Lessons · Harmony

Voicing a chord

Where the notes of a chord are put

% A chord token says WHICH notes; a '$' voicing says where they are put.
% The members are listed bottom to top, so '1Maj$1-3-5' is root, third,
% fifth: the chord in its plainest shape, and the same three notes the
% bare token gives. Each member after the first is the LOWEST pitch of
% its class ABOVE the one before, which is the whole rule: '1Maj$1-5-3'
% does not swap two notes round, it pushes the third up past the fifth,
% and e4 becomes e5.
 
bpm 72
instrument swell
meter 4
unit 1/4
key c4 maj
 
assert 1Maj == {c4, e4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-3-5 == {c4, e4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-5-3 == {c4, g4, e5}
 
1Maj$1-3-5 _4
1Maj$1-5-3 _4
 
 
% Naming ONE member is the short form for an INVERSION: that member in
% the bass, and every other member stacked closed above it in order. So
% '1Maj$3' is '1Maj$3-5-1' with e4 at the bottom, and '1Maj$5' puts g4
% there. The chord is the same three notes each time and the bass is what
% changes, which is what an inversion is.
 
assert 1Maj$3 == 1Maj$3-5-1
assert 1Maj$3 == {e4, g4, c5}
assert 1Maj$5 == {g4, c5, e5}
assert 1Maj$1 == 1Maj
 
1Maj _2 1Maj$3 _2 1Maj$5 _2 1Maj$1 _2
 
 
% A member listed twice is DOUBLED, a member left out is OMITTED, and an
% octave mark on one segment lifts just that member. Four-part writing
% needs a fourth note out of a three-note chord, so the root doubles at
% the octave: '$1-3-5-1'. Drop the third and the bare fifth is what a
% bagpipe drones on. And "'5" puts the fifth an octave above where it
% would otherwise have landed, which opens the spacing out.
 
assert 1Maj$1-3-5-1 == {c4, e4, g4, c5}
assert 1Maj$1-5 == {c4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-1 == {c4, c5}
assert 1Maj$1-3-'5 == {c4, e4, g5}
 
1Maj$1-3-5-1 _2 1Maj$1-5 _2 1Maj$1-3-'5 _4
 
 
% Ask for a member the chord has not got and the whole symbol fails to
% resolve: '1Maj$7' is unplayable, not a triad with the seventh quietly
% dropped, because a voicing that silently did nothing would be a lie
% about the music. A seventh chord has four members to place, so its
% short form stacks three above the bass, and what a dominant seventh
% can spare is its FIFTH, since the tritone is the part with somewhere to
% be.
 
assert 5Dia7 == {g4, b4, d5, f5}
assert 5Dia7$7 == 5Dia7$7-1-3-5
assert .5Dia7$1-3-7 == {g3, b3, f4}
 
5Dia7 _2 5Dia7$7 _2 .5Dia7$1-3-7 _4
 
 
% Now the reason any of this matters. Walk is one chord to a step and
% every inversion in it is doing a job: the bass climbs DOWN by step
% (c3 b2 a2 g2 f2 e2 d2) and only an inversion can put b2 under a G
% chord or e2 under a C. Root positions alone would make that bass leap
% about. The tune comes down a ninth over it and every note of it is a
% chord tone, which is what a descending bass buys you.
 
Walk<bass> ::= .1Dia ..5Dia$3 ..6Dia ..3Dia$3 ..4Dia ..1Dia$3 ..2Dia ..5Dia
Tune ::= '3 '2 '1 7 6 5 4 2
 
assert .1Dia == {c3, e3, g3}
assert ..5Dia$3 == {b2, d3, g3}
assert ..6Dia == {a2, c3, e3}
assert ..3Dia$3 == {g2, b2, e3}
assert ..4Dia == {f2, a2, c3}
assert ..1Dia$3 == {e2, g2, c3}
assert ..2Dia == {d2, f2, a2}
assert ..5Dia == {g2, b2, d3}
assert Tune == e5 d5 c5 b4 a4 g4 f4 d4
 
