Workshop 52 mini-test

1. What are the pitches of F minor pentatonic and F blues?

2. What are the two characteristic chromatic blues gestures emphasized here?

3. Why can F7 function as tonic even though it has dominant quality?

4. What is call-and-response at the arranging level?

5. What does AAB mean rhetorically?

6. What is locked-hands/block-chord melody playing?

7. Why must the melody be dynamically prominent in block chords?

8. What makes a shout chorus feel climactic?

9. Why is stop-time effective?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 52?

Answers

1. F minor pentatonic: F-A♭-B♭-C-E♭. F blues: F-A♭-B♭-B-C-E♭.
2. A♭→A (♭3→3) and B♭→B→C (4→♭5→5).
3. In blues, dominant-seventh quality can be a stable tonic color rather than necessarily functioning as V of another chord; function depends on context.
4. One musical role makes a statement and another role answers—melody/chord, solo/ensemble, bass/RH, or even one multi-bar phrase answering another.
5. Statement, repeated statement, contrasting/concluding response.
6. Harmonizing the melody rhythmically as a moving chordal block so the melody remains on top while supporting chord tones move with it.
7. Otherwise the inner harmony masks the tune; block chords should sound like a harmonized melody, not a chord progression with an accidental top note.
8. Repetition, thicker texture, rising register, coordinated rhythmic hits, block chords/octaves, stronger bass, and carefully accumulated intensity—not simply playing more notes or louder.
9. Removing accompaniment exposes the solo/riff while the listener internally maintains the pulse; the return of the groove then has greater impact.
10. Musical power comes from how clearly and convincingly simple material is organized, repeated, answered, and intensified—not from making the material complicated.

The central lesson of Workshop 52 is:

Before asking how many notes you can add, make sure the three notes you already have know exactly what they are trying to say.