Chord naming SATB

[timothy42b]

I think I finally figured out what D5 and D2 are supposed to be.  Playing from guitar sheets confuses me but I'm starting to get better.

Obviously I don't have enough theory background, so if this is a stupid question maybe you can point me in the right direction. 

Are there unambiguous names for the chords I find in traditional hymnals?  It would make memorization, among other things, easier if I knew what to call them.

For example, CCEG.  Or, it is quite common to have root fifth in the left hand on one beat, then root third on the next beat because the right hand picks up the fifth. 

[cjp_piano]

D5 = D plus the 5th above it (D  A); an open fifth, no 3rd

D2 = D plus the 2nd above it, and usually implies that you would still have the 5th (D E A); still no 3rd

[Bob]

CCEG would just be a C Major chord.  Written just as...    C

The voicing is not so specific.  Very much up to the performer as long as it has the right sound.

[timothy42b]

CCEG would just be a C Major chord.  Written just as...    C

The voicing is not so specific.  Very much up to the performer as long as it has the right sound.

I play in church fairly often.  Being unskilled, I have to simplify some hymns while others I can play as written.  In most cases the real harmony sounds better to my ears than other voicings. 

I can usually look at something like CCEG and figure out that it is a C major chord.  But I also know that CCEG does not sound the same as CEGC or CGCE. 

The reason I wanted to know if there were specific names for SATB voicings is to come up with a scheme to make memorization easier. 

[ramseytheii]

I play in church fairly often.  Being unskilled, I have to simplify some hymns while others I can play as written.  In most cases the real harmony sounds better to my ears than other voicings. 

I can usually look at something like CCEG and figure out that it is a C major chord.  But I also know that CCEG does not sound the same as CEGC or CGCE. 

The reason I wanted to know if there were specific names for SATB voicings is to come up with a scheme to make memorization easier. 

In root position, unfortunately there is only one name, no matter how the notes are arranged above.  Of course the inversions all have names, an E-G-C chord would be a C-6, or a C in first inversion; and a G-C-E would be a C-6/4, or a C in second inversion.

Besides that, Schoenberg classified chords as "open" or "closed," depending on the space between the intervals.  If there is a sixth or more unfilled space between intervals in a chord it can be called "open," for instance, C-G a fifth higher-E a sixth higher-C a sixth higher.  Wish I could give a picture.  That might help you a little bit.

Walter Ramse
y

[Bob]

Yes, I've heard of voicings being called open and close.   There's one I heard of, something like "drop 4." 

That would be interesting to have something more standardized, but I would think it would be complicated.  The first chord would be one way, but the next would be different I would think.  Generally, the same though in a section.  Plus, you can alternate open-close.  Complex.

How would you write that out?  I keep thinking it would end up being easier to read the music -- instead of ending up with some complicated letter system.  Or maybe CCEG style writing would easier.  Or figured bass? 

Interesting idea.

[timothy42b]

There are memory tricks that help with all sorts of things:  telephone numbers, names and faces, dates, playing cards, etc.

There is a simple one for melodies.  But I haven't come across one for chords, I was musing about how to do that. 

Perhaps if I converted the notes to positions in the scale - 1, 3, 5, 8 and then to letters with the standard phonetic number alphabet.  Or should they be absolute positions?  Not sure. 

[Bob]

Huh?