Please do not use minus and plus for b and #, or minus for minor either.
These usages are obsolete and they stink because they are hard to read
and introduce unnecessary symbols. The system of naming chords for pop
music is very simple. The chord is assumed to be built on the 5th degree
of a major scale. Basically:
* root
* m if 3rd is minor, nothing if major
* farthest unaltered extension
* alterations e.g.: Dmaj7#5b9
I am among the many (maybe the majority, for once) who like parentheses:
* root
* m if 3rd is minor, nothing if major
* maj7 if 7th interval not minor. Leave out the 7 but not
the maj if there are unaltered extensions.
e.g.: Gmaj7, Gmaj9
* farthest unaltered extension
e.g.: Abm9, E13
* alterations in parentheses e.g.: Cmmaj11(b5b9)
* arbitrary added notes.
e.g.: A9(#11,add Bb)
* any bass note after a slash e.g.: A11(b9)/C
* The only exception is the symmetrical dim or dim7
chord, which is spelled with a minimum of
accidentals.
I propose that you *always* make a distinction between the diminished
triad and dim 7th chord by always including the 7th if it is present. I
hope that at least is noncontroversial. Therefore, Cdim would be the
triad but C(degree mark) would mean only Cdim7. Also Caug (the triad) is
ok, but C+ is not, and C+7 or Caug7 is not ok for C7(#5).
The spelling of Bm7(b5) for the leading tone 7th :-) (Half diminished
7th |-@==,*=! blows chunks. How can a 7th or 5th be half diminished? I
believe Walter Piston started that in his excellent harmony textbook. It
is another example of how a very intelligent and knowledgeable person
can sometimes come up with a very bad idea--but the ideas of ignorant
people like Gardner Read are consistently worse.) is awkward, but at
least it gives the right root, and it can be abbreviated elegantly with
the degree sign with a slash through it.
The first time I saw the /bassnote was in a mass market anthology "Songs
of the Sixties". It was not guitar music. It was for a guitar player,
but even more for a bass player. It arose because people like Gordon
Lightfoot and John Denver (and Jacques Brel?) were writing tunes where
the bass part (usually steps of a scale) was by far the most important
part of the harmony. It is an example of music notation as a living
language. A new usage which is useful enough can become universally
standard almost overnight. I enjoyed the idea that it would be used to
indicate pedal point. ("Pedal" is short for pedal point. Did that cause
confusion?) :-)
I think that it would be a good idea to adopt the French method of
indicating the maj7. Cmmaj7 is not ambiguous, but isn't Cm7M better?
More cogently, C7M9 is clearer than Cmaj9 IMHO. There is one country in
the world that I know of where a mixed system is in common use. e.g.:
G7M, not Sol7M.
*************This is a test!************
* Can you name that country? *
************* End Test ****************
Wouldn't it be good to struggle toward international usages?
Consider parsing chords, if you want to do it at all, without regard to
the spelling in the music, (except the tonality) and choose among the
possibilities the chord name that forms the shortest string! IMHO to try
to be more sophisticated would be futile. It often happens that the best
spelling for the notes in the music is not consistent with the spelling
according to the chord names. The chord names in pop music *have no
context*. They are intended for sight reading, not harmonic analysis or
clarifying voice leading or even simplicity in reading the notes in the
score. Marking a chord as a French sixth, for example, is not much help
to a player caught in a modulation.
An unrelated problem is whether the chords are analysis or playing
instructions. If the latter, the name need not include the melody note
which it is intended to accompany. The solution is simply for the user
to exclude a voice from the parsing.
Consider also parsing (1) figured bass and (2) context(?) names for
those who may be interested. (Not I) By context names I mean what you
learn in a harmony class in university from Walter Piston's excellent
book:
e.g. (in C):
I = C
II7 = Dm7
VII7 = Bm7(b5) = The leading tone 7th chord
V7 of III = B7
etc.
--
Peace, understanding, health and happiness to all beings!
U U u ^^ ` 'U u U ''`'`
_-__o|oO|o-_|o_o_-_MN[-->mm@_-_--___o|o|oU_|o_o__lilypond
dave N Va USA David Raleigh Arnold [EMAIL PROTECTED]
