Workshop 10 mini-test

1. What is the classic minor line cliché in C minor?

2. Which chords can that line imply?

3. What is the difference between Cm7 and Cm6?

4. What note defines Cm(maj7)?

5. Why is the line cliché better understood horizontally than as four unrelated chords?

6. What is the relative major of C minor?

7. What dominant typically resolves strongly to Cm?

8. Why is G7♭9 especially natural in C minor?

9. What is the difference between putting the chromatic line in an inner voice versus the bass?

10. What is the deepest lesson of this workshop?

Answers

1. C → B → B♭ → A
2. Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6
3. Cm7 contains B♭; Cm6 contains A natural, producing a different, more melodic-minor/jazz-minor color.
4. B natural
5. Because the musical effect comes from one chromatic voice descending while the tonic-minor identity remains largely stable.
6. E♭ major
7. G7, often colored as G7♭9.
8. A♭, the ♭9 of G7, belongs naturally to the C-minor pitch environment and resolves smoothly.
9. An inner-line version feels more suspended and introspective; a bass-line version feels more directional and dramatic.
10. Minor harmony can become profoundly expressive through the motion of a single chromatic voice, without requiring constant chord changes.

The central lesson of Workshop 10 is:

In minor-key ballads, one moving semitone can carry more emotional weight than five extra chord substitutions.