Songs that use the Neapolitan Chord

The Neapolitan chord, or Neapolitan sixth, is a concept very much tied to a certain era in classical music, however the idea is often stretched to describe various other styles of music. So today we are going to look at what make a chord Neapolitan, and also crucially what makes a chord NOT Neapolitan.

SOURCES:

This video was edited in part by Matt Servo

And, an extra special thanks goes to Chase Heeler, Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 Neapolitan Chord
0:09 Moonlight Sonata
1:14 Pop song examples
3:40 Major key Neapolitan chord
4:38 TV & film scores
5:42 Neapolitan 6th
9:31 Chopin
10:46 Hooktheory
11:24 Neapolitan = Naples
12:14 Roman Numeral label
13:00 Not all bII chords are Neapolitan
14:58 Tritone Sub vs. Neapolitan
16:01 Phrygian vs. Neapolitan
18:25 Blue by David Bennett

[DavidBennettPiano]

📌TYPO: at 0:03 the D flat note in blue should be a D natural. Sorry for any confusion caused. Thank you to the commenter who brought it to my attention.

[bodhibeats]

Saw the thumbnail and thought “maybe I’ll finally know what the hell the difference between a Neo chord and a tritone sub is.” Bennett delivered! 😁

[jasonremy]

Beatles. ✔️. Radiohead. ✔️. Must be a David Bennett video.

[RoiOfTheSuisse]

About Nightmare before Christmas, I've heard a theory about Jack and Sally actually singing in Phrygian, whereas the other Halloween town's villagers sing in minor, symbolizing the fact that they don't quite fit there, and also that Sally understands what Jack feels.

[stephenforsyth]

I think you're the only channel attempting to explain music theory to a wider audience I've seen who actually explains properly that music theory is descriptive and not prescriptive.

It's academic analysis after the fact to explain things we intuit through experimentation, and applying western tonal harmony to everything is not always productive, I think you did a great job communicating that concept here.

[rossmar]

I'm Neapolitan myself, been following you for a long time. So nice to see a piece of my home in the video of one of my favourite Youtubers!

[bmw]

Another cool aspect about the Neapolitan Chord is that it can act as a pivot chords between two foreign key signatures. For example, in Schubert's piece Schwanegesang, Schubert switches from D minor to Ab minor by using a Eb major chord (in the context of D minor, Eb major is the flat second). This Eb major chord not only acts as the flat second in D minor, but also as the fifth in Ab minor. Because of this, Schubert was able to switch from D minor to Ab minor by using the flat seconded in the key of D minor.

[puphcp]

I really love how in every video you emphasize a descriptivist approach to notation and terminology, as opposed to prescriptive. Too many people seem to think of music theory as this rigid thing that music has to either follow or not follow, but it's really a toolbox to describe music that people have already made.

[AlessandraHudson]

At this point I am *absolutely convinced* that David is simply studying every single detail of every Radiohead song and that's how he stumbles upon music theory concepts for his videos.

[vitalepitts]

This is one of the theory concepts I have found the hardest to grok, appreciate the thorough explanations

[Pandamasque]

5:27 so that's why the Millionaire theme sounds like Matt Bellamy trying to write a James Bond song on a Casio synthesizer.

[danbradley]

Thank you. That's by far and away the best explanation of the Neapolitan Sixth I've ever come across. And linking it to the Tritone Substitute, which I've used a fair amount playing Jazz, makes it easier to remember, and is definitely the icing on the cake 😄

[tom_]

I was literally noodling with my friend on the piano yesterday and we found out that if you resolve to the b2mj7 before you resolve to the 1mj it sounds absolutely GORGEOUS and now you’ve come out with this video which is a VERY similar concept

[thegothaunt]

where was this video when I was in music school? lmao! You just have such a clear way of explaining things, paired with your memorable examples AND visuals! THIS is my learning style (I find out 10 years too late) -- I can imagine a new wave of music theory and ear training teachers utilising your videos in the classroom!!

[JonathanBrinkleyMusic]

I studied this for half a term in music school, and never understood it as well as I do from watching this video. Bravo!

[rebeccastadie]

I love these in-depth music theory videos. Please keep them coming!

[heatherfyffe]

Huge N fan. One crucial detail about it that I don't think you touched on in the video - more than the N leading to the V, the lowered 2nd note (what I sometimes just call the N note) leads specifically to the leading-tone, which then leads to the tonic. Those 2 notes are a half step above, and a half step below, the tonic. The two work together to create an extra strong leading tendency on either side of the tonic.

This is similar to how the Augmented 6th chords "surround" the dominant note. The difference being that the 2 tendency tones occur within the one chord, whereas with the N-V-i progression it's more horizontal.

But this half step tendency on either side of the goal tone, in either case, is what gives the progression its extra power. The half step is always powerful.

[ChrisMuellerMusic]

That was the most understandable, simple and to the point explanation I ever saw. I dare say I only now understood Neapolitan chords. Thanks!

[Smudger]

Excellent, well researched, produced, presented and comprehensive video. Particularly liked that you dealt with the difference between Neapolitan chords and bII chords in other contexts. Really helps to clarify a potentially confusing subject. You obviously put a lot of thought and work into this (as with all your videos) and is much appreciated.

[noahshighlightreel]

YESSS I WAS WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO!!! Now if you haven’t maybe a video on Major songs that borrow the flat 3 and flat 6 chord from Minor.