What if harmony is too small a word? This summer I’m beginning a new series called How Tones Fit Together, exploring one of music’s oldest questions in the broadest possible sense. From the harmonic series and the quadrivium to Bach, the blues, Taylor Swift, and musical traditions from around the world, we’ll explore how human beings have organized sound—and why melody, relationship, and listening may be the real foundations of music.

What if you could take moments from classical music you love and turn them into material for your own creativity? In Six Classical Moments You Love, I’ve taken six listener-suggested passages and reduced them to basslines you can explore, improvise on, and develop. Inspired by the tradition of partimenti—and by collections like those of Padre Martini—this free resource invites you to engage directly with the harmonic foundations of great music.