Workshop 78 mini-test

1. What is the main problem with treating rich voicings as isolated shapes?

2. Why is E a useful common tone in Dm9→G13→Cmaj7?

3. How can a top-line motion such as E→E♭→D generate harmony?

4. Why should altered dominant tensions be chosen partly by their resolution paths?

5. How does an A♭ minor upper triad over G resolve naturally to C minor?

6. What is the practical difference between an upper-structure lookup approach and a voice-leading approach?

7. Why can a tritone substitution require surprisingly little RH movement?

8. Why are roots and 5ths often omitted in rich voicings?

9. What does “nearest inversion” mean in upper-structure playing?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 78?

Answers

1. The progression may be theoretically sophisticated but sound disconnected and require unnecessary physical jumps; the ear hears separate vertical objects instead of continuous voices.
2. E functions as 9 of Dm7, 13 of G7, and 3 of Cmaj7, so one unchanged pitch connects all three while its harmonic meaning evolves.
3. E can be 9 over Dm, E♭ can become ♭13 over G7, and D can become 9 over Cmaj; the desired chromatic melody therefore suggests the chord colors rather than being added after them.
4. An altered tension is most convincing when it has clear gravitational motion into the destination chord—for example A♭→G, D♭→C, or E♭→E over G7→C.
5. A♭→G, B→C, E♭ stays, giving two semitone resolutions and one common tone into C-minor harmony.
6. Lookup thinking asks which upper structure is theoretically available; voice-leading thinking asks which upper structure gives the desired melodic/inner-line movement into the next harmony.
7. G7 and D♭7 share essentially the same tritone guide-tone core enharmonically, so the bass may change dramatically while RH guide tones remain identical or move minimally.
8. The root may already be supplied by bass/context, and the 5th usually contributes less identity than the 3rd, 7th, melody, and characteristic extensions; omitting them frees register and reduces clutter.
9. Instead of playing an upper triad in root position automatically, choose the inversion whose notes lie closest to the preceding voicing, producing smoother individual voice movement.
10. Rich harmony becomes truly elegant when every extension behaves as a voice with a destination rather than as a decorative note added to a chord symbol.

The central lesson of Workshop 78 is:

Do not move from voicing to voicing. Move from note to note—and let the changing relationships between those notes become the voicings.