Workshop 31 mini-test

1. What are the three major tonal centers in the classic B-based major-third cycle?

2. What interval relates them?

3. Which dominant points to B?

4. Which dominant points to E♭?

5. Which dominant points to G?

6. What are the three corresponding ii–V–I packets?

7. Why is scale-per-chord thinking particularly inefficient here?

8. What notes should you target first at tonic arrivals?

9. What surprising relationship exists between the 3rds of B, E♭, and G major and the three tonic centers themselves?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 31?

Answers

1. B, E♭, and G.
2. They are related by successive major thirds, dividing the octave into three equal parts.
3. F♯7 → B.
4. B♭7 → E♭.
5. D7 → G.
6. C♯m7–F♯7–Bmaj7; Fm7–B♭7–E♭maj7; Am7–D7–Gmaj7.
7. Because the chords change too rapidly for conscious modal recalculation; hearing local destination keys, guide tones, and functional packets is much faster.
8. The tonic 3rds—D♯ for B, G for E♭, and B for G—are especially effective.
9. B major's 3rd is D♯/E♭, E♭ major's 3rd is G, and G major's 3rd is B—so each tonic's major 3rd points directly to another tonic center in the cycle.
10. The only way to play extremely fast harmony comfortably is to make your mental representation of it much slower and simpler.

The central lesson of Workshop 31 is:

Virtuosity begins with compression: hear three key centers where the page seems to show twenty chords, hear destinations where the page shows dominants, and let the fingers execute relationships the ear already understands.