From: dijk~orldaccess.nl Date: Sun, 13 Oct 96 21:00:45 GMT Subject: RE: HUANG Compact Chord 48, PART 2
As a reply to the my remarks about the construction of the Huang Compact Chord 48, Winslow Yerxa came up with some very fine background information about this instrument including a chart with a complete overview of the possible chord/bass combination. Because of the fact that the chart without practical situations is of no use and even some chordsymbols turn out to be theoratically right but practically nonsence, I tried to add a practical example to every chord/bass combination.
The chordsymbols are only indicating the vertical structure of the chords. When composing for the chord instruments in combination with a bass player, it is very important to make a melodic sounding chord progression. Otherwise it will only be a block of sound which has only a certain rhythmical funtion but no melodic (and ofcourse no harmonic) function.
This week, I will try to find out harmonic situations in which the next part of the chart is used. BTW, some of the chords, used in the examples are not available at the chord instruments at exactly the same pitch, so maybe some of the examples should be transposed to be playable or to represent the smoothest voice leading!
The examples I worked out should be interpreted as: theoratical examples to demonstrate the practical usage of very unpractical chordsymbols!! (Huh....)
Winslow, maybe you know some examples too! We can build a chart with very nice harmonic formuleas for the chord instrument with bass. Would be very interesting for me.
==== DOMINANT 7TH CHORDS (top deck, draw)
G7/G, B, D, F - C7 in root position, inversions 1, 2, 3 * I think this is a little typing mistake * C7 should be G7.
G7/Ab = Ab dim7 with added Major 7 * Difficult chord. Maybe in a cadence like this: | Bbm/Eb,Ab/Eb, Gaug/Eb | G/Ab, Gaug/Ab, Bbdim/Ab, Bbm/Ab | Cm/Ab ||
G7/A = A11 b13 or A minor 11 b13 * Chord does not functions as A11 or Am. * Also a difficult chord. Maybe something like this: * (bass descends over one octave) | G/C G7/B | G7/A Gdim/A,Gdim/Eb | F/D Fm/Db | G/C ||
G7/Bb = Bb Major 7 b9 13 * Can't agree with this one, b9 makes the major seventh chord * completely instable. It tends to funtion more like a Bb7b9 * without the b7. Like this: | Abdim/Bb G7/Bb | Gm/Eb || * But better would be: | Gaug/Bb Abdim/Bb | Gm/Eb ||
G7/C = C Major 11 (3rd is missing) * No, unacceptable. Because of the major seventh, it sounds like * a Cmaj7sus4 but then the 11th should be raised (#11) which isn't * the fact. So it can't be interpreted like a Cmajor 11 * Cmin11 (sus4) would be acceptable but I don't think it sounds * like a minor chord. * Possible in a pedalpoint cadence like this: | Am/C Adim/C | G7/C Fm/C | Em/C ||
G7/Db = Db7 b9 +11 * Sounds more like Db7 b9 b5 But the b5 is much to dissonant * to make it sound like a dominant chord. If the root of the * G7 chord was the upper voice it would be fine, but the voicing * in this structure is: 1, b5, b7, b9, 3 * The b5 does not sound very well when placed on the bottom * of the voicing. 1, b7, b9, 3, #11 would have been no problem * The best cituating (it sounds like a bad dim7 chord) I can find * out is this one: | Fm/D | G7/Db | Abm/Gb | Bbm/Gb ||
G7/Eb = Eb aug Maj7 9 * Again, this chords works quite well in a latin cituation as one * of the chords in a alternative turnaround: |: Gm/Eb | G7/Eb | Ab/Eb | Abdim/Eb :|
G7/E = E minor7 b9 * A minor7 chord with a flat nineth is very rare! * Again, this chordsymbol is not very practical. * Maybe within a E7alt passage like this: | Abdim/E G7/E,Fm/E | Eaug E7 | Eaug/A ||
G7/F# = F# Ma7 -9 11 -13 (missing 3rd, 5th) * Completely nonsence. Can't figure out a practical situation. * Maybe someone else is able to come up with a suggestion.
I am happy with some fine harmonic formulaes again. I hope I have a little bit of time to go through the minor variants this week
