Reharmonisation Recording: Until my Dying Day

I was unable to record this with a singer in time, which I was disappointed with.  This song choice was one of the last minute additions to the project.

This one required a completely different approach - since the original chord seuqence was so simple I kept the reharmonisation simple.  I only added tritone substitution and other more adventurous reharm techniques at the end of lines or on specifically strong melody notes.

As always, this version was played in a very simple fashion so that the chords and melody are heard the most.

Reharmonisation Recording - Stay

This isn't how I intended to submit this song at all.  I briefly ran over it with a singer and we decided to record it after seeing that it worked.  I've not had the opportunity to lay down a successful recording with her.

I may soon, but it will soon be past portfolio deadline time.  

Below is a very basic MIDI recording I was forced to throw together in order to meet the deadline.  It does nothing to show how effective the reharmonisation really is.  There are automation errors (specifically with the sustain pedal) I was unable to fix and velocity errors are numerous.  

Hopefully I'll be able to upload a version with the singer soon, but I'm not sure how likely that will be.  This is one of the later tracks I decided to record, so time was short anyways.  Hopefully I'll have another recording uploaded soon.

I'm frustrated because I know the ruleset works.  This song is one of the most successful songs I've reharmonised, and this basic piano recording does not do it justice.

Please note that as with all piano only recordings I played in a very way so that the melody and chords beneath it can be heard clearly.  There's no complicated rhythms or accompany bass parts - just melody and block chords.

J

Couldn't get the singers to record.

I had plans for two singers to record with me two reharmonised versions of songs - one singing "stay" by Rhianna and the other an original hard rock track that used the same four chords over and over - see other blog posts for the chord charts. 

 Unfortunately, I was forced to cancel both recording sessions due to unforeseen circumstances. I've been unable to schedule a time for us both to record between then and now, and it's unlikely that I'll have the recordings done for the portfolio deadline.  Possibly for the dissertation deadline, so that they can be played on the CD provided, but they won't feature on my portfolio.

As a result, I've had to quickly throw down a basic piano only version of each of these tracks - the melody played on one track with the reharmonised chords payed over it.  This is no where near as effective as I'd have liked the end result to be, but unfortunately i'm going to have to stick with it.  The other reharminsation examples can and will be uploaded in a similar way, but I'm disappointed as  I really wanted to present work with live vocals as a part of my portfolio.

I'll be able to present these audio tracks at my presentation and at my showcase, and hopefully will be able to include them in the CD that will accompany my dissertation, but I'll have to submit a version of the reharminsations with my portfolio at a much lower standard that I had hoped for.

This month is not going well.  I'm losing all confidence in delivery of my project.  

J

A final reflection on the year and my thoughts on the project.

It's now nearing the end of the year and I'm struggling to finish everything.

At the start of this project I had no idea how large it would become.  I had no idea of how much work it would take, how much time it would take and how much energy it would take.  At the start of the year I agreed to perform for three other people for their own degree shows at another institute - Edinburgh college.  I agreed to three shows and turned many others down as

1) I wanted to keep performing this year as my honours project had no live performance aspects involved with it and

2) I thought doing three shows of relatively simple material would be manageable in addition to my honours project.

I was wrong.

I had no idea how much time and effort my own project would require.  I knew I would need to spend   a great deal of time in front of the piano practicing the reharmonistions, but I never expected them to be as time consuming as they turned out to be.  

I also didn't anticipate how challenging the material I'd be working for the other shows would be.  Hours and hours of practice was required to get the pieces to the required standard - hours that I could have spent on my honours project.  As a result - by my own foolishness - my project has suffered.  Where as I should have been able to focus all of my time effort and energy on my honours project alone, I've had to spread them over four different projects, each more difficult than I anticipated.  

I'm not happy with the result of my project, and am also not happy with the standard of my playing in the degree shows that I've been rehearsing for.  To make matters even worse, I've found that many of the shows fall on the same week as many of my honours project hand-ins.  This is far from ideal, and something that wasn't revealed until very recently.  As if my time wasn't strained enough, this is going to make any last minute workings impossible.

