BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
9897 / 18210 · Workshop 81 — Polychords and Bitonal Hearing: Two Harmonic Worlds at Once, Upper Structure vs. True Polychord, Controlled Clashes, and Making “Wrong” Chords Sound Intentional← prev⊞ allnext →

81.107Apply it to “The Bare Necessities”

This can be used comically.

Play bright F-major world below.

Suddenly put an absurdly sophisticated chromatic upper triad high above it.

Pause.

Resolve immediately back to cheerful simple harmony.

The humor comes from:

stylistic mismatch

plus:

very short duration.

Again, complexity is funniest when surrounded by simplicity.