The Musical Wizardry behind the Jazz Turnaround

I take a look at a technique used in all kinds of music, from jazz turnaround, to Indian classical music, to Beethoven Sonatas. It's a way of creating a bit of 'magic' in a musical composition, though a bit of careful planning. The sonata featured in the opening is Beethoven's Opus 49 No.2, with a beat stolen from Jacob Collier :-) Check out June Lee's fantastic video on 'Harmonic Arrival' which inspired me to start thinking about this whole topic: • Harmony with June - Ep...
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Mark Ronson - I Can't Lose ft. Keyone Starr (Pomo Remix)
• Mark Ronson - I Can't ...
Chopin Etude in C major, Op. 10 No. 1 Naomi Kudo
• Naomi Kudo - Etude in ...
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia - Prarthana (live @TivoliVredenburg Utrecht)
• Pandit Hariprasad Chau...
Jasdeep Singh Degun - WOMAD at Home Performance
• Jasdeep Singh Degun - ...
Jacob Collier - Time Alone With You ft. Daniel Caesar
• Jacob Collier - Time A...
Jacob Collier Ancona Rehearsal
• Jacob Collier rehearsa...
and transcription of rehearsal:
• Jacob Collier Ancona R...
David Bruce: The Eye of Night (Myriad Trio)
• The Myriad Trio - 1 Th...
#jacobcollier #jazz #musictheory

[@benjaminmjones5021]

Oh yes the Half-Sharp Prince thumbnail🔥🔥

[@honsebingus6426]

Jacob could do cosplay as HP

[@konkey-dong]

Someone should send him the Half-Sharp Prince cause I feel like he'd enjoy it

[@DSteinman]

Missed opportunity to make the lightening scar a half-sharp symbol

[@lumo_]

rick beato: makes his kid figure out the chords for him the chad david bruce: helps his daughter figure out chords

[@godfather3357]

Jarry Cotter alias Hacob Pollier

[@stuartjohnstone2756]

Sneaky hidden licc t-shirt at the end. Love it!

[@JeiShian]

Hahaha nice i saw it too

[@DarkSideofSynth]

YUP! I saw that and went... waaaaait a minute... isn't that the piano roll version of the LICC?! ;)

[@SoundFieldPBS]

this thumbnail is brillian David!

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

Yeah, nice, But ... Who is the person with scarf on the Thumbnail?

[@youtubeuserdan4017]

@@dibaldgyfm9933 Jacob.

[@LuisDiazDrums]

@@dibaldgyfm9933 Mr. Jacob Collier

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

@@LuisDiazDrums :: Thanks! To think that I did not recognize !!! ☻

[@scp234]

The slot machine graphics are very helpful, the first time I understood a tritone replacement!

[@jayducharme]

You're not only a remarkable composer and performer, you're a wonderful teacher.

[@vrednychomik2488]

And at the same time an amazing entertainer too!

[@Nooticus]

So true ^

[@petervanderwaart1138]

Once upon a time, long ago, at some kind of cocktail party, I fell into conversation with a composer. He said that being a composer himself, and knowing the usual composer tricks, reduced the magic of listening to music to some extent because he would hear things as, for example, "trick to suggest a somber mood" rather than just a somber mood.

[@AmandaKaymusic]

As an adult music student I was warned at the beginning of becoming entangled "You may end up liking less but appreciating more". As just a listener I did like music in a different way. I am less enamored with most music I am exposed to these days yet I get even more excited when something (like a surprising turnaround or melody full of accidentals) catches my ear. When music holds a delightfully unexpected place yet still seems to make absolute sense it can bring me the greatest feeling of unburdened joy. I would not choose to go back to knowing less about music though I do miss listening without such a critical ear.

[@BigHenFor]

In legal circles that's called case hardening. you've done it all before, hea

[@michaelladerman2564]

I've never felt that way. I'm a musician and compose because I love music and it makes me happy, moved, fulfilled, whatever. But I do restrain myself from writing down music I know isn't good enough, so I'm fairly happy with most of the music I do compose.

[@wiesorix]

14:35 I really agree with David and Dorian, it's the very reason I love videos like these. As an 'uneducated' music listener I do enjoy (classical) music, but I always feel like there are a lot of layers and intricacies I am missing because of my lack of knowledge. Therefore, watching this makes me enjoy these and other pieces on a very different level. Thank you for that, David!

