On Jun 29, 2007, at 11:42 AM, A-NO-NE Music wrote:
Christopher Smith / 2007/06/29 / 09:29 AM wrote:
That's not really true. There is nothing in chord symbol nomenclature
that says what the distribution of voices is aside from the bass
note; that's why it is a chord symbol and not a written-out voicing.
Jazz theory is still young. I believe we are here to establish
what is
the best, the best as in less confusion without further explanation.
We can't ignore eighty or more years of chord symbols, though. For my
students, they have trouble understanding that all chord members are
major or perfect by default, EXCEPT the 7th! Every semester I get
questions, why is the 7th minor by default, and everything else
major? I explain it, but it would certainly be less confusing if the
7th behaved the same as other chord members. I don't think less
complex is necessarily a good thing. Sometimes we need complex
concepts to explain complex music.
I preach the numeric value attached to the letter determines the
highest
extension of the voicing :-)
Ah. The highest NUMBERED extension, nothing to do with how it is voiced.
But this only applies starting with the 7th, as an unadorned C is a
triad. We don't call it C5! This is why I would assume that any
symbol not specifically omitting the 3 or 5 would contain them.
CMaj13 includes Major 7th and Major 9th, while CMaj6 or C6 does not.
C-13 includes minor 7th and Major 9th (if context allows), while
C-6 does not.
C2 is C and D, while C9 includes the 3rd, the 5th, and the minor 7th.
CMaj(add2) is C-D-E-G, no 6th/13th nor Major 7th.
A chord symbol of C2 signifying just C and D is new to me. I would
have certainly put a G in that chord, and it would have been unclear
to me whether or not an E should appear, since it is a non-standard
chord symbol.
If you are looking for the least confusing chord symbol not needing
further explanation, I think C2 does not fall into that category. I
have used this symbol before, but with an explanatory note making it
equivalent to Cadd9omit3 (the official, but very long, chord symbol).
Christopher
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