What's up YouTube! mDecks Music here today we have something really cool something we've never done
before, we've basically created a whole series on harmonization and reharmonization. So what
we're gonna do is show you how to harmonize a melody, how to put chords to it, and then
read harmonize it using more rich complex and interesting chords after that. So by the end of
the course, you'll be able to create your own arrangement like the one we made for "Oh Danny
Boy" using Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro... Alright, so here are some of the basics with regard to
using Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro. One of the first things we need to understand is how the map
looks and how we've divided the map into three regions. We've got our tonic region over here, our
sub dominant grouping or region over here, and our dominant grouping over here. Now it's really
important to understand when you're looking at a chord progression, where in this map the chord
you're looking at falls. Does it fall into the tonic region? Does it fall to the sub dominant
region? etc.. Because you're not gonna know how to re-harmonize that chord or do whatever you want to
do after or before that chord until you figure that out first. So that's one of the first things, and
we're going to talk about all that later too more in depth. But that's one of the first things you
need understand about looking at the map that you're basically have three different families
of chords and you're trying to identify -- when you're looking at a chord progression -- where does
the chord I'm looking at fall, so then you know what to do with it. So here we have C, F, G and
C -- your primary chords in the key of C, in a major on the outside -- inside you have them in a minor.
Cm, Fm, G7, Cm. So two examples of I-iv-V. One in a major key, one in a minor key.
You can also change the key (if you want) let's go to G, and then the chords completely change
within and outside the circles. It's still on that whole sub-dominant, dominant, tonic region motif.
So there's I-iv-V in the key of G. And then the minor -- Gm --
If you like, you can also see the chords functionally. So if they just click on the function
button right here, now the court symbols it turns into Roman numerals. You still get the same chords,
you still get the same movement, but now you get to see how the chords function diatonically
within the progression. So if you see we're so in function mode here, we can see how each diatonic
chord still relates to the region that it's in. One is tonic, IV is sub-dominant, and V is dominant.
It's important to note that all these chords are superimposed onto separate circle of fifths if
you will, and a chords functions always with regard to the circle in the same place. So we've basically
taken a circle of fifths and have taken out a bunch of the chords. So if we're in C -- which we are -- you'd
have a C there, you'd have a G there, you'd have a D there, and then boom there's a Am, the vi
chord. You notice we've grouped the vi chord of the key into the tonic section we'll get into
why we did that later also. But the point being that these are just circles of fifths
and separate regions that we're going to use to help us navigate harmony and reharmonization.
Okay so let's talk about certain tendencies that you're gonna notice when navigating the
map, or how to navigate the map. So when we're looking at the map, and we're going from one
place to the next, you're basically gonna see a sort of kind of clockwise movement. That's the
best way to go! So for example I would go from there, to there, to there. So that kind of IV-V-I
movement is always safe. So this V-I, this is your strongest resolution, all right. So you're
always gonna kind of want to end your cadence, or your idea, or your phrase with that.
That gives me the most concrete tension-release- resolution kind of sound that we're looking for.
There are other pathways that you can follow and there are other Cadence's, like if I did this
I-IV-I that's a different type of cadence call the Plagal Cadence. If I want Mapping Tonal
Harmony to to tell me these Cadence's, where they are, and what they're called, all I have to do is
turn the cadence detector on here. So now when I do something typical -- like that IV-V-I -- there's
that pathway showing up that we're talking about moving us in this clockwise direction, and there's
that authentic cadence that I get when I go from the V chord to the one chord (from the
dominant region to the tonic region). The I-IV-I cadence -- that's my plagal cadence -- that's something often
used as well. If I want to see other types of Cadence's and other pathways, or if I want to
superimpose these pathways and Cadence's on to the map, I can do this. I can just show "main"
-- we're still in the basic diatonic map form -- and now that pathway that highlighted earlier from
the sub-dominant region to the dominant region is now superimposed on the map, the authentic
cadence is there, and the plagal cadence is there too. So now when I activate one of these
Cadence's they'll highlight them. Now we can see them beforehand, so I know before I do it when I
do this to that that it's an authentic cadence. Or when I do this to that, I know before I do
it it's going to be a plagal cadence. If I want to see alternative Cadence's and other
Cadence's as well, I have to use a slightly more complicated version of the map. So I'm going to go
up one level and turn on the alternate cadence detector so now if I do something like this...
All right, ii-V and then I went to Am, there's my deceptive cadence detector showing you...