*Remember to check out my books - How To Really Play The Piano, Seven Studies In Pop Piano and An Introduction To Cocktail Piano! Links here:* www.billspianopages.com/how-to-really www.billspianopages.com/seven-studies www.billspianopages.com/cocktail
I am a guitar player, theory is theory, after watching this I feel like I have gained a further understanding about the subdom. Thank you for an amazing lesson!
You're welcome - glad you found it interesting. Chord theory can be a bit of a rabbit hole, so it's difficult to know what to include and what to miss out...!
I was a ‘music theory nerd’ back in the day. (An O level and A level music student in the mid ‘70s). Your splendid series of multi level tutorials here on YT are providing a wonderful resource to many. For me they are a nostalgic reminder of my old music master and, here, his attempts to demonstrate how the subdominant had the primary function of an approach chord (to a cadence). We were not taught the term ‘authentic cadence’. Has this term now surplanted ‘perfect cadence’ ? I look forward to your future tutorials. Perhaps we shall get the Bill Hilton take on ‘Neapolitan or German sixths!’ Many thanks Bill.
Thank you, Michael - I'm glad you like them! Regarding "perfect" and "authentic", I too first heard "perfect cadence" used as a general term for a V-I cadence - and not by any amateur, either, but by my school music teacher, who had been an Oxford organ scholar and who remains one of the best musicians I've ever known. When I was at university - and bear in mind I only did Music as a minor subject, my main honours being in English Lit (questions about Shakespeare welcome) - I noticed that older lecturers had the same habit, but younger ones used "authentic" much more. I've never really got to the bottom of it, but it MAY be a British/US thing. Anyhow, what it comes down to is that you can have V-Is that are "perfect authentic" cadences and V-Is that are "imperfect authentic cadences". It's a question of the inversion of the chords and the voice in the soprano. You can find an explanation from an actual professional here: musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/PerfectAuthenticCadence.html
Thanks Ashley! The thing to do is take it to the piano keyboard: music theory always sounds badly complicated when it's explained, but makes much more sense as soon as you start playing around with it on the piano. Give me a shout if you ever have any questions!
Thanks Bill! This is perfect because by coincidence I am working to arrange an old song with a friend that starts with the subdominant chord. Promise to share when it's done. Cheers!
I think I know what inspired this tutorial. Yes, I need to know where I am, even though I have a tendency to wander off and not come back, just wondering how I got to a new place which sounded good, but didn't understand the journey. Thanks Bill.
I'm glad you liked it, Jennie - Yes, it's difficult to put into words, but the subdominant has that very clear sense of being "the journey", and taking into it and making sense of how it works can really help you develop the power of your music.
@@BillHilton Yes, I am happy to look at your videos. It is very interesting to have the writing in english. And I think it will be better to speak a little slowly. Thank you
mmm. i have the nord piano 88 too. Also have a nord 5D. but sax is my first instrument. My personal preference is to think of the left hand as mostly but not always as the bass guitarist in a band who is of course always free to roam around the dominant root of any particular chord. This becomes quite useful when playing the piano as a solo instrument and is great fun when playing boogie woogie which in itself is a fun style. I tend to make use of diminished chords a great deal as they add a lovely flavour. thanks for the upload.
You're welcome, Tony - always interesting to hear the perspectives of players of other instruments. What sort of perspective does a melody instrument give you on the piano, do you think? Does it affect the way you handle the right hand?
@@BillHilton great question bill. Aside from Classical pieces which i like to play more or less straight' i sometimes like to phrase chords differently depending on the individual flavour that the main melody has taken or leans towards' of course this is hugely affected by the vocalists style or the feel of the other musicians and i find the older i get tend to place more importance on blending my style to the overall feel the song has taken rather than sticking with what is written. As for influence from the sax for the piano' i am probably a bit more attune to phrasing a chord or augmenting ' depending on the flavour of the melody' its hard to put into words lol' but it tends to come naturally now days. i lost about 40 gigs that were lined up cause of covid with the 5 different bands i play with' plus some weddings. oh well....keep smiling. i tend to play most days at home even if it is just for 30 mins..a cover....or sometimes just letting my hands wander and forming a tune as i go. stay safe bill.
Great video! I’m largely self taught so I love learning new terms for things I’ve learned in application based on function. You mentioned that the 4th degree would still be the sub dominant in a minor key. Am I correct in the presumption that by extension this applies to all 7 modes? If so, that’s really cool as any given chord’s stability or instability relative to the tonic changes based on mode which means the ideas you present here are not only useful but also have different function and flavor 7 fold compared to any relative major key.
