Ray Harmony

Hack Music Theory · revolutionharmony.com

The unorthodoX thoughts of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony. Older episodes were co-hosted by his wife and protégé Kate Harmony. As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). Join over 255,000 YouTube subscribers learning the fast, easy, and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain't no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Download Ray's free book at HackMusicTheory.com

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Episodes 130

This Song Makes You Feel Good.
yesterday · 5:24
Counterclockwise Music. This Song Makes You Feel Good. When I listen to “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, I’m instantly transported back to my childhood in the ‘80s. In fact, if I close my eyes while listening to it, I’m right there in my childhood house lying on my back with my headphones on, singing away to Mike Love and the boys. I can actually feel that old carpet under my back, and the warm African wind blowing in through my window. In my mind, I’m really there. And I’m a kid again. It’s so powerful that it feels like magic. And maybe it is. When I use “Kokomo” to time-travel back to 1989, I fe
Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd.
23d ago · 4:26
Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd. Rare Rhythms That Move People. American band Death Cab for Cutie recently released their new album “I Built You a Tower”, and the song “Stone Over Water” is a brilliant example of how to make music that’s rhythmically interesting without sacrificing its ability to move people, aka its danceability. And that’s a vital element of music, not to be underestimated. Because, if people can’t tap their foot or bob their head along to your song, they’ll find it frustrating and will probably hit that Skip button. To be clear, it’s easy to make rhythmically interestin
Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation.
1mo ago · 4:24
Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation. Music is social. No fans = No relationships. My previous essay, titled “Making Music Is Bad for Mental Health”, was a kind of eulogy to the pre-smartphone fan. You know, that person who used to listen with all their attention. Nowadays, people don’t really do anything with all their attention, and this indifference is why us creatives are struggling so much with our mental health. It’s painful to share our art with a world that’s too addicted to their phones to even give our work a few minutes of their attention. And while I did receive comments from peo
Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health.
1mo ago · 6:49
Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health. Songs need listeners, but most people are too busy scrolling nowadays. You’ve just finished a new song. You love it! You’re beyond thrilled. You can’t wait for people to hear it, so you excitedly upload it and click publish. And you wait. And you wait some more. Then you refresh. Maybe it just needed a refresh. No. Still nothing. Ah! There’s a notification now. Jack192837465 gave it a thumbs up! But, your song is five minutes long, and you uploaded it three minutes ago, so Jack192837465 couldn’t have listened to the whole song. Well maybe he’s loving
Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band.
3mo ago · 12:47
Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band. Comparing the music world of 1996 to 2026. It’s 9pm. Friday night. December 20th, 1996. Cape Town, South Africa. I walk out on stage. The air is thick with smoke from the fog machine and cigarettes, and probably something else too. A bright spotlight is in my face. The light’s hot. The weather’s hot. That middle-of-an-African-summer kinda hot. All I can see beyond the spotlight is a sea of people. The venue is sold out. In fact, it’s probably over capacity. We’re opening for South Africa’s biggest rock band, Springbok Nude Girls, who’d just signed a major label deal
Creating Calm Through Song Structure.
3mo ago · 3:30
Creating Calm Through Song Structure. How to make a sonic sanctuary, like Tamikrest. My favourite Saharan rock band Tamikrest just released their new album “Assikel”, and I’ve had it on repeat this week. Why? Well firstly, this is a mesmerizing collection of songs that make me feel good. I can sense the warmth emanating from their laidback desert grooves. And considering it’s the middle of May and we’ve just had more snow here in Alberta, I’m well up for their hot Saharan vibes! Another reason I love this album is that it was recorded live in the studio, to analogue tape. That’s what I’m talki
A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away.
3mo ago · 7:59
A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away. Daily creative habits for better mental health. We’ve just moved. Again. For more than a decade now, Kate and I have been averaging about one move per year. Last year we moved twice, but our record is an impressive three moves in one year! The reasons for moving so often are numerous. Sometimes it’s our decision, sometimes it’s not (like the move we just made). The owner of the property we were renting sold it, so we had no choice. Time to pack up our lives. And move. Again. Psychologists say that moving is one of the most stressful events in life. Having
Forget Meditation, Listen to Music.
4mo ago · 6:14
Forget Meditation, Listen to Music. Meditating isn’t effective enough anymore. As people become more addicted to their phones, society’s obsession with mindfulness meditation grows. I think that’s because the collective unconscious knows that we desperately need to take back control of our minds, as our lives are being wasted through endless hours of meaningless scrolling. There are only 24 hours in a day, and despite the fact that most people (including myself) don’t sleep nearly enough, we do still sleep some of those 24 hours away. Then the remaining time each day seems to disappear in a bl
Writers & Readers Against AI.
5mo ago · 9:22
Writers & Readers Against AI. If you’re pro-human, join Paul Kingsnorth’s campaign. The brilliant English writer Paul Kingsnorth recently launched a campaign for everyone who loves humans and human creativity. So if you also miss the good ol’ days when you could read, listen or watch something and know that a human made it, then please join this campaign. And please do it today. This is urgent! Due to generative-AI, humanity is at a vital fork in the road. In all honesty, I think it’s probably too late to save human-made art, but if we don’t try, we’ll never know (and we'll always regret not t
