Level 2
3-Credit Tuition
$1,515Non-Credit Tuition
$1,265A firm harmonic foundation and the ability to aurally recognize chord progressions is indispensable to writers and arrangers, and a necessity for musicians interested in understanding the art of improvisation. Getting Inside Harmony 2 takes you to the next step in your harmonic development: you'll move beyond the standard chord patterns and harmonic progressions typically found in popular music, and gain a solid footing in more advanced principles including melodic and harmonic tension, chord substitution, and chromatically altered chords. You'll examine secondary dominants, diminished seventh chords (and their substitutes), standard chord patterns and their variations, minor key harmony, and modulation. You'll study the inner workings of each progression to be sure it gets into the "inner ear," and equip yourself with the most appropriate chord scale for each chord. Through keyboard chord voicings and voice-leading exercises, you'll gain an understanding of the musical tools that go beyond the demands of a particular musical style, and develop a greater sense of control in your writing - by the end of the course you'll find you're in a position to actually contribute your personal touch to the development of any number of musical styles!
By the end of the course, you will:
- Identify all standard chord progression patterns
- Be able to suggest a vast number of musical re-harmonization possibilities for each of these patterns
- Apply appropriate chord substitution to a song's progression
- Use a wide range of non-diatonic, chromatically altered chords
- Derive their appropriate chord scales
- Work within all forms of minor key tonality
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Melodic and Harmonic Tensions
- Introduction
- Melodic and Harmonic Tensions
- Some Terminology Shorthand: Mode Names
- Available Tensions
- Recap
Lesson 2: Using Tensions to Enhance Keyboard Voicings
- Introduction
- Chord Progression Transcription
- Enhanced Keyboard Voicings
- Recap
Lesson 3: Tonic vs. Non-Tonic Chord Functions
- Introduction
- Diatonic Chord Function
- Recap
Lesson 4: Basic Diatonic Substitution
- Introduction
- Principles of Diatonic Substitution
- Non-Tonic Chords
- Recap
Lesson 5: Modal Chord Progression (1): Major Modes
- Introduction
- Modal Chord Progression
- What's Tonal, What's Modal?
- Recap
Lesson 6: How Modes are Used (1)
- Introduction
- How are Modes Used?
- Modal Interchange
- Recap
Lesson 7: Modal Chord Progression (2): Minor Modes; How Modes are Used (2)
- Introduction
- Distinguishing Among Aeolian, Phrygian, and Dorian Modalities
- Cadence Chords for the Minor Modes
- Modal Progressions
- Recap
Lesson 8: Patterns in Progression (1)
- Introduction
- II-7 V7 Progression in All Keys
- II-V Progressions
- Recap
Lesson 9: Patterns in Progression (2)
- Introduction
- How Does Harmonic Rhythm Figure In?
- How to Do It?
- Recap
Lesson 10: Modal Interchange
- Introduction
- Substitution or Reharmonization?
- Taking stock...Secondary Dominants
- Consecutive Secondary Dominants
- Recap
Lesson 11: Minor Key Harmony (1): Harmonic Minor
- Introduction
- Chord Pattern Variations
- Harmonic Minor Scale
- Recap
Lesson 12: Minor Key Harmony (2): Melodic Minor
- Introduction
- Harmonic minor form of I VI II V
- Key Changes in Minor
- Inversions
- Melodic Minor
- Melodic Minor Form of "I VI II V"
- Dominant 7th Substitution by Common Tritone
- Recap
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Completion of the Berklee Online course Getting Inside Harmony 1 or equivalent knowledge and experience is required.
Required Textbook(s)
- None required
Software Requirements
- MuseScore, Finale NotePad, or Finale (full version)
- A basic audio recording tool that will allow you to record yourself and save the recording in MP3 format. You will have a tool to use for this purpose inside the learning environment. Alternatively, you can use software like Audacity (PC) or GarageBand (Mac)
- Microsoft Word, or OpenOffice (free) to view .doc files within the course
Hardware Requirements
- A piano keyboard
- A built-in microphone or an external microphone plugged directly into your computer (via built in ports or an external audio interface)
After enrolling, please check the Getting Started section of your course for potential deals on required materials. Our Student Deals page also features several discounts you can take advantage of as a current student. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu for any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Chats. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author
Michael Rendish is the former Assistant Chair of Berklee College of Music's Film Scoring Department. A gifted performer and award-winning writer, he has composed, orchestrated, and conducted some thirty film scores, including Faces of Freedom, A Place of Dreams, and Yorktown, and the five-part PBS series America by Design. He was the composer for Academy Award nominee, The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America, and arranger and guest conductor of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra of the 50th Jubilee Concert in honor of the King of Thailand. In his more than thirty-five years at Berklee, he has been continually active in developing much of the world's finest talent in contemporary popular music. He was the founding chair of Berklee's Harmony Department, and has authored and taught courses at all levels of traditional, contemporary, and jazz arranging/composition. He was also the founding chair of the electronic music program, the major that introduced music synthesis to Berklee. Michael's passion for harmony in contemporary music is the driving force behind the course "Getting Inside Harmony."
Instructor
Keyboardist Amy Bellamy received her Master’s of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After relocating to Boston, MA in 2002, Ms. Bellamy joined the Sam Kininger Band (of Soulive and Lettuce) and toured extensively throughout the US, culminating with their critically acclaimed 2010 album release entitled Anthem (BMG Japan.) Ms. Bellamy and her husband, bassist Aaron Bellamy (The A-Beez) have led a well established 16 year Tuesday night residency at Boston’s beloved Wally’s Jazz Café.
The A-Beez released their debut album Never Going Back in 2015, and their 2nd album Say Goodbye was released to a sold-out audience in Boston in March of 2018. Both albums by The A-Beez showcase Amy and Aaron’s strengths as songwriters, lyricists, arrangers and producers.
Over the last decade, Ms. Bellamy has performed with Chaka Khan (for President Bill Clinton) Terri Lyne Carrington, G Love and the Juice, The Nth Power, Oleta Adams, Res, Club D’elf, Cody Chesnutt, Martin Luther, Shing02, the Harlem Gospel Choir, Bruce Bartlett, Akrobatik, Mr Lif and many more. She has shared countless bills with major artists such as Parliament Funkadelic, Morris Day and the Time, Bootsy
Collins, Chick Corea and many more. As a classical accompanist, Ms. Bellamy has appeared on multiple European tours with notable performances at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France and St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy.
Ms. Bellamy joined the Faculty of Berklee College of Music as an Assistant Professor in the Harmony Department in the summer of 2016. Read Less
Instructor
Steve Rochinski is an independent jazz musician, educator, recording artist, composer, arranger, and author. He is a professor emeritus of harmony and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he has taught since 1984. In 2014, Steve received the Berklee Distinguished Faculty Award. He currently resides with his wife, Kathy, and their dog, Jacob, near the edge of the earth in Southeastern Massachusetts.
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Getting Inside Harmony 2 can be applied towards these associated programs:
Associated Certificate Programs
Associated Degree Majors
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
