Goodrick Almanacs for Classical Playing

[Liarspoker]

As many of you know I'm slowly working my way through the Mick Goodrick Almanacs. There has been a Discord group set up where the admin picks a page of the almanacs per week and we write something with it.

This week was volume 1,major triads in cycles 4. Triads can sound very classical especially with a good dose of reverb

Anyhow yesterday morning I was experimenting with recording techniques and made up this piece on the way. It's cycle 4 but goes from one inversion of a triad to another before moving to the triad which is a fourth higher.

The almanacs are available free of charge from the Resources page on the Modern Guitar Harmony website. They're available freely now ( or a donation of your choice ) whereas previously they were anywhere from $250-$500 per volume on ebay so download them and enjoy them. There's so much good stuff in them.

[Tal_175]

Is there a compact description of the volume I somewhere? The way each chord type moves through the each cycle can be described in a complete way in one sentence.

For example the description of the first page is:
Closed and spread triad - Cycle 2: R -> 2nd -> 1st. Descending.
(Meaning the root inveson descends down to the nearest 2nd inversion of the next chord in the cycle etc. )

That description is all an experienced student needs. The whole volume (almost 400 pages) can fit in one page. I think producing the exercices from a description is a better learning process, at least for some. I wish he included a summary of the movements in the book.

[pamosmusic]

Is there a compact description of the volume I somewhere? The way each chord type moves through the each cycle can be described in a complete way in one sentence.

For example the description of the first page is:
Closed and spread triad - Cycle 2: R -> 2nd -> 1st. Descending.
(Meaning the root inveson descends down to the nearest 2nd inversion of the next chord in the cycle etc. )

That description is all an experienced student needs. The whole volume (almost 400 pages) can fit in one page. I think producing the exercices from a description is a better learning process, at least for some. I wish he included a summary of the movements in the book.

Those descriptions are in the book. Usually the left-hand column on each page. He includes several versions of it if memory serves … like root is common tone, 3 goes up to 1, 5 up to 3. Then just what the motion is … root is common tone, 3 up a second, 5 up a second. That kind of thing.

You’re right about how much of it is necessary, probably. But I feel like seeing the voiceleading described in different ways can give you a sense of different implications. Like for a guitar player, we’re probably using triads often as upper structures and shifting between them on one chord change. So just seeing the motion of the notes rather than thinking about them functionally is helpful. As can be seeing the pitch letter names, when you’re interested in what scale degrees you’re moving around between.

I think the way the first book is laid out makes sense when you get to the later books too. Sense there’s not really any name for the chords or function of the notes without a broader context.

I don’t know. Any book could be condensed to one page honestly — and I’m the jerk that absolutely flips through books and takes notes in my phone and then actually writes them out on a single page later — but I think there’s some utility in these.

[Tal_175]

Those descriptions are in the book. Usually the left-hand column on each page. He includes several versions of it if memory serves … like root is common tone, 3 goes up to 1, 5 up to 3. Then just what the motion is … root is common tone, 3 up a second, 5 up a second. That kind of thing.

You’re right about how much of it is necessary, probably. But I feel like seeing the voiceleading described in different ways can give you a sense of different implications. Like for a guitar player, we’re probably using triads often as upper structures and shifting between them on one chord change. So just seeing the motion of the notes rather than thinking about them functionally is helpful. As can be seeing the pitch letter names, when you’re interested in what scale degrees you’re moving around between.

I think the way the first book is laid out makes sense when you get to the later books too. Sense there’s not really any name for the chords or function of the notes without a broader context.

I don’t know. Any book could be condensed to one page honestly — and I’m the jerk that absolutely flips through books and takes notes in my phone and then actually writes them out on a single page later — but I think there’s some utility in these.

You are right. Three compact diagramitizations are given for each exercise. Each diagram is different way of fully describing the voice leading. It would be useful to have the descriptions in a list format in one or two pages. I'm sure it's somewhere out there. Otherwise I might do it.

The exercises can be used to create movement within a chord. Cycle 2 (and 7) is basically diatonic passing chords. Cycle 3(and 6) is functional substitutions. Cycle 4 (and 5) is secondary dominants (or passing diminished chords or V's etc).

For example movement within Cmaj chord:

Cmaj Emin Cmaj Amin (Cycle 3 and 6 voice leading)
Cmaj Dmin Emin Dmin (Cycle 2 and 7 voice leading)
Cmaj G7 Cmaj Fmaj | C maj (Cycle 5 and 4 voice leading)

You can of course mix and match these.

It's useful to have all the voice leadings (or is it voices leading, lol) in one page for this purpose.

[pamosmusic]

You are right. Three compact diagramitizations are given for each exercise. Each diagram is different way of fully describing the voice leading. It would be useful to have the descriptions in a list format in one or two pages. I'm sure it's somewhere out there. Otherwise I might do it.