AI Human vs Human AI.
5mo ago · 9:46
AI Human vs Human AI. A brief history of transhuman music. Most AI-generated songs now sound more human than most human-made songs. How did music go so horribly wrong? It all happened so fast, too! If you’re a Gen Xer like me, you’ve witnessed this whole process unfold from start to finish in just a few decades. As a kid I remember the first time I saw Depeche Mode performing live on some TV show. I was so confused. I heard drums, but I didn’t see a drummer!? What kind of sorcery was this? Remember, this was before the internet, so I had no way of finding out how they did that. Then a year or
Musical Heroes in the AI Age.
5mo ago · 9:07
Musical Heroes in the AI Age. Nø Førmat! You need to know about this record label. Nø Førmat! is an independent record label based in Paris. They’ve been around for over 20 years, and they’re one of my favourite labels. I love so many of their releases, but my current favourite is the album “Synthetic Hearts” by South African duo Msaki & Tubatsi. It’s a masterpiece! I’ve got a soft spot for South African music because I was born and raised there, but they’ve got artists from all over the world on their label. I’m confident that you’ll find an artist of theirs that resonates with you. And for t
We Are the Orchid Children.
6mo ago · 7:17
We Are the Orchid Children. A call to highly sensitive musicians. “Dandelion” children are those resilient and healthy kids who can survive and thrive under most circumstances. “Orchid” children, on the other hand, are those sensitive and fragile kids who need the right kind of support in order to survive and thrive. This is according to four decades of research by the world-renowned pediatrician Dr. W. Thomas Boyce, who coined the terms “dandelion” and “orchid” in reference to how sensitive a child is. When orchid kids don’t get the gentle childhoods they need, they go adrift. Drugs, delinque
The Music Theory of Fun.
6mo ago · 6:30
The Music Theory of Fun. These two things make songs feel good… In my previous essay Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? I told the story of how music was intentionally transformed from a fun and communal activity into fear propaganda that’s consumed alone. All within a few decades. I concluded with an invitation to make something fun, and then to share it with the world. We need it! The most revolutionary thing we can do in this age of consumption is to create. But, there’s a caveat. If our creations add to the fear and division, then the world is better off without them. That’s why it’s essential
Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?
7mo ago · 7:35
Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? Music used to be our greatest joy, then this happened… 1964. Fun, Fun, Fun. That was a song on the album “Shut Down, Volume 2” by my childhood heroes, The Beach Boys. Go have a quick listen, the song is only two minutes long. But they’re two minutes of pure joy! “Fun, Fun, Fun” was released 62 years ago. So now I’d like you to compare it to any new single from 2026 in the New Music Friday playlist. What do you notice? Yep! Somewhere between the mid-1960s and the mid-2020s it seems we lost all the fun. In six decades we’ve gone from musicians playing real instrumen
Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.
7mo ago · 7:16
Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks. How to find purpose, passion, and meaning in your life. Okay so what’s a musical memoir? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines a memoir as “an account written by somebody about their life and experiences”. So a musical memoir is a musical account written by somebody about their life and experiences. This is an idea that’s been on my mind for a while, so I’d like to share it with you in this essay with the hope that you may find it inspiring. It’s a totally different way of approaching music, which we desperately need in this new AI age. Depending on the person
An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.
7mo ago · 6:06
An Effortless New Year’s Resolution. One simple question that will change your future. New year’s resolutions don’t work. All the studies on them reveal this same finding. Yet every January 1st, millions of people make them. Again. Knowing that they’ve never worked before. In fact, the only thing that works about a new year’s resolution is its ability to make people feel bad about themselves. Because when they inevitably fail, they need a way to numb that pain. And whatever that involves, it usually ends up with them in a worse state than they were in before they started. One step forward, two
The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!
8mo ago · 7:19
The Best Music Is Behind Us. But that’s a good thing! Here’s why… This essay began as a “Best Album of 2025” post, where I was going to share my favourite album of the year and what I loved about it. As you would have noticed from the title, though, it grew into something entirely different. Why? Well, according to Spotify’s Wrapped analytics, my favourite artist of 2025 (who I listened to for 5,495 minutes) has been dead for 275 years. Yep! The genius of geniuses J.S. Bach is my favourite artist of the year. In fact, Spotify tells me I’m a top 0.07% global fan of Bach. That’s my new claim to
The Geography of Musical Scales.
8mo ago · 6:06
The Geography of Musical Scales. Finding peace in pentatonic places. It’s thought that pentatonic scales are the most ancient of all the musical scales. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, it’s worth paying attention to these five-note scales because of their unique consonance. You see, they contain two fewer notes than the scales we’re used to hearing, so they have a spaciousness that no other scales have. It’s that characteristic which makes pentatonic scales sound so peaceful. Those two extra notes we use in seven-note scales create semitone intervals, which cause tension. But it’s pr
Music is Mind Control.
8mo ago · 8:30
Music is Mind Control. Lyrics are little Derren Brown’s in your brain. Do we have free will? That ancient question actually misses the point, because the concept of free will implies that we’re free to act on our desires. Okay. That’s fine. But where do our desires come from? That’s the real question! For example, if you get home from work and you’re trying to decide whether to go for a run or lie down on the couch. The concept of free will says that you have the freedom to choose. But whichever choice you make, underneath that decision is a desire. In this example, it’s the desire to be healt
