Musicality Class: Overview of Harmonic Concepts

1. Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing (Stevie Wonder)

 Use of Line Cliches in chord movement

 Use of Extended Dominant chords
 Use of Tritone Substitute chords
 Modulation to relative major/minor key
 Chromatic movement using same chord quality: descending sus chords
 Modal Interchange: Imin7 to bIIMaj7 (Em7 to Fmaj7 in the song)

2. On Green Dolphin Street (Kaper/Washington)

 Modal Progression in the A Section: first two bars are Ionian (Cmaj7), then
moves to minor/Aeolian (Cm7), and then to Lydian (D7/C) over the same
root ‘C’
 Use of bass note pedal in the A section
 Use of II - V - I progressions through modulating keys
 ABAC structure of 32 bars
 Different styles in the A and B section (Latin vs Swing)
 Relating melody notes to chord tones of the corresponding chord

3. Peace (Horace Silver)

 Use of extended II - V progressions through modulating keys

 10-bar Form
 Chromatic bass motion (descending)
 Use of Tritone Substitutes
 Relating melody notes to chord tones of the corresponding chord

Assignment:

Compose a piece of music (chords and melody) having at least two sections
of 8 bars each using three or more of the concepts mentioned above. 16
bars and 2 sections is the minimum requirement.

Write out your composition on staff paper in the style of a ‘lead sheet’ with
chords and melody notated accurately.