How to Use Minor Chords with a Melody

[@haru_urara_tube]

I definitely hope you continue this series. I've been subscribed to your channel for quite a while, but I only recently started going through more of your content. The quality is top-notch, and the presentation is very pedagogical. A lot of this is repetition for me at this point, but it's the best way to truly get something to stick.

[@Noblelinski]

Yay for part 2! I really like this new series. Very informative!

[@DelasVC]

Hey Ryan, please definitely continue this series! This is helpful a great deal for a beginner like myself!

[@orala2593]

Please continue this series!

[@joshuagodinez5867]

Sweet! Finally something my speed on creating music. Easy explanation and reasoning. Very nice!

[@MikeSalopek]

Love these, thank you!

[@RyanLeach]

Glad you like it!

[@jamesmihalkamusic]

This is really helpful, especially with the homework!

[@RyanLeach]

Happy to hear that, thanks!

[@MarcPi_Music]

This series is really helpful for noobs and self learners like me. Very comprehensive and easy to follow, and without tons of pure theory. I've never expected to say that, but I loved the homework (yes, I was a really bad student at school)

[@irish28410]

Thank you so much, I love this serie, after the form serie, this is the best one ! Next step private lessons, I'm looking to organize it.

[@RyanLeach]

thanks I appreciate it!

[@feraste]

Great video as always!

[@xm-cw4bn]

This is an amazing series, later in it, could you include a tutorial on how to go from a melody and a set of chords to piece of music(orchestration). Thank you

[@handznet]

I-iii is an instant sad atmo in movie music. Sounds really nice. 🙃

[@irish28410]

Do you know when you will publish the new video in this serie ? This is very helpful

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

@5:14 are we avoiding non-chord tones for this exercise, or entirely? I suspect the former, but perhaps non-chord tone melodies are more jazz than classical/orchestral music.

[@RyanLeach]

yea non-chord tones are fine if it's like a passing tone, but I'm trying to take it in baby steps so for now it has just been chord tones of the triad

[@Skreptix]

Don't want to be the know-it-all, but are the timestamps about 5 seconds off? :)

[@RyanLeach]

That would make sense, I cut about five seconds out at the last minute! Thanks for the heads up

[@EthanChoi-c6v]

hi what software do you use for composing?

[@RyanLeach]

Dorico and Logic

[@marathonrunner2590]

Ryan, Here is a friendly suggestion that could be useful at 9:56. In "theory shorthand," major chords are indicated by capital letters and minor chords are lower case letters. Sooner or later people who are serious about learning the theory will have to use the capital and lower-case letters, so it might be easier to just always use them so the students/viewers can get accustomed to standard practice. Thanks.

[@RyanLeach]

Depends on where you studied and personal preference. I use uppercase and lowercase Roman numerals, for example IV vs iii, but I us capital letters for the chord names. "F Em" is pretty common, I don't usually see "F em".

[@Jang09]

I’ve never seen lower case letters used for chord symbols except for m for indicating minor.

[@DjJohnnyTheripper]

isnt the 2 called supertonic? confused...and 6 submediant???

[@MyRegularNameWasTaken]

Yes, but those are more specific roles than what we’re looking at here. “Mediant” and “submediant” typically refer to the fact that the chord can sort of be two things at once: 3 is kinda dominant, kinda tonic; while 6 is kinda tonic, kinda subdominant. “Supertonic” just means “the note just above the tonic”, and I think it’s more commonly used to refer to the note (Re) instead of the chord. The 2 chord acts like a subdominant chord in terms of harmony though.

[@cerealbowl7038]

10:19 Parallel 5ths AND 8ves‽ Bach would not apreciate. 12:40 Bar 7 would be so much better in second inversion. iii vi ii I(6/4) V is a great progression. Even better would be iii vi ii(6/5) I(6/4) V7. I know you said that you were only using root position triads, but this is what you should do once you introduce inversions (and seventh chords).

[@RyanLeach]

Yes parallels are important when independence of lines matters, but not as much of a concern in a contemporary style. The problem is that they create a momentary feeling of the independence going away, a sort of weird stereo-to-mono effect, but again not as strong an issue when the voices are so clearly distinct

[@ShaharHarshuv]

Create tutorial, but I wished you would use roman numerals instead of chord symbols, I'm not as quick translating in my head. Also, realistically, a composer will think tonally anyway. ("Let's put a ii chord here" not "let's put an Fm chord here")

[@WitchLuna7]

I don't think most composers will only think in roman numerals. Once you're familiar with intervals you simply know that Bb is the Neapolitan of A minor without thinking or translating them from roman numerals. You also have atonal and ambiguous progressions where roman numeral analysis fall short, so it's also nice to think of the actual chords and pitches. That said, I think the hybrid approach is the best: chord symbols on top and roman numerals on the bottom. Unfortunately most classical folks completely ignore chord symbols despite them being super useful and being by far most common way to notate harmony by actual musicians today. And some jazz/pop/contemporary will only use chord symbols.