| |
|
|
is to
assist in conceiving and using modern jazz piano voicings.
Jazz differs from other music genres as to HARMONY, SWING and IMPROVISATION.
This book addresses harmony.
Jazz harmony has its own unmistakeable idiom.
Grounded in classical theory and governed by laws of functional relationships,
jazz harmony indulges in modulation to other key centers, straying outside
the key, skipping resolutions, taking surprise turns, substitutions, deceptive
cadences, all with colorful tone alterations, chromaticism, parallelism,
transmitting energy even in slow pieces. Voicings convey these qualities.
There's a number of books offering keyboard runs and melody patterns for
improvisation.
This book is their companion on chords.
To voice or design chords includes 2 steps:
(1) choice of the tones that go into the chord, notably what extensions
and alterations or if the voicing should be rootless;
(2) the layout of the chord, its interval spread, its structural configuration.
The purpose of voicing chords is manifold. While the primary function
of a chord is to determine the harmony, the way a chord is voiced confers
many additional traits. Chord design controls timbre, sonority and expressivity.
It creates emotions in the listener. Compare the incitation of an altered
dominant seventh voicing with the coolness of a quartal chord, the sweetness
of a tertial seventh sound and the purity of a major triad's second inversion.
Feel the different thrills coming from close and wide interval voicings.
Good chord voicing yields a logical and pleasing movement from one chord
to the next in harmonic progressions. Chord design can imply different
jazz styles; each era has its own way of voicing chords. It is also a
signature of your personal style.
Chord voicing lends character, variety and richness to the performance.
Part One of this book reviews fundamentals of jazz harmony, the types
of chords and their cadential relationship in harmonic progressions.
Part Two is the Voicings Thesaurus, a collection of chord configurations
and their concert in cadential patterns.
Part Three gives comping voicings for the blues as a practical application
of some of the material.
The voicings in this book stay within the realm of tonality. There is
chromaticism; some voicings may at first sound quite dissonant. But the
ear gets accustomed, educated, with time. What today sounds harsh seems
exciting tomorrow and perfectly normal next week. Non-tonal chromaticism
is not treated in this book. The Thesaurus, a quarry for voicings, serves
as a reference book for the student, arranger, composer, the accompanist,
and for all those interested in fresh voicing possibilities, perhaps to
smarten up a style that has stagnated in perpetuating the same tired,
old, "boilerplate" chords.
The musical theory in Part One is useful for all players including horns
and bass.
Part Two will be profitable for keyboards, vibraphone and even guitar.
The material offered is not exhaustive because countless other chords
than the ones presented can of course be constructed.
This book shows how.
You will start right away inventing your own voicings when you have seen
this book thus enriching your personal harmonic arsenal.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK:
|
|
| |
|
|
Part One answers questions as
to why and when to play certain harmonies and chord progressions.
It prepares for the material presented in Part Two which shows how to
play them.
The chapters in Part Two have their corresponding counterparts in Part
One as the theoretical backup. Part Two, the Thesaurus, is the core of
the book and will be most referred to.
The voicings appear mostly as 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4 notes. When comping play them
in varied rhythms and articulation.
Most of the voicings are shown in the key of C for easier learning and
quick comparisons. Many will sound much better in another key and/or fit
more comfortably under the hands. The ease of spanning wide intervals
varies with the key.
If a chord is too wide for the hand, "roll" it as a fast arpeggio, or
play the hard-to-reach key with the other hand. The hands gradually stretch
with practice. The voicings are often written in a lower than clear-sounding
register to avoid many ledger lines.
If a voicing sounds too mushy down there, play it one octave higher or
in another key.
Left hand voicings are given for the various chord categories and progressions
to free the right hand for melodic improvisation.
Left hand voicings can just as well be played by the right hand while
the left plays roots or walking bass.
Experiment with the voicings omitting notes, especially the lower ones
and the roots.
Duplicate chord voices at an octave's distance, especially the top voice.
Try inversions and 1/2-step sliding into the chord from above or below.
It goes without saying that maximum benefit is obtained by mastering the
voicings in all keys. Mark your favorite chords and progressions and run
them first through those keys and cadential ranges you most frequently
use.
Add more keys later.
|
|