Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Shell and More

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

When it comes to extended harmonies, the most important tones are the third, seventh and ninth. So, in the key of C (major, dominant and minor), these are: Of course, this doesn’t make much sense in the ear until the … Continue reading →

Posted in changes, chord extensions, chord progression, color tones, guide tone lines, guitar shortcuts, harmonic structures, modal scales, modes, music theory, truncated chords, truncated harmonies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You Don’t Have To Play Every Note

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

Seems that most of the people who are seriously reading this blog are guitar players, so I’m going to take another break from actual guide tone lines and address this one to any guitar player who has encountered a chord … Continue reading →

Posted in changes, chord extensions, chord progression, color tones, common tone diminished, common tones, diminished chords, dissonance, dissonant intervals, harmonic structures, music theory, rhythm | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Finding The Guide Tone Lines: “All The Things You Are”

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

Now that we’ve picked this tune apart in terms of structure, it’s time to find the actual guide tone lines. Now, granted  we could have done this from the get-go – our analysis of the piece was not completely necessary. … Continue reading →

Posted in canon, chord progression, common tones, counterpoint, Great American Songbook, guide tone lines, harmonic structures, mathematics, music theory, nelson riddle, Orchestration, string section writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Over The Bridge

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

There is one more example of Jerome Kern’s use of the fourth worth mentioning before turning our attention to how beautifully this piece lends itself to the use of guide tone lines – and how easy they are to find. … Continue reading →

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Part 3: Not Not-Quite-As-Amazing (But Still Useful) Augmented Chord

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

When we arrive at the “B” section of All The Things You Are, the piece returns to the key of G major, where it started in the verse. Harmonically, this part of the piece consists of nothing more than a … Continue reading →

Posted in cadence, changes, changing keys, chord progression, common tone diminished, common tones, diminished chords, Great American Songbook, harmonic structures, Improvisation, key change, modulation, music theory, Orchestration | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Going Fourth, Part 2

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

Before we continue with our analysis of the refrain of Jerome Kern’s  All The Things You Are,  you may wish to go back and review the recording – then review my last post. After you’ve done that, give this a listen: These … Continue reading →

Posted in cadence, changes, changing keys, chord progression, common tone diminished, Great American Songbook, guide tone lines, harmonic structures, key change, modulation, music theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Getting From Here To There – Go Fourth…

Posted on March 6, 2012 by

In the last post, we examined the verse of Jerome Kern’s All The Things You Are – which, while not especially memorable from a melodic standpoint when compared to what follows (Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics here do set up the refrain … Continue reading →

Posted in baroque composers, baroque era, cadence, changing keys, chord progression, common tone diminished, common tones, diminished chords, dissonance, dissonant intervals, Great American Songbook, guide tone lines, harmonic structures, Improvisation, key change, modal scales, modes, music theory, Orchestration, Shenkerian Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Mathematics of It All

Posted on March 2, 2012 by

If you are anything like me, you struggled with math in school. Oh, I could write like Faulkner or Hemingway, play the saxophone like Jimmy Dorsey, draw like Rodin or Picasso….but when it came to numbers, I was lost. Eventually, … Continue reading →

Posted in baroque composers, changes, chord progression, contrary motion, counterpoint, Great American Songbook, guide tone lines, harmonic structures, mathematics, music theory, Orchestration, percussion, rhythm, rudiments, Shenkerian Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments