Workshop 2 mini-test

1. What is Cm7-F7-B♭maj7 in B♭ major?

2. What is Am7♭5-D7-Gm in G minor?

3. Why does D7 contain F♯?

4. What is the critical resolution involving F♯?

5. What broad root-motion pattern drives much of the tune?

6. What should RH do when practicing shell voicings?

7. Why can B7 substitute for F7 before B♭?

8. What is the tritone substitute for D7?

9. Why is Gm6 different in character from Gm7?

10. What is the best conceptual summary of the tune's harmonic movement?

Answers

1. ii–V–I
2. iiø–V–i
3. Because the dominant of G minor uses the raised leading tone from harmonic minor.
4. F♯ → G
5. Circle-of-fifths motion: roots descending by fifth / ascending by fourth.
6. Move as little as possible while preserving 3rds and 7ths.
7. It is the tritone substitute of F7 and can approach B♭ by chromatic bass motion.
8. A♭7
9. Gm6 uses E natural instead of F, giving a more classic jazz-minor tonic color.
10. A circle-of-fifths progression moving through the relative major and resolving through a minor ii–V–i into G minor.

The central lesson of Workshop 2 is:

“Autumn Leaves” is not a long chord sequence to memorize. It is the Circle of Fifths becoming a song.

For the next workshop, a very useful contrast would be a tune based less on circle motion and more on a stable repeating standard progression—“Blue Moon” / “Heart and Soul”-type I–vi–ii–V harmony—so we can focus heavily on improvisation, substitutions, turnarounds, and playing the same progression in many styles.