except insofar as a lot of Western pop music is completely diatonic these days).
@@Cherodar thanks for the reply, and yeah, in terms of japanese music, one of my friends just coming back from a japanese music production college said that what they do is they extensively use modal interchage to compose music as well as the extensively usage of reharmonization, non-functional relationship, and of course, complex voicings such as upper structure to introduce tons of tension notes. I have read the two multipolar books and I would say, this book in nature, there is nothing new here, he just explained the thing we have seen in another way, but I still think this way may benefit me more or less in the future.
Loved this! Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks, I'll keep at it!
This was excellent and so informative and helpful, as is this channel. I'm glad I found ya!
please, make a video more in depth about the book
C is the major parent key of Am (relative minor). Cm is the route chord of C minor diatonic chords. I've heard of chords being "borrowed" from the minor equivalent, but its usually the major chords from the minor diatonic chords. Old man by Neil young is a good example, (D F C G), D and G fall under the D major diatonic chords (I and IV), where as F & C ( III & VI) are borrowed from the D minor diatonic chords, if Neil threw in a Dm it would sound okay I guess, this is maybe why the Cm works?. Apologies if my terminology is wrong/ confusing but this is how I would make sense of the opening chord progression.
This video is going into my Japanese writing playlist. Thanks for summarizing this book. It was rather difficult to digest!... clearly, I didn't drink enough coffee!
I love that you have a Japanese writing playlist. And yea the book is a bit challenging..
Just a detail: I appreciate that you framed the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Great Video. Never heard of the book, but definitely will give it a try because these techniques sound super interesting. Also I have to admit that when it comes to music theory I can be a little nerdy.
Ha well then you’re in the right place
I have so much to chew on here. Thank you!
This is really informative and interesting, thank you :))
Love your channel! I teach music theory and i’m going to talk about these concepts in my class! The kids will love it!
Great video, I’m a bit confused though. At 4:30 it’s showing a flat VI in A minor but it’s an F playing. Shouldn’t that just be a VI rather than flat VI? I would think the flat VI would mean E major?
E major would be V. A 6th above A is F#, a b6 (aka minor 6th) above A is F.
In classical harmony they don’t distinguish but in jazz harmony VI and bVI mean different things which I think is way more clear!
Awesome thank you for the explanation!
i just had so many revalations
im off to go make music, htank you for this knowledge
i really would love to see you break down some of the techniques or theories behind the music of the NieR game series
So, kind of weird comment, this is how I thought modulation worked.
I never studied music theory (formally) and so when it came to integrating different ideas into my music, I figured the best way to do it was to move into a new key and then move back down to my original.
For example, I explicitly lined out for a piece how I would move up and down the circle of fifths (C to F to C to G), and this made sense to me because it would be easier to "disguise" the transition. So many notes were in common that a lot of the "natural" relationships would help secure the introduction of my new notes.
PMT though... LOL. I don't think I thought any thoughts that ever remotely reflected that.
I DID, thanks to some prompting by one of your videos, write a piano piece that goes from F Major to C minor to C Major! Very amateurish but I am proud of it.
Interesting. I really like the notation and am going to give it shot! Great way of thinking about how to add in some spice from semi ambiguous keys, without getting completely lost in the weeds. Shares a couple ideas from Neo-Riemannian theory.
Very good video! One question why is at 6:05 the F major a bVI?
Thanks! Because at that point it's now being considered in the key of A minor. The VI relative to A is F#, the bVI is F natural.
@@RyanLeach So your seeing it as A major(pararell major) while being in A minor?
No I see it as the sixth chord in the key. I come from a jazz harmony background where the root of the chord is made explicitly clear in the roman numeral. For example the chords in natural minor key are i iiº bIII iv v bVI bVII. If we called it VI it could be misinterpreted as F or F#, by calling it bVI it's very clear that we're talking about the chord a minor 6th above the root of A.
Wow subscribed with reawoken interest for learning about music. Thanks man
I don't understand how F is a bVI or flat 6 of Am, isn't it just a normal 6th? Same thing with the C, how is it a bIII and not a regular third?
Btw its at 4:10. Please explain, thank you.
depends on if your background is jazz or classical. In classical theory In A major VI means F#m and in A minor VI means F major. However in jazz harmony we are more explicit with the roman numerals, so VI will always mean a major 6th interval above the root. So in both A major and A minor bVI would be F major because it's a major chord a b6 interval above A. So in C bIII is a major chord a minor third above C, or Eb. III would mean E major.
Thank you very much. I need this book.
