Music Composition: How To Harmonize a Melody Part 1

[@RickBeato]

This is not a video based on the Common Practice Period from 1600-1900. I will do a series of videos on the rules of melody, harmony and rhythm but that time is not now. This is a modern approach to harmonization.

[@AlexanderKhanukhov]

Thank you Rick, I would like to ask you would you also please explain to us how would you Orchestrate these chords with a whole orchestra, or to what instruments would you give some parts, doubling, register,, etc, Thank you so much, this is really a Goldmine.

[@bensizer]

Tuxster3 - I think expecting every modern musician to start by learning everything from Bach to Beethoven to Brahms first, when that is not the kind of music they'll actually be writing, is rather unrealistic.

[@WT_Neptune]

Thanks for that clarification. I was like uhhhhh

[@gammadrums]

Every episode is basically a "Master Class" Thanks so much for sharing...!!!

[@adamsmith4416]

Yep. Rick really has a deep grasp of the materials.

[@Enogimka]

I really like those "Master Class" video cause without him I wouldn't even have a basic to learn music theory on, he's like part of my two main channel I go to to learn music theory. My other channel to I like to head to to learn music theory is 12tone. Those two channel are everything I get video wise that gives me a track of what I' would like to learn than google written stuff by myself. Without them I wouldn'T get a good starting track to learn music theory music. I'm really glad I've found those channel seriously. Please Rick never stop doing those video with out them I'm nothing! x)

[@VinnieLeeStudio]

I know right? Thank you, Rick!

[@dark8parasyte478]

True that . Its so comprehensive as well without having to spoonfeed like many channels, and just opens the creative juices going 😃

[@haywoodgiles713]

I am "How" guy. It's great you're telling me what you're doing, but how are you doing it? How do you decide which intervals you're going to use? Trial and error?

[@fulsound_]

Same here!

[@charlesmayberry2321]

I assume he does something similar to how I write melody and harmony, if I'm trying to create tension in the harmony Use a dissonant interval (like the b9th) if you want to release tension use consonant intervals. major thirds, perfect 5ths. sometimes depending on how dissonant the rise in tension was a perfect fourth also releases a lot of tension, if the last part was consonant a 4th will create tension. It's just theory on intervals, this may not be how he makes the decisions but that's how I make them. Based on dissonance to create tension. Then consonance to relieve it.

[@Barefoot67]

exactly, not much to learn here

[@rpbale]

Completely agree. There’s not much how here. You start to talk about how but it’s so late in the video.

[@SladeBallard]

that's the problem I'm finding in most Rick Beato's videos. he really is full of knowledge, but he makes it seem like these videos are educational when it's not at all beginner-friendly. you have to figure that stuff out yourself.

[@darrenjharris9907]

Very useful video Rick! Helped me immensely.

[@bunyaadi]

These videos are awesome. It has woken up something inside me again and makes me want to get back into doing proper music stuff again.

[@yumiitomusic]

so great! thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@AndrewColyerMusic]

THIS IS AWESOME!! My goal is to watch EVERY one of your videos. I feel like every episode is a crash course for my brain, downloading like "The Matrix". I may not have gotten this "High Information Modern Music" at an early age like your son, but I swear I can feel my brain light up and have "a-ha" connections, every time I watch another one of your videos. I had four semesters of Music Theory with the Walter Piston book in college, but hadn't made it into an integration with 20th century modern classical harmony, integrated with jazz, until now. I'm finally understanding what I've been hearing for years Thank you so much!

[@daneumusic]

i rather see one video per day of your channel than keep studiying in a conservatory, i wish you lived in argentina and i can take lessons with you hahahaha, thank you for this! for you to give all that knowledge for free its fantastic! ill keep making music but better!

[@debeshbhattarai]

You are a gem of a teacher.... Keep inspiring...!!!

[@visog]

Cool... love how different approaches yield very different results - contrary motion at 7:00 my favourite...

