PIANOKEYS
PERMISSION GRANTED ( PART 2 )
ED KERR Director of Worship Studies at King ’ s University / Gateway Church in Dallas , TX . Masters in Piano performance , songwriter , clinician with Yamaha and Paul Baloche . www . KerrTunes . com
In my last article here I discussed harmonic options you and I have when we ’ re playing modern worship songs . Please refer to that article for details I won ’ t duplicate here .
The essence of the article was that there are chords we can add to songs to support specific harmonies . In particular , I described how effective it can be to precede a minor triad with its 5 chord . Since I presented the article , I ’ ve made an exciting discovery . Students at The King ’ s University / Gateway Church , where I teach songwriting classes , introduced me to a recording on the Speak Revival project from Elevation Worship of their great song , “ Resurrecting ”. The arrangement is quite distinct from the arrangement on their first
Example 1 release of the song .
This discovery was exciting for me because the specific things I ’ d talked about in my last article were used to delightful effect in this new arrangement . Because I trust that some of you will share my students ’ interest in what harmonies are used , I ’ ll look in detail at it . First , here ’ s a phrase from the bridge using the chords from the original arrangement . Example 1
Now , check out what happens the next time this phrase is sung . Notice the extra chord above “ resurrecting ”? Example 2
That chord was chosen because it has a very significant relationship with the Bm chord used over the word “ me ”. F # is the 5 chord of B minor . Play the two phrases back to back , noticing the momentum created in the 2 nd example with the addition of the F #/ A #. The takeaway from this example is that it can be very effective to precede a minor chord with its 5 chord . Notice that the arranger chose to use an inversion of the chord , placing something other than the root of the F # in the bass . The result of this choice is a nice movement in the bass line from A to A # to B . Had the arranger not chosen to use the inversion of the F # chord , the bass line would have moved from A to F # to B . The choice made to use the
A , A #, B results in nice chromatic movement that enhances the momentum created by this added chord .
There ’ s another nice surprise in the next few bars , and it ’ s an additional example of preceding a chord with its 5 chord . The first time the bridge is heard , the chords are Bm , D / F # G over the lyric “ By Your Spirit I will rise from the ashes of defeat ”. Example 3
Look at what ’ s done the next time we hear this phrase in the bridge : Example 4
What ’ s different about these two examples ? The chord in the 2 nd measure changes . In the second example , a C / D takes the place of D / F #. It ’ s important to see that this C / D is functioning as 5 of the G chord . Strictly speaking a D is 5 of G , but C / D gives a similar effect moving to the G chord . In case you ’ re not sure what C / D means , please note that this simply indicates that a C chord is played over a D in the bass . Those of you who speak with chord numbers within your teams will find it useful to call this chord 4 / 5 , “ four over five ”.
There ’ s one final moment in this arrangement I want to examine . As the bridge is ending the lyric “ Our God has robbed the grave ” is sung . Here ’ s what the original arrangement presented :
D Dsus D Dsus Our God has robbed the grave
Example 2
The new arrangement instead presents :
Our God has robbed the grave
D C / D D C / D
Example 3
As in the earlier example from the bridge , C / D is serving as 4 / 5 of the G chord that starts the chorus . What a powerful moment in the song AND the arrangement when the chorus returns .
Example 4
As I mentioned in my last article about this topic , these harmonic choices don ’ t fit the usual chord limits in modern worship . Regardless , apply these principles in songs your worship team uses and you may discover some similarly powerful moments .
14 Nov � Dec 2016 WorshipMusician . com