Picardy Third: When Minor Resolves to the Major Chord

this video is sponsored by Squarespace use the promo code in the description to get 10% off your first purchase a Piketty third or a TS to Piketty is when a passage of music that's in the minor key resolves instead with the major version of the one chord instead of the minor version as we would expect for example [Music] that was the last four bars of time of the season by the zombies when we look at the music we can see that the passage and in fact the whole song is in the key of E minor however on the final chord we don't resolve to E minor we resolve to E major instead and this is a textbook example of a Piketty third [Music] the pickety third gives the song in the minor key a more triumphant or grand ending roundabout by yes is also largely in E minor so we would expect it to end like this with an E minor chord [Music] however roundabout ends with an E major chord a Piketty third [Music] the technique has been used for centuries it was particularly common in fact in the Baroque era but we can find it throughout pop and rock music today as well like with most songwriting tricks the beatles have also used the pickety third for example on and I love her the final verse is in D minor however we resolve instead to a bright D major chord [Music] it seems in fact that back in 1964 The Beatles were particularly keen on the pickety third and I love her is just one of three example was off the pickety third on the album a hard day's night the verse of things we said today for example is in a minor but it resolves to a major [Music] the examples we've looked at so far have used the pickety third at the end of a section like a chorus but I'll be back uses a Piketty third at the end of every single line in the verse each line starts out in a minor but at the end resolves to a major we then jump back to a minor to do it all again [Music] again the beatles most epic and potentially most famous Piketty third though is at the end of a day in the life as we approach the conclusion of a day in the life we have this piano passage that establishes us in E minor [Music] this then leads us into the famous string climax section at the end which concludes with this massive emajor chord played on three different pianos at once [Music] so this is a Piketty third because we should have resolved really to the e minor which were the sounded like this [Music] certainly not as triumphant or pleasing particularly considering that this is the final chord on sergeant pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Radiohead's exit music for a film is in B minor but at the end we resolve to be major this example is made even more effective by this sus4 chord sus 4 chords aren't major or minor their third has been suspended so whilst were on this suspended 4th chord there's a certain level of ambiguity about whether we're in the major or the minor at this point which makes the resolution to the major even more satisfying hello by Lionel Richie is in a minor however we resolve to a major at the end of the song [Music] this is a neat way to wrap the song up because we've actually heard the a major chord earlier throughout the song [Music] I'm just got to let you know [Music] Janis Joplin's classic version of summertime is in G minor but ends with a G major chord [Music] [Applause] the outro of under the bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is made up of a repeating passage in a minor that keeps resolving to the major instead giving us our Piketty third [Music] [Music] kiss from a rose by seal swings between G minor and G major throughout the outro - the song is in G minor but considering we've spent the entire song switching between G minor and G major is quite a fitting end to end it with a Piketty 3rd to end it on G major [Music] Oh [Music] a particularly clever use of the pickety third is in killing me softly by Roberta Flack killing me softly written by Charles Fox and Norman gimble is largely in the key of F minor but at the end of each chorus we resolve to F major instead where there's some down with his words killing me softly with this why is this particularly clever well when the chorus ends on this F major chord everything sounds very resolved and completed because we're on the route however the songs not over yet we need to continue into the next verse but this is the clever bit because the chorus resolved the F major instead of F minor it actually creates a perfect cadence from the last chord of the chorus to the first chord of the verse b-flat minor he sang as if the chorus didn't feature a Piketty third and instead resolved to the F minor we wouldn't have had this perfect cadence between the chorus and the verse so we wouldn't have had as much forward momentum or pull into the next verse [Music] where this that's all of the examples of Piketty thirds that I could find in pop and rock music but if you can think of any other example let's do put them in the comments down below and thank you again to this week's sponsor which is Squarespace rather than hiring a web designer and trying to communicate to them what you want Squarespace allows you to create slick easy to use professional websites whether you're promoting your band or starting your own small business you're going to need a website and squarespace's are really easy in quick tool to put one together for example you can embed a calendar that shows your clients your availability head to Squarespace calm now and start building your site with a free trial and then when you're ready to launch use the unique link in the description to save 10% of your first purchase thank you and as always a massive thank you goes to all of my patrons including the names you see on screen right now and Adam Grainger and resize the azure Andrew Brown Andy deacon Austin Barrett Bob McKidd Street Brittany Parker Chris Cobell Kieran Benin Daniel long derald Aaron Harvey David defender fer Diego Giuliani alumnus korchenko s-pen Hansen Eugene Leroy eyes FD Hodel George Taylor golf house Gilliam Oh late owner James KO jake ocken sparker jovis on jonas Soderstrom jonathan banks justin vigor meg fellows melody composer squared Nancy Gillard Nicholas Orlando Bernhard Paul Miller pool hazel Peter Dunphy Roger clay Mitchell Kraft Steve daily summer Rae T Newport Tim beaker toot and vladimir aquatic off [Music] you

Channel: David Bennett Piano

Views: 262,926

Keywords: picardy third, music theory, examples of, pop songs, minor key, major chord, analysis, sheet music, tierce de picardie, picardy, picardie, third, lesson, perfect cadence, the beatles, radiohead, yes, roberta flack, the zombies, lionel richie, red hot chili peppers

Id: jGaNdKabvQ4

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 23 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/songwriterschopshop]

Great content David. Really interesting technique that adds so much mood to a chord progression. Wasn't aware of it before but I can't wait to try it out. Looking forward to the next video.

[u/canbimkazoo]

Great video! Big fan of your channel, thanks for sharing!

[u/intothefryingpan]

You had me at Radiohead

[u/bazognoid]

Before I knew the proper jargon for it I just referred to it as the “Paul McCartney ending chord.”