Ear and genres
The fourth course of harmony for players: first the ear — intervals, chord qualities and degrees; then the three repertoires this harmony lives in, bossa nova, choro, and the modulation both of them use.
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1. The ear
- The colour of a distance
Hearing two notes and naming the interval, by colour and not by counting, ascending, descending and together.
- The colour of a chord
Hearing major, minor, diminished and augmented, and then the five seventh chords, by colour and not by counting.
- Hearing the place
Hearing the degree a chord occupies, with the tonic sung as a ruler and the bass as the clue, so you can follow a song you have never heard.
2. The genres
- The same grammar, more vocabulary
Seventh chords as the minimum, extensions as colour, chained II-V-Is, routine borrowing and the hand that barely moves; bossa nova read by degree.
- The grammar at its limit
Chained dominants, passing diminished chords, the walking bass and a modulation in every section; choro as functional harmony played.
- The hinge
The chord that belongs to two keys and is heard as a degree of each, and the procedure for finding it and writing it down.