In our continuing series on jazz improvisation I would like to discuss the application of certain scales, in addition to the usual major and minor, which will add spice to your solos by incorporating non-diatonic sounds usually associated with the dominant (V) harmony. In jazz this harmony is referred to as the “altered dominant” or “alt” for short and would contain as many as four possible altered tones (b5, #5, b9 and #9). This sound is very important in jazz harmony as it adds a great deal of color and…

As we move closer to the present, harmony becomes more and more complex. The ear is now able to hear more and more complex tonal relationships and what were earlier dissonances have now become acceptable consonances in many cases. To illustrate this newer harmonic thinking I thought it would be appropriate to move into the late Romantic period (late nineteenth century) and discuss the harmony of Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944) as displayed in his well known composition Julia Florida.

Tonality is still…

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There has always been discussion concerning harmonic implications in contrapuntal writing. Voice leading in and of itself can be enough to generate interesting music, but without a clear harmonic plan the music will lack direction. Since J.S. Bach is the acknowledged master of counterpoint and harmony I will use what I thought would be a fairly simple piece to demonstrate the coexistence of these two musical principles: the Bourrée…

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I thought this might be a good time to apply some of the harmonic concepts we have learned through the analysis of Fernando Sor’s etudes and our discussions of jazz harmony by harmonizing a very simple melody, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. This little tune lends itself beautifully to a traditional jazz harmonization utilizing chord changes found in most standard tunes…

I was working through some chord changes recently and was wondering if I could maintain a common-tone in the upper voice while moving through multiple changes of harmony. I decided to use the standard “Autumn Leaves” changes as my chord progression and include each the notes of the G major scale as my common-tone in the soprano through the entire sequence of chords. It worked beautifully with two exceptions; when the fourth (eleventh) was harmonized by a major seventh chord (measures seventeen and eighteen)…

Etude twelve by Fernando Sor is the final study in this set. It corresponds to Estudio fourteen in the Segovia collection. With this study we have a harmonic plan similar to Etude eleven in which Sor contrasts the major with the parallel minor. In this case A major and A minor are the two key areas. The A minor section beginning in measure twenty-one characteristically moves into the relative major key (C) before returning to A minor followed by the restatement of the earlier A major section.

All harmonic…

Etude eleven by Fernando Sor corresponds to Estudio seventeen in the Segovia collection. This is one of the more Romantic, stylistically, of the studies to date. Harmonically we have a rather typical plan beginning in E minor, moving to the relative major (G), back to E minor and then to E major (parallel major) for the final section. Sor again uses double suspensions, appoggiaturas and accented passing tones (some chromatic) frequently throughout the piece creating some beautiful dissonances. We also find…

Etude ten by Fernando Sor is a study in two parts. The first part is a study in octaves and the second is a chorale-like harmonization of the famous tune “God Save the Queen” or known to most in the USA as “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. The first part poses an interesting problem in harmonic analysis; how do we come up with a harmonic analysis when there are no chords to analyze? What we need to do here is determine what harmonies are implied by the notes present in the single melodic line. This was an…

Etude nine by Fernando Sor corresponds to Estudio thirteen in the Segovia collection of Sor studies. This study is a study in sixths in D minor and has some similarities to Etude six (the study in thirds) in that Sor uses chromatic neighbor notes and chromatic passing tones to alleviate diatonic blandness. As you can see there is not much happening harmonically other than the predictable move to F major (relative major) in the middle (B) section.

The most interesting harmonic features occur first in measure…

Sor’s Etude eight corresponds to Estudio one in the Segovia collection. This is a fascinating little study in three voices in the homophonic style of a Bach chorale. We are introduced to several new concepts in this piece which include development of a motive through sequential repetition and inversion, imitative counterpoint as well as invertible counterpoint in which parts are composed in such a way that the upper voice can become a lower voice or vice versa.

The ascending three note figure which is first…