Art, Music, and the Guitar

I sort of fell into this blog; I knew I wanted to do a blog on music for a while and so a few weeks ago I just began and posted a short history of Western Classical Music. I followed that up with a discussion of the Incomplete, Dominant, Minor 9^th, Chord. When a friend of mine commented that the latter post might be over the heads of most readers, I told him that I hadn’t yet defined my voice or my audience. Maybe that’s a good thing? We shall see…

Musical thinking is a term I use with my students and colleagues as a replacement for the more common terms theory and harmony. Theory sounds to me too theoretical and harmony seems to exclude rhythm and melody. For a while I used the anachronistic term solfeggio, but that term was just too anachronistic. I like the term musical thinking, for music is the result of musical thinking.

Music exists first in the musical sphere and then manifests in the physical sphere. Andre Segovia was suggesting this when he said, “What the world does not need is another guitar player; what the world does need are musicians and artists who happen to play the guitar.”  A guitar player’s consciousness is absorbed in the Physical Sphere; a musician’s consciousness is absorbed in the Musical Sphere, and the artist’s consciousness is absorbed in the Artistic Sphere.

An artist may create art through music and music may be created on the guitar. It could be said that an artist is absorbed in the Artistic Sphere and then communes with the Musical and Physical spheres. A guitar player is absorbed in the Physical Sphere and, at best, communes with the Musical and Artistic Spheres. It is my experience that guitar players can be very impressive, but that after a while I start to get the feeling that they speak beautifully but really have nothing to say. I leave the concert impressed, but not changed.

I remember how it was when leaving Segovia’s concerts; people were smiling, there was a feeling of tangible joy in the group and I wondered if it had anything to do with how Segovia had become a master musician—had mastered music by serving music—by making his life the servant of music?

Indeed, Segovia was an artist who painted not with pigment and canvas, but with sound and rhythm. Segovia created art and was a great musician and was also a great guitar player. Listen to the early recordings; hear how he controlled both silence and sound and time. It is my opinion that no one who has ever played the guitar did it better.

The Incomplete Dominant Minor Ninth Chord in Diatonic Common Practice Music

The Incomplete Dominant Minor Ninth Chord in Diatonic Common Practice Music

Take for an example the key of G Major and compare the V & the VII chords.

V (D, F#, A)                                                                        VII (F#, A, C)

Notice the common tones.

Now make the V chord a V7 by adding a C note (D, F#,A, C) – we’ve added another common tone.

Now make the VII chord a diminished 7^th chord (a diminished chord with a diminished 7^th added). A diminished 7^th is a half-step smaller than a minor 7^th – so the diminished 7^th here would be Eb and the chord would be (F#, A, C, Eb).

Now with regard to the V chord there is a chord called the Dominant Minor Ninth Chord. It adds a minor 9^th into the dominant 7^th chord. In this case the notes would be D, F#, A, C, Eb.

Notice how similar this V9 chord is to the VIIdim7.

Now the Dominant Minor Ninth Chord is frequently voiced in an incomplete form—the root note is omitted. Compare now:

V9 (F#, A, C, Eb)                                                                                      VII (F#, A, C, Eb)

They are the same!

Now what to call them?

In Diatonic Common Practice Music, if the Incomplete Dominant Minor Ninth is the V chord and it precedes the I chord, it is analyzed as the V9. This is also true of Secondary Dominant Harmony, when any chord of the original seven harmonized chords of the key are preceded by its Dominant Chord, for example, the V chord in the key of G Major is D and can be preceded in the music by an A Chord.

Analysis would show this A chord as a Secondary Dominant V/V (V of V). If however, the chord we are calling an Incomplete Dominant Minor Ninth Chord is not functioning in the role of Dominant or Secondary Dominant, it would be analyzed as a Diminished Seventh Chord (a Diminished Chord with a Diminished 7^th).

A Diminished 7^th is one-half step smaller than a Minor 7^th. It will be the same sound as a Major 6^th but will be called a Diminished 7^th. For example, in the Key of G Major the VII chord is F# Diminished (F#, A, C) and the diminished 7^th would be called Eb.