This is such a fantastic course. Proper training for both the musical ear and hands.


Like anything worth learning, you really need to put in the work.

Practice often, take your time and the power of these exercises slowly unfolds as you try them in all keys.

This is what is so great about Robert’s approach to teaching. 
Unlike others with their “10 easy steps to…” or “the secret to…” bullshit, he is honest by telling us that music composition is hard work.
Getting good takes time!

Here’s my recommendations on practicing the main workbook PDF: 
Firstly go through each of the exercises in C and spend at least a couple of weeks only in that key.
Now choose another key at random and begin the whole workbook again. Stay in that key until you are ready to move on.

Here’s the trick: when viewing the exercises only read them in C (the first set in each section) and transpose to your chosen key in your head as you go.
What makes these exercises compatible with this approach is that they are incredibly systematic.
Read the voicings of the first 2 chords in each exercise and follow that pattern until the end.
Using logic and your ear, rather than sight reading, to continue the exercises is far more beneficial.

To make this easier I have added bookmarks to the first page of each section in my PDF viewer (Preview on Mac).
This makes it much faster to move between the exercises (no excessive scrolling required).

Functional Harmony Part 1 - The Major System — highly recommended

Right, time for me to go practice!!!


Robert Davis is the best at explaining harmonic movement in a MUSICAL way. The lessons have specific goals for moving smoothly from one key center to another, but the pure practice of harmonic movement in general is worth every minute of practice! One of his best courses!

Thank you for making this course. This is unique. This course provides a solid foundation and introduces concepts in a logical order. There is simply no other course like it online. I'm excited to have this course of study to focus on, the clear exercises to follow and I feel the rewards for my practice efforts happening very quickly. Never stop teaching and sharing your profound gift. This is remarkable work that you've done on this densely packed course.

Great for those of us that know music but don't read music.

I bought this library so it must be great!

If you want create music buy all of his book and go to his youtube channel : Composing Music

Another excellent course by Robert Davis. If you learned the melodic minor scales the traditional way, with the 6th and 7th raised ascending and lowered when descending, you may not have thought beyond this false "rule". Robert demonstrates using natural and melodic minor in melodic lines that fit the harmony being used. But like several of Robert's other courses, this goes a lot further in teaching the creation of harmonic motion and voice leading. Well worth the study time!

Just a wonderful series and worth every penny. Only getting started with diving deep although I’ve watched each video a few times now. There’s an incredible amount of depth and learning to be had in music, as clarified in the videos, but this training provides essential building blocks that are seldom taught so well without all the excess that can distract from creation. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge!

this was a godsend, i think functional harmony is one of the most poorly taught subjects in all of music. this course is an exception though. thank you so much.

I’m very pleased with Dark Film Scores 1.1 for Pigments. It’s chock full of musical, inspiring textures.

This course is absolutely brilliant. Don't get fooled by the running time. It is full of tips and knowledge. All straight to the point!

I bought all these courses by Davis. I have seen many courses, and have a pile of the best music theory books anywhere. Although I classify myself 'only' as a guitarist,I do this as a 'safe bet' because I found the guitar easy (it's good to balance easy and difficult, in my opinion). I have studied classical piano for a few years, tonal harmony, the basics of orchestration, the basis of counterpoint, (and these 'basics' can be pretty powerful) and decent sight-reading at the piano. I mean, if it hasn't downed on you yet: no matter what your main instrument, you should take up the piano as a secondary one. Fast. So on the outside I am a guitarist, but 'inside' I am more than that, to simplify. And 'decent' sight-reading can translate to 'quite powerful!' compared to someone who doesn't have these skills. The fact is that you don't have to be a score reading wizard, and the benefits of being a fluent reader are incredible, for example I navigate the scores and (because of my background) the explanations by Robert Davis VERY smoothly. Which in turn makes it for faster learning.

So these courses are actually excellent for those like me who have already established a good basis (these courses are NOT for beginners, or people who can't read a bar of music to save their lives).

The first thing I commend in this course, are the excellent annotated scores. They clarify the musical material as much as possible, even using colour coding. This is super useful, as to me the best teaching is the one that doesn't waste time or words and immediately shows me what I can use and how I can learn it, or improve on it.

