DOCSLIB.ORG

Web Resources for Learning Harmony

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Web Resources for Learning Harmony Web resources for learning harmony By Darrin Koltow [email protected] http://www.MaximumMusician.com What web resources exist to help us understand harmony and guitar chords? Which free software exists to help us understand harmony? Where can you find resources to show you where on the fretboard to play chords and how to play them? Keep in mind that you can think of harmony as a branch of the music theory tree. If you take that view, then getting better acquainted with music theory in general might help you understand harmony better. Musictheory.net revisited For that reason, have a look at “Theory Made Easy” at this URL: http://www.maximummusician.com/theory.htm if you haven’t already done so. The super cool Musictheory.net, which is the focus of the article, gives you an approach to easily understand how harmony works. It shows you how harmony interplays with other slices of the delicious pie of music. What if you don’t look at harmony and chords as just another music theory topic? How else can you approach the study of guitar chords and harmony? Chord progressions Let’s look at harmony from the standpoint of *music.* That’s what we want the result of all our guitar practicing to be, correct? We want to make music, to play songs. And what are songs? They’re chord progressions. Or, at least you can make understanding songs much easier by thinking of them this way. Where can you go on the web to get a free education in chord progressions? Your first stop might be Moneychords.com. Money Chords Moneychords gives you over 20 Popular Chord progressions to play and learn from, including over 75 lessons. Most sites give you just a handful of progressions. MC offers lessons on chords and chord progressions that musicians at every skill level can benefit from. Before you explore the Moneychords site, it’s useful to know something about chord progressions. Otherwise, using what the site has to offer you could be like winning a free new car that you have to assemble yourself. Instead, take the time to dig some tips on assembling a practical curriculum to learn harmony and chords with. Gotta know progressions If you want to play jazz, you’ll want to learn these progressions: - The Blues progression (I-IV-V), and some of its variations, including the minor Blues (Moneychords link http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/Blues.html) - Rhythm changes (http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/rhythmchanges.html) - The great and powerful ii-V-I (http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/jazzprog.html) - Coltrane changes (http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/coltrain.html) If you’re into rock, you’ll instead focus on learning the I-bVii-IV (http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/classicrock.html), the Blues, and other progressions. Keep these guidelines in mind when you visit Moneychords, because the site gives you a *large* selection of progressions, and not all of ‘em are going to be useful to you -- at least, not all at one time. Linking away A great thing about Moneychords.com is that it gives you many, many progressions that music is actually made with. Its knowledge is comprehensive, and not just a few articles about one vamp, for example. This treasure chest of chord info doesn’t all lie on one site. And that’s one of the reasons you can trust Moneychords. Rich Scott, the webmaster, does something that few guitar site webmasters do: he’ll give you links to other sites to learn from, without being preoccupied with his site’s visitor statistics. Some of the other sites MC directs you to have in-depth articles and lessons on chords that the typical guitar site just can’t give you. One of these links once led me to a web site based in England that features a deep, academic-oriented book that relates chord movements to natural language (http://www.harmony.org.uk/book/chap2_part2.htm). I don’t know how Rich digs up this stuff, but I’m grateful that he has. Besides different kinds of progressions, Moneychords gives you a glimpse into how all chord progressions work, and also how music itself works. There are specific links for Turnarounds (the last two bars of a progression that prepare you to go back to the beginning), Modulation (changing keys), song endings, cadences (the ends of progressions), Pedal Points (a single pitch repeated as chords change), and other topics. Guitar.to If you’ve checked out WholeNote.com already, and think that nothing else the web has to offer you could amaze you, as far as guitar info goes, check out Guitar.to. You may be amazed all over again. (Be aware that http://guitar.to/ is not a .com, if you’re typing it into your browser.) This site has these chord tools for you to use. They’re all *mostly* free. (More on this in bit): - guitar chord generator - chord name finder - tab generator The chord generator does just that: you enter chord quality, root and other info using drop down boxes and other controls. The generator will show you where to fret the chord on the guitar. It has *many* options and features, and that’s the amazing thing. You can change the tuning from standard (ebgdae) to another tuning; and you can learn chords with colorful extensions, such as the 7#9, 7b9, minor 11, and others. Options You can also choose the maximum fret distance you want the