I look forward to you besting Count Basie or even Count Dracula! I know I can count on you my dear boy. Welcome back. I thought we'd lost you.

 

Not sure about besting basie
Thanks
Certainly a crazy last few years !
Bananas

 

I immediately wrote these lyrics after reading your comment.

I will use them to write a new song

Blessed life

Never rest
Blessed life
He strives to be a better man
For his future wife
His life is not quite
What it appears like
On the surface
Emerging into the depths
To discover his purpose
Blessed life
Where Beauty is discovered
And triumph is on the horizon
Would you lie to yourself
To avoid discomfort son?
Authenticity
Integrity
This Blessed life
Reveals
That
Dignity
Respect
Don't come free
The sacrifice is steep
To deliver
Every ounce of effort
Gritting your teeth
In discomfort
The world will beat you down
And gratitude for the things you do
Is never found
How do you react ?
This is the test
Guess what
Only
Champion knows best
No rest
For the blessed life
Never be deceived
By the jaded
Nihilism is only for the
Heart of the faded
You can bet every
Dollar you own
He pulls himself
Up from the wretched shadows
Wipes away his tears
And his fear
He is blessed
This life is nothing
But a test
I
Will
Never
Rest

 

An old song will be alright..

 

basie on tatum>

 

I'm fostering doubt.

 

this is a good old song i made in 1999

JACQ - InstrumentalX | Jamendo Music | Free music downloads

 

this is still some my most favorite music to listen to!

(19) Those 7 Times Oscar Peterson Went Next Level Genius | bernie's bootlegs - YouTube

 

Words of wisdom...

 

now back to the lessons.

what is a Chord Symbol and how to actually use it?
we will now look at how to unpack a chord symbol into all of it's playable options.

going back to our trusty ole' C major key haha

let's take the tonic function chord C6 (CEGA)

a chord symbol is an abstraction a symbolic representation of the function.

in this case C6 ( C Major 6TH) is a Parental form.

C root
E 3rd
G 5th
A 6th

it combines the maj triad of the key CEG, and the minor triad of the key ACE

and combines them into 1 form Cmaj6 (CEGA)

it is dualistic because it is also an Aminor7 ACEG (C6 CEGA)
this is why it is a parental form.
*more on this later..

let's unpack C6 CEGA
step1 is the INVERSIONS
CEGA
EGAC
GACE
ACEG

4 inversions PER octave

step2 is to create voicings {grips}( ..make something playable from it)

there are 3 different starter playable voicings for all 4 note (7th) chords
the Drop 2 voicing
the Drop 3 voicing
the Drop 2&4 voicing

a drop voicing is simple you count from the top down by the number and drop that note down an octave for each inversion of the chord symbol.

C6 drop2 voicings.

CEGA..drop2 is...GCEA (drop the 2nd highest note G down octave
EGAC..drop2 is...AEGC (drop the 2nd highest note A down octave
GACE..Drop2 is...CGAE (drop the 2nd highest note C down octave
ACEG..drop2 is...EACG (drop the 2nd highest note E down octave

now we have out complete set of information.

C6 drop2 means four grips *voicings per octave covering the entire instrument in 4note voicings.
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now
CGAE
EACG
GCEA
AEGC
*starting over next octave higher now

so now, we understand fully what the symbol...
{ C6 drop2} means.
the entire range of instrument covered in very specific playable voicings 4 of them per octave from low to high of the instrument.

*Note the C6 drop2 can and is often spread across the range of multiple instruments also.
so each note of the voicing can be played by a separate instrument for 4 voicings per octave for the entire range of all those instruments.

that is Drop2
drop3 for example is dropping the 3rd highest note from the top of each inversion giving 4 voicings per octave
drop2&4 for example is dropping the 2nd and 4th highest notes form the top , each down by 1 octave to create 4 voicings per octave covering the entire 7 octave range.

we are now beginning to see how to start of with a simple chord symbol and unpack what that symbol actually means and represents.

once you memorize and become comfortable with the drop2,drop3,drop2&4
you can then begin to mix and match parts of them to create more unique voicings that you enjoy.