[@latheofheaven1017]

Peaking behind the curtain doesn't take away the magic. It adds to it. It's like physicist Richard Feynman's appreciation of a flower: "I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is … I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it’s not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there’s also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts".

[@fviannaval]

Sounds like Feynman's artist friend is a pretentious idiot.

[@jgischer]

I love how you introduced the "Playing Outside" section with a primary theme from Beethoven's 6th Symphony. You know, the "Pastoral"? It made me laugh out loud, and then I wondered how many others of you got the joke. I'm mean, that's a prime musician in-joke there.

[@longhaulblue]

Another trick I enjoy immensely is Bach's delayed resolution. Just when it sounds like it will end, he turns it up a notch. Very satisfying. I wonder if he ever planned his or if he was such a genius, he'd just say to himself, "warum nicht", and toss one in as he's writing.

[@trevorclover]

Great video! I loved the backwards planning concept. Also, the birdie at the end is so cute. I hate to be the c*** to point out this little errata: 4:03 The noted chord was Eb7 but the played chord was Db7

[@jaimeciero3485]

Yes

[@brianmcdonald42]

Has anyone who started a sentence with "I hate to be..." actually been anything but smugly pleased with themselves?

[@ejb7969]

@Brian Doctor: I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you have only 3 days to live. Patient: Ah, aren't you smugly pleased with yourself? Doctor: No, why would you think that? Patient: I saw it on KZbin?

[@brianmcdonald42]

@@ejb7969 Yes, that’s totally how doctors talk. You got me there.

[@ejb7969]

@@brianmcdonald42 But I'll give you that it's the exception that proves the rule.

[@AshishXiangyiKumar]

What an amazing video - I really love these ones, where you go over so much musical terrain so deftly. Must say - the moment you mentioned working backwards I thought, "I really hope he mentions Chopin," because Chopin does this _so often_ with his stunning little chromatic modulations/fills, and basically all of his fioriture. The long chromatic passage over the F# pedal at the end of the Barcarolle (I am convinced) must have been written this way, I think, because as weird and grinding as it sounds it resolves so perfectly into the tonic. So you can imagine how happy I was to hear that your next video will be about Chopin!

[@saqlainsiddiqui1744]

Yes Ashish - I was incredibly happy to hear that too, for the same reasons! I'm currently studying one of the Mazurkas (Op. 50 no. 3 in c# minor) and similarly I'm sure that the very chromatic, almost atonal coda was almost certainly constructed in such a way as to hit the c# minor chord at the end of it, in what is one of the most satisfying sequences I've ever played/listened to. Definitely his later works (the Barcarolle included obviously) seem to employ a lot of this deliberate technique - who knows what it would've led to if the poor sod had lived past 40... Nice to see you here btw, I must thank you immensely for all the Chopin you've uploaded because the guy's music really has changed my life. Especially that Moravec recording with the heavenly audio quality...

[@commontater8630]

@@saqlainsiddiqui1744 Is that Moravec's Nocturnes recording you're referring to?

[@saqlainsiddiqui1744]

@@commontater8630 Yes!

[@commontater8630]

@@saqlainsiddiqui1744 Moravec's take on the Nocturnes is completely satisfying, I never tire of hearing it. I can't say I ever paid that much attention to the audio quality per se, but it certainly has held up well over the years.

[@saqlainsiddiqui1744]

@@commontater8630 same - it's my go-to recording for when I want to listen to the Nocturnes. My only complaint is that he didn't record the other 2 posthumous ones!

[@davinnicode]

Backwards planning is essential for composing and arranging. It makes life much easier and the sound is worthwile and that's what is all about.

[@phlattgetit]

I'd venture to say it works for fiction writing too. Have the end in mind and work backwards.

[@michaelladerman2564]

Sometimes it's backwards planning; sometimes, it's about connecting two sections you know you want in there.

[@aimeethereseperhach1055]

I really thought this was going to be about Harry Potter music, but got so interested I forgot to be disappointed!

[@crvlwanek]

Bebop lines are the ultimate example of this! Like Beethoven's scales but improvised and landing on a new chord every two beats

[@J00rcek]

When you make your kids proud, you know you're WINNING.

[@MediHusky]

I always thought it was when you manage to embarrass them in front of their friends. Bonus points for using the fewest words possible or just gesturing at something.

