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Twin Sons from Different Mothers: Harmonic Convergence in Jazz and Classical Music, Part 3: "Augmented 6th Chords in Classical And Jazz"
by Kurt Ellenberger
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 III. Augmented 6th Chords in Classical Music and Jazz Classical music has its own version of the tritone sub, which, of course, predated the jazz version. It results from the outer voices (usually soprano and bass) moving in contrary motion into ...
Twin Sons from Different Mothers?: Harmonic Convergence in Jazz and Classical Music, Part 2: "Tritone Substitutions"
by Kurt Ellenberger
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 II. Twin Sons from Different Mothers: Tritone Substitutions There are two types of chords that feature dominant 7th sonorities--in jazz, they are called “tritone substitutions," and in classical, they are called “augmented 6th chords." We don't know ...
Twin Sons from Different Mothers?: Harmonic Convergence in Jazz and Classical Music, Part 1: "The Blues"
by Kurt Ellenberger
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Introduction In my article about Harmony and the Harmonic Series, I suggest that the relationship and tension between the dominant and the tonic is the engine of all harmonic activity in tonal music. In that article, to keep it as clear ...
Second Line For The Second Time: The Curious Tale Of A Rhythm Reborn
by Kurt Ellenberger
In New Orleans in the late 1800s, the precursors to jazz were forming in the brass bands that performed on the streets for parades, funerals, and other events. These groups featured brass and percussion and were followed by crowds who marched behind them in the parades and processions. The rhythms played by the percussion were a ...
The Lyrics They Are 'A Changing: Lyrical Liberties In "Lover, Come Back To Me" And "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise"
by Alex Segal
Frank Sinatra's greatness is evident in his making the songs he sang his own. And his doing this is connected to his, on occasion, changing the lyric of a song--even a very good lyric. But according to good anecdotal evidence, Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin--suppliers of some of the best lyrics Sinatra sang--did not take kindly ...
Harmony and the Harmonic Series: I-V to Rule Them All
by Kurt Ellenberger
Preamble Since writing my article on Music and Evolution, I have received many emails asking the same question: “How does harmony and the movement of chords function in conjunction with the harmonic series and our ability to predictively 'hear' simple resolutions to complex wave relationships?" This article will try to answer that question by delving into ...
Strange Bedfellows: Jazz and Pop and Heinrich Schenker?
by Kurt Ellenberger
I. A Brief Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) was an Austrian musician, composer, and most notably, music theorist whose ideas about analyzing and explaining music were groundbreaking and successful. Along with other mathematically oriented theories, like Allen Forte's “Set Theory" and Arnold Schoenberg's “Serialism," Schenker's theories were very popular in academia. These theories were ...
A Sonic Compass: A Journey Through Prince's N·E·W·S
by Giulia Bianchi
It is indisputable that musician, composer, singer, actor, and producer Prince Rogers Nelson has been one of the most prolific and committed musical artists of all time. With an enduring career spanning over five decades, the virtuoso mastered a plethora of instruments, perpetually exploring and trailblazing new creative horizons. His music is steeped in a timeless ...
Busting Myths in Jazz History: Focus on the Music
by Rob Foster
In the tradition of providing the basis of a liberal arts education, it is common for institutions of higher education in the United States to offer some type of music appreciation course in the undergraduate curriculum. In some instances, this may be an elective towards fulfilling a required number of credits within a larger category, such ...
The Vocal Music of Charles Mingus, Part 2
by Ellen Johnson
Part 1 | Part 2 Early Years: 1945 to 1953 Charles Mingus demonstrated his prowess as a songwriter even in the early stages of his career. Surprisingly, he started writing songs as early as 1945, a fact that often goes unnoticed. This collection of early vocal compositions includes titles such as “The Texas Hop" ...