the #1 takeway being that a chord symbol represents that collection of notes hilighted on the entire instrument from low to high.
those sets of notes in every combination is what a chord symbol actually means.
* how to take the abstract chord symbol which represents A Function in the Key center


we use the principle of "voice leading" with melodic contour
in combination with the principle of "octave displacement" on weak beats at our own discretion.

remember previously how i described how melodic gravity (energy in motion) works with functional harmony is that
you take your chord symbol.. C6 CEGA in our case
and melodically this means on strong beats of the measure you play "chord tones"

this means for the entire function in combination with your chosen chord symbol.

C6 is representing the tonic function, which means
chord tones are Cmaj13#11
C is root
E is 3rd
G is 5th
B is 7th
D is 9th
F# is #11th
A is 13th

these 7 notes are what you play on strong beats 1&3 (chord tones)

next, on weakbeats 2&4 of a measure you play those 7 notes as well as the remaining 5 notes *all 12 notes*

but, in a very specific way where the weak beat's all 12 notes create embellishment that pulls with gravity towards landing on the strong beat chord tones as an accent. ( energy in motion)

example.

key is C major

chosen chord is C6 to represent the tonic function

strong beats 1& 3 have the notes CDEF#GABC (chord tones)
weak beats 2&4 have the notes C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C

lastly, the thing you actually do WITH these notes is create melodic contour through voice leading with octave displacment to create energy in motion or ( melodic gravity ) IE "good melodies"

we pay attention to melodic contour and rhythmic contour while construcing these melodies from the chord symbol using strong beats as gravity and weak beats as embellishment.

here is simple example.

key of Cmaj
tonic function chord selected
C6

functional blueprint is simple, it is just
(tonic)/(tonic)/(tonic)/(tonic)
C6.........C6.......C6......C6....

*we looking at simplest example first

now, here is the first melody example.

step 1 mark our chord tone accents on the strong beats (C6)

1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4....
.....................G.......C.......E...................

step 2 fill in our weak beats to create embellishment by melodic gravity emphasizing the landing last note which rings for 1 bar

1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4....
................G#.G...B...C...F...E...................

create and listen to this melody yourself with a stabbing
C6 drop2 voicing and C bass instrument as accompaniment while the last note of this melody rings for 1 bar.

we just created our first melodic contour! and now you are own your way to building a musical vocabulary

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2023

we have covered quite a lot of information now.
now let's look at how a song section or chord progression is built!

let's setup our specific context.
Key of Cmaj/A rel min

we have our three different functions as the deepest level of meaning everything will represent.
Tonic hero
Subdominant adventure
Dominant villain

next, we have our 3 possible
Functional blueprints.


our first Functional blueprint is....
1. (Tonic)/(Subdominant)/(Tonic)
the hero's journey .
we begin with tonic establishing the hero of the story
next we move toward subdominant which is adventure.
lastly we end on tonic the hero is victorious and returns home transformed from an adventure.

our 2nd Functional blueprint is...
2.(Tonic)/(Dominant)/(Tonic)
we begin with tonic establishing the hero of the story
next we move toward the dominant function entering the villain of the story in battle.
lastly we move to tonic function, our hero was victorious in battle against the villain.

our 3rd Functional blueprint is...
3.(Subdominant)/(Dominant)/(Tonic)
the epic battle!
we begin with subdominant function starting us off directly on an adventure!
next we move to dominant function the villain enters we move to tonic function , our hero was victorious
in battle with the villain!

