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Songs that use the Neapolitan Chord

David Bennett Music Theory19:10 170.626 Aufrufe veröffentlicht Auf YouTube

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  1. Here in Moonlight Sonata, we're in the key of C sharp minor. The second degree of C#arp is usually D sharp. But here we have a D natural, a D major chord, the
  2. flat two chord in the key of C sharp minor. [Music] But what makes this chord a Neapolitan
  3. chord isn't just the fact that it's a flat two chord. There's other contexts in which we could have a flat two chord. What makes this flat two chord a
  4. Neapolitan chord is that it's serving a p-ominant function, which is a fancy way of saying that it leads us to the dominant chord, the five. In this case,
  5. the G sharp chord. [Music] So a Neapolitan chord is a major triad
  6. built on the lowered second degree of the scale and it leads us to the five chord, the dominant chord. Now Neapolitan chord is very much a
  7. classical music concept, but we can find some examples in popular music. For example, here in Lionel Richie's Hello, we're in the key of A minor. And at a
  8. couple of moments in the chorus, we get this chord movement of B flat, E7, A minor. [Music]
  9. But let me start by saying [Music] this B flat chord here is the major chord built on the lowered second degree
  10. and it's leading us to the dominant chord E7. So this fulfills our criteria for a Neapolitan chord. Considering what a classical associated sound the
  11. Neapolitan chord is, the best place to find it in popular music is to look at artists who are heavily inspired by classical music. And the first band that
  12. comes to mind when I think of classical inspired is Muse. Sure enough, we can see a Neapolitan chord here in Muse's track, The Globalist. Just like Lina
  13. Richie's Hello, this song is also in the key of A minor. So this B flat chord here is our Neapolitan chord, the major chord on the flat 2. And it takes us to
  14. the E7 chord, the dominant chord. [Music] Another very much classical inspired songwriter is Rufus Waywright. And sure
  15. enough, in his song Going to a Town, we can find a Neapolitan chord. This song is in the key of F minor. So the G flat chord here is our flat 2 chord, the
  16. Neapolitan chord. And just like any good Neapolitan chord, it guides us to that five chord, the dominant chord, which here is the chord C.
  17. [Music] We can also see a Neapolitan chord in the opening section of Do You Want to Know a Secret by the Beatles. Here we're
  18. in the key of E minor. So it's the F chord here that's the Neapolitan chord guiding us to the B chord, which is the dominant chord.
  19. You'll never know how much I really love you. You'll never know how much I
  20. You may have noticed that all of the examples we've looked at so far have been in the minor key. The Neapolitan chord is typically considered to fit
  21. more cohesively into the minor key because in the minor key we only have to alter one note in the scale to get that major chord built on the lowered second
  22. degree. And that one note we alter is the second degree. We lower it. The other two notes we need to build the chord in this case F and A flat are
  23. already present in the C minor scale. However, in the major key although we do have the F, we don't have the A flat. We have an A natural. So this means in a
  24. major key, the Neapolitan chord is more chromatic and foreign to that harmony. However, this doesn't mean it can't be used. For example, John Williams used a
  25. Neapolitan chord in his iconic Indiana Jones theme, which is in the key of C major. This D flat chord is our Neapolitan chord, leading us to the
  26. dominant chord of G before resolving back to the tonic of C. Another
  27. [Music] film composer to make use of the Neapolitan chord is Danny Elfman. For example, here in Sally's song from The
  28. Nightmare Before Christmas, we are in the key of E minor. So, this F chord is our Neapolitan chord, delivering us to chord five, B, and then back home to the
  29. tonic. I sense there's something in the wind that feels like tragedies at hand.
  30. Another example of the Neapolitan chord can be found in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire theme. This D flat chord here is the flat 2 chord and it guides
  31. us to the G7 chord, the five chord. [Music] So a Neapolitan chord must a be a major
  32. chord built on the lowered second degree of the scale and b have pre-dominant function i.e. be followed by the dominant chord the five. But when the
  33. Neapolitan chord first started being used in the early 17th century, there was one additional requirement on top of these two, and that was that this flat
  34. two chord must also be in first inversion. And this gives us what's called the Neapolitan 6th, which is so called because now that we have this
  35. chord in first inversion, we have a minor 6th interval formed between the lowest and highest notes here, between the A and the F. Now, a perfect example
  36. of the Neapolitan sixth chord is actually the very first example we looked at in this video, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. We were saying before
  37. how we have this Neapolitan chord here because it's a flat two chord, D major, in the key of C# minor. It leads us to the five chord, G# sharp, so it has that
  38. predominant function, but also here it's in first inversion with the F sharp note as the lowest voice. So, this makes it a Neapolitan sixth.
