From “Just for the Love” to “Giant Steps”-The Unique Harmonic∕Tonal Structures in John Coltrane''s Early Compositions
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Chang, Kun-Ter
Abstract
For decades the unique harmonic/tonal structures in John Coltrane’s 「Tonic System」 has always been the focus of discussion. But till now most of these researches separate 「Tonic System」 works from Coltrane’s early compositions (1956 to 1959), as though they were not related. The purpose of this thesis is to re-exam the connections between Coltrane’s early works and his 「Tonic System」 master piece “Giant Steps”. Through analyzing the modulating models, comparing the tonal mappings, one can find with his early compositions, Coltrane was conducting series of harmonic experiments, and “Giant Steps” is the final result of these experiments.he main body of this thesis is divided in three parts: descending from foreign key model, chromatic ascending turnaround and the “Lady Bird” influence. The descending from foreign key model is derived from Charlie Parker’s Major Blues harmony. Which allows Coltrane to explore the possibilities of modulation in different intervals: major 2nd, minor 2nd and major 3rd. Pieces in discussion include “Just for the Love”, “Straight Street”, “Grand Central”, “Spiral” and “Giant Steps”. Chromatic ascending turnaround is entirely Coltrane’s original idea. It started as an insignificant harmonic role in works like “Just for the Love” and “Straight Street”, but turned out to be the harmonic building block of “Moment’s Notice”. The “Lady Bird” influence provides an alternative perspective of how Tadd Dameron’s famous work “Lady Bird” inspired Coltrane’s compositional mechanism not only harmonically, but also melodically as well.
Subjects
Tonic System
Major Blues
chromatic ascending turnaround
re-harmonization
(temporal) tonic center
harmonic rhythm
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