Composition Exercise

[stevel]

Sit at the piano and hold the pedal. Play all of the Cs on the piano from low to high, and while they're ringing, add many or all of the Gs.

Now, play, in the median range of the piano (later you can try higher and lower too) a SINGLE Eb.

What do you hear?

Try it again, this time substituting a single E for the Eb.

What do you hear?

when you're done scroll down and read the rest of this, I'll wait...


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That's right. It only takes ONE third of a chord to make a chord major or minor.

Something to remember when voicing your chords.

Cheers,
Steve

[VicDiesel]

Originally Posted by stevel

That's right. It only takes ONE third of a chord to make a chord major or minor.

Oh yes. I was once in a large group of recorder and viol players (at least 20 players total) and the conductor was having us tune by playing Ds and As. For a joke I played a low F# on my bass recorder. Mind, this is a soft note, and with at least two dozen other people playing around me. The conductor immediately heard "Hey! Who's playing that third!?"

Victor.