chord to cover. This will help you find those super easy chords that span 1 or 2 frets - - great if you’re a beginner, or your fingers are tired. Or, choose 4 and 5 fret spans for super hard chords, with literally impossible finger stretches, if you’re a total masochist. Besides telling the chord generator the number of frets you want the chord to cover, specify what fret you want the chord diagram to start at. If you don’t like the results from a particular chord diagram, another drop down box will present another variation of the same basic chord. This is great if you find a particular shape hard to play and need an easier one. If you’re a left-handed player, just click the “lefty” check box to get a mirror image of what right-handed guitarists use. This means you won’t have to waste time converting all those right-handed chord diagrams so you can read them. Cool feature. The author of this applet, Jim Cranwell, goes way overboard in making the chord generator useful to you, by letting you save each diagram you make, and printing out the full set when you’re done. Man, this site is almost more WholeNote than WholeNote. Chord name finder The chord name finder http://guitar.to/guitar/index.html is a useful tool for you to analyze a tune’s chords with. Or, let’s say you’re just shnoodling around, and come up with a really cool chord with these notes: E G and C. You want to find out what names you could put to that, to get hints for similar, cool-sounding chords. You enter the notes into the chord name finder. It reports back three names. One of ‘em is “Em aug5.” You say, “Ew. Too hard to say and spell.” You look at the other names: One of ‘em is C major. “Ahh,” you say. “So the C major is a kind of weird version of the E minor chord.” Then, you tell all your pals about this, and get looks like you’re from another planet. Online tab generator Guitar.to also has a tab generator for you, at http://guitar.to/tabber.html. Use this to notate music you’re composing, decomposing or transcribing. Change the tuning to any wacko combo you want. Enter fret numbers on a grid, and they show up as tablature on another part of the screen. Enter bar lines, chords, and move forward and back. Add hammers, pulls, and other effects. Save your work and print it out. One nifty feature is the “auto Blues,” which creates a random Blues riff in any key you choose. The downside One downside to all these applets on Guitar.to is the lack of sound. The only ways to get sound is to pay for the applets, or to make the music yourself, which is “how it ought to be” anyway. (Just call me the Rush Limbaugh of guitar). Another downside, with at least one of the applets (Chord Name Finder), is a nag dialog box. I’m not sure exactly how many times you’re allowed to use the applet, but a message box came up after I’d used it several times, preventing further usage of the applet. The message box directs you to paid versions of the app, which runs on your PC without needing an Internet connection. At $3.95, the Chord Name Finder is a pretty good deal. To beat the nag screen, you *could* remove the cookies the site deposits on your system. But, for a couple of reasons, I won’t explain how to kill the cookie Guitar.to gives you. One, it kind of goes beyond the topic of guitar stuff. And B), I don’t want to deny Jim Cranwell his deserved share of profits for the useful tools he’s provided. Chord generator with sound Here’s another online chord generator for you that *does* have sound: ChordFind, at http://www.chordfind.com/.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Enovation 8: Chord Shapes, Shifts, and Progression NOTE: Video and Audio Files Are Found in the Media Playlist at the Bottom of Each Lesson Page
    P a g e | 1 eNovation 8: Chord Shapes, Shifts, and Progression NOTE: Video and audio files are found in the media playlist at the bottom of each lesson page. eNovation 8 Overview Summary: In eNovation 8 the focus is on recognition and secure performance of commonly found chord shapes and facility in moving between these different shapes Goals on the keyboard. The theoretical understanding of primary chords is emphasized so that students can quickly play chords, harmonize melodies, and realize lead sheets. Key Elements: • Technique: Chord Shapes: 5/3, 6/3, 6/4, 6/5 • Technique: Chordal Shifts and Progressions I, IV6/4, V6/3 and I, IV6/4, V6/5 • Reading: Chords and Inversions • Rhythm: Sixteenth Notes in Compound Meters • Theory: Inversions / Slash Chord Notation • Cadences: I – V7 • Styles: Broken Chord, Alberti Bass, Waltz Bass, Polka, Keyboard Style Go to eNovation 8 Topic Page Topic 1: Introduction to Chord Shapes and Inversions / Sixteenth Notes in Compound Meter Lesson Goals In this eNovation, students learn the 'feel’ of the different chord shapes and to quickly and comfortably shift between them. They will learn how the figured bass symbols for chords and inversions assist in reading and playing chords by shape. Students will also develop understanding of structure, content and fingerings for the different chord inversions. Activity Type / Title with Links Instructions/Comments ☐ Video Inversion Fingerings Watch instructional video Chord inversions have a distinctive shape on the staff and keyboard which Chord Shapes and Figured Bass Inversion determines its figured bass designation. ☐ Theory Symbols (Video and Flashcards) Watch the video: Chord Shapes and Figured Bass Inversion Symbols, then drill with the video flashcards.
