Hello! This week in Harmony and Chord Progressions, we are in week 7, beginning our exploration of borrowed chords - including my favorite sound of all time, the minor iv chord used in major keys. A little of this sound goes a long ways - but oh, the places it can take us! Next week I'll head back to Colorado and all should be back to normal. Mastering MuseScoreFor the ultimate guide to the world's most popular music notation software, see my online course Mastering MuseScore 4. MuseScore CaféThis week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, I will create a simple piano arrangement from a lead sheet using an approach of starting with the melody and bass, then filling in inner voices. We'll see note input and use of multiple voices, and along the way we will also talk about chord symbols, page formatting, and more.
Tip of the WeekThis week’s tip is simple - just a single click - but not obvious, and crucial to know about when working with transposing instruments. Sometimes you want to view music at the sounding pitch (e.g., when composing, or when analyzing existing music) but other times you want view music at written pitch (e.g., when transcribing, or when editing page layout). In this video post, I demonstrate the use of the “Concert pitch” button on the bottom toolbar to goggle between written and sounding pitch. Musicianship SkillsIf you want to learn more about music - theory, composition, improvisation, and more - become a Gold level member and receive access to all of our music courses as well as exclusive benefits like my weekly Office Hours. Music Master ClassThis week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we will be looking at music involving borrowed chords, including some of your submissions. Have I mentioned how much I love the minor iv chord? If you haven't heard me go on about it before, you will in this session!
In TheoryWe’ve already seen how to build simple piano arrangements that incorporate the melody and full chord voicings, including color tones. In this video post, I go one more step and show you how to use altered color tones on dominant seventh chords - the b9 and b13 - which have a long tradition in minor keys but can be beautiful in major keys as well (especially but not exclusively in jazz)! |
Until next time, keep making music! c/o ConvertKit, 113 CHERRY ST #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205 |
My name is Marc Sabatella, and I am the founder of Outside Shore Music - a pioneer of online music education since the dawn of the web. As the creator of Mastering MuseScore, A Jazz Improvisation Primer, and other resources, I have dedicated most of my life to helping as many musicians as I can. Subscribe to my free newsletter for MuseScore tips, theory insights, and more information on how to create your best music!
Hello! As I mentioned last week, I'm making some changes to how subscriptions work in the Outside Shore Music community. Those of you who have accounts on the site but no active subscriptions should already have received a message from me regarding this. Those of you with active subscriptions are not affected. For those of you who don't have accounts on the site already, I'd still love to have you join us, and I'll send out some more info later. This week in the Musicianship Workshop space,...
Hello! As September gives way to October and the leaves start changing here in the Northern hemisphere (and start appearing in the Southern), there are a few changes here in the world of Outside Shore Music also that I'd like to let you know about. First, as I have indicated recently, I have now enabled a new "gamification" feature for the Outside Shore Music community site. The idea is to incentivize engagement - and yes, I know how buzzwordy that sounds, but it's an accurate description....
Benny Golson Hello! This week we continue our work on melody in the Musicianship Workshop space. Next month I plan to continue looking at melody but also broaden the scope to look at other related topics. If you'd like to join us, please become a Gold-level member of the Outside Shore Music community, then pop over to the workshop to see what we're up to and get started! This week also marks the passing of one of the most respected jazz musicians of our time, saxophonist Benny Golson....