Workshop 20 mini-test

1. What is the fundamental form of Rhythm Changes?

2. What is the conceptual turnaround B♭–G7–Cm7–F7?

3. Why is G7 chromatic in B♭ major?

4. What does G7 point toward?

5. What is the conceptual dominant chain on the bridge?

6. What are its leading-tone resolutions?

7. Why should fast harmony use thinner voicings?

8. What is the best way to keep an improvised bridge coherent?

9. Why is form awareness more important than scale sophistication?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 20?

Answers

1. AABA, usually four 8-bar sections for 32 bars total.
2. I → VI7 → ii → V, a tonic turnaround leading back toward home.
3. B♭ major normally contains Gm; G7 introduces B natural.
4. Cm, so G7 functions as V7/ii.
5. D7 → G7 → C7 → F7 → B♭.
6. F♯→G, B→C, E→F, A→B♭.
7. Because the harmonic information changes quickly; 3rds, 7ths, roots, and melody are usually enough to communicate function without physical or auditory clutter.
8. Use one motif or rhythmic idea and transpose/adapt it through the dominant sequence.
9. Because if you lose the 32-bar structure, you no longer know what harmonic destination or section you are actually improvising over.
10. Fast jazz becomes manageable when you stop reacting to individual chord symbols and start hearing turnarounds, dominant chains, and entire sections before they arrive.

The central lesson of Workshop 20 is:

At fast tempo, you cannot afford to think chord by chord. You have to hear in sentences—and eventually, in whole paragraphs.