    [Show full text]
  • COOK Referential Sets Referential Tonics and the Analysis Of
    REFERENTIAL SETS, REFERENTIAL TONICS, AND THE ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY JAZZ by Scott Alexander Cook B.Mus, McGill University, 2004 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Music) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2012 © Scott Alexander Cook, 2012 ABSTRACT While jazz has become more integrated into academia, the repertoire that is commonly examined is out of date. Today's leading jazz scholars tend to focus on a handful of musicians who made their mark in the '50s and '60s. But jazz writing has continued to evolve in the last fifty years, particularly in regards to harmony. Though many rooted chords—including MM7, mm7, and Mm7—can be heard in succession, the relationships between adjacent chords are obscure, and rarely manifest the standard II–V–I progression found in classic jazz. Often, successive chords belong to different diatonic sets. Some composers have eliminated chord symbols from their lead sheets altogether, leaving harmonic interpretation and relationships even more open-ended. Since the inception of modal jazz in the late '50s, priority has been given to groups of notes and the ways that they can interact, as opposed to specific chords, keys, and function. This presents a challenge not only for harmonic analysis but also for improvising on these changes in performance. Nevertheless, pitch-class organization can often be heard to promote a hierarchical ranking amongst the chords, resulting in strong points of reference. This dissertation develops and applies a theory of referential sets, for analyzing and improvising over representative examples of chromatic chord successions found in some contemporary jazz.
    [Show full text]
  • Chord Reference Manual
    Musical MIDI Accompaniment MmA Chord Reference Manual This document was prepared from version 21.09 of MmA. Bob van der Poel Wynndel, BC, Canada [email protected] September 29, 2021 Chapter 1 Chord Reference This document is a reference to the chords and scales use in MmA. It has been generated directly from the module chordtable.py in the MmA sources. Each section shows the chord name, a brief description, the chord notes for a “C” chord, and the associated scale tones. These chords and scales are used in MmA to generate chords, bass, arpeggios, arias, harmonies and scales. In all cases you will need to preface the name with a chord pitch. For example, the reference for an 11th chord is listed simply as “11”; you would use a “C11” or “Eb11”, etc. in your MmA source file. Read the MmA Reference Guide if you don’t understand this. This document was prepared as a reference to verify the correctness of the chords and scales used in MmA. If you find an error, please let the author know. MmA defines 98 unique chords plus 62 aliases. Chords used in MmA via aliased names are listed after the main name. (♭5) — Major triad with flat 5th. MMA notatation requires the () around the name. E A EW EW E E E E E E E +7♭9♯11 — Augmented 7th with flat 9th and sharp 11th. EV EW EW EW A EV E E E E EV E E EW 11 — 9th chord plus 11th (3rd not voiced). E E EW EW A E E E E E E E E 2 Chord Reference 11+, 11♯5 — Augmented 11th (sharp 5).
