Jazz Harmony is a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom that incorporates traditional harmony as well as non-traditional techniques. Similarities between jazz and traditional harmony include, notational techniques, many chord progressions, and many musical scales. Unlike traditional harmony, additional tensions are added to harmonic progressions. In jazz, chord construction is similar to traditional harmony but includes the wider use of seventh chords as well as chords containing compound intervals. Also, the principles of voice leading, the practice of smoothly moving individual notes Continue
Songwriting thought of the Day
Uneven Lyric Length
Have you thought about your lyric phrase lengths? The Golden rule- Keep things EVEN. Ninety percent of mainstream commercial pop music is written with four beats to each bar (4/4) time, meaning the music is divisible by 4. This needs to be considered when writing commercial pop lyrics. If you write consistent song sections-verses, chorus, bridges, etc, that are grouped into 4 or 8 lines, you are on the right track. If you write lyrics with sections containing odd phrase lengths, e.g., 3 lines, 5 lines, 7 lines, or phrases with notable uneven syllable lengths, etc, they will not work well rhythmically, and will almost always be overlooked by composers looking for lyrics. Here is a great article on this very subject >>
