Workshop 46 mini-test

1. What is B Phrygian?

2. What note gives B Phrygian its most characteristic color?

3. What does a C-major triad over B bass produce?

4. What changes perceptually when F♯7→Bm enters after a long B pedal?

5. Why should ii–V–I progressions at fast tempo be learned as packets?

6. What are useful destination 3rds for Gmaj7, Fmaj7, and E♭maj7?

7. What is the difference between functional transposition of a motif and common-tone continuity?

8. Why should voicings generally become thinner as harmonic rhythm becomes faster?

9. Why can a sustained pedal become dramatically effective after many bars of rapid harmony?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 46?

Answers

1. B-C-D-E-F♯-G-A-B.
2. C, the ♭2.
3. C-E-G over B gives ♭2, 4, and ♭6, a strong Phrygian upper-structure color.
4. B changes from primarily a static/modal center into an explicitly functional minor tonic because F♯7 establishes V→i gravity.
5. Because at tempo there is not enough cognitive time to process every chord separately; the entire ii–V–I must become one destination-oriented harmonic object.
6. B for Gmaj7, A for Fmaj7, and G for E♭maj7.
7. Functional transposition moves the motif so its scale-degree relationships stay the same in each new key; common-tone continuity keeps the actual pitch fixed while its harmonic meaning changes.
8. Fewer notes reduce physical movement and cognitive load while preserving the guide tones that define function.
9. In a context where harmonic motion has become the norm, stopping that motion creates strong contrast; stillness becomes tension/attention.
10. Fast, sophisticated music becomes playable when you stop processing individual events and begin hearing larger harmonic, rhythmic, and formal objects.

The central lesson of Workshop 46 is:

Musical speed is not primarily the ability to think faster. It is the ability to think in larger units.