[@J00rcek]

@@MediHusky nah man that's how blood feuds start and lemme tell you that's no joke

[@stephenspackman5573]

Interestingly, this bears far more directly on my subjective experience of music than any of the other theory videos I've seen. Maybe it's through lack of training, but all the polyrhythm material, alternate tunings, and so on typically sound entirely normal, even restful, to my ear, and I'm often puzzled by the discussions of seemingly arbitrary “chord resolutions”, but the experience of pattern A and pattern B (each determined by its own logic) proceeding in opposition until they hit a moment where they both demand the same thing? That's magic.

[@emmettj1984]

British boy does magic: plot to both Harry Potter and Jacob Collier’s life

[@JohnPaquette]

FYI, the fourth chord in the turnaround at 1:46 is actually a #9 chord, which extends the Bb dominant seventh you have in your transcription. So it needs a C# in it.

[@thomasleguenne8817]

Thank you, I was searching for that comment !

[@lacroquetarecords]

Great indian classical examples 😍

[@notefunctioncollapse]

The Rosenkavalier "Introduktion" to Act I by Strauss has a neat example. Mayor chords falling chromatically from above, mainly with the strings, and raising from below mainly with brass, and crushing together in the middle. But it's just a turn around to stay in E major. And there is also a bit of "pre-calculation", since the first 2 upper chords do not follow the pattern exactly so that after the third, the rest do. Quite unnoticeable. And pretty cool.

[@Gnurklesquimp]

That Tihai technique seems awesome! I love when the harmony/melody leads you smoothly through various meters. It's common with bar count, even in loops where the lob-sided nature can become very apparent (Radiohead's Paranoid Android's second section comes to mind) , but to do it on the smaller scale is just awesome.

[@Necroblas]

Heeeyyy... did you just backwardly plan the "Jazz Turnarounds" section so that the examples fit perfectly into the music at the background of the talking bits? :)

[@DBruce]

Practise what you preach I guess :-)

[@leoleoleoleo]

Loved this one David. Working backwards from where you want to end up is a revelation. The same part of my brain gets tickled by finding out how a magic trick works. Keep it up!

[@blacklespaul01]

This video is incredible. Even an uncouth rock player like me can finally get in on all that lingo I’ve heard from jazz cats for years

[@Shevock]

Love the bird. It's like a virtual Mozart's starling.

Waiting for the Chopin video!!!!

[@blow-by-blow-trumpet]

Wonderful video. I recently transcribed the first eight bars of Cannonball Adderly's solo over Milestones, where he does a dominant over minor thing then immediately goes way outside by using familiar ii-V patterns but displaced into unusual places. When I posted the transcription on a forum people tried to make sense of it functionally, whereas I argued that he was just moving patterns around and there wasn't much point in analyzing it much further. This video confirms my gut feeling, and provides a really comprehensive explanation of what's really going on. Thank you David.

[@jollkki4317]

What timing! I just finshed a seminar on jazz improvisation. Leading tones, target notes, avoid notes, ... Thanks, Bruce! 👍 Looking forward for Chopin!

[@maxiapalucci2511]

I love these videos! I’m 15 and currently writing a piano ode to Rachmaninov. Wish me luck with the rest!

[@na-kun2136]

Do you decide with form ?

[@maxiapalucci2511]

@@na-kun2136 the form is working out to be very non-Rachmaninov actually, and one of my themes is a bit more ravelian, but it’s A-B-C-A-C-B-A? I’m still working it all out

[@babawawayoyo]

12:48 You are a genius with your Simpsons clips selections, man. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@letsnotgothere6242]

Yes, i noticed this in the runs of BWV 974. They target the third of each of the seventh chords, while the left hand creates the chord by tacking a bass note onto the last chord that's a fifth down from it, which means the piece relies on the right hand to complete the chord so the left can travel along the circle of fifths backwards in the beautiful way it does

[@mortomusic8072]

Your editor is a mad lad. Hilarious, educational, exciting. Lovely content

[@hugo54758]

I think about this backwards planning a lot when composing!

[@seanbeadles7421]

A Tritone sub is referred to as such because you keep the tritone of the original 7 chord intact so the sense of tension remains, it just so happens that the other chord with both those is also a tritone away.

[@Philrc]

actually it's because you form the chord a tritone away from the original chord like G7-->Db7

[@taxtengo7427]

Or is it actually the other way around? Anyway, even if we could find it out what the people who originally used the term thought it doesn't really matter.

