I work for a non profit called Global Academy For Inspirational Arts (GAIA). We work with music students in Costa Rica. I had to make a tutorial on the modes and thought maybe some of you would find it useful. Everything you need is attached. I would love to see some of you work on this and give me your thoughts. (Including misspelled words, I still have to put it in Spanish!)

I remember learning the modes in classical theory class. And online later when I learned modes from the same note, could I really here the difference between them. 

🎯 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 6: ii–V Outlining Variants

In Part 6 of Harmony Without Chords, we expand on previous ii–V concepts by focusing on clear chord outlining and upper extensions over dominant chords, all while continuing the descending whole-step motion. Rather than relying on chord voicings, these exercises show how strong line construction alone can clearly imply harmony, even as the harmonic density increases.

This is another recording of an etude that I got a few months ago that I haven’t gotten around to posting. In this one I have a slight rush that I think was causing some issues when I got to the later sections of this piece, on top of a few mistakes here and there. However, I think that doesn’t detract to much from the piece itself. What are your thoughts? Feel free to respond with any feedback or questions you might have. I am/have posted some of the most recent etudes that I’ve done as well if you are interested in checking those out as well.

Here’s a recording I got of Friedman #9 I got back in October that I haven’t gotten around to posting until now. Looking back on this recording I thought it came out really well, though the biggest thing I would change now is just giving less time on that fermata. If there’s any thoughts or feedback on this I would love to hear, and any questions are fully welcome!

🎵 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 5

Resolving ii–V’s in Descending Whole Steps

In Part 5, we take the ii–V ideas from the previous lessons and fully resolve each ii–V to its I chord, moving through the exercise in descending whole steps. This type of harmonic motion shows up frequently in jazz standards—How High The Moon being a great example—and it’s an important sound to internalize.