If anything, I've learnt that it is very easy to bite off more than you can chew.  I thought three degree shows would be manageable - I was wrong.  So very wrong.  If I could go back to September again, I'd say no to everyone who asked - even those who helped me out for my own show last year.  I'd focus purely on my honours project and make sure that I was working at it with the best of my ability.  Sadly, that hasn't happened this year, and I'm angry at myself for it.

As if my time wasn't being shared out enough, I had a baby at the end of semester 1.  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone planning on sitting an honours project.  That alone, even without the other degree shows, has taken up a massive amount of time and energy on my behalf.  I don't think I got any work done at all the weeks directly after my daughter's birth.  She has brought me more joy than I thought possible, and has helped me realise what is truly important, but at the same time, I've been unable to focus on my honours project as much as I'd have liked.

Perhaps if circumstances had been different, if I'd waited a year, or if this was a different time, my project may have ran more successfully.  Unfortunately however, it hasn't.  The project is currently strained, and I'm struggling to get it finished.

I can't blame everything on circumstance - the times where I have been free, I've often simply decided to rest.  The times I've come home from a long day of rehearsals or have had hours alone at home to myself where I could have been working, I've often rested instead.  Due partly to the business of life around me, but also due to my own lack of motivation for the honours project.  If I'd sat the project last year, or was even able to sit parts of it next year, I'd be much more motivated.  Unfortunately, it's fallen on one of the busiest years of my life, and whereas I should have been able to focus all of my energy on it, I've only been able to spare a fraction of the time I would have liked on it.  This will no doubt reveal itself in the results.  

I'm not trying to make excuses - simply reflecting, and acknowledging that my own lack of time management and knowledgable foresight has let me down this year.  If anything, I've learned from these mistakes, and will know not to make them again if I should ever pursue a large scale, self-sustained project again.

-Jordan

The Most Up To Date Ruleset

Below is the most recent version of the ruleset.  I say most recent and not "finalised" as the ruleset constantly changes as I reharmonises new material.  This may be near the end of the project, though the ruleset may change long after the project is finished.

For official purposes, this can be seen as the final iteration of the ruleset within this academic project. Rather than have the rules labeled 1-2-3, etc, I've spit them into sections as per the older posts.  

These have come about as a result of trial and error; through studying theory textbooks, websites, online lessons, personal experimentation, lessons with my piano teacher, etc...

They have been selected as they are the ones I found to work in most circumstances.  Whereas other rules may have worked well in certain songs, many simply did not work for the vast majority of material I was working with.  As a result, this ruleset is significantly smaller and more concise than the first draughts I posted.  It is also a much simpler ruleset.  It got this way after I began reharmonising more and more tunes and began to realise what worked and what didn't.

While this means the resulting reharmonisations will be similar, it provides a good starting point for anyone wishing to reharmonise songs from scratch - which was the purpose of this project in the first place.  

I'm pleased to say that I've committed many of these rules to memory - I'm finding myself using them throughout my day to day playing, using them to explore harmonic options when performing, covering and composing songs.  Examples of the rulesets in use can be found throughout this blog.  More posts will be added in the coming days with recorded versions of songs reharmonised using the ruleset.

You can find the rules listed here in order of category.  Instead of having contextual rules in their own category I've added contextual notes under rules that they apply to.

Chord Extensions

1) If  chord is a simple triad, add the seventh relating to the key.  Eg. in key of C, C major can be come Cmaj7.  E minor can become Em7, G major can become G7, etc...

2) In most cases, simple triads can have the extended variations of their chords attached to them.  Eg. C major triad - add Maj 7, Maj 6, Maj 9, etc.

3) Major chords can be replaced with the relative minor chords: for example, Gmaj7 can become Em7, etc.

4) If the melody note does not fall on the fifth or perfect fourth, a flattened fifth can be added to a minor chord to create diminished colour.

