On 18 avr. 05, at 23:14, Christopher Smith wrote:
But back at you, in the key of C would YOU spell the bII7 chord as Db-F-Ab-Cb when there is a perfectly good and functional leading tone B in the key signature?
If the next chord is C major I'd certainly spell it with a B, since the B would be functioning as the leading tone. But if the next chord is Gb major I'd spell it with a Cb. And I'm speaking as a pianist. To read fast at the piano you need to recognise a chord like you recognise a printed word: you see the word as a whole, without having to separately read each letter. A chord must have the right shape, the right sequence of intervals. In the case above, if the chord is functioning as a dominant 7th of Gb major (whatever the actual key signature is), I need to see a third between Ab and Cb.
A sort of rule of thumb (with exceptions, I know) for dual-function or "pivot" chords is to look at the chord that comes _after_ and use the spelling which will make sense for this progression. When sight-reading you always need to look ahead and in most musical styles the chord you're playing can give you a hint as to what is coming.
Michael Cook
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