    [Show full text]
  • Chord Names and Symbols (Popular Music) from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Chord names and symbols (popular music) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Various kinds of chord names and symbols are used in different contexts, to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and the corresponding symbol are typically composed of one or more of the following parts: 1. The root note (e.g. C). CΔ7, or major seventh chord 2. The chord quality (e.g. major, maj, or M). on C Play . 3. The number of an interval (e.g. seventh, or 7), or less often its full name or symbol (e.g. major seventh, maj7, or M7). 4. The altered fifth (e.g. sharp five, or ♯5). 5. An additional interval number (e.g. add 13 or add13), in added tone chords. For instance, the name C augmented seventh, and the corresponding symbol Caug7, or C+7, are both composed of parts 1, 2, and 3. Except for the root, these parts do not refer to the notes which form the chord, but to the intervals they form with respect to the root. For instance, Caug7 indicates a chord formed by the notes C-E-G♯-B♭. The three parts of the symbol (C, aug, and 7) refer to the root C, the augmented (fifth) interval from C to G♯, and the (minor) seventh interval from C to B♭. A set of decoding rules is applied to deduce the missing information. Although they are used occasionally in classical music, these names and symbols are "universally used in jazz and popular music",[1] usually inside lead sheets, fake books, and chord charts, to specify the harmony of compositions.
    [Show full text]
  • An Exploration of Cultural Transmission Through the Application of Jazz Theory to the Music of Frederic Chopin
    BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Fall 2020 An Exploration of Cultural Transmission through the Application of Jazz Theory to the Music of Frederic Chopin Aaron Michael King Missouri State University, [email protected] As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses Part of the Music Theory Commons Recommended Citation King, Aaron Michael, "An Exploration of Cultural Transmission through the Application of Jazz Theory to the Music of Frederic Chopin" (2020). MSU Graduate Theses. 3565. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3565 This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF JAZZ THEORY TO THE MUSIC OF FREDERIC CHOPIN A Master’s Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University TEMPLATE In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Music By Aaron Michael King December 2020 Copyright 2020 by Aaron Michael King ii AN EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF JAZZ THEORY TO THE MUSIC OF FREDERIC CHOPIN Music Missouri State University, December 2020 Master of Music Aaron Michael King ABSTRACT Connections between classical music and jazz were observed and detailed, providing an expanded understanding of the cultural underpinnings of Western music.
    [Show full text]
  • DESCRIPTION and STUDY GUIDE: Graduate Placement Examination
    DESCRIPTION AND STUDY GUIDE: revised 10/97 Graduate Placement Examination in Music Theory A placement examination in music theory is required of all graduate students before their first term of enrollment. The examination is given before the beginning of each term. Students who score below the designated levels must enroll in a prescribed course or courses at the first opportunity (review courses, if prescribed, are offered in the Fall and Summer terms each year). Part One: A. Notating a familiar melody. (10 points) The names of several familiar melodies e.g., “Home on the Range,” etc.) are given. The student is asked to choose one and notate it in a designated key. Time: eight minutes.1 B. Singing a melody at sight. (tested individually, 15 points) The notation of a melody is given. After one minute of preparation and a reference pitch from the piano, the student is asked to sing the melody. Note: In this instance, the melodies are not necessarily from a familiar repertory, but are equivalent in level of complexity. A typical example: C. Identifying chords in context. (25 points) The notation of a melody is given. Two performances of the melody with supporting chords at a tempo of MM = 60 will be heard. The student is asked to name the chords at the indicated locations.2 1 Special procedure can be provided for foreign students not acquainted with the given melodies. 6 2 Identification can be made by one of three methods: a) naming the root, quality, and position (e.g. A major 4 , E minor 6, etc.); b) by Roman numeral including Arabic position numbers (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Slash/Chords