The exercises can be used to create movement within a chord. Cycle 2 (and 7) is basically diatonic passing chords. Cycle 3(and 6) is functional substitutions. Cycle 4 (and 5) is secondary dominants (or passing diminished chords or V's etc).

For example movement within Cmaj chord:

Cmaj Emin Cmaj Amin (Cycle 3 and 6 voice leading)
Cmaj Dmin Emin Dmin (Cycle 2 and 7 voice leading)
Cmaj G7 Cmaj Fmaj | C maj (Cycle 5 and 4 voice leading)

You can of course mix and match these.

It's useful to have all the voice leadings (or is it voices leading, lol) in one page for this purpose.

Oh that’s an interesting format. I suppose you could even just do C major to every diatonic chord in C major and include the description of motion. Then you’d need a list of the applicable voicings and I guess you’re off to the races.

For the nonfunctional stuff, you’d probably have to revert to Mick Style though.

[Tal_175]

Oh that’s an interesting format. I suppose you could even just do C major to every diatonic chord in C major and include the description of motion. Then you’d need a list of the applicable voicings and I guess you’re off to the races.

For the nonfunctional stuff, you’d probably have to revert to Mick Style though.

If one is not careful, it's also easy to sound like playing new wave pop band rhythm guitar textures with this stuff or rock intro ostinato figures, lol.

[Jimmy blue note]

The nature of this material has so many implications. Just sharing this in its early sketches showed Mick that providing a single reductive approach to interpreting its potential could inadvertently lead to a student missing a very personal revelation and application to unlocking unimagined manifestations of harmonic/melodic movement.
Yes, there's a lot of information, much of it you might not use yourself, packed into every page. For some, tactile connection with the many pages of cycles broadens that person's perspective. For some, having 4 part harmony include clusters and 6ths seems like a waste of time and paper because 'who plays that stuff anyway?'.
When I asked him why there was no explanation, he told me it was his job to put it out there, it was my job to use it and share what I found. The more people I worked with, the more I found embedded within these pages that implied much more than voice leading patterns, but insights into the improvisational methods with which we personally compose in real time.
For instance: One might see these as lines of literal 'grabs' that can be inserted into a line of rote arrangements. No crime there. But if someone were an auditory (ear) player more than a hand player, that little chart on the side can be helpful in pointing out 'Hey, every 3rd of the present chord becomes the root of the next chord' and by seeing that connexion laid out in a complete cycle, the player can make a voice leading leap that allows a dimension to harmonic/voice led navigation previously unseen.

These are not How To books on 1001 ways to use voice leading to impress your friends, but rather very broad and exhaustive pages by which a user can see a visual representation of possible order that can then be internalized for creative musicality.
There are guides for navigating visually, aurally, individual voice identity, chord root movement, equality in inversions, inner voice study, all sorts of stuff I never even imagined that I get from our Zoom group when we share our own revelations.
And for all of us, there is the realization of our own propensities and aversions. This work of Mick's can be a guide for expanding those tendencies into harmonic application.

That's the way I see the Almanacs. What Mick saw in them, I can't even describe, although he'd constantly be sitting me down and playing me something that came to him. I'd be awestruck. He'd sketch some cryptic series of letters and arrows on some scrap of a junk mail..."See it now?"
Mmmmm. Not yet? But I heard it.

[pamosmusic]

Yeah I get that.

and to OP, I actually use the triad cycles in classical lessons. Classical pedagogy sometimes leaves a lot on the table as far as fretboard knowledge goes. I think scales in the usual position oriented way are useful, but kind of tough sell sometimes with classical students. The triad cycles though are just totally obvious. They’re all over the place in any piece that leaves open position. Isolating the cycles is really good for technique and also sightreading. Let along just understanding what’s going on the music.

Probably some utility for the spread triads too, but I haven’t had a student make it quite that far yet.

Less utility for the drop voicings for sure, but I wonder about the clusters and stuff for more modern music.

[pamosmusic]

Actually kind of a fun exercise …

Part of the reason I haven’t had a student get to the spread triads yet is because I have them do suspensions on the closed position ones first. Those sound super cool through cycles. 2-1, 4-3, 6-5.

The 6-5 in particular because in another context it’s the voiceleading in thirds, so it kind of points to some of the other applications for the voicelaeading.

[Tal_175]

The voice leading choices in volume I are the most obvious ones (based on the exercises I checked out). In fact, since they seem to be based on the common tone and minimum motion principle they are the only choices given the cycle and the voicings.

It's extremely rewarding to find new voice leading paths when working on standards, especially with extension voicings. So, one lesson one can learn from Mick Goodrich is, find a cool voice leading idea and take it through it's cycle. See where it takes you.