Document

Page 56

Section 4—

Developing Sequences

ABBREVIATIONSRoman numerals I VII

indicate chordrelationships within a key.

m maj minormajor

Song sectionsbr bridge :

c ch codachorus

hk i introhook

pch v versepre-chorus

Most of the chord-sequence examplesare standardized for comparison

intoFamous songs referred to in C or A minor. C major

orthe key of the original recordings A minor are not necessarily in.

Developing Turnarounds
As I said in the previous section, turnarounds definitely represent the laziest form of songwriting. It's important to
try and do more with them – different turnarounds could be used for different parts of a song, verse, chorus, bridge,
etc.

I VI IV V (v) + I VI II V (ch): C Am F G + C Am Dm G

'Beechwood 4-5789'.

Two different turnarounds can be linked together to make a longer phrase. Two four-bar turnarounds linked would
make an eight-bar phrase; repeated, that would be a 16-bar verse, but each of the turnarounds would have been
played only twice.

I IV II V + I IV bVII V: C F Dm G + C F Bb G

'Yes It Is'v.

The important factors that determine the effect of a turnaround are:

• Direction – is it going harmonically up or down?


• Tonality – the mix of major, minor and flattened chords


• Expectation – the inclusion of a chord that suggests a key-change that doesn't actually happen, or is momentary


• Where it starts and finishes (especially the position of I or V)


• Displacement


• Stretching


• Use of inversions


• Frequency of chord change


• Repetition