TENSION NOTES - A list of notes that can be added sporadically to chords for colour:
ONLY ADD IF THE MELODY NOTE DOES NOT FALL ON A NOTE A SEMI-TONE APART FROM THE ALTERED NOTE

Major 6th - Add 9
Minor 6th - Add 9
Minor 7th - Add 9 or #11
Minor Major 7th - Add 9
Dominant 7th - add 9 OR b9, 11, #11, 13, b13
Minor 7th - add 9, 11
Minor 7th (lowered fifth) - 9, b13
Diminished 7th - Any note a whole step above a basic chord tone.

Chord Substitution

1) Dominant 7th chords may be replaced by minor seventh chords (eg. B7 can become Bm7) ONLY if the melody note does not fall upon the major third.  (This minor seven chord can then become the introduction to an imposed ii-V sequence).

2) Similarly, minor chords can be replaced with dominant seventh chords.  Same rules as above apply.

3) Any major triad can be made into a major 7 - those major 7 chords can then be replaced by the related mIII or mVI (eg. Cmaj 7 may be substituted for Em7 or Am7).

4) Those substituted chords may then be replaced by their major counterpart - e.g., Em7 may then become Gmaj 7.  Rule 3 can then apply to the same Gmaj7.  By doing this you can get a Bm7 chord from a Cmaj7 chord - MELODY DEPENDENT. 

5) If going into a ii-V especially, the ii chord can be substituted for a ii#9 b 5 chord.

6) You can change the chord a strong melody note falls on depending on the chord surrounding it.  For example, if you're in the key of C and the melody falls on a G, an A7 chord may be played over it due to the G being the seventh of A7.  Preferably the dominant chord will want to fall on a diatonic minor chord, such as Am7 or Dm7, etc...

Adding ii-V Sequences

1) A ii-V sequence can be added anywhere if the target chord is a major chord.  Eg, if the target chord is a Gmaj, Am-D7 can be added before the Gmaj.  

2) If there are multiple 4-5 sequences in a single line/passage, introduce a ii-V in the key of the 5.  Eg. in the key of D - if there's a G-A sequence, add an Em after the G leading into the A, leading to a G-Em-A sequence. 

3) Alternatively, replace the G with an Em, changing G-A into Em-A.

4) If there's a 1-4 (eg. F-Bb in the key of F), add a minor ii-v in the key of the 4.  Eg. F-Bb will become F-Adim7-D7b9 - Bb.  NOTE: DO NOT USE THIS MORE THAN ONCE IN A SINGLE VERSE/CHORUS OR IF THE MELODY FALLS WITHIN A SEMI-TONE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE GUIDE TONES OF THE ADDED CHORDS

5) Any dominant7 chord can have the minor seventh chord a fourth below placed before it.  Eg. A7 can have Em7 before it, or a Dm7 can be placed before a G7, etc.    

6) Any minor 7 chord can have the dominant seventh chord a fourth above it placed after it, for example B7 can be placed after any F#m7 chord, etc...

7) A ii-V can be added in the key above a target ii-V sequence.  Eg, if the target chord is Cmaj and the ii-V preceding it is Dm-G7, Em-A7 can be played prior to the Dm-G7 ii-V.

Tritone Substitution

1) Any dominant seventh chord can be replaced by it's tritone substitute if THE MELODY DOES NOT FALL WITHIN A SEMI-TONE OF THE CHORD'S GUIDE TONES.  Eg. G7 can become Db7/G, or G7/Db, etc...

2) Tritone substitution should be used sparingly.  Do not alter every dominant chord into it's tritone substitute.  The tritone substitute should be used for colour, especially near the end of lines where a resolution is likely.

3) ONLY WHEN IT DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE MELODY you may alter the tritone chord even more - instead of flattening the fifth and 9th, sharpen them and play them on top of the tritone.  Eg. F7-Bbmaj7  can become | B7/Db7 - Bb | (which is tritone/altered chord - Bb).  Again, this should only be used sparingly, preferably at the end of lines to build tension.

Reharmonisation recording - "Shepherd" by Bethel

I posted weeks ago that I'd been working on this.  I decided to record it last week, just to give another example of the ruleset in practice.

