Tag Archives: reharmonization

Choosing a diminished 7th over a dominant

Over time, my taste changes somewhat and I find myself gravitating toward new ideas. I can point out a few in the recent arrangement of “Honey in the Rock,” but I want to talk about one in particular. Check out these examples and then we will talk about them. If I asked you to name […]

Arrangement analysis: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”

I have a few teaching moments from the arrangement that I published last week. We have already discussed the overall feel of the piece. When you hear this song typically, it is grand and a bit ponderous. I took a sort of wistful approach but it works with the lyrics just as well I think. […]

How to use the half-diminished chord (Part 1)

Someone recently mentioned to me that I have never really discussed the half diminished chord and how to use it –and I realized they are right. I want to remedy that over a short series of two posts. As a quick reminder, a half diminished chord is a stack of 4 notes that are separated […]

What a Friend We Have in Jesus (song analysis)

About seven years ago, I recorded a series of videos about the song “What a Friend We Have In Jesus.” If you watch all five, you will probably invest an hour but also get an extensive look at how I evaluate music and reharmonize it. Basically, these videos go through the song line by line. […]

Video lesson: A Cool Tag

Here is a new video I recorded this afternoon discussing my favorite tag. For those that don’t know, tag is a music slang term that refers to repeating part of the song (such as the last phrase) to create a more stylized ending. If you don’t see the video below, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpDluxCCSuo