1 Lecture Notes Weeks 1/2 INTRODUCTION Let us discuss the principal of music theory - -what is it and what purpose

e does it serve? What is the link between theory and practice? How can we maintain the connection between theory and practice? Look at unit outline and discuss content. Most tunes within the Jazz/Popular music genres can be analysed as being written in one particular key. Commonly, brief harmonic shifts or modulations occur but usually the tune returns to the original key. A typical example of this is the Cole Porter tune I Love You, which briefly modulates from F major to A major and then back again.

This same method of moving tonality temporarily can be used to create interest when playing/composing through simple harmonic progressions such as II-V-I. The cycle of descending major 3rds is a harmonic system used extensively by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and can be used to create harmonic interest by establishing movement throug different tonal centres within a harmonic progression.

How Does it Work?

As the octave can be evenly divided into 12 semitones, 6 wholetones, 4 minor 3rds and 2 tritones, it can also be evenly divided into 3 major 3rds. The symetrical nature of this relationship can allow us to superimpose the cycle over pre-existing chord progressions. An analogy that may be used to demonstrate this is to imagine travelling in your car from, say, Melbourne to Wangaratta. (stay with me here) If we call our starting point (Melbourne) the II chord and our finishing point (Wangaratta) the I chord, then the path travelled (Hume Highway) can be considered as the V chord by this it is meant that the path has been II-V-I. This route is very direct and gets us from the start of our journey to the end in an efficient, although sometimes boring way.
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2 Alternatively we can choose to travel via the scenic route. We still start with the II chord and finish with the V-I, but the trip has been made more interesting by visiting other harmonic centres. This is demonstrated in the following example.

In the preceding example we took the original II-V-I progression and superimposed the cycle of major 3rds over it to create a more interesting harmonic movement. It is very important to consider the following when superimposing harmonic changes over pre-existing tunes (as well as when writing chords for a new piece of music. Does it sound good? Remember, our ear is what guides us, not our brain. We know that we can do particular things that we have studied, such as chord substitution, but it is imperative that the music sounds right. One very important factor when undertaking any reharmonisation is that the melody (if reharmonisation occurs for a pre-existing melody) still works in harmony with the chords. Many of the devices we will look at have strong applications during improvisation, as will be discussed further throughout the semester. REMINDER: Bring your instruments to theory we will have the opportunity to try things out in class that we will be looking at. Now lets look at the following diagrams: D

F#

Bb

If we move in a clockwise direction we can see that the tonal centres move in descending major 3rds. To each of these tonic chords we can add a dominant chord to achieve the following D A7 F# C#7
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F7 Bb
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As this cycle symmetrical, the chord progression commencing at any tonal centre within the cycle uses the same chords, the only difference being the start and finish points. Owing to the symmetry of this cycle there are really only 4 different descending major 3rd cycles. C G7 E B7 D A7 F# C#7 F7 Bb Bb7 G D7 Eb7 Ab F C7 Eb F#7 B Ab7 Db E7 A

The John Coltrane tune Giant Steps utilises this cycle and was so influential that the cycle of descending major 3rds is commonly referred to as the Coltrane Cycle. In this piece Coltrane uses the cycle of descending major 3rds, but the overall view of the piece is that in every 2nd bar the cycle rises in major 3rds. See below.

The cycle of descending major 3rds is used to achieve the resultant ascending major 3rds in the first half of the tune, while more traditional II-V-I movement is used in the second half.
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Refer to p.p. 10-12 of text for Miss Jones etc

The application of the cycle to standard tunes

As we discussed earlier with the analogy of the car trip, we can insert the descending major 3rd cycle into standard tunes to create a more interesting harmonic variance. One such example, as performed by Coltrane, is the Gershwyn tune But Not For Me. This is a 32 bar tune with a 16 bar A section followed by a 16 bar variation of the same section. Coltrane took the first 8 bars of each section and inserted the cycle of descending major 3rds, while keeping the folllowing 8 bars as per the original chords. See the following example.

The original chord progression remains in the key of Eb major, with very little movement from the I-VI-II-V-I of the tonality functional if somewhat boring. The superimposition of the Coltrane cycle creates more interest for the listener by starting and arriving at the same points but with the insertion of the scenic route. Now let us look at the Charlie Parker tune Confirmation, and the Coltrane reharmonisation 26-2

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The above example uses 2 cycles, firstly commencing on F and then commencing on Bb. The chord changes to the original can be seen as diatonic to Fmajor in bars 1-3 with a II-V I into Bb major at bar 4-5. we the work our way back to F major again at the start of the next section. Lets now reharmonise How High The Moon together. (see handout of chart)

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