    Slash/Chords few readers have asked about slash Exl Ex2 Ex3 chordsover the lastcouple of monthsso I thought it would good be a topic for FIA F/a CIG Guitar Cool. No, Slashchords are not named after the legendaryGuns n' Roses' guitarist- althoughhe doesplay these types of chords.Theyare chordsthat you see in music that look like F/A,or G/B.Verballymusicians call them'Fslash Al or'F overAl or'G with a B bassi There is hardly a modern music chart that hasn'tgot one or two of thesetypes of chords containedin it, knowing what these symbols mean and how to deal with them is oart of being a good musician,so take the time to learnthem well. Typicallypeople ask if the F/Ameans to play eitherF or A.Theanswer is no.Whatthe symbol meansis to playan F triad or chord as the top notes,while the A meansto add an A as the lowestnote, which can be seenin Example1 . It can be clearlyseen you havean F open- type chord at the first positionwith an open A as its bassnote in that example.Youplay all the notesat once.I won't get too far into the theory of why chordsare written like this as it would take a few pagesto discuss.Justso long asyou know what to do when you see such chord symbols is-the most important thing, rather than understandingthe complicatedtheory. Example2 showsan F chord with G as its lowest note (F/G).Example 3 is C/G,a simple open C chord with a G bass.Example 4 shows C asa barwith an A bass,and Example5 shows C with a Bb bass.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory 3 Summer Music Packet • Complete by 8/31/2020 • Email
    Theory 3 Summer Music Packet • Complete by 8/31/2020 • Email [email protected] with questions/help Chapter 3 IN;fRODUCTION TO TRIADS AND SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 3-1 A. Spell the triad, given the root and the type. Major triads are indicated by an uppercase letter (G), minor by an uppercase letter followed by the letter "m" (Gm), augmented by 0 0 a "+ " (G+ ), and diminished by a " " (G ). 1. Gm 4 . A 0 7. c• 10. F#m 2. rn 5. Fm 8 . A# 0 11. B+ - 3. D 0 6 . D~ 9. E 12. E~m B. Notate the triad, given the root and the ty pe. ex. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ,. 0 0 0 II 11:>= &o IIIIR 11$ 11 :2= 11$ 1111 11:>= 11 $ .0 II m M M + m m 0 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 '~ : .0 II &o 11:2= 11IIR 0 11:2= 11:2= 11$ II 11$ ~u 11$ &o 0 II m + M M m 0 M m 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ffo 0 0 II ~o II II I,, I II II II ll II II &o II II M 0 m M + m + i 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 I ' jl o .0 Ii :2= II II II &o II !1 11 II 0 II II II &o II M m m 0 M m M 19 C. Fill in the blanks. ex. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5th: _fil_ A~ F# B 3rd: E E~ B~ A Root: _£!_ D A~ G# FJ, Type: m + M m m m M + m D.
    [Show full text]
  • Chord Construction 101 Robert Higginbotham
    Chord Construction 101 Robert Higginbotham For simplicity’s sake we will start this lesson with an open C major scale as it has no sharps or flats. The example is considered an “open” scale because it uses “open” strings for some of the tones. Note that we speak in the language of scales the words ‘tones’, ‘pitches’, and ‘degrees’ mean the same thing i.e. the third tone of the C scale is E, the third pitch of the C scale is E, and the third degree of the C scale is E Just to really confuse you we might even use the word note – the third note of the C scale is E Major Triads (Major Chord) Most music theory states that a chord must have at least three notes (i.e. a triad). The major triad is the most fundamental chord. It consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of the major scale. These tones can be ‘stacked’ in any order (some are called inversions). With this in mind a C chord can be constructed as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. G C E E G E G E G C C C C C C E G G G G G E E E C C G Examples 1-4 above are inversions. Examples 5-7 are inversions with notes added. Notice that the notes we use in all of the examples above are either the first, third, or fifth degree of the C scale (i,e. they are either a C, and E, or a G).
