Workshop 25 mini-test

1. What is the classic minor line cliché in C minor?

2. What chord sequence represents it?

3. What is the difference between putting the chromatic line in an inner voice versus bass?

4. What is the minor ii–V–i in C minor?

5. Why is G7♭9 especially effective into Cm?

6. What are the three key resolutions in G7♭9→Cm?

7. What is the difference between Cm7, Cm(maj7), and Cm6 as tonic colors?

8. What is a dominant pedal?

9. Why should the line cliché not be used everywhere?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 25?

Answers

1. C → B → B♭ → A.
2. Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6.
3. Inner voice feels more suspended/introspective; bass feels more directional and dramatic.
4. Dm7♭5 → G7 → Cm.
5. Its A♭ belongs naturally to the C-minor environment while B natural provides the leading tone into C.
6. B→C, F→E♭, A♭→G.
7. Cm7 is darker/modal, Cm(maj7) is tense/haunting, and Cm6 is more open and settled in a jazz-minor sense.
8. A sustained/repeated dominant bass note while upper harmony changes and intensifies before resolution.
9. Because it is emotionally distinctive; overuse turns expressive chromatic motion into a cliché in the bad sense.
10. Minor-key sophistication often comes not from changing chords, but from allowing one chromatic voice to move inside a stable minor world.

The central lesson of Workshop 25 is:

In minor harmony, one descending semitone can tell an entire emotional story.