Lesson 148 - All that jazz

Today was mostly about exploring jazz theory and the variety of ways you could read a chord notation.

Like legacy concepts in programming, the traditional methods of describing music in jazz is not as efficient as it can be and in some cases, not applicable at all. Jazz breaks too many rules of traditional notation, so much so that it makes more sense to have its own dedicated methodology.

We explored Dominant 7 chords and what it means when they are notated in different contexts on a score or piece of music. Such examples of these 'shorthand' notations were common in early romantic era, more so for the harpsichord where one of the main reasons doing so was to save parchment paper.

Ultimately, jazz musicians are crazy good instrumentalists with the ability to improv at a moment's notice. To do this, you need to depend on your knowledge of music theory as if it was a comfy pair of pyjamas.