Walk _2
{Tune _2, Walk _2}

% A chord token says WHICH notes; a '$' voicing says where they are put.
% The members are listed bottom to top, so '1Maj$1-3-5' is root, third,
% fifth: the chord in its plainest shape, and the same three notes the
% bare token gives. Each member after the first is the LOWEST pitch of
% its class ABOVE the one before, which is the whole rule: '1Maj$1-5-3'
% does not swap two notes round, it pushes the third up past the fifth,
% and e4 becomes e5.

bpm 72
instrument swell
meter 4
unit 1/4
key c4 maj

assert 1Maj == {c4, e4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-3-5 == {c4, e4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-5-3 == {c4, g4, e5}

1Maj$1-3-5 _4
1Maj$1-5-3 _4

% Naming ONE member is the short form for an INVERSION: that member in
% the bass, and every other member stacked closed above it in order. So
% '1Maj$3' is '1Maj$3-5-1' with e4 at the bottom, and '1Maj$5' puts g4
% there. The chord is the same three notes each time and the bass is what
% changes, which is what an inversion is.

assert 1Maj$3 == 1Maj$3-5-1
assert 1Maj$3 == {e4, g4, c5}
assert 1Maj$5 == {g4, c5, e5}
assert 1Maj$1 == 1Maj

1Maj _2 1Maj$3 _2 1Maj$5 _2 1Maj$1 _2

% A member listed twice is DOUBLED, a member left out is OMITTED, and an
% octave mark on one segment lifts just that member. Four-part writing
% needs a fourth note out of a three-note chord, so the root doubles at
% the octave: '$1-3-5-1'. Drop the third and the bare fifth is what a
% bagpipe drones on. And "'5" puts the fifth an octave above where it
% would otherwise have landed, which opens the spacing out.

assert 1Maj$1-3-5-1 == {c4, e4, g4, c5}
assert 1Maj$1-5 == {c4, g4}
assert 1Maj$1-1 == {c4, c5}
assert 1Maj$1-3-'5 == {c4, e4, g5}

1Maj$1-3-5-1 _2 1Maj$1-5 _2 1Maj$1-3-'5 _4

% Ask for a member the chord has not got and the whole symbol fails to
% resolve: '1Maj$7' is unplayable, not a triad with the seventh quietly
% dropped, because a voicing that silently did nothing would be a lie
% about the music. A seventh chord has four members to place, so its
% short form stacks three above the bass, and what a dominant seventh
% can spare is its FIFTH, since the tritone is the part with somewhere to
% be.

assert 5Dia7 == {g4, b4, d5, f5}
assert 5Dia7$7 == 5Dia7$7-1-3-5
assert .5Dia7$1-3-7 == {g3, b3, f4}

5Dia7 _2 5Dia7$7 _2 .5Dia7$1-3-7 _4

% Now the reason any of this matters. Walk is one chord to a step and
% every inversion in it is doing a job: the bass climbs DOWN by step
% (c3 b2 a2 g2 f2 e2 d2) and only an inversion can put b2 under a G
% chord or e2 under a C. Root positions alone would make that bass leap
% about. The tune comes down a ninth over it and every note of it is a
% chord tone, which is what a descending bass buys you.

Walk<bass> ::= .1Dia ..5Dia$3 ..6Dia ..3Dia$3 ..4Dia ..1Dia$3 ..2Dia ..5Dia
Tune ::= '3 '2 '1 7 6 5 4 2

assert .1Dia == {c3, e3, g3}
assert ..5Dia$3 == {b2, d3, g3}
assert ..6Dia == {a2, c3, e3}
assert ..3Dia$3 == {g2, b2, e3}
assert ..4Dia == {f2, a2, c3}
assert ..1Dia$3 == {e2, g2, c3}
assert ..2Dia == {d2, f2, a2}
assert ..5Dia == {g2, b2, d3}
assert Tune == e5 d5 c5 b4 a4 g4 f4 d4

Walk _2
{Tune _2, Walk _2}

running…edit it and it re-runs as you type

Voicing a chord · Harmony