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