L2 - Harmony

Lesson Objectives:

• To understand the harmonic features of ‘Samba Em Preludio’ including the repeated 16 bar chord sequence.

• To understand the importance of seventh chords in jazz music and how to construct them.

• To continue looking at extended chords including added 9ths,11ths and 13ths.

• To learn what is meant by an altered chord.

• To learn what a diminished 7th is and how to construct it.

‘Samba Em Preludio’ is in the key of B minor, which it remains in throughout with no modulations

B minor is the relative of D major with 2 sharps, F# and C#.

As in all minor keys, the 7th note (A) is raised a semitone to become A#

The chords throughout this piece are hardly ever simple triads

The harmony is influenced by cool jazz , which is a style in it’s own right and features complex chords.

The chords are almost all major and minor 7th chords, extended chords with added 9ths, 11ths and 13ths and altered chords.

Looking at the structure of ‘Samba Em Preludio’ we saw how there was a repeated 16 bar chord sequence throughout most of the song.

This is very common in jazz with solos taking place over a repeated chord sequence. The 12 bar blues is a good example of this.

This is pretty scary to look at for even the most advanced musician.

You don’t have to know every chord, but it would be useful and interesting to understand the main types of chords used in this piece.

Jazz harmony is based on chords with added sevenths and that ‘Samba Em Preludio’ is a fusion of Samba + Jazz

There are very few chords that are triads – so nearly all chords have an added 7th

The pattern of all lined or all space notes continues (hit one-miss one-hit one-miss one hit one miss one hit one)

This is what happens when you stack 3rds on top of each other (1 2 3 4 5 6 7

This is what it looks like in C major – each triad with a 7^th added. Note the G7 which is the major triad with a flattened 7^th (also known as a dominant 7^th)

You will notice in the chord sequence there a number of chords with added 11^th or 9^th. These are known as extended chords – literally the triad has been extended

Let’s look at the first chord in the repeated 16 bar chord sequence – B11

The number after the chord indicates how many notes you count from the root note.

So in a Bm13 you have a G, 13 notes away from the root B – count them to check but don’t forget to count B as 1!

It is a B minor 13 because chord 1 in a minor key is a minor triad

You do not need to play every note of extended chord—it would sound pretty awful if you did in a Bm13 as this would include every note of the B minor scale!

The only notes ‘required’ are the root (B) the 7th (A) and the 13th (G) - the rest is up to you.

It also doesn’t matter what order they are in. Here are a couple of examples from ‘Samba Em Preludio’

As well as extended chords, you will see in the 16 bar chord sequence there are also many altered chords—where one of the notes has been altered by sharpening or flattening it by a semitone

An example of this is a Cmaj7(#9). This looks really complicated but in fact just follows the rules that you know!

∙ Start always with the triad Cmaj7(#9) = C E G (1 3 5 from the scale of C major)

∙ Then add the 7th Cmaj7(#9) = C E G B (1 3 5 7 from the scale of C major)

∙ Then deal with the altered note Cmaj7 (#9) raising a semitone the 9th note above C

∙ The notes of a Cmaj7(#9) = C E G B D#

Finally, you will see in the chord sequence chords that look like this—A#dim7.

This is the symbol for a diminished 7th chord which has a very particular sound, often used by film music composers to create tension.

It is called a diminished 7th because the distance between the root note and the top note is a diminished 7th!

It is made up by stacking minor 3rds on top of each other. Now you are so good at altered and extended chords, it might be easier to think of it as a flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th. So what would a Cdim7 look like?

∙ Start with the triad—C E G

∙ Add the 7th—C E G B

∙ Flatten the 3rd, 5th and 7th—C Eb Gb Bb

Samba Em Preludio’ is based on a 16 bar chord sequence which is a feature of Jazz

The vast majority of the chords are complex chromatic chords, a feature of Jazz

Think of it as eating chips! Triads are the chips – the building blocks of harmony

When we add a 7^th to the triad it is like adding salt

Extending a 7^th chord by adding another note such as an 11^th it is like adding vinegar

Altering the chord by changing one of the notes such as a #5 is like adding mayonnaise

Flattening the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th as in a diminished 7^th is like adding chilli sauce!

Review Question:

1) Give three features of the harmony in ‘Samba Em Preludio’

2) What are the notes of a Cmaj9?

3) What is an altered chord?

4) What are the notes of a G11(#5)

5) Describe how to construct a diminished 7th