EMC's Functional Harmony Thread (or, How i learned to love the circle of 5ths)

[dogletnoir]

And speaking of activity, here's a take on a Charlie Parker classic:
Scrapple From The Apple

Key of F Major
The chord progression is based on 'Honeysuckle Rose' with a bridge from 'I've Got Rhythm'.

Form is AABA:
8 measures with a one bar first turnaround,
then the second 8 measures with a one bar second turnaround,
then the B section (no actual written melody is provided for the
B section; the chart just says 'solo'),
then play the second A section again.

 

[Electgumbo]

I'm not beyond nuthin'. That's for posting.

Your welcome @Dadocaster

Anything that helps...helps.

@El Gobernador
It just seems to work. The book I mean. They hold it in their hands and spin the wheel to any position and see what is what. The relative Minor of G is E… Why? It’s the sixth note in the scale. Why? Cause you count up to the sixth note in the scale from G and you get E. And then they see it’s the same in all keys…. The third, the fifth…. Something about holding that book and playing with the wheel flips a switch somehow.

And they seem to trust it…. The wheel is always right! Cause it is.

And it’s one of those hurtles you must understand…. If you can’t understand Do Ra Mi stuff no use going any farther.

There's also this version that AxemanVR linked earlier in the thread:

Interactive Circle of Fifths

randscullard.com

Nice to see a bit of activity/interest here again!

@dogletnoir
Yes I seen the on line version mentioned earlier. Either way is fine. But I like the book with its rather simple even childish wheel on the cover. But I think that’s part of its charm. The stupid little wheel shows all the basic building blocks of Western Harmony… laid out for anyone to see. In any key …”Whoop Dere It Is!”

Maybe I forgot about it but I don’t remember this thread at all.

Oh and it helps me too. My shot glass of music theory knowledge leaves a lot to be desired …. But if I can get to a coffee cup I’d be Hell on wheels.

 

[Quikstyl]

Instead of piggybacking this material onto other threads such as the Q & A sticky,
i thought i should probably start my own, and so... here we are.

Welcome to my Functional Harmony thread!

Many of the concepts we will be discussing here are things that i have
attempted to incorporate in the Practical Jazz and Practical Music Workshops
that i've hosted personally, so please excuse any repeated information if it's
something you've already seen and have internalized.

This first post will definitely duplicate what i've posted elsewhere but since it's really
the basis for everything else we'll be talking about here, its reiteration is not a bad thing.

i'm just going to leave this here for future reference:

View attachment 387371

It is the 'key' to unlocking so much of functional harmony.
Study it, figure out the various patterns it contains...
and you will travel far along the path of musical righteousness.


First step:
Look at the circle of 5ths diagram above.
The Outer Circle spells out the 12 diatonic Major Keys.
Starting from the key of C at the top, as we rotate clockwise,
we move upwards by the interval of a perfect 5th each time,
and each new key adds one more accidental, which will be a sharp (#)...

C (no sharps), then G (one sharp, which occurs on the 7th scale degree), so
G A B C D E F# and then back to G, the 8th scale degree, or octave.

The D Major scale would be the next in line, and we retain the F# from the previous key,
and add one more sharp on the 7th scale degree of our new key:
D E F#G A B C# D.

In A major we would carry over both sharps from the previous key,
and add one more on the 7th degree once again, so we now have:
A B C# D E F# G# A

The Major scale pattern is always the same, with half steps occurring between steps 3 and 4 and between 7 and 8.

If we look at the diagram again and move counterclockwise from C this time, we are still ascending
(this is the tricky part visually and conceptually), but by the interval of a perfect 4th now,
and each click in that counterclockwise direction adds one flat (b).

C (no flats, the only 'natural' major key), then F Major (one flat):
F G A Bb C D E F.
For the next key, we keep the Bb (obviously, since it's now the root or 'tonic' of our new key, LOL),
and add one more flat on the new key's 4th step to arrive at Bb Major:
Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

The next counterclockwise key is Eb Major, and guess what we're going to do?
That's right, the previous key's 4th step has again become our new tonic , and now
we'll carry over our previous flats, and add another one to the new key's 4th step:
Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

Next key: Ab Major:
Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

Are you starting to see the patterns?
Each new clockwise key moves to the 5th, keeps any previous sharps, and adds a sharp to the new key's 7th scale degree.
Each new counterclockwise key moves to the 4th, keeps any previous flats, and adds a flat to the new 4th scale degree.
At the bottom of the circle is F#, which is also enharmonic Gb (in equal temperament, of course, LOL again).

"Ahh, but if I'm counting backwards, aren't I going down 5 steps, not 4?", i hear you saying.

Yes, in fact you are... welcome to the world of inversions.

