On 05 Jan 2005, at 04:49 PM, Brian Williams wrote:
Darcy James Argue wrote:
As for alterations, they should be given with flats and sharps, not
pluses and minuses. No matter what chord nomenclature you use, writing
"(-5)" or "(+5)" instead of "(b5)" and "(#5)" is bad practice.
- Darcy
Claire Fisher would vehemently disagree with you on this.
Due respect, but Claire can disagree all he likes. But the fact is, his view is distinctly nonstandard, and no major jazz publisher uses (+5), (-5), (+11), (-13), (-6), etc. They all use (#5), (b5), (#11), (b13), (b6), and so on.
Depending upon the
key signature, a lowered alteration could either be flat or natural, and a
raised alteration could either be sharp or natural.
Yes, but the universally-accepted jazz convention is to ignore that. "#11" means a *raised* eleventh, regardless of the key signature, and every jazz musician knows that. No one's going to see "BbMA7(#11)" and think the "#11" means E-sharp. [Again, if they do, you've got bigger problems.]
Using + and - in front of alterations removes all confusion.
No, it doesn't, because (A) it's nonstandard, and (B) it's easily confused with "-" for minor and "+" for augmented. That's why no publisher uses Claire's method -- not even Advance Music, who publish his works. (They may overrule their house style for his compositions -- I don't know, I don't have any of them in front of me -- but they certainly don't use his nomenclature for any of their other composers.)
B7(b5) might imply B, D#, Fb, A to the literal-minded person because the 5th
is already sharped.
Again, only to a person who doesn't know the first thing about jazz chord symbols.
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY
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