If you have a piano, go up to it and play a middle C and a Db a flat ninth above.
Then, play a chord starting on middle C on bass, then add E, A, Db, F# B.
The result is that the initial dissonance of the flat nine is hidden within the rest of the harmony. C and Db are distant, but when you add the notes that relate to both (A E B F#) the result makes the distant relationship sound less distant. Still fairly dissonant, but the dissonance is more dreamy and uncertain rather than biting.
This is what I call harmonic conditioning, the process of presenting dissonances in a more consonant state because of the underlying harmony being used. It conditions the ear to notice less of the dissonance.
You can also try sustaining a chord (C, E F# B) and solo with G lydian. You could even solo up to E lydian for a more ambigious sound. The result is a polytonality, connected by the inner voices, conditioned to cound more ingoing. E, B, and F# both relate to C lydian as well as E lydian.
But this is just one type of harmonic conditioning. You can also make dissonances appear less dissonant by placing the right notes on the right strong beats. This is what Bach did.
One way I hear Coltrane and Mccoy Tyner and many others employing harmonic conditioning is by stating a motif and then restating the motif outside the tonal order. If were one to all of a sudden go out of the tonal order it would create dissonance, but the repeated motif gives it connection (listen or relisten to A Love Supreme, "Ackowledgement" especially the last part of Trane's solo)
Does this make sense? Do you have any more examples of harmonic conditioning?
Harmonic Conditioning
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An open letter from Alice Russell. June 21, 2011, Brookline, Massachusetts. 1. DO NOT make insulting, mean spirited remarks about anyone or their work; there are a plethora of sites where you can rant unfettered. If you attack someone personally, your comments will be removed. You can post it, but I'm not paying for it. Go elsewhere, and let those artists who are actually interested in discussion and learning have the floor. 2. There will be NO posting of or links to copyrighted material without permission of the copyright owner. That's the law. And if you respect the work of people who make meaningful contributions, you should have no problem following this policy. 3. I appreciate many of the postings from so many of you. Please don't feel you have to spend your time "defending" the LCC to those who come here with the express purpose of disproving it. George worked for decades to disprove it himself; if you know his music, there's no question that it has gravity. And a final word: George was famous for his refusal to lower his standards in all areas of his life, no matter the cost. He twice refused concerts of his music at Lincoln Center Jazz because of their early position on what was authentically jazz. So save any speculation about the level of him as an artist and a man. The quotes on our websites were not written by George; they were written by critics/writers/scholars/fans over many years. Sincerely, Alice
Harmonic Conditioning
"Life finds a way"- Wayne Shorter
I think your thoughts on harmonic conditioning are brilliant. I tried the example you gave, and its amazing how two notes that completely rub against each other can be ok when these quartal harmonies are implied. I also found it interesting that when you start out with just the C and the Db a flat ninth above, how much of a difference it makes to just add an E. With just that one added note it makes it much less dissonant already. Then as you add the following notes to the chord you suggested, it slowly becomes less dissonant in a way, because with each added note to the chord, it pulls your ear in to a different sound the new tonality gives off.
You hit it right on when you mentioned the quartal hamonies employed. I had talked a little about quartal harmony in the previous post "Revisions on Previous Posts." There's more possibilities when quartal harmony is employed.
In the second example I chose the quartal harmony C F# B E because it's able to satisfy from a C Lydian melody all the way up to an E Lydian. The C quartal chord and E lydian melody only produces one dissonance, C against e lydian, whereas a tertian chord C MAJ 7 produces two dissonances, C against E lydian and G against E lydian. quartal chords are more ambigious and require more notes to really define themselves, but it's better that way because it leaves you open to experiment with different tonalities.
In the second example I chose the quartal harmony C F# B E because it's able to satisfy from a C Lydian melody all the way up to an E Lydian. The C quartal chord and E lydian melody only produces one dissonance, C against e lydian, whereas a tertian chord C MAJ 7 produces two dissonances, C against E lydian and G against E lydian. quartal chords are more ambigious and require more notes to really define themselves, but it's better that way because it leaves you open to experiment with different tonalities.
"Life finds a way"- Wayne Shorter
It's kind of like chromatic passing notes, even in early music (Baroque, Classical). If held for any amount of time, they would be unacceptably dissonant (back then, at least). But because they are sounded so briefly, and usually on unaccented beats, they kind of don't matter.
What you're talking about, though is SUSTAINED dissonances being made to disappear. That's a cool subject. Again, how do you make a dissonance sound not so dissonant, while sustaining it?
About halfway between these two extremes (passing note dissonance vs. sustained dissonance) is the dissonances of the Romantic era. One example is measure 20 of Debussy's Clair De Lune (http://www.4shared.com/file/78331055/1c ... d=f916286f). Out of context, this combination of notes is quite dissonant. But even though it is sustained for a full measure, the bass notes are part of an ascending sequence, and the dissonance is resolved in the next measure, when the bass notes ascend one step further.
Anyway, little digression. Sorry.
BTW, can anyone think of some EXAMPLES of this in action? That would be cooler still.
What you're talking about, though is SUSTAINED dissonances being made to disappear. That's a cool subject. Again, how do you make a dissonance sound not so dissonant, while sustaining it?
About halfway between these two extremes (passing note dissonance vs. sustained dissonance) is the dissonances of the Romantic era. One example is measure 20 of Debussy's Clair De Lune (http://www.4shared.com/file/78331055/1c ... d=f916286f). Out of context, this combination of notes is quite dissonant. But even though it is sustained for a full measure, the bass notes are part of an ascending sequence, and the dissonance is resolved in the next measure, when the bass notes ascend one step further.
Anyway, little digression. Sorry.
BTW, can anyone think of some EXAMPLES of this in action? That would be cooler still.