* note!

these functional blueprints can be modified by duplicating the function on each end in order to make the progression an even 4/4
for example.

let's take our 1st blueprint the heros journey.
(tonic)/(sundominant)(tonic)
we will transform it into

(tonic)(tonic)(subdom)(tonic)
this gives us a chord per measure now and also
changes the emotional impact slightly...

we start with tonic establishing the hero of the story.
we stay at tonic for bar 2 establishing the hero's home.
we move to subdominant function going on adventure.
we end on tonic function which eastablishes a sucessfull adventure.

next, let's modify the 1st functional blueprint again but differently duplicating the function at the end instead.
(tonic)(subdom)(tonic)(tonic)

we start with tonic function establishing the hero of story.
we move to subdominant function establishing adventure,
we move to tonic function establishing victory
we stay on tonic function for 4th bar establishing the hero's home.


modifying the 2nd functional blueprint is quite similar in that we are duplicating
the tonic functions on each end that accomplish the same thing as above emotionally.
2. the hero defeats the villain
(tonic)(dominant)(tonic)

becomes
(tonic)(tonic)(domiant)(tonic)

or
(tonic)(dominant)(tonic)(tonic)

they are slightly different to the meotional story as described above

let's now look at the 3rd functional blueprint
3. the epic battle! *aka Cadence
(subdominant)(dominant)(tonic)

we get these options

(subdom)(subdom)(dominant)(tonic)
making the adventure longer before encountering the villain and ending in victory

or

(subdom)(dominant)(tonic)(tonic)
creating the emotional story that the hero was sucessful after going on a journey , encountering then defeating the villain, then finally returing home at the end.


these 3 functional blueprints ( with their modifications)
are the building blocks at every scale of detail.

what this means is that these 3 functional blueprints
include all "Tonicizations" , and "modulations"

let's look at "tonicization" first.
this is when you further emphasis a function by giving
appying the 3 functional blueprints to a particular function itself in a fractal like manner.

let's see a simple example...

key of C major

we begin with the 1st functional blueprint
"heros journey"

(Tonic)/(Subdominant)/(Tonic)
.Cmaj7....Fmaj7..........Cmaj7...


step 2 we apply "tonicization" to just the Fmaj7 (subdominant function)
by appying the 3rd functional blueprint the epic battle

let's begin by plucking out the Fmaj7 by itself

(Tonic)
Fmaj7

next, we apply the 3rd functional blueprint
(Subdominant)(Dominant)(Tonic)
Gmin7.............C7..........Fmaj7..


next, we insert this in place of the original Fmaj7 (subdominant)

Key of Cmajor
(Tonic)/(Subdominant)/(Tonic)
..Cmaj7....Fmaj7..........CMaj7

becomes
Key of Cmajor
(Cmaj7)/{(Gmin7)/(C7)/(Fmaj7)}/(Cmaj7)

.............^---Tonicization-----^.............

by giving the Subdominant function it's own functional blueprint (the 3rd one)
we create further energy in motion adding exclamation point on the subdominant function
so that when we move from Fmaj7/ CMaj7 .. that landing on CMaj7 is even more pronounced than before!

this is called tonicization.

now, notice how this has expanded our chord progression .. but .. we only have 5 bars?

we can further develop it with the principles from earlier.

(Cmaj7)/{(Gmin7)/(C7)/(Fmaj7)}/(Cmaj7)
(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

we can place a tonic at the start....

.........(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

(Tonic)/(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

or instead we can place the tonic function at the end....

(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............
(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

now, we can see we have 6 bars and a developing chord progression turning into a song section!

Next let's go back to our original progression once more.
****rewinding ...blip bloop beep bepp zip!***

let's see a simple example...

key of C major

we begin with the 1st functional blueprint
"heros journey"

(Tonic)/(Subdominant)/(Tonic)
.Cmaj7....Fmaj7..........Cmaj7...

*stop here*

we had plugged in those particular chord symbols to represent those functions

now, let's plug in different specific chord symbols and use tonicization a 2nd time.

Key of C major

we begin with the 1st functional blueprint
"heros journey"

(Tonic)/(Subdominant)/(Tonic)
Amin7......Dmin7.........Amin7

next..

apply tonicization to the subdominant function.
* note.. this time because Dmin7 is our Subdominant function chord ..
we pluck out our (subdominant) Dmin7

now we apply the 3rd functional blueprint to Dmin7 to create the tonicization.

(Subdom)/(Dominant)/(Tonic)
Emin7b5/.....A7b9..../Dmin6

next we insert this where our subdominnat function was

(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............

