KEYS
THAT MATTERS WHY? | Ed Kerr
Among the things I devote my time to week to Pretty basic stuff, right? Definitely. Chords are tones are often preserved as chords change.
week is creating lead sheets for PraiseCharts. built above each of the scale’s notes. Each of So, what note do the A chord and D chord have
I’ve done this for many years and have these chords has a certain chord quality. Some in common? Yep. The A. So, what I anticipate
discovered a lot of great worship songs this are major, some are minor, one is diminished. hearing on the recording of this song is the
way before they’re widely released. Songs For my purposes here, I’ll focus on the chords common tone A being placed in a conspicuous
like “Tremble”, “Over All I Know” and “Is He that most often appear in our songs, the 1, 4, place in the voicing of the chord. The most
Worthy” come to mind. It’s such a blessing to 5 and 6. conspicuous place is the top voice, or the
be listening to powerful songs as I notate their
melodies, chords and lyrics.
soprano. With that A on the top of the piano
When I listen to the recordings of these two or pad parts, other notes within the chord are
songs I’m working on I’m sure I’ll hear certain spelled out below it in many possible stacks.
In prepping for my two most recent lead sheets things. Primary among them will be piano Here are some voicing possibilities:
assignments, I downloaded a chord chart for parts and pad parts that have a particular each song from PraiseCharts. Once I looked characteristic. What is that characteristic? It’s Chord A D
over the chord charts something stuck out to the use of common tones in moving from chord Soprano A A
me. It reminded me of a concept I’ve taught to chord. A common tone is a note shared Lower notes E
again and again in keyboard seminars. It’s that between two chords. I’m browsing a chord C# D
the songs we play use a fairly small number of chart for one of my lead sheet jobs. The first chords within the key of the song. Most often two chords of the verse are A and D. Spell Plenty of other options exist for voicing of these
the chords used are 1, 4, 5 and 6. You’ve both of those chords in your head. Or on your chords, but the important thing about the one I
probably heard chords described as chords keyboard. Wherever. Think of the 3 notes in show above is that the common tone is heard
numbers before, but in case you haven’t, here’s each chord. The A chord contains A C# and E. on top, as the highest note. One of the things
a simple description. The songs we play are The D chord contains D F# A. I encourage keyboard players to do as they
based on a certain key signature (A, C, Bb,
F#
play their worship songs is to note how often
etc). That key has 7 notes in its scale. In A, for And that matters why? Because one of the they move their right hand to a new position
example, here are the 7 notes: things that distinguishes modern keyboard rather than keeping a common tone, a static
playing from hymn playing is that common note in the soprano. If you’re a player who does
1–A
158
2–B
3–C#
4–D
5–E
6–F#
7–G#
May 2019
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