Secondly, I am a big fan of 'chords', which is ironic, as I am very well aware that NOT everything can be explained with chords....once your understanding of music theory goes past the intermediate level (to say nothing of the beginner one, and this is why so many whine about music theory and how they can't do anything with it: to reap the benefits you have to go beyond the basics, otherwise it will never make sense to you) you'll see that all the material that is not chord based, can mainly be explained as appoggiaturas, passing notes, auxiliary notes, suspensions, embellishments, etc.....never the less, as CH Kitson wrote: 'chords are the four walls of the house'. They have limits, but you'll always find them as a first attempt, quick way to understand a particular texture.

So the course has this element, harmonic reductions, or 'block chords' where possible. Great. The main element covered in this course, however, is the concept of motifs, what it means and how to use them. It's pretty clear to me that no music can ever be good without motifs....they are found everywhere from Yankee Doodle to all the works of all the best composers ever. Even in a jazz or rock solo, if you insert some of this after some 'licks', a motif will immediately stand out all the more, because it contrasts with the more free form stuff. (and why the free form stuff such as 'licks' -I hate that term- work even though they are NOT motifs, is an explanation for another day, but this too can be explained.).

I can see this powerful technique all traces back to the old counterpoint rules, i.e. the fugue. I am not a musicologist, but I am probably not far wrong, if I am at all.

In short, you can't be a good musicians if you don't know how to harness musical material such as motifs: they are the most important understanding of FORM. As Schoenberg wrote: 'Our minds can only understand things in patterns: it cannot comprehend what is formless'. Whether or not you like or understand Schoenberg's music (I don't, and few ever did), the man was a consummate and highly knowdgeable musician.

There's a zillion uses for motifs, regardless of what instrument you play or what type of music you write. One big advantage is that you can get a lot of 'musical mileage' with skilful use of motifs, and this is what Davis shows you in this course.

What are you waiting for? Jump in already.

It is truly incredible the breadth and depth of these explorations. The examples are so insightful in helping me understand how great compositions work and to inspire my own original pieces. I’m so inspired by Roberts teaching. after years of struggling to understand these building blocks of music the veil is lifting and the fog is clearing. I’m so grateful. This course and the other one I did have changed me fundamentally as a composer. I highly urge anyone with a foundational knowledge of music to try one of Roberts courses on fiSound. This course has clearly been constructed with great care and attention to detail, the concepts are introduced and developed in a logical and methodical way. Robert doesn’t mince or waste his words and again there isnt a pick of fat on these teachings. If you’re serious about composing you can’t go wrong with his courses.

Harmonic Minor Mastery - Course

I've been doing Roberts Chromatic Harmony Course religiously for that last year today I am a different musician. 100X better composer, i"m starting to wander around the musical keys and sometimes I surprise myself and burst out laughing at how cool the thing I just did was...Its like I'm channelling music all of a sudden, it’s spiritual. I've never had this with music before, despite years of trying and following other courses. This one was the key for me. It feels like magic. Its all thanks to Robert. Hands down best music teacher ever.

What he did with my ears/brain regarding chromatic harmony is a miracle of sorts. So many concepts I never got nor could even identify despite years of trying, searching, wondering, asking people and just banging my head off a wall just came together because of this course. It is logically structured, well thought out, full of examples, well paced and without a pick of fat. Robert tells us students what he/we need to do to get this stuff (play in all keys, write things out etc) without labouring his points. The examples are inspiring and absolutely delightful to play and transpose and use bits of in my own compositions.

He just did a brilliant job on it and there is no one else teaching chromatic harmony on youtube . Its not aimed at popular music but I’ve found its insights to be the key to the more avant guard (for want of a better word) popular music artists that I'm into like David Bowie, The Beatles, Beach Boys, etc. and its helped me immensely to write my own pieces with those sort of sophisticated moves and to see behind the curtain on what those masters were thinking...Anyway this course is brilliant , I’ve never in my life been so changed by a course of study. If you are willing to put the work in it will make you a much better composer and see/hear all sorts of possibilities you would never get near without it. I am proof. A genius teacher, a peerless teacher. Utterly brilliant! Buy this course, roll up your sleeves, crack your knuckles get the head down daily for months and watch what happens! 10/10