Broken chords with accompaniment

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THE MUSICARTA CANON PROJECT

MODULE NINE – BROKEN CHORDS PLUS ACCOMPANIMENT

CANON PROJECT
MODULE LINKS

Canon Project 4
Triads in the treble

Canon Project 5
RH broken chords

Canon Project 6
Canon chord sequence

Canon Project 7
Accompaniment patterns

Canon Project
Transposing mini-series

Canon Project 8
Accomp, + RH thirds

Canon Project 10
Mixed accomp, patterns

Now you have started playing your own full left hand accompaniment, your next step is playing broken-chord triads in the right hand. But the same accompaniment pattern doesn’t work for all treble parts. It’s easy to fix the problem by changing the order of your accompaniment pattern notes, and this will make you a lot more confident about creating your own root-fifth-octave-tenth accompaniment patterns.

This is Module Nine of the Musicarta Canon Project, a series of free online piano lessons which shows you how to play a chord sequence freely and put together your own unique Canon performance from easily-mastered musical components.

To get the most out of this module, you need to have done all the things detailed in the ‘Preparing to learn’ sections of the first Canon Project module, and have completed Modules One to Six of the series. Don’t skip this vital preparation! Use the Quick Links in the table, right, to catch up.

You can download the latest Canon Project MIDI files (including the files for this module) using this link. Keep your MIDI files and folders tidy!

Delete your previous MIDI file folder before downloading the new one.
Always save your MIDI files to the same location.
Remember to delete the zip folder 'wrapping' when you've finished unpacking.

Here is the Module audio performance. You will be learning to play right hand broken chord patterns over your own left hand solo accompaniment.

CPM_M9_01

Revise the right hand triads

Revise the right hand triad string from Module Five: Play the chords with a skeleton bass line:

CPM_M9_02

Now build the root, fifth, octave, tenth (R, 5, 8, 10) ladder on each bass note in turn.

CPM_M9_03

Broken-chord triads in the right hand

Recall the right hand broken chord pattern from Module Five. Here’s the example we will be using:

CPM_M9_04

Note that:

This is a two-bar repeating bottom, middle, top (BMT) pattern:

The semibreve (whole note) chords in the first two bars are there just to show you what chord to prepare – you don’t play them.

Rehearse the pattern with a single-note bass line, as in the audio performance file.

Now play the broken-chord triads over the left hand accompaniment. Listen to the audio performance file first and see if you can play the version before using the MIDI performance or the sketch music.

CPM_M9_05

Changing the accompaniment for a better sound

This is a nice version and a good achievement, but the combination of left hand and right hand creates ‘bald spots’. Listen again to the audio performance, and compare it with the version immediately below.

CPM_M9_05

CPM_M9_06

‘Bald spots’ occur where the listener has to wait too long to hear the third/tenth (the third is the ‘sweet’ note in a triad), or where the third is doubled. The bald spots are corrected in the second version by changing the order of the R, 5, 8, 10 accompaniment chord tones. Listen the two versions one after the other until you can hear the improvement.

The new left hand accompaniment pattern

In the second version, the left hand plays a R, 5, 10, 8 accompaniment pattern instead of the standard R, 5, 8, 10 pattern – the last two chord tones are switched around . (Check that you see that.) Here is the written-out music for the new left hand accompaniment pattern:

CPM_M9_07

Practise the R, 5, 10, 8 accompaniment pattern

Notice that the fingering has changed. Don’t try to hold onto the root or the fifth – use the sustain pedal to hold the notes and let your hand move freely to get to the tenth. Expect to practice a good deal.

Add the RH triads back in:

CPM_M9_08

As soon as you add the right hand triads back in, you will see if your left hand R, 5, 10, 8 pattern needs more practice! When you can play the new LH accompaniment pattern and the straight triads together comfortably, play the RH broken chord pattern over the new accompaniment:

CPM_M9_06

Take the time to absorb the information given here with your eyes before rushing into ‘obeying the dots’. Here is a labelled version:

Compare the sound you have now with the old ‘bald spot’ version. You will hear that it’s been worth the trouble.

CPM_M9_05

CPM_M9_06

Accompaniment patterns often have to be re-jigged like this in the light of what the right hand is playing. We explore this further in the next Canon Project module. Most left hand accompaniment patterns are made of the root, fifth, octave and tenth of the presiding chord, so time spent playing around with them is never wasted.

Using musical shorthand

Look at the last illustration again:

Written music tends to work against development of musical creativity because ‘the dots’ monopolise your brain. Unless you work hard at it, you don’t have the attention left to spot the patterns. If you see through the dots to the patterns, you ‘own’ the music; it becomes ‘portable’ – you can take it with you.

Pachelbel’s Canon is made up of patterns which express a simple but very pleasing chord sequence, and this makes it an excellent piece to focus on patterns and develop your creativity. Here is the information in the music above with ‘the dots’ altogether removed.

Study the table until it makes sense to you. The ‘usual triad string’ is this familiar music:

The first chord is a D major triad with F sharp as the top note, the second chord is an A major with E as the top note, and so on. We can express this in shorthand as well:

Feed that into the table:

This is a picture of how creative musicians ‘think’. Try to play the final Module Nine version from this table alone.

Writing music out in full is time-consuming and laborious, but without some written record, it’s easy to forget what you have done. Consider sketching your own compositions this way.

Transposing challenge

If you have, worked through the Canon Project Transposing mini-series, you will be familiar with the Roman numeral system of naming chords, and you will be able to see even deeper into the chord structure and read the module performance like this:

The chords are now expressed as Roman numerals – they are ‘the chords in any key’.

Here is a transposing table for D major to C major:

You remember that in the Roman numeral system, the Canon chord sequence is:

Your transposing challenge is to transpose the final Module Nine version into C major. Follow a logical step-by-step build-up:

Write out the chords in ordinary chord symbols if you need to.
Play the familiar-shape bass line (roots – the notes of the chord symbol letters).
Find and rehearse the R, 5, 10, 8 accompaniment pattern. (Play the original R, 5, 8, 10 pattern first if necessary.)
Find the right hand chords (the ‘usual RH triad string’) and break them up in the two-bar T M B T │T M B pattern.
Put the hands together.

This what your version should sound like:

CPM_M9_09

Take as much time as you need – have as many goes as it takes. Bookmark it and come back to it later if you can’t manage it right now. Settle for playing the basic Canon chord sequence in C major for now if that’s what you can do at present – it all adds up!

This is the end of Module Nine of the Musicarta Canon Project.

When you’re ready, click through to the Canon Project Module Ten, where you mix-and-match left hand accompaniment pattern under more right hand variations.

The Canon Project will broaden and deepen your understanding of chords and how to use them, but if you have spare time, click through to the Chords home page for an overview of Musicarta’s other chord-related resources.

Or take a break and click up to the Musicarta home page for an overview of all Musicarta’s free online piano lessons.

Thanks for visiting Musicarta.com! Come again soon!

SBI!