On May 1, 2006, at 3:21 PM, A-NO-NE Music wrote:
Jacki Barineau / 2006/05/01 / 02:36 PM wrote:
Thanks for the ongoing discussion about this!! I'm learning a lot
from you all! Okay - so it's appropriate to actually put a "double
decker" chord symbol, such as Eb/G7? Is this common practice these
days?! Just never heard of doing that :)
It's called Poly Chord, and it is spelled as
Eb
--
G7
The first purpose of spelling Poly Chord is to give players no freedom
of adding their own tensions, so the chord will sound exactly as the
composer wanted. This is common practice to altered dominant chord.
The second usage is to create upper structure voicing, i.e., D over C
Maj7 instead of C Maj7(#11). I personally do not like how most
pianists
voice Maj7(#11) chord.
In the similar line, when you don't trust your pianist, this is a safe
way. I once had a pianist who doesn't read my head line, and I was
concerned when the melody in the head holds on -3rd, and I was so sure
this pianist will voice 9th. The only way to play safe in this
scenario
is to write out the poly chord, or fire him, which I couldn't :-)
G7(b13#9) doesn't give the pianist much choice about what extensions to
add, either, so either one will fill the bill for a pianist. A
guitarist, or an improviser, on the other hand, might hesitate a moment
over a polychord, which is something one generally wants to avoid.
May I suggest that if you want exact voicings (which I don't, usually)
then chord symbols are not the way to go? They are by necessity a
shorthand, designed to GIVE freedom to the performers by cutting down
how much the composer insists on. Generally if I want exact voicings, I
write out the voicing, and often add a chord symbol anyway so that the
player can read it faster.
But I recognise that many performers and composers have different
preferences in the way they like things notated. I, in my own music,
have not had much success with forcing players into a way of playing
that they are not comfortable with, as the music invariably suffers for
my point of view. If somebody asked me for polychord notation, I would
not hesitate to provide it.
Christopher
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