8:08 I really like this chord change
Awesome video and generally amazing and very useful channel man!!! I can't wait for the follow ups on this because I still can't help to try and explain some of these chords in a more typical fashion. For example in the piece starting with Gm7, I tend to see the Cm and Dm chords as subdom and dom of G but I still can't explain that A7 in the end! Thanks for the videos once again!
DMT is also the strongest hallucinogen, sounds pretty funky to call it that tbh
Hey man! Got a question for ya. I've been analyzing J-Pop for a bit now and trying to wrap my mind around the music theory, I understand basic stuff like parallel/relative keys and what a modulation is, but when I see things like @4:12 "F is the flat 6 of A minor" I become confused lol. I thought it would be just the 6 seeing as F is already in the key of A minor. Do you recommend any books that would maybe bridge the gap for me in general? Not TOO basic (like triads or modes) but something that would be a good transition to be able to analyze tons of Jpop after
My original theory background is jazz. So in traditional music theory you just call the 6th chord "The six chord" wether it's F# in the key of A major or Fm in the key of A minor. But here I am explicitly saying "flat six" so you know it's an F and not an F#. Because what if I wanted the F chord in the key of A major, am I still supposed to call it a "six"? Saying "flat six" makes it clear that I mean a minor 6th interval above the tonic A.
@@RyanLeach Ahh that makes a lot of sense, thanks for clearing that up! do you recommend any books for music theory or chord progression analysis?
@@heyitsempyre7145 for a very orthodox but approachable grounding in capital C Classical chord function i would recommend Seth Monahan's channel ... th-cam.com/users/SethMonahan .
I really enjoy 8bit Music Theory, where they dismissed this kind of harmonic shifting as Nonfunctional Harmony
🧑🏭👨🔧👨🍳i luhhhhhve this. Thank you so much for putting this up! This is gonna definitely help in structuring future writing and helps conceptualize a lot of what ive d trouble expressing
0:18 THE SPICIEST WAS TURNT UPPP 😂😂😂
WOOOOO 🔥🥵
BTW, it’s still a good book (albeit some fuzzy terminology), and this is a great video as always Ryan. Keep up the great work!
Author of the book is not Japanese though. Kayano Chino appears to be a pen name and is not a real Japanese name.
The example for DMT reminds me of the Love Theme from Chinatown by Jerry Goldsmith
Iv'e watched this video a few times and recommended it to others. It's very insightful. Did you also do the more detailed videos on each different type? If so can you please share the links to them? I couldnt find them. And thanks again for sharing!
If u haven’t already plz do a video on Indian music theory I feel like u will explain it really well
Your Video is very intresting already saw something similar in book Theory of Harmony Arnold Schoenberg he said something about the topic fluctuating tonality and suspended tonality and in another book Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality Rudolph Reti or Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality a study of some treands in twentiesh century music Rudolph Reti with subjects like Melodic Tonality, Fluctuating Harmonies, Moving Tonics, to me a example is Debussy clair de lune, it´s tonality but is there is some more, fluctuating tonality.
I ended up getting all three books by Kayano and dived into the first book. I'm so confused lol. Definitely gonna have to go through this slowly.
my guy hasn't sleeped since the assassination of harambe
Glad I found you cuz I sure as hell ain't learning this from Fender Play lol
Okay. So. You and Gavin doing a collab made me scream like a little girl. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I am sure that I can't wait for the video!
Hi sir what sample library (?) did you at 7:56 please ? Great channel BTW !
someone please help me understand. at 5:59 he talks about the first phrase is in c major and than the 2nd phrase is the relative minor which is A minor. But he uses a B minor and a E7. Wouldn't it be B diminished and E minor in the key of A minor??? Please help me understand lol
I just did more research and is he using A melodic Minor?? because those chords are present in that mode.
Look closely it says Bm(b5) which for some reason is how Dorico notates Bdim
@@RyanLeach Thank you so much! Also I really liked this video, I never knew about these concepts and I will definitely be reading the book!
@@RyanLeach But what about the E chord? I only have a really basic understanding of keys, so I'm getting stuck on the "raised leading tone." Shouldn't it just be Em in the key of Am?
@@AardvarkAdventure Traditionally we use the harmonic minor scale to raise the leading tone (the 7th note of the scale) for a strong pull home. th-cam.com/video/-amnre-0I3w/w-d-xo.html
Hi Ryan. Very good topic. Did you actualy realize the 3 video or not done yet. I cannot find them... thks
So far I only got to one of them, which was this one that completely turned my year upside down: th-cam.com/video/SSbEV5BHDQg/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for this video man
Sorry this may be a stupid question, but is there any guidance on how to actually move between these different polar keys? Like do I need to employ direct modulation or pivot chords or voice leading or something? Or is the idea that I should be able to move between them freely?
