Actually Chords at all? - Understanding and Practicing 4/2-Chords in Baroque Improvisation

Keys and concept by Michael Koch.
To be a bit more precise: It is my opinion that dissonant chords in the baroque sense can't be detached from the contrapuntal environment they emerged from. There are some rather typical or characteristic situations where those chords occur and these situations are usually dynamic continua: preparation - actual chord - resolition PLUS the syntactical function to which this fabric is bond to individually: which creates a very specific schema or "micro-schema".
On the approach of generating chords from dissonant two-voice-fabrics/suspensions: I stumbled upon this strategy already years ago when writing my master thesis and found it pretty exotic but as well fascinating and illuminating the same way. It then reappeared in Johannes Menke's "Kontrapunkt II" and since then the penny somewhat dropped as in the meantime I witnessed this approach, kind of sneaked in implicitely in a bunch of Partimento- or Partimento-inspired sources I was browsing through or worked on, such as Durante's Regole, Händel's Princess-Ann-Exercises up to 19th-century examples like Czerny's Generalbass-treatise (Op. 838). My impression is that this approach conveys a lot more horizontal spirit then the more common term "chord progression" (that still implies a thinking from "chord to chord" as their defining atomic entities). And hands down: in a lot of situations - e.g. the Doppia upon the tied bass - the term "chord progression" doesn't really capture the actual ongoing at all, although you still can break it down into individual chords.
Follow me on PATREON and get a proper sheet of all examples seen in that video: www.patreon.com/posts/chaconn...
I do private lessons in GERMAN and ENGLISH in time zones all over the world. I provide a professional training based on up-to-date-scholarship, innovative methodolgy and reflected, sensitive pedagogical considerations. My teaching includes a constant supply of instructive materials, exercises and Partimenti that fit the current state of the student’s development, skill and individual needs to ensure an off-lesson support.
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[@en-blanc-et-noir]

00:00 Intro 00:22 Towards a contrapuntal concept of chords 01:35 The 3 common 4/2-chord situations 02:30 Descant cadence in the bass as opener 03:13 Descant cadence as chords or as counterpoint makes a methodical difference 04:11 Descant cadence diminution examples 05:33 4/2-chord as V4/2 on the 4th degree in improv situations 06:44 V4/2 tutorial 07:12 Doppia cadence in a modulating Partimento (cadence parcours) 08:03 Diminutions of that cadence 08:32 ...as modulating exercise 09.21 Sequence of the tied bass 10:25 ... its 3 most common scaffoldings 11:11 Exercise: sequence + mod. to V + sequence 11:50 4 different diminutions of this sequence with 2/3-chain in left hand 13:23 Entirely dissonant sequence of the tied bass

[@kenjohansen8501]

Thank you for your generosity in making these wonderful videos available. Your pedagogy is so practical and well-organized. Your students are very fortunate!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks a lot, Ken🙏

[@niccolomaldera]

The chord at 4:49 is fire 🔥

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha, alright. It's a deceptive cadence but I'm leaving the 7th in the tenor

[@luisdiaz05]

Excellent!! 👍🏾👍🏾 Could you make a video talking about the "Quiescenza" 🎹🎼

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks! Will do!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

isn‘t there already a video by Ricardo?

[@inhorama338]

Great video, thank you for sharing !

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

13:53 OMG how sweet is this one!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha, so bissle wie der 5/6er auf dem Terzfall nur das man links "überlegato" geht (so kam er für mich auf, dann hab ich ihn direkt adoptiert)

[@kristiankumpumaki8701]

Pure gold. This video deserves so many more views

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha, I‘m so happy to hear that. I was not very pleased with the outcome and find the vid actually a bit lengthy. On the other hand not practical enough and sometimes I want to go much deeper into the theory or discussing some hot takes / stuff but I think then it is too boring for some… and by trying to please everybody I sometimes don‘t really do favour to both sides. Maybe I should do a vid from time to time that‘s just pure rambling.

[@camillefricot1757]

Hi ! Do you plan making videos about french baroque like lully or rameau ? thx a lot 😊

[@FelixSunMusic]

yay thanks to you and the algorithm!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

well, the algo actually sucks :DDD but thanks for passing by anyway

[@MusicaAngela]

Love this! Especially 6:08 - with any given bass note, just put a #4 on it and it makes it a cadence. The Patreon materials are so helpful too!

[@MusicaAngela]

Michael, when you talk about category two at the beginning, I think you mean that the leading tone is delayed. I think of the previous note as being suspended. Maybe it’s thought of differently in German?

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha, oh no, maybe it‘s different in German „Leitton wird vorgehalten“ that‘s how I would say it in German.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thank you 🙏 well it actually doesn‘t necessarily make it a cadence - you could as well proceed otherwise

[@BenceAndreasSlajher]

Großartig!