A lot of basic music theory is actually just simple math.
Any given interval plus its inversion gives a sum of 9.
So up 5 steps will give you the same pitch name as down 4.
Conversely, up 4 steps will give you the same pitch name as down 5.
And up 6 will give you the same pitch name as down 3.
Try it:
C D E F G A B C...
move up 6 steps starting from C, and you will arrive at A.
Count back 3 steps from C, and you get back to... wait for it... A again.
Count up 3 scale degrees from the C and you arrive at E.
Count down 6 scale degrees from C and you are back at E once more.
Add 6 + 3, and the sum is... 9.
9 is our magic number when it comes to inversions.

Major intervals invert to minor ones, and minor intervals invert to major ones.
A to C is an interval of a minor 3rd, while C to A is an interval of a major 6th.
The exception to this: 4ths and 5ths are 'perfect' intervals, so they stay major either way.
We'll look at inversions a bit more closely when we get into chord construction later on.


Stay tuned... next we'll enter the 'Inner Circle'...
but we've already received the 'key' to the door.

Thank you for posting this! As a teenage metalhead in the late 80's I learned Aeolian first and, as a result, I view modes through that lens. So when I play F Lydian I'm thinking Am. D Phrygian is Gm. Can't wait to dive into your lessons!

 

[El Gobernador]

The relative Minor of G is E… Why? It’s the sixth note in the scale. Why? Cause you count up to the sixth note in the scale from G and you get E. And then they see it’s the same in all keys…. The third, the fifth…

For those that need a visual reference, sure.

If you look at a minor 7th chord as a vi chord ( not a ii or iii), it will have the triad for the vi and the I.

Am7.
ACEG.
6135.
ACE = Am. The vi chord in the key center of C
CEG = C major. The I.

So when I play F Lydian I'm thinking Am

When you play F Lydian, you're playing the 4th degree of C major.

Diatonic harmony starts with a major parent scale. You build the chord progressions by using the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th scale degrees (modes) of that parent scale. Ionian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, and Locrian.

 

[dogletnoir]

@dogletnoir
Yes I seen the on line version mentioned earlier. Either way is fine. But I like the book with its rather simple even childish wheel on the cover. But I think that’s part of its charm. The stupid little wheel shows all the basic building blocks of Western Harmony… laid out for anyone to see. In any key …”Whoop Dere It Is!”

Maybe I forgot about it but I don’t remember this thread at all.

Oh and it helps me too. My shot glass of music theory knowledge leaves a lot to be desired …. But if I can get to a coffee cup I’d be Hell on wheels.

You can spin the wheel on the interactive version too.
i haven't checked out that book you reccommend, but
the main point of all of this stuff is that all of the relationships
stay the same no matter what key you're in.
Once you get that, a ii V I is just a ii V I whether you're in F
or in Ab.

 

[El Gobernador]

If you can count to 7, you can understand diatonic harmony.

 

[crankmeister]

A/K/A 'approach notes'.
These are often seen as part of an enclosure, which is a group of 3 notes that
'encloses' a target note within an arpeggio or scale using chromatics, scale steps,
and/or a combination of both.

So, for example, is this where hitting the flat 9 over a dominant chord comes into play?

Or #11? (idk have any idea which chord(s) the #11 is customarily played over.

 

[dogletnoir]

So, for example, is this where hitting the flat 9 over a dominant chord comes into play?

Or #11? (idk have any idea which chord(s) the #11 is customarily played over.

In the first instance, a 7b9 is a fairly common alteration/substitution
for a straight up dominant 7th chord, so the 'enclosure' would be to
play the octave and the unaltered 9th around the b9.
The #11 would be a feature of Lydian Dominant (the 4th mode of a
melodic minor scale), which is a very cool sound indeed.
Jens Larsen breaks it down pretty well here:

 

[crankmeister]

In the first instance, a 7b9 is a fairly common alteration/substitution
for a straight up dominant 7th chord, so the 'enclosure' would be to
play the octave and the unaltered 9th around the b9.
The #11 would be a feature of Lydian Dominant, which is a very cool
sound indeed.
Jens Larsen breaks it down pretty well here:

Thanks. I do like Jens.

Also, not clear on what “enclosure” means. Is that like “framing” the flat 9? i.e. enclosing it between the 8 and the 9? Is that played all at once (sounds too dissonant to me, even for jazz)? or is the flat 9 supposed to be that passing note, a chromatic shift down to what’s about to be the 5th of tonic?

(Hope my vocab makes sense.)

And you mentioned “alteration.” The whole altered concept seems like it needs its own sticky thread. It seems so open-ended and beyond me.

 

[davidKOS]

In the first instance, a 7b9 is a fairly common alteration/substitution
for a straight up dominant 7th chord, so the 'enclosure' would be to
play the octave and the unaltered 9th around the b9.