[@Philrc]

@@taxtengo7427 No it's the way I said it is

[@MixMastaCopyCat]

@@Philrc I prefer Sean's definition, because it emphasizes that it's the COMMON TONES that make the two chords interchangeable, not just the distance between their roots.

[@Philrc]

@@MixMastaCopyCat I'm happy for you. I never claimed they didn't have common tones. nor was I talking about why they are interchangeable. i was clearly talking about their name. of course they have common tones, that's a given., it is why we can substitute them for each other. However their name comes from the distance of a *b5* between them. that's just a simple fact but you carry on with whatever you want to.... 'prefer'.

[@MattMurphyMusicTeacher]

I probably speak for most piano players when I say, THANK YOU for putting the examples in easy keys :)

[@mreverything4663]

The animations on this video look incredible!

[@coloaten6682]

Have just been learning about the 2-5-1 only to find out there is a 'backdoor' 2-5-1 progression as well. It's never-ending, thankfully. Imagine if there was an end and we had music all figured out!!

[@puppershuffle]

You really are hitting new heights, David. Thank you!

[@SheldonBird]

I'm really glad Dorian has joined you in the studio! Birds are very good singers

[@oscarjohnzen9808]

Glad to have you back!

[@maldivirdragonwitch]

This was your best editing yet!! I love it! A very inspiring video, thank you so much, David!

[@GrahamMurphy525]

Love ya David! Keep it up!

[@gespi80]

Brilliant video once again David

[@endmiddlebeginning]

Appreciate the work you're putting into these videos

[@thomasmichaels1671]

Great video, looking forward to the next!

[@xiyyea5205]

What a well produced video. Holy fuck

[@christianmaltais]

Great stuff. Thanks!

[@ronaldbharvey]

Nicely done. Thanks

[@TheTroubadourRecords]

You're killing it with the visuals, man!

[@benwinstanleymusic]

Really nice editing on this one :)

[@tgylfason]

Excellent videos, thank you.

[@a.harrispoems2738]

Absolutely smashed the thumbnail. 😄

[@rodrigodarochanogueira9196]

Extraordinary class! Thanks!

[@Tuariq1]

daamn, this vid has such a high production! love the animations and the general flow of it

[@Kieselwyrm]

Both enlightening and appealing! :D

[@rolandreid5854]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Always learning something new from you.

[@marcelo_luz]

Delight learning. Amazing!

[@Nooticus]

I really really realllllly would love you to talk about this 'magic' all across Poulenc's works, because I believe he was far and away the master at creating the crazily unexpected that seamlessly leads to a beautiful resolution

[@Tybourne1991]

Poulenc- jazz chicken in everything but name!

[@michaelladerman2564]

He does do that. So do Prokofiev and Shostakovich, in a different way - I talk about their magical resolutions. Sometimes in works by Shostakovich, he saves the music from falling apart that way. That's one of the things I hear in his 9th Symphony.

[@FCTheHunter]

great video, loved it !!

[@randybrinton9126]

Beautiful video in so many ways! I’m sharing with my son and students.

[@eduardocarrillo7431]

Dorian was a great idea! Love it ❤️

[@moichigamo7139]

Pleasant Video. Thanks! Enjoyed every seconds.

[@composer7325]

Excellent, thank you.

[@neilmarsh7437]

Brilliant video and a real 💡 moment with the ‘outside’ sequences concept thanks 😊

[@sheeepman]

This is QUALITY in everything, from the message through the delivery to the atmosphere in the video. Glad I stumbled upon this.

[@anonagain]

Thanks David!

[@xthatghomiex2939]

The examples being part of the background track makes me so happy

[@drjcarrick]

Great video. This is one of those ones I'll be coming back to when I'm in need of songwriting ideas!

[@Upytech]

Great video! Thank you :)

[@arosonomy]

Yo the animation for when you do the turn around was perfect. Went back and watched your fingers and I totally get it!

[@hrrrmit9187]

KZbin has taught me more than school ever did/could. Love this channel and love that content like this is free for everyone these days. What a time !

[@theelectricvoyage]

Thanks David I enjoyed that peek behind the curtain even though I am a little late with my approach to composition or perhaps more along the lines of organizing a few chords. Interesting at the end there, with reference to being able to understand and I suppose gain more enjoyment from music especially more complex stuff like Jacob C.

