5 Aug
2008
5 Aug
'08
11:28 a.m.
Fons Adriaensen wrote:
... note that the way harmony is treated in the
classical
music and in the jazz traditions is not exactly the same. Not only
the terminology and notation are different, but also some basic
concepts. It can be very confusing to do both at the same time.
Also, going through the history of classical music, it's clear
that "harmony" is a moving target.
Yes, I realized after I sent that message that I should have mentioned
the difference between jazz harmony texts and the more "classical" tomes.
More modern texts (Persichetti's book is a good example) present the
notions of non-functional 7ths, melodic chording, clusters, chords by
4ths, etc. Serial harmony is a whole other domain, and Elliott Carter's
harmony book is yet another way of comprehending the possibilities of
non-serial chromaticism (see also the theoretical writings by Stefan Wolpe).
The traditional approaches still apply, especially since the vast
majority of music we hear is tonal/modal, with more or less clear
harmonic functions and relationships. From my POV, most jazz harmony
works on the same bases as traditional tonal harmony, but some truly new
devices have been introduced that the classical texts do little to
clarify. Indeed, harmony is a moving target, but its traditional basics
are still fundamental to most of the music we hear today.
Best,
dp