Would you be willing to release a full version of the piece beginning at 7:57? I really enjoyed it.
Great video though.
Thanks, here's a video with just that piece. It isn't any longer than the example though! th-cam.com/video/yqll3M3kj8c/w-d-xo.html
@@RyanLeach Thank you.
I’m not so good at understanding non-diatonic theory, but alongside longer examples it becomes easier for me.
okay, call me stupid, (i'm not versed well in music theory,) but why is it a major fifth on 6:13 RMT?
shouldn't it be a minor fifth since you are in a minor at that point? I'm not good at structuring chord progressions and nothing online really helps :(
Did you ever make the follow up videos?
Which is it if the chord progression of Mousou Express is Am-G-F-D-Dm-Am-B7-E?
One famous example that I think could be considered PMT is the Game of Thrones theme
This is a brilliant form of analysis honestly. I feel like this is such a solid system. Have you ever experimented using this form of Analysis with things such as Bach, or Jazz? Do you think it would be as useful, or are the genre's too different?
I'm not sure it would work for Bach, he's probably pretty well explained with current music theory. But I'm sure there's plenty of jazz tunes that could be approached with this "key fluctuation" approach and might make them a little more logical than just strings of secondary dominants and ii-Vs
I think you may be right! I am primarily a fiddler player and I am finding it remarkably good at analyzing unique fiddle tunes and such!
What’s the music playing at around 9:55?
i liked you bro, thanks for these content, i will watch and study your videos, you explain very well
i've watched this gavin video years ago, I was trying to understand japanese music, and i learned a bit, but i'm new into this so it's difficult to understand everything
could you make a video about berklee and your degree? do you recommend any online courses from there? i'm into soundtracks (animes, games)
Can you link the Videos for each? DMT RMT and PMT? Love this
RMT: th-cam.com/video/SSbEV5BHDQg/w-d-xo.html
DMT (sort of): th-cam.com/video/f8TMmnBu0eI/w-d-xo.html
PMT: I don’t think I made this one yet!! Thanks for the reminder
very interesting video Im learning a lot
I love DMT, I use it all the time
So the book gives us this brand new theory that allows us to talk about this practice of moving to another tonal centre but without fully modulating to it. ... um, isn't that just tonicisation? I'm not totally convinced that we need new theory, new symbols and new terminology to describe a quite common technique, that's already explained within the framework of vanilla functional harmony.
That theory would make a lot more sense if we're talking about non-functional relationships between remote key centres, e.g. like when Strauss alternates C major and B major in Also Sprach Zarathustra, or maybe when Queen unexpectedly goes from E-flat major to A major at the beginning of the choral section from Bohemian Rhapsody. But, apparently, those cases fall outside of what the theory describes. And that's one thing that I particularly hate about theories like these: they introduce a framework that allows *a lot* of flexibility and freedom, but then impose only the most vanilla choices known to man. Going from C major to A-flat major is not that unusual or difficult. According to the diagram shown at 10:00, going from C major to E major would be more "adventurous" than that, and even Celine Dion has done that in her version of _All by Myself_ (okay, that's an example of modulation, but if she can use the b6 as a pivot to go from A major to D-flat major to make one of the coolest and smoothest modulations in the history of pop diva music, I'm sure those anime composers could do something like that!!).
I don't believe it's a new theory meant to "replace" anything else. It's another lens we can use to look at things.
For a small example, if we had the progression C F Am B7, by pairing the Am with B7 we will consciously use an F# if we need a 6th instead of what might seem like the more natural F natural. It's this thinking at the phrase level and not just the chord level that I think is interesting.
And all you have to do is rotate that chart and you can see C and E major are easy to relate. You even get this interesting perspective of subdominant and dominant key relationships, which could inform you what kind of energy you're creating by going in one direction or the other.
Amazing video.
All of this music theory sounds like a different language, what would you recommend if I want to learn composition for electronic music, and implement Japanese orchestration?
I tried using DMT and I had massive hallucinations followed by ego death, am I doing this wrong? Music theory is hard...
Haha nah it’s a weird thing
Dude I’ve learned a decent bit of theory over the years but this hurt to try and fully absorb all at once 😅
Wait wait wait ! Let me grab my coffee... Okay. Go.
...
Wow. That was NOT enough coffee.
¿How your tonic is Dm if the chord progretion is “Em7 - A7”? ¿Why?
But Am and Cm are such a long distance away in the circle of 5ths, wouldn't it make more sense to just call it the key that's a minor third away? Cuz that's the feeling it gives me when I hear these shifts...
Awesome vid btw, got a lot of insight!