The Hitchcock Chord: How to Add Depth to Music With Minor Major 7ths

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00:00The Hitchcock Chord, How to Add Depth to Music with Minor Major Sevenths

00:04The Minor Major Seventh Chord is music's bittersweet paradox, melancholy yet refined.

00:11Its unique tension adds depth and surprise, making it the perfect tool for expressing complex emotions in any composition.

00:18The Minor Major Seventh Chord adds a major seventh to a minor triad like A, C, E, G sharp,

00:24creating striking tension between the minor third and major seventh.

00:27It evokes nuanced emotion, turning simple sadness into the wistful mood of watching rain through a cafe window.

00:35Bernard Herrmann popularized the Minor Major Seventh in film scores,

00:39especially through his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock.

00:42Dubbed the Hitchcock Chord, though more rightly the Herrmann Chord,

00:46it shaped the tension in films like Vertigo and Psycho.

00:50Herrmann later used it in Taxi Driver to convey Travis Bickle's alienation, proving its power beyond suspense.

00:55A line cliché happens when a chord's top note descends by a semitone,

01:00with the Minor Major Seventh often marking a key step in that motion.

01:04Found in jazz to pop, it adds chromatic depth and emotional nuance like revealing character through subtext rather than dialogue.

01:11Jazz musicians adopted the Minor Major Seventh to elevate their harmonic language,

01:16distinguishing jazz from simpler popular styles.

01:18Its complexity suited the genre's spirit of experimentation,

01:22enabling artists to convey subtle emotion through harmony

01:25and proving that the most powerful statements often happen between the notes.

01:30When notating Minor Major Seventh chords,

01:32use clear standards like Min7 or Mmaj7 for consistency across contexts.

01:38Avoid using creative symbols that may confuse as clarity is paramount.

01:42Min7 is widely recognized,

01:45and your bandmates will appreciate not having to decode your chord symbols mid-session.

01:51The Minor Major Seventh chord captures music's ability to express opposing emotions.

01:55Tense yet beautiful, dissonant yet satisfying.

01:59From film scores to bedroom pop,

02:01it adds harmonic depth that standard chords can't,

02:04offering composers a tool to expand beyond the usual Major Minor spectrum.

02:08From film scores to bedroom,