Is This Chord Red, Blue, or Yellow?

Let's start with a trick question.  

Is this a Red, Blue, or Yellow chord? We see that it is made of the notes C-E-G.

We were being really sneaky because we didn't show you the key signature (the sharps and flats next to the clef, that define where DO is.). 

2nd Year students will always tell me this is a RED chord, and for now, they are correct. But 3rd year students have learned the magic of key change.  

But those smart 3rd year students will say, "That's a C-chord and it could be RED or BLUE or YELLOW!  It depends where Do is!"

The Role of Chords

Imagine you are listening to 3 stories, and Linda happens to be in them all.  Here's a photo of Linda, a new mother.  Linda is the mother in the first story.

And here's another look at Linda with her mom. Linda is still the same, but she'll play the role of daughter in the second story.

Finally, Linda plays the role of  grand-daughter in my third story.  Linda didn't change anything about herself, but depending on who she was with, her role in the story changed.

Now let's think about chords! A chord can play the role of RED, BLUE, or YELLOW depending on which other chords it is with and where DO is.

Red, Blue, Yellow

The Red, Blue, and Yellow chords play roles in songs and music.

The RED CHORD is HOME. Songs begin and end with RED. It just doesn't feel complete otherwise.

The BLUE CHORD gives us a traveling, moving sensations in our music. We sing "we like to run and roam" because the BLUE CHORD helps us add interest and movement.

The YELLOW CHORD has a distinct sound that really pulls back to RED. "Yellow is the chord that leads us back to home."

Our songs are harmonized with these three players.

A chord can be ANY of these colors, depending on where Do is.  There's more explanation in this post.

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