[@marshacarm]

That melody happens to be the opening bars of "Here's That Rainy Day," which have been harmonized differently on almost every chart you find. You inspired me to return to this gorgeous piece, not to reharmonize it, but to use my favorite harmonization to improvise on flute (humbly following James Moody, whose performance has unfortunately been deleted from KZbin). I think many people take this song too fast, perhaps because they don't know what to do with all the major 7s. Improvising a single line really gets exciting when you explore all the implications of the harmony. From my piano playing incarnation: I agree with those who suggest turning the keyboard around or adding an inset with the notes printed. But if your intention is to force us listeners to hear more acutely, so be it--your approach to music creative in itself.

[@notnormal1074]

just the thing I was needing advice on, It's hard to believe you can make so much helpful content!

[@garyfolmer5497]

Rick, your videos are such a pleasure for me; I could watch you all day!

[@seattlevkk]

This melody is “can you read my mind” from Superman! Great video - a lot of options presented very quickly so it gets slightly confusing. Also would be good to see what you do on the guitar to harmonize with fewer available notes

[@petragaffney135]

I like the polytonal resolution at 5:25 which is spread F major triad in L.H. with 1st Inv. F dim to 1st Inv. F minor in R.H. Having both the major and minor triads in the last chord makes it sound especially final....doubly final. It's gorgeous.

[@RickBeato]

I thought so too :) It's funny, I was the first thing I grabbed and I thought, that sounds cool! Haha!! Hope you're well Petra!

[@JeffrStarkey]

This is a fantastic channel. Please keep it up!

[@gizmogearloose3391]

I TOTALLY dig what you're trying to teach. I just wish there were popular music examples to base this lesson from, so I might have a better grip on it...I'm just a 'play by ear' guy, but I wanna learn stuff like this...!

[@saralsethi4879]

how to make everything so clear and easy to understand by playing on strings... flipping brilliant

[@TomRivieremusic]

All your lesson are just great, especially for self-taught musicians and of course those schooled who need reminders and new tips.....

[@dennisjump8655]

Hey, " Can You Read My Mind " from Superman. Cool.

[@tubularbill]

Rick is the best. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@allanjeong]

Hello! At the most basic level, I simply find the left hand root note by playing the root note at 1, 3, or 5 note intervals (+1 octave) BELOW the melodic notes I can VISUALLY see my right hand playing (or about to play) on the main down beats (or on the melodic note played immediately after the down beat if the melodic note is just a passing note as in the song hap-py-BIRTH-day-to-you). In a song with a four chord progression, you already know the last chord since most songs end using the root-melody note interval of 1 (root note is same as melodic note). As you "hear" the song in your head and hear that the root note is not the same note as the melodic note played in the down beat, your best guess is to play the root-melody note interval 5 (root note a 5 note intervals BELOW the melodic note) since it is used more often than the root-melody note interval 3. To play the left hand chord, I simply hold my left hand in a fixed claw-like position to play/roll the root note played with left hand picky followed by notes at 5 and 8 and 10 note intervals ABOVE the root note. After your first pass through the song, you'll have already figured out the four root notes in the four chord progression (with minimum trial-and-error) and you can do this to play just about any song spontaneously and play it by ear! The moment I figured out these three root-melody note intervals, I was suddenly able to play songs on piano by ear, something I was never able to do over my 40 years playing piano! :-)

[@charlesmallory5616]

Rick, this is my first time watching one of your videos. You really have a rich understanding of chords and voicing. I'm sure your jazz training helped a lot in that regard. I really liked this video! I do have a suggestion. If you have 2 cameras, it would be great if you could do overhead shots when you are playing the keyboard. I'm a visual learner. It would be a lot easier to figure out your voicing if I was watching overhead. Thanks for doing these videos!

[@javieral1448]

Many thanks for sharing your knowledge in such a generous and enthusiastic way. Blessings!