The original track can be found here:

While I was recording it, I changed the reharmonisations slightly.  Now that I've worked on a good few recordings with my updated ruleset, I know what works and what doesn't.  The back-cycling found in the original workouts I did earlier simply didn't work while I was recording.  It may have sounded okay months ago when I first tried it and sang along, but it didn't work now.  Perhaps it's because my ears have become more attuned to the kind of reharmonisations I'm going for.

I recorded a simple "Verse, chorus, middle section x2, chorus" structure.  As always, there could be any number of possible reharmonisations using my ruleset, but I opted instead to record the track once though, so that a general overview of the reharmonisation may be heard.

Reharmonization working sheet: Until my Dying Day

Below is a music video of a local Scottish rock band "The King Lot" performing the song "Until my Dying day".

I decided to cover a song by a band that will be relatively unknown on a global scale to show that the ruleset doesn't have to be applied to famous songs.

The song was also picked to show how the ruleset can be implemented on songs of any genre.

The chord sequence for this song is as follows:

Em - C - G -D

That's it.  The same four chords repeated over and over.

At first this was daunting.  I pushed on however and began to use some basic chord substitution and expending to make the sequence more interesting, and closer to a smooth-jazz style.  Below is the initial working taken from a document on my iPad.

Until my dying day

Em C G D

Em7 Cmaj7 Gmaj7 D7

Gmaj7 Am7 Em7 Bm7 

Cmaj7 Em7 Am7 Em9

Am7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7 Gmaj7 

ii-V-Is

Em7 - A7(6) - Dmaj7

Am7 - D7 - Gmaj7 

Bm7 - E7(6) - Amaj7 

F#halfdim - Balt - Em(maj7) 

MELODY: 

Verse 

BAG (EDB)

Ch:

BAG

CBA

v2:

EDBA

GF#EDs

Br: 

G-E

(Promise this) : G A Bb 

Here I began to substitute the chord sequence, seeing how many different versions I could get.  I then began to develop ii-V ideas, though when it came to putting these into practice, most of them didn't work.  The melody notes were jotted down at the bottom for reference.

You can see at the start of my working that I write down the original chord sequence.  Then I implement the rule that turns everything into a seventh chord.  Then I swap each chord for it's relevant minor/major.  Then I apply the rule that says I can substitute minor chords for similar minor chords within the same key.  It goes on and on.  The result us that I'm left with a handful of chords that can be put in place of any of the original chords.

The result is a very simple reharmonisation, with very few chords taken out of key.  This is an example of one of the many ways the ruleset can be applied to a chord sequence.  The original chords do not have to be edited and substituted and removed and warped and altered - they can simply be changed by chords from the same key but with different guide tones.  This makes the melody notes take on a different form - the melody in this song is based on E minor pentatonic.  The notes relation to the chords are almost always based on guide tones.  By substituting the chords for different chords within the same key, the melody notes become 9th, 11th and 13ths, as opposed to firsts, thirds and fifths.

Below is the work sheet I wrote when I put the above iPad workings into practice at the piano.  The first thing you may notice is that I've halved the time in which chords are played.  In the space of the "Em-C-G-D" heard in the original, I've instead placed Cmaj7-Bmaj 7.  I've halved the number of chords used.  This leads to a sound closer to that of smooth jazz than rock due to the spareness of the played chords.

Apart from the end of the song where the vocal melody hits a Bb (this is where an altered chord can be played to give it colour), the repetitive chord sequences can just be exchanged for one another.  So for example in verse one a player may play Am Bm Cmaj7 Gmaj7, then Bm7 Cmaj7 Em7 Am7; from then onwards the song could be reharmonised using the exact same chords as mentioned above

but in different orders.  Since the original chord sequence is based on four repeating chords, this works well and leads to a simple but effective reharmonisation.

Reharmonisation Recording: Amazing Grace

Below is a version of Amazing Grace I reharmonised using the ruleset.  As with most reharmonised parts I delve into more complex harmonic territory the more times it repeats.  The final version of it sounds most "out there" but it shows the depth of the ruleset.

Rules used for this include:

All rules used under the "chord extension" subheading.
Chord substitution rules 1,2,3 and 6.
Rules 1 & 2 of the ii-V section.
All three tritone substitution based rules.

