Remember the general rule for root position chords: Follow The Path of Least Resistance (voices move as little as possible), but sometimes the soprano will perform big leaps for expressive purposes. This short is from my 6 week harmony course for the absolute beginner, which will be coming out very shortly. Enjoy your evening! -Barney

Hi everyone, I invite you to check out this short in which I show you how to find the best bass for a soprano exercise for absolute beginners (for French Harmony Exercises). It comes from a 6 Week Harmony Course that I will be releasing to the public in a couple days. Best of luck with your studies. Barney

Hi everyone, I am producing a new shorts series for Orchestration for Beginners, which focuses on the elemental things that you need to know. As per usual, this will not be 'sexy' or 'cool, amazing tricks,' but practical information that will lead to a successful piece, if followed. These will be clips and extracts, reformatted, from a video that I released in January 2025 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Iyai04wwDes. I am still making the shorts from this series, but for the most up-to-date information, just stay tuned here on Skool. Best of luck with your orchestral works! -Barney

Hi everyone, I made a 6 week harmony course for the absolute beginner, that is designed to rapidly get you in shape for harmony, so that you can get to your orchestration, fugue, and compositional goals with more focus and success I will be posting clips over the next few weeks, until it is ready. This course will break everything down, and will have homework, answers, and lots of repetition, so that you can iron out any deficiencies in your technique. This is the beauty of the French method: it exposes everything, you cannot hide, but as a result, we can diagnose problems sooner, and get you onto the right path, in terms of technique. As a reminder, composition itself is a totally different beast: écriture musicale, which French Harmony Exercises falls under, will steer you in the right direction, and make you super stronger, but it does not replace getting performances of your own music, in your own style. Enjoy the short, and let me know if you have any questions! -Barney

Hi everyone, I just want to remind everyone of a central distinction, for which some of you who are now may not be aware of: the French Harmony Exercises series is for mastering technique. It will not make you a great composer on its own, but it will act as a weapon to your advantage, if you are actively composing. If you just do French Harmony Exercises, and not compose, then once you compose, you will likely default to very safe, and predictable writing. You need to compose separately, where you are free. Do not try to seek your creative expression in French Harmony Exercises: there are lots of rules, which, if followed, will lead to a sharper ear, and this will guide you when composing. If you are new to composition or want to get started with composition, you have to get experience as a composer, by getting your pieces performed. This is different from ´ecriture musicale,' which is what French Harmony Exercises falls under. One of the problems in France, is that a lot of young musicians get super good at 'écriture musicale,' but then their music is very safe and boring. So we need both: your pursuit of your individual voice, and the pursuit of supreme technique. When you compose, do not try to apply French Harmony Exercises thinking: you will misapply and make boring, safe music. And when you do French Harmony Exercises, do not seek creative expression, as you will then seek weird or strange realizations that are not practical. Keep the two separate. If you are a beginner composer, then you can watch a recent video I released on this manner: https://youtu.be/k6jBP908vOc