Thanks very much! Yes, it does apply at least to a certain extent across the modes. If you can picture the five modes that aren’t major or minor scales (ie all except Ionian and Aeolian) all starting from C, then most of them produce an F or F minor chord on the fourth degree, so the function isn’t that different - albeit some have dramatically different chords on the fifth degree, so what I suppose you might call the gap in function between the two might be greater. The big exception is Lydian, with its sharpened fourth. It still acts as a subdominant in that it resolves up to the fifth naturally. The risk in Lydian is that it resolves a bit too well (it can sound like a dominant-tonic resolution into the major key a fifth above the root, so into G major if you’re in C Lydian). But Lydian is very unstable anyway, so you would price that in when you’re playing/composing. Does that all make sense?
Wait... since it's on the fourth note, the fourth mode of the major scale is Lydian, the bright scale from the seven. Oh, no wonder why does it sound great.
Oh Bill, poor ol' Mozart would be feeling pretty hurt when you said that a I,IV,V,I would be pretty boring if everyone did it, he always made a I,V,I look very interesting so I am going to have to "tut" at you on behalf of Mozart and let's not forget Mr Pachelbel and his evil army of modern pop minions but I know I am preaching to the choir with you and yanking your chain at the same time hehe. I will refrain from the usual note based pun and instead, mix things up with...this video will strike a chord with anyone viewing this video...(I know, I am just a wrong un') as not too many people discuss classical tonal harmony and a lot of other content on YT seems to just ignore anything to do with classical tonal harmony. To add on to what Bill has said, an "easy" way of identifying chord functions of a scale is by building a "circle of thirds" but rather than hijack this, Bill may want to talk about that at a later stage. For anyone, including Bill, looking for a laugh at Pachelbel's expense as well as to give you the "Wilhelm scream" moment in a musical context - I'd recommend checking out the Pachelbel rant - ruclips.net/video/JdxkVQy7QLM/видео.html as it definitely speaks to what Bill said when he mentions that pop "lifted" progression structures out of Baroque.
If you look at more recent tutorials you’ll see that I’ve started doing just that. I have mixed feelings about it, though, and use it sparingly - I feel it plays into the ‘just press this note then this note’ mindset that a lot of learners have, and there’s WAY more to learning piano than that. Sure, it’s useful to be able to see clearly which notes are being played, but don’t ignore the hands on the keyboard: they can tell you a ton of stuff about fingering, phrasing, expression etc etc
Sorry to hear that, Patrick - what sort of level are you coming from? Let me know and I'll try to suggest some tutorials you might find useful to build your skills.
4:51 Ye gods! Can you kind of tell me what chords you're playing? I'm never going to understand this if I don't try to follow along and I don't know what chords you're playing or whether they are all major chords or not-- they don't all sound like major chords.
![Secondary Dominants- Write Better Chord Progressions! [MUSIC THEORY / SONGWRITING]](/img/1.gif)
*Remember to check out my books - How To Really Play The Piano, Seven Studies In Pop Piano and An Introduction To Cocktail Piano! Links here:*
www.billspianopages.com/how-to-really
www.billspianopages.com/seven-studies
www.billspianopages.com/cocktail
Knowing theory is one thing, explaining it expressively is a gift. Excellent tutorial thank you Bill.
Thanks very much indeed, Stephen - I'm really glad you liked it!
Exactly
I am a guitar player, theory is theory, after watching this I feel like I have gained a further understanding about the subdom. Thank you for an amazing lesson!
You're very welcome - glad it was useful!
Actually touched on some pretty useful subjects. Not just about cadences, but why cadences sound harmonically interesting. Thanks for this video!
You're welcome - glad you found it interesting. Chord theory can be a bit of a rabbit hole, so it's difficult to know what to include and what to miss out...!
For the first time I could relate to "music theory" period....when you described this as a journey. The word "journey" made it all click for me.
I'm really glad it helped!
You're a wealth of knowledge and I love your simple delivery of in depth concepts!!!
Thanks very much Gabriel!
I was a ‘music theory nerd’ back in the day. (An O level and A level music student in the mid ‘70s). Your splendid series of multi level tutorials here on YT are providing a wonderful resource to many. For me they are a nostalgic reminder of my old music master and, here, his attempts to demonstrate how the subdominant had the primary function of an approach chord (to a cadence). We were not taught the term ‘authentic cadence’. Has this term now surplanted ‘perfect cadence’ ? I look forward to your future tutorials. Perhaps we shall get the Bill Hilton take on ‘Neapolitan or German sixths!’ Many thanks Bill.
