Group 4

Harriet Kaplan Hi Harriet. My 2 cents. Certain notes are considered ‘must haves’ when it comes to chord voicing. 3rd and 7th, normally yes. 5th, normally no. 

Ken Radford 7th chord voicing that is…

Ken Radford yes, I know - I was just wondering why he included the 5th on some but not others.

Harriet Kaplan Hi Harriet , I'll add 2 cents more about this.

First of all, it's safe to say that there's no rule  about leaving out the 5th.  At this stage, we want enough notes to define the chord, and defaulting to including the basic tones (1,3,5, & 7th if a dominant) seems fine.  There's no harm in including the 5th, since it's a perfectly legitimate chord tone.

Having said that, there are some times when you might choose to leave out a note, whether consciously or unconsciously, let's say for clarity of texture.

For example: many jazz players form their LH parts on the assumption that others are playing too (e.g. a bass player) and so it's best not to clutter the sound scape with too many doubled notes.  They get in the habit of sparser rather than fuller voicings, so as to avoid doubling tones.  Even though this workshop assumes a piano solo, some of these concepts  derived from playing with others remain as either habits or conventions.  

Where a sparser LH texture is desired, many will default to a 3 note voicing, while occasionally playing 4 notes or more for variety or some other reason(or no discernable reason!)  So then the choice is: if you're going to leave some notes out, which would be the best ones to omit?  as you & Ken have noted, the 3 and 7 are the most important harmonically, because they generally will signal the quality of the chord as either a major, minor, dominant or diminished,  So those are probably the least likely to be omitted.  On the other hand, the 1 and 5, as perfect intervals (relative to the chord root), don't add much color because they lack dissonance.  So they are kind of less interesting when included than some other possibilities.  They add density without a lot of accompanying interest. Also, they are perhaps the most likely to be doubled by the bass player.   So they are not much missed when omitted!

All of that sounds like a lot of mental processing goes into these choices, whereas most players would probably say that is definitely NOT the case. The above is, like grammar, an after the fact description of what's happening instinctively or habitually.

So you may be seeking a specific reason when there really isn't one.  Rather than some rule, it's much more likely to be a matter of habit, custom, hand shape, sound, or no particular reason!.  

I think many players like me, not well trained in the classical tradition, tended to start out thinking of chord voicings and inversions as rather irrelevant.  If you included the chord tones anywhere, you had the chord, regardless of which was on the top bottom or middle, so goes this way of thinking.  You might omit some chord tones because you can't conveniently reach them, they don't fit, or they clash with the melody.  Sometimes that's simply all there is to it.  Then if you want to start sounding more like the jazzy players, you gradually try to pick up tricks, sounds, techniques and even a little science about what they're doing and gradually apply it to your chords.

Here we are starting with the basic chord tones -- an essential foundation.  But I would say that ultimately, whether the 5th is included here but omitted there, is not a matter of much consequence. 

OK well I guess that was more like 25 cents.  (And my apologies if you folks already know all about this stuff. I'm kind of working it out in my own mind as I think about your question!)

Peter Golemme Good answer Peter.

Ken Radford thanks Ken.  I also believe that Jeremy said, I think in the section on arpeggios, to "use all 4 notes of the dominant chord" for purposes of this week's exercise at least. 

So HARRIET, that sounds like a license to use the 5th on the Bb7 and Eb7 as well as the F7!  I'm having some fun with this exercise, looking forward to hearing everyone's takes!

Peter Golemme love how this sounds Peter! Nice idea to use the chords and play it in the style of Prelude no 1 from WTC I!

Natalie Peh Thank you Natalie.  I think of the WTC Preludes as Improvisations distilled to their finest essence. So many of them seem to be JSB's illustrations of what you can do with some basic patterns over a series of chord changes.

Peter Golemme Thank you Peter for getting us started. That was clever, straightforward and lovely to listen to. I am inspired to slowly go public in this group. 
I am struggling with getting any fluency on the progression - it is painfully slow going. When I have time I am working through every key as was suggested. And playing with arpeggios random in the right hand.
I also have to confess that I do not know how to make a YouTube to share. I tried once and failed - have never tried since. 

NANCY M Hi Nancy, the first step to upload your videos would be to set up a YouTube channel for yourself.  I managed to do it back in 2020, though I can't remember how, but it must have been easy if I was able to do it.  If you Google "how to set up a YouTube channel", a number of instructional videos --on YouTube strangely enough! -- pop up immediately.

Once your channel is there I can walk you through how I, as a technologically challenged not-so-young person, upload my videos.  

Also Martin from ToneBase has some great sessions on technological topics.  I can't remember whether he addresses this. 

Peter Golemme I love this, Peter! This is such a great example of putting a couple of different things together and making something all your own. Sometimes composition (and improvisation) is spoken of in terms of "inspiration" and creation out of "thin air," but it can be much more intentional and structured. This is a great example and you executed it beautifully! 

Jeremy Siskind thank you very much Jeremy. This exercise was a great way to explore what the chords themselves have to offer, all by themselves, without venturing outside the chord tones. Thank you too for the 4/26 video session. I got a LOT out of your commentary on the videos and your suggestions of next steps and possible variations on the themes & motifs people were coming up with.

Ken Radford How can you not love that Prelude!