(Black keys) Db
Eb Gb
Ab Bb
Db Eb
Gb
(White keys)
C D E
F G
A B C
D E F
G
1 2
3 4 5 6
7 8/1 9/2 10/3
11/4 12/5
Please observe the following:
If
all the notes, black and white, are considered, there is a half step between
each of them. C# = Db, D# = Eb, etc. What is sharp
for one note is flat for the next. Some notes do not have a black note between them.
E# = F and Fb = E. (The key signature, those flats and sharps
at the beginning of the piece does not change these relationships but will change the
way some of the notes are played. In our favorite
key, Bb, all B’s and E’ are not played on the white key but on the corresponding
black key, unless there is a natural sign in the measure.
These are lessons for another day.)
To play a C major chord (a chord is three or more notes played
together), play keys 1, 3, and 5 at the same time. You are now well on your way to graduating from my Musical
Theory Class. But don’t congratulate yourself too quickly. It is not your degree
of musical acumen that will secure your graduation from said class, it is because I don’t know a hell of a lot more.
Now play 3,5, and 8/1 together. Notice that
the notes you have played are the same but are in a different order. Now instead of C E G, they are E G
C. This is called the first inversion. Now go to the second inversion. Go ahead, it
won’t bite and you won’t have to re-boot. Play 5, 8/1, and 10/3. Now we
have the same three notes but they are in a different order, G C E. Repeat the same step and we are back
to square one, 8, 10 and 12 (more commonly called 1,3, and 5) but one octave higher.
Now let’s explore this a little. Play
1,3,5, and 8. Notice that 1 and 8 are both C ‘s but are an octave apart. Chord
sounds nice but a little blah, so let’s make it a barbershop tune up chord. Play 1,5,8/1, and 10/3.
There you have it, our barbershop tune up chord and a beauty it is.
But we are only playing three notes out of a possible 13.
Try this: With your left hand playing 1,3, and 5 (C E G), take your right index finger and play down the scale one
note at a time starting with C (8/1). Your first chord should be C E G in your left hand and C with your
index right finger, the next, C E G with your left hand again and B with you right index finger, etc. Do
this with all the notes, both black and white. What
did you hear? C E G C, is the major chord you played previously. OK, but bland.
The next one, C E G B, sounds a little weird. It is called a natural 7th and needs a
West Coast jazz musician like Dave Brubeck in the background. Next is C E G Bb.
It sounds great. That’s OUR chord, our barbershop sound, the famous flatted 7th.
In a typical barbershop piece, approximately 1/3 of the chords we sing are this chord. I will come
back to this later.
Continue
on down the scale with your left hand remaining on C E G and your right index finger playing the rest of the notes in the
scale. Next is C E G A. This was an unacceptable chord until relatively recently.
This is a 6th and until the mid- 20th century, it had to be resolved (changed) to the triad C
E G. But now it is frequently found in popular music and is allowed to stand alone. The other combinations
with C E G in the left hand and with Ab, Gb, Eb, and finally Db by the right index finger, sound very dissonant to us at this
time and are not used. Who knows what the future will bring?
Let’s go back to our C E G Bb, the flatted 7th chord. Keep playing the Bb with
your right index finger but play the other inversions of the chord with your left hand . C E G, E G C, and G C E all with
the Bb. Nice sounds. Is it any wonder that we sing so many of them? In the tag of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” there are nine chords and six of them
are flatted 7th‘s. (The song is written in Bb and has A 7, Eb 7, Ab 7, G 7, C 7, and F
7. There is no need to get your knickers in a knot about which is what. Play the C chord
with the different inversions as written above and you will hear the chord when it is sung even when it is has a different
note as number 1 (tonic) or the piece is in a different key.) Enjoy.
(In the above picture, note that there is no little 8 hanging below the treble clef sign. Look at your barbershop music. It's
there. What does it mean?)
B Martin VP Music
From May
2002 Arlingtuner
