Workshop 51 mini-test

1. What distinguishes A Phrygian dominant from ordinary A Phrygian?

2. Why does A Phrygian dominant work naturally in D minor?

3. What is the relationship between B♭°7 and A7♭9?

4. What is the difference between dominant quality and dominant function?

5. How can a prolonged A7♭9 stop feeling like an immediate V chord?

6. What is the fundamental contrast between a modal/pedal section and a functional iiø–V–i section?

7. How should your improvisational thinking change between those environments?

8. Why should something survive a major style transition?

9. What are the four harmonic/rhythmic resolution possibilities we've now repeatedly practiced?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 51?

Answers

1. A Phrygian has C; A Phrygian dominant has C♯, changing ♭3 to major 3 while retaining B♭ as ♭2.
2. It is the fifth mode of D harmonic minor, so its C♯ creates the leading tone toward D and its notes form natural A7 altered/minor-dominant colors.
3. B♭°7 = B♭-C♯-E-G; placing A beneath it produces A7♭9: root A plus ♭9, 3, 5 and ♭7.
4. Dominant quality describes the sonority; dominant function describes its directional behavior toward a destination.
5. Duration, repetition and lack of resolution can make it function perceptually as a stable local sound-world; later resolution can reactivate its dominant meaning.
6. Modal/pedal harmony emphasizes color and stability around a center; functional harmony emphasizes direction and destination.
7. Modal playing can prioritize motif, mode, rhythmic development and color; functional playing benefits from guide tones, chord targets, chromatic approaches and voice-leading through the changes.
8. A common element—tempo, motif, pitch, rhythmic cell, etc.—allows contrasting sections to feel like parts of one composition rather than unrelated pieces.
9. Harmony resolves while rhythm doesn't; rhythm resolves while harmony doesn't; both resolve together; neither resolves.
10. A sophisticated arrangement can contain radically different musical languages as long as the transitions preserve enough shared identity for the listener to understand them as one journey.

The central lesson of Workshop 51 is:

Contrast does not threaten coherence. Unrelated contrast does. Keep one thread in your hand, and you can take the listener somewhere completely different.