Amin7/Emin7b5/A7b9/Dmin6/Amin7

now we have our tonicization further emphasising the Subdominant function which adds and exclamation point
to our tonic function landing Amin7 at the end!

as before we can add a tonic function to each end to make an even 6 bars..

we can place a tonic at the start....

.........(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

(Tonic)/(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............

or instead we can place the tonic function at the end....

(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............
(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^...............


let's look closer at dong this now...

(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............

Amin7/Emin7b5/A7b9/Dmin6/Amin7


becomes...

(Tonic)(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)
...................^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............

C6/Amin7/Emin7b5/A7b9/Dmin6/Amin7

or

(Tonic)/{(subdom)/(dom)/(tonic)}/(Tonic)(Tonic)
............^..^SUBDOMINANT^..^.............

Amin7/Emin7b5/A7b9/Dmin6/Amin7/C6





we are learning that the harmony information is Fractal in nature.
the relationships work the same at all scales of detail whether zoomed in or zoomed out.

the KEY of Cmaj/ Amin
has the relationships described above in the very first part of the lesson.

then , all those relationships which applied to the key
apply to the individual functions (tonicizations)

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2023

sorry to say but this is a completely wrong approach to music mr MMJ, I feel you have to discover why by yourself, it could take seconds, days or even years.

 

lol haha
thanks for sharing !
* I absolutely adore Sketch comedy! :D

my response to you are the 1st draft lyrics i spent 43 seconds to write earlier while multitasking cooking breakfast.

I will use them to write a new song

Blessed life

Never rest
Blessed life
He strives to be a better man
For his future wife
His life is not quite
What it appears like
On the surface
Emerging into the depths
To discover his purpose
Blessed life
Where Beauty is discovered
And triumph is on the horizon
Would you lie to yourself
To avoid discomfort son?
Authenticity
Integrity
This Blessed life
Reveals
That
Dignity
Respect
Don't come free
The sacrifice is steep
To deliver
Every ounce of effort
Gritting your teeth
In discomfort
The world will beat you down
And gratitude for the things you do
Is never found
How do you react ?
This is the test
Guess what
Only
Champion knows best
No rest
For the blessed life
Never be deceived
By the jaded
Nihilism is only for the
Heart of the faded
You can bet every
Dollar you own
He pulls himself
Up from the wretched shadows
Wipes away his tears
And his fear
He is blessed
This life is nothing
But a test
I
Will
Never
Rest

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2023

I find this very interesting and useful.. I used the Cmaj this and composed a trck with tonic subdominant and dominant in just a few hours it may be shit but it was a great exercise and different from my usual ways.
here's the link... no shame it's just a practice. let me know what you think...

 

Hell yeah

Sounds cool !

Being able to see and understand every possibility is musical fluency.

 

PDF file please

 

Once it is all complete I'll see of i can do that.
It is important to me to have interaction though where people can ask questions to get clarification because this information certainly is highly compressed and needs to be unpacked to understand the details and how all the relationships fit together.
When everything is complete I will try and see if it is possible to fit in that type format because there are going to be examples audio and video companion information. This set of information isn't meant to be on a shelf in a library or on a laptop .
It has to be memorized and practiced to use it.
The only meaning and purpose of this is to help people pragmatically.
( by learning and using the entire set of possibilities with functional harmony)
Thank you for your reply.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_of_the_dissonance

PS_1:
After the emancipation of dissonance, personal harmonies emerged and everything became possible in music. In personal harmony, the only criterion of judgment is each person's ears.

PS_2
Is dissonance able to be emancipated in reality or it was just an unproven allegation?

 

Last edited: Nov 30, 2023

Yeah, too much compressed info here without clear explanation/s. Too many questions to ask and too lazy to post them all. This isn't really a way to do this sort of thing. Nevertheless, cheers to MMJ2017 for attempting to do it anyway.

 

Even if you hear the clear and complete explanations, in the end it is your decision to be convinced and believe them or not to be convinced. Because music topics are very fluid and individual interpretations are very effective in accepting or rejecting them.