[@JazzLoverKhurram]

For the 6 note polychord reharmonization you really need to get the vampire fangs and Boris Karloff costume on I think Rick..Tritone Greetings from Transylvania😈🐧

[@RickBeato]

Khurram Aziz Boris Karloff was the man!

[@2009framat]

and Bela Lugosi :-)

[@JonathanR2142]

Great video, as always! One thing, do you think you could the notes you're playing on the screen? It would make it much easier for people who aren't as familiar with the piano to follow along--especially as it's inverted.

[@juancpgo]

In the Two Voice Harmonization, how do you choose the notes? I don’t get it, is there any logic or is it just at random by what it sounds good?

[@Incolent]

Juan not sure if troll or not.

[@RickBeato]

It's always about whether or not it sounds good. Check out my Howard Shore video. I discuss it there.

[@juancpgo]

Rick Beato I have the tendency to overanalyze and look for logic, I’m starting to realize that maybe music is more like picking colors and tensions than about mathematics and rules... thanks for replying Rick! :)

[@snarf1504]

For most it's about what sounds good, but you can mathematically explain everything through the theory :)

[@juancpgo]

Lord Gautama Yeah, but how do you explain for example why a minor lick works over a major chord (as in the blues)? We could write down the intervals, but it wouldn't answer the question. It doesn't really explain why it is one thing and not another. It's hard to justify that with only mathematics. Maybe at one point we just have to decide what sounds good and what doesn't. That said, I think there is always a mathematical framework, skeleton. We play against this framework, and create tensions that gravitate towards it. So, maybe it's us playing around mathematics or something. Anyway, this is something I still don't make complete sense of, sometimes it gives me a headache haha.

[@jay2xtremefy]

I like it. Thanks for sharing knowledge. God bless

[@kylej.whitehead-music309]

Every video's a miniature master class. Invaluable info!

[@bipulpatar8231]

I love your Channel tones of Knowledge is being explored thank xx for a beautiful channel

[@rifkiaffandi9427]

God Bless you Mr. Rick ☺

[@michaelman9281]

I'm just getting started competing music, and your channel is really helping me get into the more technical aspects of music

[@Hartproduktie]

Masterclass again" Thanks for sharing" keep up the good work

[@JanisKlinnert]

Rick that sounds so damn awesome! Love your videos... you're a genius!!

[@lerippletoe6893]

As a demonstration of methods of harmonization and the way you can make them evolve in context, it would be great if you wrote a passacaglia or some other form of theme and variations. It would also be great to see something more like traditional 4 part counterpoint with some of these more advanced movements/changes/resolutions. Like bringing this jazz theory to a Bach fugue like next level Contrapunctus XIV, or an even more out there Gesualdo madrigal.

[@Issachernandez1]

Revisiting the older material

[@LetitRainNow450]

So good!

[@BoredomEnsues]

Thank you, very informative.

[@woytd6435]

amazing stuff, thank You!

[@marekkowalewski776]

Thank you Rick you change my life :)))

[@DaveZula]

Rick, thank you so much for this video. I would love to hear more insight about your selection of notes. I think (at least in my case) maybe a less freeform example would help, i.e. working with a preexisting framework. Perhaps you might consider a lesson on reharmonization, as opposed to just harmonization? I do recognize you're approaching this more from a composition standpoint. If I'm totally missing the point, I apologize. Hooked on this channel as always!

[@MarsziParszi]

I think that there already are reharmonisation videos on this channel?

[@RickBeato]

There is one I did but plan to do more.

[@StompL7]

thanks à lot Rick ! your vidéos are amazing

[@frizt0]

Superman melody

[@Enogimka]

The introduction is new isn't it or I've just been watching your older video lately? That'S another cool video too by the way even if I never say it enough time ;)

[@tompw3141]

Looking forward to the SATB harmony videos :-)

[@billrootes-composersongwri5552]

Rick Beato for President! \m/

[@verantube]

Could you spell out elaborate the bitonal harmonization so that a simple minded musician such as my self could get it I really get a lot from your videos Thanks a lot

[@bashdachivo]

5:59 that’s some goonies right there with these polytonals harms.