This Is The Only Pure Music.
8mo ago · 9:07
This Is The Only Pure Music. A celebration of non-classical absolute music. Music has united people for millennia, but nowadays it’s been weaponized to divide us. I’ve personally experienced its uniting effects, though, so I know what’s possible. You see, I was born and raised in apartheid South Africa. I lived there until 1999, leaving a few months after Mandela’s presidency ended. I loved Mandela, and he probably did everything in his power to unite the country. However, the story you don’t often hear is that musicians were more successful in bringing the people together. Two of these musica
Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.
9mo ago · 4:57
Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs. There’s no way to avoid them, unless you do this… I’ve been speaking out against AI-generated music for a while now, but people keep telling me (proudly) that they don’t listen to songs made by AI. They also keep telling me (proudly) that AI songs are crap. Sadly, the only thing these comments tell me is that those people don’t understand that AI has a hidden presence in music. It doesn’t matter if you listen to jazz or classical or world or whatever genre (or artist) you think is not using AI, if it’s new music, they’re probably using AI. But not in the way
Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!
9mo ago · 7:01
Music Is Dead. Good Riddance! AI killed the recording star. Now what? Have you heard AI-generated music? It’s better than most of the music that humans are making nowadays. Even worse than that, though, is the fact that music generated by machines ironically sounds more human than most music made by people. But that’s nothing new. There’s been a dehumanizing trend in music ever since the drum machine became popular in the 1980s. That trend was turbocharged by the invention of Auto-Tune in the late ‘90s. Remember that awful hit-single from ‘98 with the robot-style singing? Yeah, you know the on
You vs Phone. Who Will Win?
9mo ago · 8:41
You vs Phone. Who Will Win? A musical method to take your attention back! How many seconds can you sit still and focus on your breathing, without your mind wandering? If you’re like most people nowadays, your answer to that question is somewhere under 10 seconds. Seriously. And that’s the “new normal”. Ever since the neolithic revolution, when humans first began to live in an unnatural way, we’ve had restless minds. Buddhists call this the monkey-mind, but I think we can update that to the scrolling-mind. While short attention spans have been a problem for a long time, the issue has gotten exp
The Uglification of Music.
9mo ago · 12:38
The Uglification of Music. Can a return to beauty save music? Okay I know you’ve just started reading this, but please stop (temporarily), then go and listen to the second movement of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Its nickname is “Air on a G String”, so just search for that. Even if you know this piece, please go and listen to it again. Then come back. I’ll wait… So how do you feel now? Calm and cleansed, right? It’s like a warm, relaxing, musical bath. That, my friend, is the power of beauty! It’s only about five minutes of music, but it literally changes our body’s chemistry
Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.
10mo ago · 8:00
Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert. Confessions of an INFJ. I’m a multi award-winning music lecturer with over 30 years of teaching experience, 10 of those years being at one of the UK’s largest colleges. I studied classical guitar, piano, and music theory (all to the highest grade) at the world-renowned Royal Schools of Music. Then I moved to Los Angeles to study contemporary guitar and vocals at the world-renowned Musicians Institute. On top of that, I’ve made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine).

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Ray Harmony

Episodes 130

This Song Makes You Feel Good.

Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd.

Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation.

Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health.

Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band.

Creating Calm Through Song Structure.

A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away.

Forget Meditation, Listen to Music.

Writers & Readers Against AI.

AI Human vs Human AI.

Musical Heroes in the AI Age.

We Are the Orchid Children.

The Music Theory of Fun.

Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?

Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.

An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.

The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!

The Geography of Musical Scales.

Music is Mind Control.

This Is The Only Pure Music.

Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.

Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!

You vs Phone. Who Will Win?

The Uglification of Music.

Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.

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Episodes 130

This Song Makes You Feel Good.

Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd.

Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation.

Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health.

Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band.

Creating Calm Through Song Structure.

A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away.

Forget Meditation, Listen to Music.

Writers & Readers Against AI.

AI Human vs Human AI.

Musical Heroes in the AI Age.

We Are the Orchid Children.

The Music Theory of Fun.

Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?

Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.

An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.

The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!

The Geography of Musical Scales.

Music is Mind Control.

This Is The Only Pure Music.

Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.

Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!

You vs Phone. Who Will Win?

The Uglification of Music.

Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.