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notating quartal voicings for "changes"

when writing out chords by letter names on a sheet(vs.on manuscript)-something that goes on a lot at gigs,sessions,etc.,there's no established,generally agreed on way to indicate quartals.......

here's the system i came up with to do this-

use the "slash chord" system of notation,putting the root/bass note on the bottom of the "fraction" and then instead of the chord name on top(i.e.f/g would be the rh notes gbd over an f in the lh as a slash chord or polychord)either put the root name of the structure the quartal is built on or name it as an interval in relationship to the root followed by "q"...for example let's say you want to indicate the quartal built on g (gcf)over the f,you could use g q or 9 q/f..check it out and let me know what you think or if you use anything like this............

by smg on 10/06/2008, 14:25

There are 7 comments, leave a comment.

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by 7 on 10/06/2008, 22:35

wouldn't the notation "gsus7/f" imply a lot of things other than playing g c f in the rh with f in the bass (because you can voice a sus chord in a lot of ways other than that). eg you could play that chord as f a c e over an f bass and that would fit the notation.

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by superjames on 10/07/2008, 03:39

representing a major chord as 69 implies quartal voicing (c69 would be c e a d g). 13 implies a quartal dominant (c13 = bb (d) e a). mi 11 suggests the 'so what' voicing of a minor chord. but in general, conventional jazz chord symbols, being based on tertiary harmony, really can't handle quartals too well. in the end, best to stick to the vanilla changes and leave it to the player to choose the right voicing. otherwise write the notes out, or use an ad hoc system like smg's q, and explain it at the top of the chart.

sid

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by sid on 10/07/2008, 12:09

there is no way to write a quartal as a chord symbol for a good reason.
they are not chords. they are chord voicings. there is also no way to write out the chord voicing ceg as a chord symbol. some may think we write that as c. but actually the chord symbol c implies an infinite variety of possable chord voicings to the educated pianists including quartals. so if a composer feels it so important that the the exact voicing ceg be played or in the case of this thread a quartal the composer it is the nature of our idiom that one write on the grand staff. i suppose an editors note on the composition saying
something like "use quartal voicings where possable" would be legitimate. or even a note at the top of a chart that says q = after a chord symbol means use quartal voicing.

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by Mike on 10/08/2008, 23:49

thanks to everyone above who has contributed to this thread;again (as usual!!)thanks to jeff for pointing out where a possible misinterpretation of the system i use in translation to a method using the same type of diagramming as the slash/polychord system could occur..here's a link to his excellent quartals file-

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by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:16

https://www.learnjazzpiano.com/citadel/scotcit.mvc?action=files&sub=file_details&id=1075409616

mainly i posted this because i found it works both conceptually

(allows you to see the root of the quartal you're using in relation

to the note the quartal is being used over,thus setting up the

two "inversions of the quartal"(1-9-5 and 1-4-5 structures in of

themselves)and practically(i.e.b q/c would give you bea,7-3-6 over

the c root for a maj.voicing,or f q/c gives you the dom7/min11/blues/

pent minor approach to the same c root etc...........as far as the

question of whether or not it's necessary in a given situation where

a variety of voicings can work....i second the above of course...in

my own usage of this type of thing as a composer,i'm looking for a

specific sound harmonically and that's why i'm focused on id'ng the

actual basis of the rh notes/voicing as it relates to the root of the

chord...a while back there were some posts dealing with this as it

relates to using the complete chromatic scale as a basis for quartals

against the root and some other posts where modern r+b/modal voicings

were discussed i.e. "clusters" and other similar structures..where

this stuff is involved i'm always lookng for ways to indicate it in

shorthand..more to come........

LJP Like

by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:32

smg,

thanks for the honorable mention :)

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by 7 on 10/10/2008, 09:08

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notating quartal voicings for "changes"

There are 7 comments, leave a comment.

by 7 on 10/06/2008, 22:35

by superjames on 10/07/2008, 03:39

by sid on 10/07/2008, 12:09

by Mike on 10/08/2008, 23:49

by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:16

by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:32

by 7 on 10/10/2008, 09:08

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notating quartal voicings for "changes"

There are 7 comments, leave a comment.

by 7 on 10/06/2008, 22:35

by superjames on 10/07/2008, 03:39

by sid on 10/07/2008, 12:09

by Mike on 10/08/2008, 23:49

by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:16

by smg on 10/09/2008, 10:32

by 7 on 10/10/2008, 09:08

Reply to Thread

Jazz Piano Notebook Series

"Latinesque"

LJP Jazz Piano Blogs

Most Recent Discussions

Articles

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazz piano education is cool.

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In