78 DOWNBEAT SEPTEMBER 2013

KEYBOARD SCHOOL Woodshed BY BRADLEY SOWASHPRO SESSION

Example 2

Example 4

Developing Chord Fluency for Advancing Piano Students WHEN I WAS ABOUT 12 YEARS OLD, MY PAR-ents took me to a restaurant that featured a live jazz trio. I was amazed to see the pianist playing without written music. I approached the bandstand and asked him how he did it. Without missing a beat, he simply said, “Learn your chords, kid.”

He was right, of course. All improvising musi-cians bene!t by understanding harmony, but it is fun-damental for pianists. "at’s why I spend a good por-tion of every lesson helping my students develop what I call “chord #uency”: the ability to instantly play any chord in a logical position that easily connects to the chords around it (voice leading).

PART 1: DIATONIC SEVENTH CHORDSWhen students ask, “How many chords are there?” I tell them there are hundreds, maybe thousands if you include extended, altered, clus-ters and quartal chords. But all of those hip har-monies are only useful a$er one has !rst mastered stacked-third seventh chords. Use these steps and drills to increase your own #uency with seventh chord basics.

I. CONSTRUCT AND LABELYou can read how chords are constructed in any music theory resource book, but the information will stick better if you build and play them yourself.

1) First, notate all of the diatonic seventh chords in a key by stacking thirds on each note of a major scale.

2) Next, write the associated chord symbols above the sta% (referencing the Pop/Jazz Chord Symbol Review below as needed).

3) More generic than speci!c chord symbols, Roman numerals underscore harmonic relationships, making it easier to transpose and analyze what’s

“under the hood” in a tune. Write them below the sta%, using capitals for major and lower case for the rest. For example, in C major, you would con-struct and label the chords in Example 1. Now, let it sink in that what is true for one key remains true for all keys.

II. SCALING THE CHORDSI’ve found this to be an ideal progression for prac-ticing diatonic seventh chords because it accustoms the ear (and !ngers) to the sound so o$en found in

jazz standards of chords moving by fourths.1) Practice the progression in Example 2

Pop/Jazz Chord Symbol ReviewChord Name Explanation

C Major by default.

C–, Cm, Cmi, Cmin “Minor” modifies the triad (never the 7th).

CM7, CMa7, CMaj7, C! “Major” modifies the 7th (never the triad).

C7 Triad is major by default, 7th is dominant.

C–7, Cm7, Cmi7, Cmin7 Triad is minor, 7th is dominant (not Maj7).

Cm7("5), Cø7 Triad is minor, 7th is dominant, 5th is lowered.

Cdim7, C°7 Triad is diminished and so is 7th.

Example 1

Chord symbols:

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Roman numerals:

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Example 3

“Farmer’s Market,” from That’s Jazz, Book 1, Digging Deeper by Bradley Sowash. Copyright © 2007, Neil A. Kjos Music Co., JP25, www.kjos.com. Used with permission, 2013.

SEPTEMBER 2013 DOWNBEAT 79

Example 5

Example 6

Example 7

Example 8

using your le! hand. Use only root position and second inversions as shown.

2) When the le! hand feels secure, add an impro-vised right-hand part reordering notes from the C major scale—a process I call “scaling the chords.”

III. TRANSPOSING POWER"e next step is to transpose this progression to all major keys. Example 3 is an excerpt from a tune from my !at’s Jazz piano method that makes use of this progression in the key of F major. If you were my student, I’d ask you to play it #rst as writ-ten and then loosen up the le! hand while impro-vising a new right-hand part.

From here, transpose this progression to the remaining keys, adding a sharp or $at to the key signature as your move around the circle of #!hs. As you do so, keep in mind that:

For pianists, root-position and second-in-version seventh chords are all that are necessary to navigate most chord progressions. (Notice that these are the only positions in “Farmer’s Market.”) Focusing solely on these in your prac-tice cuts the number of muscle-memory hand positions you will be learning in half.

It’s best to keep the le! hand chord range in the area I call “chord land”: from about C below

middle C to E above middle C. Example 4 shows where closed block chords

sound best on the piano. Note that some keys may require resetting the hand along the way to stay in this range.

PART 2: SEVENTH CHORD DRILLSAnother way to develop unerring chord $uency is to practice sequential progressions that move log-ically from key to key.

I. CHORD CRAWLSPick a single chord quality and run it up or down chromatically. See Example 5.

II. STEP DOWN PROGRESSIONSIn Example 6, the four most common seventh chord qualities move through all keys by half steps.

III. CYCLE PROGRESSIONSExample 7 moves by fourths, alternating root position and second inversions.

IV. MINI PROGRESSIONS"e ii–V–I sequence of chords is the most o!en-found mini-progression or “chord cell” found in standards. "e exercise in Example 8 isolates the progression and moves through six keys. To prac-tice the other six keys, start on E!m7–A!7–D!Maj7.

CONCLUSIONChord $uency enables you to understand how pro-gressions work, sight-read lead sheets, transpose, integrate arpeggios into your solos and more easily memorize tunes. If you want to play more creative-ly in a greater number of styles, get your butt on the piano bench and learn your chords, kid. DB

Bradley Sowash is a pianist, composer, author and educator specializing in improvisation for beginners and “recovering classical musicians.” His publications include That’s Jazz (Neil A. Kjos Music Co.) and jazz hymn arrangements from Augsburg Fortress Press. Visit him online at bradleysowash.com.

Bradley Sowash