Articles
Why can one melody note fit several chords?
A melody note does not tell you the entire harmony. E can be the root of Em, the third of C or the fifth of Am. Its role depends on the notes you put around it.
Read article →Understand
what you play.
Discover how notes, scales and chords connect — and use that understanding in your own music.
A little discovery in C major
Small steps. Big connections.
Begin with a question.
01
Why do these notes fit together?
From scale to chord. Discover the building blocks of music.
Read chapter ↗02
Can the same chord sound different?
Move a note and hear how the expression changes.
Read chapter ↗03
What goes underneath my melody?
Let one note lead you to several possible harmonies.
Read chapter ↗A COURSE IN 8 CHAPTERS
From individual notes to freer playing
Eight connected chapters. Follow the course or start with the question on your mind.
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Notes, intervals and octaves
Get to know the distances that music is made of.
Scales, keys and a sense of home
A collection of notes becomes tonal music around a centre.
The chords inside a scale
Build a harmonic vocabulary from seven notes.
Octaves, inversions and voice leading
The same chord tones can be placed in many different ways.
The circle of fifths as a map
Understand why neighbouring keys share almost all their notes.
Find chords for a melody
Turn a melody into possibilities you can hear and compare.
Vocal harmony and independent voices
A harmony part is a melody from another point of view.
Blues, tension and improvisation
Use what you already play as a way into harmony.
NOTES FROM THE PIANO BENCH
Articles
Articles
15 minutes to connect theory with your piano
A short practice session becomes more useful when it centres on one question. Try this sequence with C and Am. The aim is to discover something you can use in your own playing.
Read article →Articles
Why the right scale does not answer everything
It is tempting to find a song's scale and assume all its notes fit equally well everywhere. But a scale describes a note collection. It does not, by itself, explain a note's role over a particular chord.
Read article →Read → listen → play
Listen and explore
Explore one thing at a time. Change the chord, shift an octave or hold the melody still while changing its harmony.
Open Experiments →