[@fraukapellmeisterherrbach3638]

BWV 555 prelude uses it. first in G major to go toward E minor which is in fact a way to go to B minor then he transposed that sequence to go to E minor then another transposition to go back to G major

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

HEYHO, thanks for introducing me to this piece! You seldomly see such such a plain schematisism in Bach! I just listened to this. He as well "showed" the voice exchangebility using that "standard" diminution. Good piece and I will use it for my teaching! Thanks man :D

[@robertocornacchionialegre]

That’s a good one Michael, I will forward it to a student :)

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks, Roberto❤️❤️

[@thomassieg666]

Richtig guter Kanal, Michael! Direkt abonniert :D

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Jo, Thomas! Danke, freut mich! Jetzt möchte ich aber wissen wie du zu diesem Video gekommen bist.😅

[@thomassieg666]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Wenn man einmal anfängt, sich hier durch die Improszene zu klicken... ;)

[@michaelgoikhberg3107]

man. if i could do what u did at 6:10 on the fly like that, i would consider my life complete and b ok to die tomorrow. that is sick. i got some of your patreon stuff. gotta figure out how to go about learning this in a sensible methodical way.

[@bornaerceg9984]

Thumbnail is everything!! 😂❤

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

YO thanks man, happy it appeals to you!

[@bornaerceg9984]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Barry Harris: "These cats nowdays think about chords. You can't play and think about chords..." 🤣🤣

[@bornaerceg9984]

And great video too! Thinking in counterpoint, melodies, movement is everything! ❤

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

is that what he said?

[@bornaerceg9984]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Yep! 😄 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXKugKqJn8yljtk

[@Rdeschain19]

Hey quick question: In partimento, am I right in saying that consonances are all the intervals in the rule of octave and if this is correct which intervals are they? Great video as always thank

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thank you, Ellis. As for your question: Oh dear haha, hell no! The Rule of the octave contains as well dissonant chords. When you hear me saying "dissonant" in a video, I'm usually referring to the four primary suspensions: 2-3, 7-6, 4-3 and 9-8. All dissonant chords and their sequences (e.g. 6/5 chords) are virtually derived from those. BUT in the Rule of the octave the dissonant chords are clotted into non-metrical chordal entities which kind of distorts their contrapuntal origin to a certain degree in favour for a handy voice leading template that covers a bunch of idiomatic patterns. There emerged so much confusion about the nature of this tool that it became really hard to argue against some now well established misconceptions. No offence, though. Thanks for watching :DD

[@RobinJWheeler]

How did you start with diminutions rather than figurations?

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Well, I can't tell exactly of course but thinking more in the trios in general then in 4 voices made a difference for me - and I teach it in that way. But I know other musicians that do excellent and accurate improvs but don't think like this at all - so there is probably no holy grail appart from finding your own subjective strategy that works out.

Before watching the video: there are only two chords in all of existence, the 5/3 chord and the 6/3 (and they can be major and minor, but that's details..). So, is 4/2 a chord? Yes, it is a 5/3 chord, but with a "wrong" bass note, so all the figures get out of whack. This is how both Heinichen and Niedt defined it: play a 5/3 chord one tone (diatonic step) higher than what you would normally play above the bass, and then resolve the dissonance(s) that occur. Sounds easy enough... Now to watch the video, and see whether it will change my mind... :D EDIT: no, my mind is unchanged, but I have so much more material to TRANSPOSE now. Thanks!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

typical Kresimir comment lol

[@johnrothfield6126]

Isn't every 4/2 chord a suspension by nature? Since it is a dissonance. Since the the bass note is always a 2nd or 9th below one of the upper voices it must be a suspension or at least contrapuntally unstable if it goes up.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

that's what I trying to convey :D always a 2nd - not a 9th - BIG difference

[@johnrothfield6126]

Why should it matter wat the the voicing of the chord is?

[@jaurisova6]

While it may be a literal 9, identifying it as such implies that it is a dissonance that will resolve to 8. The dissonance created by a tied bass is always called 2 to distinguish it from the 9.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

sorry for smartassing😂

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

to keep it simple, let‘s imagine a two voice fabric: a 9th is always in the upper voice a 2nd by definition in the lower one.

[@johngoldberg5589]

Modern music would be so much more enjoyable if people would only abandon modern theory and understand it in these terms.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha! I love modern music!

[@jrossellometal]

"Modern theory" (I'm not sure it's an unified thing) kind of makes sense in particular contexts. Some devices happen to be more practical for jazz improvisation, which is where "modern theory" comes from: what is more practical for a jazz musician, to understand an Ab7 resolving to a G7 as a tritonal substitution or as an augmented sixth chord? Of course, there are voice-leading issues implied, but also the theoretical considerations of the first are way more driven towards jazz improvisation. I know, in baroque era (even classical and romantic as we see in this channel) improvisation was usual but the approach is very different from jazz and modern music. I find awesome how different theoretical approaches have such a direct impact on each musical language. For me the problem is not the one you mention, for me is that many people learn "modern theory" without knowing where it comes from. I know a few people who would assume that functional tonality comes from Duke Ellington. THAT is a problem.

[@johngoldberg5589]

@@jrossellometal the augmented sixth is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Modern Jazz musicians, lack fundamental understanding of voice leading outside of the movement of threes and sevens. Young players will see a dominant 7 chord on the flat six and a number of scales will run through their head. Understanding the origins of an augmented sixth would help to form more cohesive lines.

[@notasinglef1604]

lovely! but please next time you talk about the little guy in your head (is it just one guy though?) build in a "Austin Power mimi me" meme😜

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

hahah, will do.

[@maniak1768]

Your music theory videos are alright, but your "snowmen" are ungodly abominations apparently. :D