Full Ear Training Lesson: Chords 1 and 5

[00:00:00]In this lesson, we are studying a fundamental relationship in Western music, which is the one that we have between the one chord and the five chord.

[00:00:09]So, let's start by listening to the one chord.

[00:00:14]>> One.

[00:00:18]One.

[00:00:20]>> [music] >> Note one is our tonal center, and the one chord is our home chord. It feels relaxed and soothing.

[00:00:28]>> One.

[00:00:30]>> [music] >> One.

[00:00:34]>> And now, let's introduce the five chord.

[00:00:37]>> [music] >> After being in [music] the stability of the one chord, the five chord feels like a departure.

[00:00:48]Um it feels like we're very far away from home. And then, when we go back to the one chord, we feel a sense of relaxation, like we're going back home.

[00:00:56]Let's observe that sensation for a moment of being home in the one chord, and then being away from home in the five chord.

[00:01:16]But, let's keep observing the specific sensation and the flavor of the five chord.

[00:01:26]If we stop the music here in the five chord, we feel like we are at the edge of a cliff. It feels unresolved and tense. We experience a strong need to resolve that tension back to the one chord.

[00:01:42]>> One.

[00:01:42]>> [singing] >> Five.

[00:01:47]>> [singing] >> One.

[00:01:50]Five.

[00:01:54]One.

[00:01:57]Five. five.

[00:02:15]Now [snorts] let's look inside the chords.

[00:02:18]Our one chord is the notes one, three, and five.

[00:02:21]For now, we're just using the triad of the one chord, which are the most consonant notes of the chord.

[00:02:27]But to fully experience the tension of the five chord, we're going to include all four notes of this chord, which are five, seven, two, and four.

[00:02:35]So when we picture all of these notes in the tonal octave, for the one chord we have notes one, three, and five.

[00:02:42]And for the five chord, we have notes two, four, five, and seven.

[00:02:47]Now I want to show you something very important about these two chords.

[00:02:51]Notice what happens to note one when we get to the five chord.

[00:02:55]Note one is our tonal center. It's the most relaxed and stable note of all.

[00:03:00]But notice that note one is not present in the five chord.

[00:03:04]So the most consonant note that we have is not part of the five chord.

[00:03:09]And that contributes to that strong feeling of tension and unresolvedness of the five chord.

[00:03:15]Actually, notice how note one moves up to two or down to seven in the five chord.

[00:03:21]Let's expand our drawing to include note seven below one and see these melody paths.

[00:03:27]See how note one splits into two and seven when we move to the five chord.

[00:03:32]From note one in the one chord, you can go up to note two or down to note seven in the five chord.

[00:03:39]These are very important paths to explore. You're going from the comfort and stability of note one into the tension of the five chord.

[00:03:48]One, >> [music] >> two, >> [singing] >> one.

[00:03:56]two >> [music] >> one, seven one, seven [singing and music] >> Another important melodic path that is going to help us feel the interplay of tension and release between these two chords is the movement from three in the one chord to four in the five chord.

[00:04:21]>> three, [singing] four three, four >> [music] >> Now let's go practice melodic paths together. I have prepared this exercise for you where we are going to sing together all these melodic paths and also other possibilities.

[00:04:42]You're going to see the melodic paths on the screen and you just have to sing along with me.

[00:04:47]>> [music] [music] >> one chord, five chord one chord, five chord >> [music] >> one, two >> [music] >> one, seven one, [music] seven one, two three, [music] two one, seven one, [music] two three, [music] four five five, [music] six, seven.

[00:05:57]Three, >> [music] >> four, five, >> [music] >> six, five, six, five, >> [music] >> six, five, six, >> [music] >> five, six, three, two, one, >> [music] >> seven, one, two, one, seven, three, four, >> [music] >> five, five, >> [music] >> five, four, three, four, three, three, >> [singing and music] >> two, one, seven, one, >> [music]