  39. [Music] Most earlier uses of the Neapolitan chord will be in the first inversion like this, giving us that Neapolitan
  40. 6th. For example, here in Heiden's piano sonata in C minor, [Music] [Applause]
  41. [Music] all of the pop and rock examples we looked at earlier had their flat two chord in root position. So although we
  42. could describe these chords as Neapolitan chords, we can't describe them as Neapolitan 6ths because you have to have the chord in first inversion to
  43. get that Neapolitan 6th voice leading. Sticking to the pure textbook Neapolitan 6th use of the Neapolitan chord is usually only found in classical music.
  44. But one rare example of a modern rock song using the proper Neapolitan 6th complete with first inversion is Wolf at the Door by Radio Head. This song is in
  45. the key of D minor. So here this E flat major 7 chord over G is our Neapolitan sixth chord. It's a chord built on the lowered second degree. It's in first
  46. inversion. So we've got that G at the bottom, the fourth degree, and it's leading us onto the dominant chord, A. So it has that crucial p-ominant
  47. function. [Music] [Music] Now when we have the Neapolitan chord in
  48. its first inversion like this in its Neapolitan sixth voicing, it means that the baseline can climb up from the fourth degree to the fifth degree and
  49. then resolve back to the tonic giving us this very strong and directional harmonic motion. In fact, the Neapolitan 6th ultimately
  50. began as a small chromatic variation on the far more typical 451 minor key chord progression. A progression that can be found throughout classical music.
  51. If you take this incredibly common minor key progression and just alter for example here the C up to D flat just one semmit tone we get that Neapolitan 6th
  52. instantly introducing that distinctive voice leading that distinctive color to it. So the Neapolitan 6th was ultimately just a variation on the far more typical
  53. 451 chord progression. Now although in earlier examples of the Neapolitan chord it was used in first inversion giving us that Neapolitan
  54. sixth later on the non-inverted version of the Neapolitan chord became more common. For example in the Romantic era here in Shopan's prelude in C minor the
  55. Neapolitan chord and the dominant chord are both in their respective root positions giving us that angular trionee motion in the bass.
  56. [Music] Now, due to Shopan's use of the Neapolitan chord here in his prelude in
  57. C minor, we actually also have a Neapolitan chord here in the song Could It Be Magic by Barry Manalo. Why so? Well, because Barry Mano opened Could it
  58. be Magic with an excerpt from Shopan's prelude in C minor Neapolitan chord and all
  59. [Music] [Music] move?
  60. [Music] If you're interested in music theory, then you'll be interested in Hook Theory. Hook Theory offers a whole range
  61. of resources for developing your understanding of music theory. For example, they have an ear training app that teaches you to recognize chords.
  62. They also offer two interactive music theory textbooks, which much like my own videos, teach music theory by using well-known songs to exemplify and
  63. explain music theory concepts. On top of this, Hook Theory's Hookpad is a great tool that helps you apply music theory concepts in your own songwriting. As you
  64. compose, Hookpad helps you make smart choices for your notes and chords. Enjoy 20% off select Hook Theory products by following the link in the description.
  65. Now, at this point in the video, you might be wondering, why is this chord called Neapolitan? Well, it's not because it's a strawberry vanilla
  66. chocolate triad. As with anything Neapolitan, it gets that name because it's associated with the city of Naples in Italy. specifically what they call
  67. the Neapolitan school of composers including names such as Alessandro Scalleti, Giovani Batista Perglesi and Franchesco Durante. This school of
  68. composers are accredited with popularizing the Neapolitan 6th chord. However, although these composers certainly did use the Neapolitan chord,
  69. there are plenty of examples of the so-called Neapolitan chord from before this time and from beyond the city of Naples. So although this chord has now
  70. got the name Neapolitan, its association with Naples is slightly dubious. Throughout this video, I've been labeling the Neapolitan chord as flat 2.
