Workshop 63 mini-test

1. What is a triad pair?

2. Why do triad pairs often use six notes rather than all seven notes of a scale?

3. What does C major + D major imply over C?

4. What does D minor + E♭ major imply over C?

5. Why is it useful that the RH triads may omit the tonic root?

6. What colors do A♭ minor and B♭ minor produce over G7?

7. What is the distinction between an upper-structure triad and a triad pair?

8. Why are inversions essential to triad-pair improvisation?

9. What roles do guide tones and upper structures play respectively?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 63?

Answers

1. A triad pair is two familiar triads used together as a six-note melodic/harmonic vocabulary, usually chosen to define the important colors of a scale or chord while avoiding purely scalar movement.
2. Omitting one pitch encourages intervals, arpeggio fragments, inversions, and angular melodic shapes rather than automatic seven-note scale runs.
3. C-E-G + D-F♯-A gives 1,3,5 plus 9,♯11,13 over C—a strong C Lydian environment.
4. D-F-A + E♭-G-B♭ gives 9,11,13 plus ♭3,5,♭7 over C—a strong C Dorian environment.
5. The bass already establishes the root, so omitting it forces the RH toward more informative color tones and prevents root-heavy melodic lines.
6. Over G, A♭m supplies ♭9, 3, ♭13, while B♭m supplies ♯9, ♭5/♯11, ♭7, together giving an efficient altered-dominant vocabulary.
7. An upper-structure triad may be one triad used over a bass/chord to supply extensions; a triad pair combines two triads into a broader six-note melodic vocabulary.
8. Without inversions, improvisation degenerates into repeated root-position arpeggios. Inversions let the shapes connect smoothly and create varied contour.
9. Guide tones—especially 3rd and 7th—tell the ear the chord's identity/function; upper structures supply extensions and color.
10. Advanced harmonic vocabulary becomes practical when you reorganize many individual notes into a few familiar, meaningful shapes that you can hear, invert, connect, and phrase with.

The central lesson of Workshop 63 is:

The goal of advanced theory is not to make you think about more things while you play. It is to teach you enough relationships that eventually you can think about fewer, larger things—and hear more.