[@stanmanjam]

Normally I can follow or understand why I can’t follow, but I’m stumped by the following in the bitonal harmonisation: the fifth note in the melody is F, but the chord is C Lydian / C which contains no F (but does contain F# & G). I don’t see Rick play the F either. So how is this harmonising the F?

[@JoelCarli]

This is giving me strong The Unanswered Question vibes.

[@canefan17]

A couple of these harmonizations reminded me of the band of Brothers theme music.

[@augustinechinnappanmuthria7042]

Super ❤️💗

[@filiberto2266]

thanks!!

[@suchandanjena8557]

It's so nice but please tell when to take which intervals.

[@jameswebber-salmon7105]

Thanks man :)

This looks like advanced level. Would be nice to figure out principles. If I have C note in my melody and next will be E, then F.... what is the range of chords I could use at all at C and by skiping E on F. Should it be chord with C and E, then what? What is the basic logic?

[@kenrach9875]

would love to see this on guitar

[@jeremylum8766]

Hi Rick, thanks for the video. When you did those spread voicing based on those melody, is it possible to apply for example Gmi spread triad with A note resolve down to root and 11 resolve down to b3 of Gmi chord?, thus creating those classical terms appoggiatura, escape tone, anticipation note, suspension and so on.....?? I mean you still have the top note and the bass note, but in between this, is it possible to place those appoggiatura and whatever there??? thanks Rick!!

[@stephengambello]

I love your teaching Mr. Beato -- someone else I am sure has brought this up, but here I go: G-Bb-Eb-G-F -- what you called a first inversion g flat major chord sounds like the opening notes from love theme in John Williams' Superman theme -- am I right?(I am a novice to music and music theory and hope I am not talking out of school here)

[@schwarzkelloggs]

Too advanced for me but is such great demo of how you can transform a simple melody with different emotions

[@albertvandrejer5003]

ok it sounds really great, but some things need more explanation imo, otherwise are just confusing.. which two keys are you using for the bitonal harmonization for example??

[@Makanator]

hey Rick, so Im actually in the process of taking individual instruction for jazz this upcoming semester would you be willing to do a Skype lesson? maybe evaluate where am at and maybe tell me what I should practice?

[@RickBeato]

+Adrian Reyes sure write me at [e-mail]

[@octoberphoenix]

The first harmony was very Superman(1978) (Flying sequence), was that intentional?

[@Nerakglaze]

Yes, It sounds very Superman like from "Can you read my mind" but it could be the 5 notes from a ton of other music too. When other tones, modes , contrary motion, counter punch are added so not Superman. So I don't think it was intentional.

[@octoberphoenix]

Nerakglaze I was hoping Rick would answer, but oh well.

[@Nerakglaze]

Hi Phoenix, sorry that i was not Rick. I was thrilled that I wasn't the only one that noticed. ( I love JW ;-) I would just re-post the question or send it as a message from the Rick Beato page. He has been answering quickly in the last few days.

[@octoberphoenix]

No worries dude, I might try that. :)

[@wearefiresidesessions]

*C Lydian*

[@wanlili7742]

it sounds like an epic movie

[@arthouston7361]

The melody is John Williams, 1978, the Love Theme from Superman.

[@tymime]

So we've got the happy first act, and then the terrifying second act...

[@idilgumruk2579]

Was there ever a part 2? I couldn't find it i think.

[@markopolo2224]

Can you do advanced harmony for guitar

[@RoundSquareX]

In its simplest terms... is a harmony just an overlap of different notes? Which one would be the melody, if there are three layers?