The result for this one was mixed.  Some parts worked, others didn't.  I struggled to reharmonise this song as easily as some of the others.  Perhaps it was due to the homophonic melody, or the fact that almost every on-beat note of the hymn is a tonic chord tone.  Regardless, here are the results: Whether or not it was successful is up to the listener.

Reharmonisation Recording: Somewhere in Time

A key part of my project was to show that the ruleset can be applied to pieces of music from any style.

So far I've reharmonised love ballads, hymns, christmas tunes, hard rock songs, contemporary pop, and now I'm trying out an orchestral piece - "Somewhere in Time", by John Barry.

The trick is finding a distinguishable melody in a piece, then working out the chords to it.

In this case the chords are based on the C major scale.  C, Am, Dm and F are the chords used mostly throughout.  There's a part near the end of the "A" section where E7 and B7 are played.  I tried to get interesting here with tritone substitution, but it proved tricky.

Below you will find a brief piano recording I made of the "A" section of the piece, repeated twice.  The first time features a simpler, 'easier' sounding reharmonisation.  The second A section features a wider variety of rules used - based on minor scale and diminished harmony, the second play through is full of tritone substitution, and minor ii-Vs.  The result?  It works, but I'm not sure if it's exactly "smooth jazz".  If anything, it demonstrates the diversity of sound that the ruleset can produce.

As I begin to reharmonise more and more pieces I'm starting to see how this project and the ruleset itself is developing past what I intended.  It's gone beyond "can I get this to sound like smooth jazz?" and is now "how far can I let the ruleset take this song?"  Perhaps I should reel it in a bit...

(Please note it isn't supposed to be four minutes, I stupidly forgot to crop it when bouncing the file. The A section will repeat twice, with different harmonies.  Once that's done the track is over.)

I'm not sure I'm really following the ruleset any more...

...This is both a good thing and a bad thing.  I've spent so much time trying to reharmonise different versions of things that I've began to reharmomise tunes without even looking at the rules on my iPad. I'm simply playing things, hearing where I want them to go in my head and then fumbling around at the piano until I can remember where the reharmoised chord I want is.

 I can be working on a reharmonisation then think "I want to go to this chord".  I'll then think about other reharmonisations I've done, and remember what I did there and lo and behold, it's the chord I want to go to.  This is good as it means the project is working and that my ear is beginning to develop more, which is what I wanted from the start.

This is bad because it means some of the reharmonisations may be coming from me and not the ruleset, nulling them - this project is ultimately about me, yes, but the academic side is to be focused on the ruleset.  What does it matter if by the end of this I have a handful of reharmonisations that sound good, but they all bypassed the ruleset? What does that prove?  What I want to be able to say is "The ruleset works because" or "the ruleset doesn't work because."  Not "I picked this chord here because I wanted it to be there."

To actually be quite honest, this might be a good thing.  I'm not sure.  So I'm documenting it here.  Perhaps this realisation has become a vital part in the development of my project.  I don't know!  What I do know is that with or without the ruleset next to me, it's getting progressively easier to reharmonise tunes into something that sounds remotely like smooth-jazz.

And it's no coincidence that the reharmonisations are getting simpler.  TO start with I was trying to fill every bar with complex harmonic progressions.  Now I'm focused more on simply extending existing chords and adding substituted ii-V-I progressions where the melody calls for it.  If it leads to a more authentic sound, who am I to criticise it?  It's just going to make evaluating my project that little bit harder at the end.  Ah well.  At least I'm getting better.

Please note, I'm by no means saying I'm a reharmonisation master, I'm just saying that it's become a damn sight easier for me to reharmonises things from the top of my head than it was when I first started reharmonising things in January!

J

Stay - Rhianna Reharmonisation

Below is the music video for "Stay" by Rhianna.  The song is in 4/4 and is based on the same four chords: C Dm Am F, with the occasional G/Em thrown in.

