After completing the workshop Ear Training for Musical Creativity, you have two great paths available to you: expanding your melodic repertoire or moving on to recognizing chords and chord progressions.
The last chord of the major scale that we need to study is the seven chord which we write as 7-b5.
This is a very catchy progression that goes down in scale degrees from the 6- chord to the 3- chord.
In this module you are going to study chords 2- and 3- in the context of a minor key, where the 6- chord is the tonal center.
With this set of activities you will get to know the 3- chord more deeply by studying it in different contexts.
The 3- chord is a minor chord that can have a very uplifting feeling when we play it after the 1 chord.
This progression is very similar to the "50's progression" (1, 6-, 4, 5D) we studied in the course Recognizing Chords by Ear, and that's why it will sound very familiar to you already.
After completing the Recognizing Chords by Ear workshop, a logical next step is to master the remaining chords of the major scale. You can start by adding the 2- chord to your "ear repertoire".
Van Morrison's memorable ballad "Have I Told You Lately" is made from just five chords of the major scale. This is a great example of the wide variety of moods and creative possibilities that we find in the sounds of Pure Harmony.
In this excerpt from the IFR workshop ‘Introduction to Melodic Improvising’, Jelske demonstrates how to learn chord progressions using the IFR Tonal Map.