Good points!

But I'll also add the idea that a V7b9 chord is strongly indicative of the harmonic minor scale, which is where both the diminished 7 chord and the 7b9 are derived. these cords do not occur in any diatonic natural scale, only in synthetic scales.

C D Eb F G Ab B C

note there is a way to find the 7b9 in the melodic minor scale too...you need a major V chord but a b9 on that chord, which is a b6 in the home scale.

C melodic minor ascending:

C D Eb F G A B C

descending

C Bb Ab G F Eb D C.

So the V7 that used the ascending natural 7, the B, allows us to make a V7 in Cm.

G B D F

The Ab in the descending scale allows for the b9 to G. The B9 is in relation to the root of the V chord, not the actual scale degree in the parent mode.

G B D F Ab

The harmonic minor scale is a bit easier since the Ab and the B natural are in the harmonic minor scale both ascending and descending.

 

[davidKOS]

In the first instance, a 7b9 is a fairly common alteration/substitution
for a straight up dominant 7th chord, so the 'enclosure' would be to
play the octave and the unaltered 9th around the b9.
The #11 would be a feature of Lydian Dominant, which is a very cool
sound indeed.
Jens Larsen breaks it down pretty well here:

Lydian Dominant

that was a popular concept in jazz theory a few decades ago....wasn't it George Russell?

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity by George Russell​

"Composer, theoretician, band leader, George Russell, first published the Lydian Chromatic Concept in 1953"

Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Russell's work postulates that all music is based on the tonal gravity of the Lydian mode"

"Russell focuses on the Lydian mode because it can be built with fifths"

 

[dogletnoir]

Is that like “framing” the flat 9? i.e. enclosing it between the 8 and the 9?

Exactly.
That would be a chromatic enclosure...

but you could also do a diatonic enclosure around a target note as well.


Enclosures are a good way to break up scalar passages so they don't
sound so much like technical exercises.

 

[dogletnoir]

Lydian Dominant

that was a popular concept in jazz theory a few decades ago....wasn't it George Russell?

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity by George Russell​

"Composer, theoretician, band leader, George Russell, first published the Lydian Chromatic Concept in 1953"

$3K for that book???
It's a great book, but... OMG.

 

[davidKOS]

$3K for that book???
It's a great book, but... OMG.

Actually you can find the original book online as a free pdf. Just search for "Lydian Chromatic Concept" as a pdf.

Sorry, I just was posting the most recent Russell thing...and I agree, what is it, a one of a kind museum piece? It's what a used seller is asking (hoping) to get for a 2001 book.

 

[Bowmap]

$3K for that book???
It's a great book, but... OMG.

I found it as a download... I haven't bought it yet. $10 for the download.

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity

George Russell, 0970373902, 978-0970373908, 9780970373908

www.bookdownload.org

 

[dogletnoir]

The whole altered concept seems like it needs its own sticky thread. It seems so open-ended and beyond me.

One of the simplest explanations for altering a note in a diatonic chord
would be to match a note in the melody line.
Another use:
Having one (or more) of these notes in a resolving dominant chord greatly
increases the bite in the chord and therefore the power of the resolution.
In jazz harmony, chromatic alteration is either the addition of notes not
in the scale or expansion of a [chord] progression by adding extra
non-diatonic chords.
Another use would be to create tension in a solo by using notes outside of the
strict diatonic framework... but 'outside' should eventually come back 'inside'
if you want to reach most people.
It's about context; you try to establish where 'home' is, so that you have a
point of departure and a point of return for the listener when they come along
on the journey with you.

But yes, this is one of those topics that is both fairly simple in concept and
extraordinarily complex in its application; things can get very deep pretty fast.

Most folks won't get past the 3rd level before things start sounding a bit 'off'
to them, LOL.

 

[Johnnyg123]

Wow. How did I just discover this thread now.....

Looks like I need the rest of my life to digest it.

 

[dogletnoir]

Wow. How did I just discover this thread now.....

Looks like I need the rest of my life to digest it.

LOL... well, it's a sticky, so it's not going anywhere for awhile.
Take your time with it, and if you have any questions about the
material, feel free to either post them here or to DM me.

 

[dogletnoir]

Understanding the harmony of a tune becomes even more important
when there isn't another instrument covering chordal accompaniment.

This is a tune i've been playing for quite some time, but it's one of my
very favourite Thelonious Monk compositions and although it was first
recorded in 1947, it still sounds fresh to me.
In fact, every time i play it i seem to discover some new places i can go.
Well You Needn't (v3)

This sparse setting can also serve to bring the contrast between
'inside' and 'outside' approaches into sharper focus.

Annnnd.... play the melody!

 

[Johnnyg123]

Very generous of you. I'm still on page 1.

Read it several times