    [Show full text]
  • Slash Chords
    Bb Gm Cm F Bb Gm Cm F ˙ b ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ & b c ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ 1. 2. Bb Ddim Eb Ebm Bb Gm Cm F Bb F Bb ˙ ˙ b ˙ b˙ ˙ b˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ w b ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ . ˙ ˙ w Am D Dm G w w w nw bb nw #w w w Gm C Cm F w w w w bb w nw w w Bb Gm Cm F Bb Gm Cm F ˙ b ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ b ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Bb Ddim Eb Ebm Bb F Bb ˙ b˙ ˙ b˙ ˙ ˙ w bb ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ w Note: I will not be going into 7th-chord voice-leading here. Please refer to Chapters XIV, XV and XIX. F. Slash Chords There is one common form of chord-symbol notation used to denote a chord with an alternate bass note. This type of chord-symbol uses a diagonal slash between components of the chord-symbol. Eg. D/C This means: "A Dmaj triad with C in the bass". Of this form of slash chord, there are two main types. (See below.) There is another, less common, form of chord-symbol notation used to denote one full chord (or more) stacked on top of another full chord. This type of chord-symbol uses a horizontal slash between components of the chord-symbol. D Example: C This means: "A Dmaj triad above a Cmaj triad." 1. Common Form a.) Inversion Indication 63 © 1998 J. M. Goldstein These types of diagonal slash chord-symbols involve denoting a simple inversion. I.e. One of the chord- tones other than the root is to be played in the bass. Examples: C/E is just a Cmaj triad in 1st inversion, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • MTO 12.1: Pat Martino's the Nature of Guitar
    MMuussiicc Thheeoorryy OOnnlliinnee The Online Journal of the Society for Music Theory Table of Contents MTO Home SMT Home Join SMT Volume 12, Number 1, February 2006 Copyright © 2006 Society for Music Theory Guy Capuzzo* Pat Martino’s The Nature of the Guitar: An Intersection of Jazz Theory and Neo-Riemannian Theory KEYWORDS: Pat Martino, Jazz Theory, Neo-Riemannian Theory, Guitar, Parsimonious Voice- Leading, John Coltrane, Giant Steps ABSTRACT: This paper studies a set of instructional materials by the renowned jazz guitarist and pedagogue Pat Martino, winner of Downbeat Magazine's 2004 reader's poll for jazz guitarist of the year. The materials, titled The Nature of the Guitar, represent an ongoing project of Martino's begun in 1972. The Nature of Guitar is remarkable in its degree of overlap with Neo- Riemannian ideas. After discussing excerpts from The Nature of Guitar that engage parsimonious voice-leading, I compare Martino's analysis of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" to that of Matthew Santa. Submission received November 2005 Music Theory Online 12.1 (2006) – page 2 Pat Martino’s The Nature of the Guitar: An Intersection of Jazz Theory and Neo-Riemannian Theory GUY CAPUZZO I: INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS [1.1] This paper studies a set of instructional materials by the renowned jazz guitarist Pat Martino, winner of Downbeat magazine’s 2004 readers poll for jazz guitarist of the year.1 The materials, titled The Nature of the Guitar, represent an ongoing project of Martino’s begun in 1972. The Nature of the Guitar is remarkable in its degree of overlap with neo-Riemannian ideas; much of it may be viewed online at www.patmartino.com.2 While I shall support my arguments with quotes from interviews with Martino (two of which I conducted), the aim of this paper is to survey the relations between Martino’s work and present-day neo-Riemannian theory, not to reconstruct the development of his theories.
    [Show full text]
  • COOK Dissertation Referential Sets Referential Tonics Revised 01
    REFERENTIAL SETS, REFERENTIAL TONICS, AND THE ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY JAZZ by Scott Alexander Cook B.Mus, McGill University, 2004 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Music) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2012 © Scott Alexander Cook, 2012 ABSTRACT While jazz has become more integrated into academia, the repertoire that is commonly examined is out of date. Today's leading jazz scholars tend to focus on a handful of musicians who made their mark in the '50s and '60s. But jazz writing has continued to evolve in the last fifty years, particularly in regards to harmony. Though many rooted chords—including MM7, mm7, and Mm7—can be heard in succession, the relationships between adjacent chords are obscure, and rarely manifest the standard II–V–I progression found in classic jazz. Often, successive chords belong to different diatonic sets. Some composers have eliminated chord symbols from their lead sheets altogether, leaving harmonic interpretation and relationships even more open-ended. Since the inception of modal jazz in the late '50s, priority has been given to groups of notes and the ways that they can interact, as opposed to specific chords, keys, and function. This presents a challenge not only for harmonic analysis but also for improvising on these changes in performance. Nevertheless, pitch-class organization can often be heard to promote a hierarchical ranking amongst the chords, resulting in strong points of reference. This dissertation develops and applies a theory of referential sets, for analyzing and improvising over representative examples of chromatic chord successions found in some contemporary jazz.
    [Show full text]