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54 jazz
by skimming off one or more of the constituent notes of a chord also has a certain characteristic sound. It may be that you are searching for characteristic sounds of this nature, in which case you will have no use for a smooth characterless mass compounded of Hymns Ancient and Modern and 'Brylcreem'.
Therefore, the only real rule is: "If it sounds right, it IS right." Listen intently when you hear any new harmony. Find out what notes make it up and how they are spaced. Record the sensation in your mind.
Composition
When we have built up a sufficient library of harmonic sensations, our next problem will be: how to join these sensations together? In what order should they follow one on another in order to make up a whole convincing piece of music?
Here, most of the conventional harmony text-books are not really helpful. They give us certain sequences of harmonies that may be used, but do not explain why one sequence sounds "right" and another "wrong".
Look at it this way. Music is entertainment. Entertainment is pleasure. Pleasure may be prolonged and intensified up to a certain point. If it is too brief, the pleasure is weak and incomplete. If it is prolonged beyond the optimum point, it may turn to boredom or even torture.
Take the problem of entertaining with a story. Hundreds of thousands of stories have been written on the basic theme of "He met her, fell in love, |
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