A few eyebrows were raised in the MT commissioning meeting when I enthusiastically volunteered to review a book on the circle of fifths. I have an affinity for the harmonically arranged clockface – or, more specifically, the chord progression of the same name. I fondly remember my A Level music teacher playing us examples of the circle of fifths progression (in full: I–IV–vii–iii–vi–ii–V–I) used in Baroque and Classical music to the jazz standard Autumn Leaves and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive (but mainly I Will Survive). This approach was, in hindsight, pedagogically questionable, but it certainly did the trick; now, no matter what genre of music I’m listening to, my ears prick up when I hear that progression.
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