[@zephaniahmcdaniels]

RoundSquareX yes. Power chords in a sense

[@manny75586]

The melody is traditionally considered to be in the top voice in instances where it's just chords followed by chords all with the same length notes. When the bass, for example, is moving in eighths while the rest of the voices are in quarter notes, the bass will traditionally be considered the melody. In short, the most active voice is the melody. With all voices being relatively the same, the top voice is the melody. When you start treating it that way, you'll notice how much stronger your progressions sound.

[@skyfire3498]

sir why do you dont compose in films????

[@kwixotic]

That polytonal harmonization sounds like a bizarre version of "Here's that Rainy Day."

[@patbreacadh]

Wow, that version at 7:17 is poignant!

[@audioLME]

well it looks like its pointless to watch this, you don't really explain how you choose the harmony, nor explain the logic behind this selection.

[@samb4772]

You have 12 tones. Literally just play something bro.

[@damienro0]

Im studying to become a professional musician and I hear the terms, I know what the mean, but I cant even begging to understand what you said here. I wish I could, too advanced for me :(

[@NomeDeArte]

1:28 braveheart os

[@vincentm3890]

I really had a hard time understanding this. Its alot of information to work with. Aimee Nolte had a similar video that was much easier to follow. It would also help if you did this with a regular piano. This video is for people who are very advanced.

[@l0wbtry]

Do you have beginner stuff on bitonality ? I don't understand it at all

[@cyberprimate]

The melody itself is from Bernstein's tonight, right?

[@akcel1211]

What is the level required to start with the Beato Book?

[@Equinerhael]

Hello fellow ProTools user! lol I love that software!

[@shyamchandarshyamchandar]

Hi Could you please tell me what sound card is that on table.

[@amyking8401]

What program do you use? I can't decide which ones worth buying!

[@Equinerhael]

He’s using ProTools. It’s a fantastic software!

[@Nairrrrrrr]

It's not a fantastic software.

[@xisotopex]

would this be more of a motif or a melody?

[@Sonic8Salvation]

Link to part 2 please

[@dustymarlatt4528]

It would be great if you could show the keys from your perspective.

[@easypainohelcymelodies4096]

hi how could we learn from you is it possible to through online

[@iseeu-fp9po]

How does 4-part SATB differ from counterpoint?

[@kudos4201]

Its typically homophonic

[@fedexido]

yeah but how rick!!! BUT HOW????!!

[@spark300c]

I think you should write down so it can see what it looks like. I do get negative emanational reaction if melody not perfectly harmonized with the instrumentals. in fact since I am dyslexic my brain separates the vocals from the instrumentals cause me compose like they are two separates channels where not conflict between the two. how just sounds like you make chords. hard part about harmonization of melody for me that melody going in and out of harmonization.

[@fercomposer]

This is quite a "spooky" harmonization

[@judoka227]

Can you read my mind!!!

[@lagostavoadora]

If we could see the keyboard in a "normal" view it will be much easier to understand what you are trying to do.

[@codysports2152]

everyone is saying the melody sounds like superman but i get a lot of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony, movement 3

[@jazzgtrs1243]

Why am I hearing Mahler's 10th in the polytonal sample?

[@ahmeterzurumlu9116]

Dude the last one is like jazz harmony these people arr asking you what a major third is like myself

[@bryanpoulsen8969]

What is the specific meaning/definition of a "spread triad" in this video?

[@stantonh1452]

I know I am three years late but I will reply for others who might wanna know. It is when you take the third out of a triad, for instance, and move that third up the octave giving it a more spread out voicing. A lot of piano parts by Thom Yorke from Radiohead feature these voicings. They are quite beautiful.

[@francobonanni3499]

Let's see what you do on a pentagram so we can seecthe moving line. It would be wonderful. This modern harmony which many people do not have a familiarity. It is to exple the difference between classical a modern harmony. Think about it Prof. Beato.

[@brownmonkeybananayellow]

pchu pchu pchu -- sound of the missiles flying over my head

[@fercomposer]

I mean the bitonal and polytonal