The Circle of Fifths made clear
Channel: Mark Newman
Date: 27/06/2015

The #CircleOfFifths is a visual representation of the relationships between the 12 tones of the chromatic scale as used in western #music. Although first proposed by Nikolai Diletskii in his 1677 paper "A grammar of musical song" and improved on by Johann David Heinichen in 1728, the mathematical relationship between the tones in the circle can be traced as far back as #Pythagoras.

It is called the CIRCLE of fifths as it takes the form of a circle around which the 12 tones are laid out. As you move around the circle in a clockwise direction, the next tone you encounter will be a 5th above the tone before it.

In this video, we explore how you can use the circle to write key signatures, find out how to transpose a song, or even how to modulate between keys.

This video is part of a larger Podcast about Chords and Harmonies which is available to listen to or download from http://www.themobilestudio.net/striking-a-chord/.

I apologize in advance for the slightly inaccurate history lesson at the beginning of the video. I say that Pythagoras invented the circle which is not actually true, although he did lay down the mathematical basis on which it is based.