Here is the song:

Below is the reharmonised chord chart:

Cmaj9 Dm7 Am7

Em7 Dm7 Am7

Cmaj9 Dm7-G b9 #13 Cmaj7

Am11 Abdim7 Am7

Cmaj9 Dm7 Cmaj7

Cmaj7 Dm7b5 G7 Am7

Fmaj7 Dm9 Am7

Atritone D b9 #13 G7

Ch

Cmaj7 Dmin7 Am7 F

Em7 Atriton Dm7 G7tritone sub

Cmaj7 Dm7 Am7 Bb/F 

Am7 D7 Dm7-G7 

Cmaj7 Dm7 Am7 

Fmaj7 Am7 D7 E7

Fmaj7 Cmaj7 Dm7 

Dm7 E7#9#5 Am7 

Fmaj7 Dmin7 Gtritone

Less rules were added here than one would think - for this song I simply added a number of ii-Vs and reharmonised them using tritone substitution, as detailed in previous blog posts.  Some chords were substituted for others - chords that are in the similar key and share a similar tonality.  In this case melody notes that were guide tones (like the 3rd of 7th) became extended chord tones, like 11th and 13th, etc.

I'll be uploading a recorded version of this with a singer singing the original melody soon.

J

YouTube link: Reharmonising Happy Birthday

I found another interesting youTube link which talks about finding target chords and working backwards to them, back cycling through various V and ii-V sequences.

This is useful to an extent, though the video's creator has embellished the melody too much for the purposes relating to this blog.  My plan is to reharmonises songs while touching the melody as little as possible.

The author's end result leads to a chord sequence that looks like this:


Cmaj7 - Adom7 - Dm7 - Gdom7
Bm7b5 - Edom7 - A7 - Ddom7
Dm7 - Gdom7 - Em7 - Adom7 - Dm7 - Gdom7 - Cmaj7

Considering the original sequence looks similar to this:

C G
G C
C F
C G C

We can see that it's a rather intense reharmonisation.  The A7 leads down a fifth to the Dm7, which then moves down a fifth to the G7.  We can see that the chord sequence continually moves down in fifths.  This is similar to a small set of rules I've composed which include back-cycling in fifths.  The user here seems to alternate between minor seven chords and dominant seven chords.  This is something I'll have to look at, though since I'm trying to adhere to the melody in my own reharmonisations, this may not work for me.

If anything, it's food for thought, and gives me a chance to see how other people reharmonises well known tunes.

J

Rules narrowed down: chord substitution

Below are a group of the near-finalised versions of the chord substitution based rules.  These may change before the final ruleset is released.

1) Dominant 7th chords may be replaced by minor seventh chords (eg. B7 can become Bm7) ONLY if the melody note does not fall upon the major third.  (This minor seven chord can then become the introduction to an imposed ii-V sequence).

2) Similarly, minor chords can be replaced with dominant seventh chords.  Same rules as above apply.

3) Any major triad can be made into a major 7 - those major 7 chords can then be replaced by the related mIII or mVI (eg. Cmaj 7 may be substituted for Em7 or Am7).

4) Those substituted chords may then be replaced by their major counterpart - e.g., Em7 may then become Gmaj 7.  Rule 3 can then apply to the same Gmaj7.  By doing this you can get a Bm7 chord from a Cmaj7 chord - MELODY DEPENDENT. 

5) If going into a ii-V especially, the ii chord can be substituted for a ii#9 b 5 chord.

Tritone Substitution

1) Any dominant seventh chord can be replaced by it's tritone substitute if THE MELODY DOES NOT FALL WITHIN A SEMI-TONE OF THE CHORD'S GUIDE TONES.  Eg. G7 can become Db7/G, or G7/Db, etc...

2) Tritone substitution should be used sparingly.  Do not alter every dominant chord into it's tritone substitute.  Tritone substitute should be used for colour, especially near the end of lines where a resolution is likely.

3) ONLY WHEN IT DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE MELODY you may alter the tritone chord even more - instead of flattening the fifth and 9th, sharpen them and play them on top of the tritone.  Eg. F7-Bbmaj7 - B7/Db7 - Bb (tritone/altered chord - Bb).  Again, this should only be used sparingly, preferably at the end of lines to build tension.