Thank you, Michael - I'm glad you like them! Regarding "perfect" and "authentic", I too first heard "perfect cadence" used as a general term for a V-I cadence - and not by any amateur, either, but by my school music teacher, who had been an Oxford organ scholar and who remains one of the best musicians I've ever known. When I was at university - and bear in mind I only did Music as a minor subject, my main honours being in English Lit (questions about Shakespeare welcome) - I noticed that older lecturers had the same habit, but younger ones used "authentic" much more. I've never really got to the bottom of it, but it MAY be a British/US thing. Anyhow, what it comes down to is that you can have V-Is that are "perfect authentic" cadences and V-Is that are "imperfect authentic cadences". It's a question of the inversion of the chords and the voice in the soprano. You can find an explanation from an actual professional here:
musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/PerfectAuthenticCadence.html
I don't know if I'll ever be able to memorise music theory to this level. Great videos, keep up the awesome work.
You'll be alright, just use the chord on the 4th degree of the scale :)
Thanks Ashley! The thing to do is take it to the piano keyboard: music theory always sounds badly complicated when it's explained, but makes much more sense as soon as you start playing around with it on the piano. Give me a shout if you ever have any questions!
Very interesting video, Bill. I haven't had a lot of time to explore your books yet but I'm looking forward to going on a nice journey.
Thanks Lawrence, and thanks for buying the books - I hope you find them useful!
Great lesson and insight into the actual musical play. keep the good work going. really liked it and appreciate your sincere efforts to educate
You’re welcome, Vinay - let me know if you have any questions about any of it!
Thanks Bill! This is perfect because by coincidence I am working to arrange an old song with a friend that starts with the subdominant chord. Promise to share when it's done. Cheers!
Please do, Luis - I look forward to hearing it!
You’ve really helped me step up my game in piano. Love from India
I'm delighted to hear it Rebin - thanks for letting me know, and let me know if you ever need any help making more progress!
Thank you so much for the videos. Without a doubt my favorite instructor on the internet!
You're welcome, Ashraf - thanks very much for the kind words!
Nice... I've watched your jazz improvisation classes and I really liked your way of making others understand what you are saying...
Thanks very much - glad you like them!
Excellent....!!!......well explained.....easy to understand....a great job....🙏🙏
Bill, your videos are wonderful. Thanks!
Glad you like them - shout if you ever need any help with anything in them!
Thank you for sharing knowledge! Great explanation!
You’re welcome, Konstantinos!
I think I know what inspired this tutorial. Yes, I need to know where I am, even though I have a tendency to wander off and not come back, just wondering how I got to a new place which sounded good, but didn't understand the journey. Thanks Bill.
I'm glad you liked it, Jennie - Yes, it's difficult to put into words, but the subdominant has that very clear sense of being "the journey", and taking into it and making sense of how it works can really help you develop the power of your music.
Very interesting, thank you so much, Bill
You're very welcome, Jean-Michel - thanks very much for watching!
@@BillHilton Yes, I am happy to look at your videos. It is very interesting to have the writing in english. And I think it will be better to speak a little slowly. Thank you
Thanx, Maestro ❤️
Love these videos. Thanks
You're welcome!
mmm. i have the nord piano 88 too. Also have a nord 5D.
but sax is my first instrument. My personal preference is to think of the left hand as mostly but not always as the bass guitarist in a band who is of course always free to roam around the dominant root of any particular chord. This becomes quite useful when playing the piano as a solo instrument and is great fun when playing boogie woogie which in itself is a fun style. I tend to make use of diminished chords a great deal as they add a lovely flavour.
thanks for the upload.
You're welcome, Tony - always interesting to hear the perspectives of players of other instruments. What sort of perspective does a melody instrument give you on the piano, do you think? Does it affect the way you handle the right hand?
@@BillHilton great question bill. Aside from Classical pieces which i like to play more or less straight' i sometimes like to phrase chords differently depending on the individual flavour that the main melody has taken or leans towards' of course this is hugely affected by the vocalists style or the feel of the other musicians and i find the older i get tend to place more importance on blending my style to the overall feel the song has taken rather than sticking with what is written. As for influence from the sax for the piano' i am probably a bit more attune to phrasing a chord or augmenting ' depending on the flavour of the melody' its hard to put into words lol' but it tends to come naturally now days. i lost about 40 gigs that were lined up cause of covid with the 5 different bands i play with' plus some weddings. oh well....keep smiling. i tend to play most days at home even if it is just for 30 mins..a cover....or sometimes just letting my hands wander and forming a tune as i go. stay safe bill.