  71. But in fact, the Neapolitan chord has its own unique symbol that we can use when writing Roman numeral chord analysis. Instead of using the flat
  72. symbol followed by two I's, which is the more conventional way to write flat 2 in Roman numerals, if the chord has that Neapolitan function, we can simply label
  73. it with the capital letter N. And if it's a first inversion Neapolitan chord, i.e. the Neapolitan 6th chord, it can be labeled as N6. In Roman numerals, we use
  74. a superscript six to indicate that a chord is in first inversion. Because just like with the Neapolitan 6th, when any triad has been put into first
  75. inversion, the interval between its lowest note and highest note has now become a sixth. So that's the Neapolitan chord. But before we finish, I want to
  76. go through a couple of examples of chords that are not Neapolitan. For example, here in Because by the Beatles, we have a flat 2 chord, D major, in the
  77. key of C sharp minor. But despite being a flat 2 chord, this is not a Neapolitan chord. [Music]
  78. Remember that the criteria for a chord being described as Neapolitan isn't that it's just the flat two chord. It also has to have a pre-dominant function,
  79. i.e. it needs to lead us to the dominant chord, which here in because doesn't happen. If this were a Neapolitan chord, it would be leading us to the chord G
  80. sharp, the five chord. But instead, this D major chord just leads us to D diminished. Ironically though, John Lennon was inspired here by a true
  81. example of a Neapolitan chord. John was inspired to write because after hearing Yokoono Ono play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and it's almost certainly where
  82. he got the idea for this chord progression, including the use of the chord D major in the key of C# minor. But even though Moonlight Sonata is a
  83. textbook example of a Neapolitan 6th, once John got his hands on it, the particular use of it doesn't really qualify for the label Neapolitan. But
  84. this is a great example of how fickle some of these labels can be. Concepts like the Neapolitan chord come from analyzing a very precise era of
  85. classical music. So extending that idea of the Neapolitan chord beyond classical music into popular music is always going to get a bit messy and fiddly. And
  86. whether it's even worth describing anything in pop and rock music as Neapolitan is debatable really. Another music theory concept which is often
  87. confused with Neapolitan chords is tritone substitution. A few weeks ago I made a video on trionee subs. And in that video we discussed the song things
  88. we said today by the Beatles. Here in this song we have a flat two chord. This B flat chord in the key of A.
  89. But this flat 2 chord here isn't a Neapolitan chord. It's instead a trionee sub. The crucial difference is that this flat 2 chord isn't subdominant or
  90. predominant. It's not leading us to a dominant chord. It instead is effectively acting as a substitute for a dominant chord. So although this might
  91. seem like splitting hairs, the sort of rule of thumb guide here is that if a flat two chord has pre-dominant function, i.e. it leads to a dominant
  92. chord, it's probably a Neapolitan chord, and if it actually itself has dominant function, it's probably a tritone sub. But what if we have a flat two chord in
  93. a song that doesn't necessarily have a clear p-ominant or dominant function? For example, like here in Nightsat by the Moody Blues. This song is in the key
  94. of E minor. And we have the chord F here, the flat two chord. [Music] Well, beyond Neapolitan chord and
  95. trionee substitution, there is a third lens through which we can explain the use of a flat two chord in a song and that is the friian scale. As discussed
  96. in these previous videos, the friian and the friian dominant scales feature the lowered second degree and allow us to build a major triad there. So, a song
  97. that uses the flat 2 chord may just be in or be borrowing from the friian scale and may not be an example of a Neapolitan chord or a trionee sub.
  98. Ultimately, like many different music theory concepts, there can be many different lenses through which to look at the same piece of music to understand
  99. what's going on. And sometimes we have to remember that some of these lenses are connected and designed for particular styles of music. The
  100. Neapolitan 6th was first discussed in the 19th century as a way to describe music from the 17th century. So the composers in that Neapolitan school
  101. where this idea supposedly came from weren't even describing this idea as the Neapolitan sick. That was an idea retroactively applied. So then taking
  102. that idea developed in the 19th century to describe 17th century music and applying it to 20th century music and 21st century music. Well, whether it's a
  103. useful concept at that point becomes really quite debatable. My view is that music theory's greatest utility is as language, a way to communicate, describe
  104. and understand different ideas. And just like in the English language, different regions, different applications, and different eras will call for different
  105. ways to describe the same thing. So whether the Neapolitan chord is a relevant concept for describing the music you're looking at will largely
  106. come down to context. You can obviously apply these ideas to any music, but you just have to be aware that the tool you're using may not be designed for
  107. this job. I'll leave you today with my song Blue, which also features a flat two chord. with nothing to prove.
  108. [Music] I know that you are blue,
  109. blue. Oh, blue.
  110. Blue. [Music] Ooh.
  111. [Music] Oh. Oh.

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