Voicing

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

Once you have decided on a general approach to your accompaniment in tonal music, you must fill in the specific notes of the chords specified by the progression. This requires a strong working knowledge of how each type of chord is built, which non-chord tones tend to sound consonant with the chord, and some common approaches to chord voicing. The unit on Music Theory contains a wealth of information on these topics. See especially the chapters on Harmony, Jazz Scales, and Jazz Voicings.

Just as improvising a solo is more than just stringing together patterns that happen to fit the scales associated with the chords, however, accompanying is more than stringing together randomly selected voicings. There are reasons to prefer one voicing of a chord over another in a given situation. This section discusses some of these factors.

In general, you should conceive of your accompaniment in terms of phrases and stanzas, just as a soloist should. Each phrase is the expression of an idea, and each stanza or paragraph a series of related phrases. For example, consider the following example:

[EXAMPLE]

In this example, the accompaniment consists of one stanza, divided into three different phrases, which relate to each other just as the phrases of a solo would. The accompaniment forms a sort of melodic line, even when playing chordally as in this example. It is usually the top note of each voicing in a phrase that defines the melody:

[EXAMPLE]

When creating a chordal accompaniment, you can start by thinking of the melodic line you wish to create, then fill in the voicings underneath. For instance, to harmonize the following progression:

[EXAMPLE]

You might start with the following melodic idea:

[EXAMPLE]

On the piano, it can be played in octaves, with the note a fifth above the bottom optionally added as well:

[EXAMPLE]

Given that melodic idea, you might complete the harmonization as follows:

[EXAMPLE]

The types of melodies used for accompaniment tend to be short and simple:

[EXAMPLE]

This is both to avoid conflicting with the soloist, and because playing more complex melodies chordally is difficult from a technical perspective.

When playing a phrase in accompaniment, it is a good idea to use similar voicings for each the chords of a phrase. Doing this helps to achieve a sense of unity as well as good voice leading. Here is an example using 3/7 voicings:

[EXAMPLE]

The drop 2 voicings can also be used consistently within a phrase to achieve similar results:

[EXAMPLE]

Quartal voicings can be used in this way as well:

[EXAMPLE]

You should be able to play the basic voicings for each chord almost instantly on command, so that constructing voicings does not take your attention away from forming phrases. Furthermore, if it takes more than a second or two to think of a voicing, your opportunity to use it may pass. It is for these reason that I recommend learning voicings thoroughly one type at a time. Only when you are completely comfortable with a given type of voicing over all common chords should you move on to another type of voicing.

Once you have learned several different voicing types, the choice of the specific type to use for a given phrase is largely dependent on the texture you wish to achieve. For instance, as described in the previous section, you can create different textures by using either closely or widely spaced voicings:

[EXAMPLE]

Voicings that include chromatic alterations are generally richer than diatonic voicings. You can create different textures by emphasizing either chromatic or diatonic voicings:

[EXAMPLE]

You can also create interest within a phrase by varying the richness of the voicings in order to create tension and release:

[EXAMPLE]

If there is a bassist present in the group, then you need not be so concerned with including the root in your voicings. If there is no bassist, however, you should probably tend more toward voicings with the root - preferably those with the root in the bass, such as the skeleton voicings:

[EXAMPLE]

A phrase need not be completely homogenous in terms of voicing types. For example, upper structures only work with altered dominant seventh chords, but they tend to be compatible with any of the other types of voicings used above, and they can therefore be mixed in freely. Here is an example that includes an upper structure voicing in the middle of a phrase that otherwise uses 3/7 voicings with added notes on top:

[EXAMPLE]

You can always make up voicings on the spur of the moment to fulfill a particular need. Here is an example of a phrase played in accompaniment using completely ad hoc voicings in order to achieve specific textures:

[EXAMPLE]

Such voicings may not appear to do much to imply the sound of the chord, but if the ear is expecting a particular chord, and especially if the bassist is covering the root, then almost any combination of notes from the associated scale will be sufficient to state the harmony. Sometimes, however, this is not even the goal. You might be more concerned with the texture. Still, using notes from the associated scale helps ensure you do not completely compromise the harmony.

In some cases, your desire to achieve a specific texture may be stronger than your desire to outline the harmony. You are always free to ignore the specified chord if you are convinced your voicing will sound better than what the chord might seem to dictate. For instance, consider the following example:

[EXAMPLE]

The pattern being established clearly suggested the voicing used over the Amaj7 chord in the fourth bar, but this is not a voicing one would normally choose for an Amaj7 chord, since it mostly consists of wrong notes. As long as you can justify this to the soloist, you should not be afraid to take liberties like this.

In atonal music, you are completely free from considerations of specific chords. But although your voicings do not necessarily relate to any particular chord, the same considerations regarding phrasing, voice leading, and textures still apply. Here is an example of an atonal accompaniment that makes effective use of traditional phrasing and voicing principles:

[EXAMPLE]

The accompaniments shown thus far in this section have consisted of a single part. That is, they correspond to what a single section of an orchestra might play. You may instead construct an accompaniment that emulates more than section of an orchestra at a time. For example, consider the following accompaniment:

[EXAMPLE]

This example is composed of two different parts - a melodic one and a harmonic one. Were you to orchestrate this for a band, you might well assign these parts to different sections:

[EXAMPLE]

When playing an accompaniment made of multiple parts on a single instrument, it becomes important to keep each part unified within itself. That is, be sure to keep good voice leading within each part, and be sure each part forms a phrase in itself. If both parts are chordal, you may wish to use radically different styles of voicings in order to exagerrate the distinction between the parts. Here is an example that alternates thick voicings played low with thinner voicings played high:

[EXAMPLE]

Again, though, you must be conscious of the fact that your role is that of an accompanist, and you should only comp so busily if that level of intensity is truly what is appropriate at the time.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Voicing