Chords & Harmony Writing Lab
5 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Learn how to make more interesting, emotionally powerful music through a deeper understanding of chords and harmony.
Chords & Harmony Writing Lab
5 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Learn how to make more interesting, emotionally powerful music through a deeper understanding of chords and harmony.
Course overview
Harness the Emotional Power of Chords & Harmony in Your Music
Harmony imbues music with feeling and emotion. In this one month intensive led by educator & prominent music blogger Ethan Hein, we'll be unwrapping the core elements of chords and harmony — from the functional to the fantastic — and how to use them in modern music.
Imagine your dream graduate seminar, with weekly challenges, engaged peers, and hands-on instruction from a highly accomplished instructor. We'll nerd out on harmonies and chord changes that can take your breathe away, and practice putting those lessons into action.
Email us at support@soundfly.com to find out about payment plans or subscriber discounts.
Who is this course for
01
Producers or songwriters looking to fill in gaps in their music theory.
02
Music makers looking to make more emotionally-resonant songs.
03
Musicians hoping to understand the harmonic choices in the songs they love.
Learn theory. Analyze popular songs. Make tracks. Get feedback. Grow your skills.
Explore concepts in weekly workshops
Join a small group of fellow musicians and Ethan Hein on Zoom each week to discuss theory in depth, analyze tracks, demo ideas, and nerd out on what makes music beautiful and powerful.
Join a supportive peer-community on Discord
You'll be invited to join an exclusive Discord with Ethan Hein and Soundfly Team members where you can share tracks, ask questions, get support, and much more.
Expand your harmonic horizons with creative practice
Practice using more interesting chord progressions in weekly activities, exercises, and creative challenges.
Analyze popular songs & understand what makes them tick
Uncover dozens of different chord progressions, harmonies, and voicings and how they play out in some of the most popular songs of all time.
Explore how theory plays out in modern music
From the blues, soul, and funk to loops, samples, and electronic music, this Lab will have a strong focus on how traditional music theory concepts interact with modern musical genres and styles.
Get feedback on your music
We'll be sharing work throughout the Lab, offering comments and feedback on each others' work. You'll also get a detailed feedback report at the end.
Get support during weekly office hours & working sessions
The Soundfly Team will host weekly working sessions where people can join to ask questions, chat through issues, and get support.
Get a certificate at the end
Earn a certificate at the end to validate your knowledge of music theory and growth.
Chords & Harmony Writing Lab
Questions? Payment Plans?
Considering joining? Share your questions or ask us about payment plans. Leave your email below and we'll be in touch.
Course syllabus
01
Emotions, Chords, & Scales
We'll look at how chord progressions can be built from scales, how to define key centers, and how to use common chords in unique ways.
02
Tension, Release, & Functional Harmony
We'll explore how you can meet or subvert the expectations of your audience with different chord progressions or harmonic choices.
03
The Blues, Rhythm, & Loops
We'll go explore the Blues and the importance of rhythm in harmony, and how modern music theory has been impacted by Black American musical traditions.
04
Mixing Modes & Chords From Outside the Key
We'll learn how to pull chords from outside of the key to make more dissonant, expansive, and unexpected chord progressions.
05
Final Project & Certificate
At the end you'll take on a final project, get a final progress report with feedback on where to focus down the road, and earn your certificate.
Meet your instructor
Dr. Ethan Hein
PhD, adjunct professor, music blogger
Ethan Hein has a PhD in music education from New York University. He teaches music education, technology, theory and songwriting at NYU, The New School, Montclair State University, and Western Illinois University. As a founding member of the NYU Music Experience Design Lab, Ethan has taken a leadership role in the development of online tools for music learning and expression, most notably the Groove Pizza. Together with Will Kuhn, he is the co-author of Electronic Music School: a Contemporary Approach to Teaching Musical Creativity, published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Read his full CV here.
Soundfly
Online music school
Soundfly makes high-quality online learning experiences, from best-in-class video courses to mentorship and beyond. Subscribe for access to all our courses, including Unlocking the Emotional Power of Chords and The Creative Power of Advanced Harmony, at Soundfly.com today.
Course schedule
4-6 hours per week
Start the Week on Mondays
Get the week's reading & viewing assignments and start on your practice.
Workshops on Wednesdays
1:00pm - 2:30pm EST
In our weekly workshops, we'll use popular songs to help us explore theory concepts, and answer student questions.
Office Hours & Listening Parties on Fridays
3 pm EST
Join the Soundfly Team for casual hang outs where you can get support, analyze songs, chat theory, and more.
Discussions / Feedback in Discord
Ongoing
Chat with fellow students, the Soundfly Team, and Ethan himself in our exclusive Writing Lab Discord group.
Projects Due on Mondays
Your weekly assignments will be due on Mondays.
What people are saying
Ritwik Deshpande
Doug Merlino
Julia PT
Lana Cenčić