In this episode we’re taking a break from our usual lessons to practice noticing some ingenious song structures used equally effectively by two brilliant composers a couple centuries apart. I wanted to share with you two great songs and just po

Episode 9: Chords

Jan 31st, 2019 26m 31s

In this episode we learn about Chords: the abstract packages of pitches that create (consonant or dissonant) Harmony when played at the same time. We also learn why the Triad is the most common type of chord and how to build one; and we play a

Matts Music Class - Lesson 9 - Chords

Jan 31st, 2019 26m 31s

Matts Music Class - Lesson 8

Dec 21st, 2018 32m 12s

In this lesson we look at the abstract mathematical form that defines the Major Scale (our familiar Do-Re-Mi sound), how it can be moved around to different starting (or Tonic) pitches on the keyboard, and how this knowledge of a scale can help

Episode 8: The Major Scale and Consonance v Dissonance

Dec 21st, 2018 32m 12s

Episode 7: Tonality

Dec 1st, 2018 16m 35s

Today’s bite-sized episode introduces the concept of Tonality. This is the first basic concept that undergirds the arcane world of Harmony. It may be a fancy sounding name, but the concept of tonality is already familiar to your brain’s automat

Episode 6: Summary and Review

Oct 11th, 2018 34m 52s

Since we’ve completed our first big batch of concepts (Beat, Rhythm, Meter, and Melody), I figured it’s time to have an episode that brings them all together and demonstrates how much we can now listen for in a song to start figuring out how an

Episode 5 - Melodic Evolution

Oct 1st, 2018 38m 53s

In this episode, we’ll learn a new simple melody on the keyboard (this time in the ‘ta-ki-de’ or skipping meter, but still with the classic ABA structure), and discover how complex a melody’s evolutionary growth can get by analyzing a Chinese f

Episode 4 - Melody

Aug 29th, 2018 1h 1m

In this episode we learn: - How the standard keyboard is arranged- The seven pitch names of the 'white keys' (CDEFGABC), the 'major scale' (Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do), and why it starts again at Do (or C) after seven white keys- Some new syncopa

Episode 3 - Advanced Rhythm and Meter

Jul 27th, 2018 58m 43s

In this episode, we review the basics of Meter (from Episode 2); put together rhythm compositions (ta-di feel) from Episodes 1 & 2 to create polyrhythm; and discover what happens when we use longer and shorter beats to create meter!

Episode 2: Rhythm and Meter

Jul 20th, 2018 51m 17s

In this second episode, I do a quick review of topics from lesson 1 (beat and rhythm subdivisions), then we look at a sort of meta concept related to beat (meter), and finally we discover some new rhythm options by subdividing the beat by 3 ins

Episode 1: Introduction and Lesson 1

Jul 9th, 2018 52m 58s

In this first episode, I explain the reasons I'm making this podcast and the reasons you might want to listen to it. Then we dive in to some thinking tools, exercises, and listening examples for how to understand the most important concepts in

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