[@ShaharHarshuv]

Thanks for this explanation! I've wanting to get to understand these "fast chord passages" a bit faster and you provided a good explanation to that I can follow. Thanks!

[@CaeSharp]

Bruce don't need a bird to make the bird sceene, but the bird does.

[@KandMe1]

3651 seems very common. Not sure exactly but in Jazz it is likely the most prevalent progression, which if true would make Jazz to be ‘A Turnaround’.

[@maximilianociaffi5802]

Thank you, David. Great video. Very nice how you always bring different worlds together. There's countless beautiful examples, but from the music I know, Mozart is probably the master in that kind of thing: see how he often repeats a transitional phrase note for note, but in another context, leading to not only to different material but to a different key! And it always sounds natural.

[@CowmanCowman]

great video!!

[@RAkers-tu1ey]

Wow, that is the most useful illustration for my music theory education this year. Thanks!

[@MHZHellGuitar]

That backward method of writing sequences of notes in order to correctly land on the correct "target note" is something I always did in my compositions and I thought very little of it... never knew it is THIS amazing of a technique :)) feeling real proud of myself rn

[@matthewbenedict5923]

Thanks David

[@johnjacquard863]

love this video!

13:46 I know you mean this to be "insatisfactory" in the context of this piece, but this resolution just made me instantly happy, it was very very satisfying to my ear, I dont know why 🙏🏼

[@VecTors_]

Points were made, great video!

[@JeremyHMarshall]

I completely get your delight in Beethoven's scales. For me, the supreme example is in Borodin's String Quartet: it still gives me goosebumps when the players start from some seemingly random low note and *bing* hit exactly the right note at the top of the ladder.

[@TLSWalters]

I just watched Yogev Gabay’s video on the TIHAI a little while ago. It’s always great to get more perspectives on these concepts (new to me for sure). Thanks David!!

[@ChristianWichmann]

I just watched that one yesterday and was both surprised and amused to be confronted with that concept in this video once more. The algorithm works, obviously! 😆

[@timbeer8266]

I found Yogev Gabay's chanel through here, and was pleased to see tihai's being used more

[@R1dgeR1der]

Came for Jacobian excellent, stayed for such wonderfully engaging visuals

[@HiddenSunny]

As little as I understand music, it's fascinating to listen to someone so passionate about what they do and offer insight in a manner that makes it easy to digest. I'd love to see an analysis of South Korean folk music and its influences (if there are any) on modern Korean music, David!

[@jackerythewinter_1297]

it took this video to pop up three times in my recommended to admire the Jacob Potter

[@brendaboykin3281]

Thanx, Maestro 🌹🌹🌹

[@Roh0io]

*Doc:* Jacob potter isn't real. He can't hurt you *Thumbnail:*

[@luchadorito]

David keeps on memeing in a very subtle way and I keep on loving it

[@Presidj0nt]

not gonna lie .. i came for the thumbnail ..and wasn't disappointed! gud vid !

[@aristamanu]

Great video! I view the so called bebop scales as a devices for doing pretty much what you talk about here: aligning chord tones in a scale run to the measure's downbeats. Jazz pianist Hal Galper talks about this at length in his book "Forward Motion"

[@HoraceMash]

Thank you so much for this jam-packed suitcase of harmonic insight. My special favourite was your disentaglement of Jacob Collier’s two bar turnarounds (which remind me of an acrobat pretending to slip on ice only to recover perfect balance at exactly the right time). I used to kid myself that one can compose that kind of ear bender simply by tossing in a bunch of unrelated chords... alas there is apparently much more to it than that... either that or I keep choosing shitty chords at random.

[@maramazone]

Great video Dave, I notice the tune ‘All The Things You Are’ has an interesting tag, that a lot of people tend to fall Into when playing /improvising over it. It’s like that tag always has to be played when they are completing their improvisation over the changes. Even hear it in many famous versions. Not sure if you have listened to Keith Jarrett, play the tune ‘Chandra’ on his album: ‘At The Deer Head Inn’. This I believe is a very good example of “playing out” if you have not heard it. Really enjoyed this video and never thought about turn arounds in this way, so thank you!

[@freebeerecords]

Nice vid! thanks. BTW, I saw a clip where Ray Manzerak of the Doors said they worked backwards from Am using circle of fifths to get the intro to Light My Fire.

[@DoctorLazertron]

I wanted to watch this so I searched “what is a turnaround?” on KZbin. I got distracted for a bit.