@@tonysales3687 Fascinating - thanks very much, Tony, and let's hope the gigs start flowing again soon!
Great video! I’m largely self taught so I love learning new terms for things I’ve learned in application based on function. You mentioned that the 4th degree would still be the sub dominant in a minor key. Am I correct in the presumption that by extension this applies to all 7 modes? If so, that’s really cool as any given chord’s stability or instability relative to the tonic changes based on mode which means the ideas you present here are not only useful but also have different function and flavor 7 fold compared to any relative major key.
Thanks very much! Yes, it does apply at least to a certain extent across the modes. If you can picture the five modes that aren’t major or minor scales (ie all except Ionian and Aeolian) all starting from C, then most of them produce an F or F minor chord on the fourth degree, so the function isn’t that different - albeit some have dramatically different chords on the fifth degree, so what I suppose you might call the gap in function between the two might be greater. The big exception is Lydian, with its sharpened fourth. It still acts as a subdominant in that it resolves up to the fifth naturally. The risk in Lydian is that it resolves a bit too well (it can sound like a dominant-tonic resolution into the major key a fifth above the root, so into G major if you’re in C Lydian). But Lydian is very unstable anyway, so you would price that in when you’re playing/composing. Does that all make sense?
Wait... since it's on the fourth note, the fourth mode of the major scale is Lydian, the bright scale from the seven. Oh, no wonder why does it sound great.
Great lesson. Much thnx
Glad you liked it Tim!
Oh Bill, poor ol' Mozart would be feeling pretty hurt when you said that a I,IV,V,I would be pretty boring if everyone did it, he always made a I,V,I look very interesting so I am going to have to "tut" at you on behalf of Mozart and let's not forget Mr Pachelbel and his evil army of modern pop minions but I know I am preaching to the choir with you and yanking your chain at the same time hehe.
I will refrain from the usual note based pun and instead, mix things up with...this video will strike a chord with anyone viewing this video...(I know, I am just a wrong un') as not too many people discuss classical tonal harmony and a lot of other content on YT seems to just ignore anything to do with classical tonal harmony.
To add on to what Bill has said, an "easy" way of identifying chord functions of a scale is by building a "circle of thirds" but rather than hijack this, Bill may want to talk about that at a later stage.
For anyone, including Bill, looking for a laugh at Pachelbel's expense as well as to give you the "Wilhelm scream" moment in a musical context - I'd recommend checking out the Pachelbel rant - ruclips.net/video/JdxkVQy7QLM/видео.html as it definitely speaks to what Bill said when he mentions that pop "lifted" progression structures out of Baroque.
Super duper, bro! Thnx
Thanks bill
You're welcome, Charles!
Very nice.
Thanks very much, Erik!
Very interesting. Great !
Thank you, Yves!
I wish u would use modern softwares for showing your keyboard notes like other piano teachers online.
If you look at more recent tutorials you’ll see that I’ve started doing just that. I have mixed feelings about it, though, and use it sparingly - I feel it plays into the ‘just press this note then this note’ mindset that a lot of learners have, and there’s WAY more to learning piano than that. Sure, it’s useful to be able to see clearly which notes are being played, but don’t ignore the hands on the keyboard: they can tell you a ton of stuff about fingering, phrasing, expression etc etc
Hai Bill
Pls play a tutorial for song My Christmas trees(Home alone)
Hai Bill,
Will u please play My Christmas Tree (from Home alone)
beautifull...
Thank you! Cheers!
What about ending a song with subdominant?
🔥🔥🔥🔥💓
Please can you play slowly and show the chords you play due to slow learners
Point taken, Martha, but I'm afraid I have to balance it - if I slow down much more, I get people complaining it's too slow!
Does F13 have a flat 7th or 7th?
Flat 7th.
If it doesn’t specifically say in the chord name you can assume flat 7th when using upper extensions.
Basically what Jim and Robert said - flat seventh :)
I'm a HilBilly
way out of my league :-(
Sorry to hear that, Patrick - what sort of level are you coming from? Let me know and I'll try to suggest some tutorials you might find useful to build your skills.
4:51 Ye gods! Can you kind of tell me what chords you're playing? I'm never going to understand this if I don't try to follow along and I don't know what chords you're playing or whether they are all major chords or not-- they don't all sound like major chords.