The Bas~lcs
of Ambichords
A shortprimeron the structure, nature,
use of an innovative chord form
A mbichordsis a nameI have
applied to a set of harmonic
structures whichcan provide
contrast to the soundand texture of
more commonlyused voicings.
These structures maybe used in
virtually any style of music. I em-
ployed this technique exclusively
whenarranging the first eight meas-
ures of WyntonMarsalis’ recording
of"Stardust" on his Columbiaalbum,
by Robert Hot HouseFlowers. Ambichordshave
also found their wayinto the music
Freedman
for television newsshows,jazz big
bands, and symphony orchestras.
Definition andConstruction
Anambichordis a four-part harmonic
structure whichcontains two perfect
fourths and a major second, brack-
eted by an octave. Anyinversionof an Ambichords can other perfect fourth over a major
ambichofdresults in another ambi- providecontrast second. FormIII includes a major
chord. to the soundand second over a perfect fourth over
Thereare three basic formsof am- texture of more anotherperfect fourth. FormIII-A is
bichord, whichare designatedby ro- commonly used a "drop two" variation of form III.
mannumerals (see ®). FormI in- voicings. This maybe used whenthe proximity
cludes a perfect fourth over a major of the two uppervoices of a formIII
secondover a perfect fourth. FormII is unsuitable.
is built froma perfect fourth over an- An ambichord is identified by
namingits top note along with its
Robert Freedmanchairs Berklee’s form(see ®). Becauseof their unique
CommercialArranging Department structure, the namesof ambichords
and is a Grammy-winningarranger bear no logical relationship to any
and composer. underlying or simultaneousstandard
22 Berklee today Fall 1990
harmonicstatements (i.e., "normal" If there is a reason whyconsecu- for manyyears. But their construc-
chords) or progressions. tive forms must occur, use contrary tion and usage werenot organizedin
motion belowthem(see ®). this wayuntil the early 1980s.
Usage As with any other technique, the
Any ambichord maybe used over a FinalWords effectivenessof the use of ambichords
number of different conventional The structures which fall into the dependson the talent, imagination,
harmonic statements provided that category of ambichordshaveexisted and intelligence of the user. ~
its componentnotes are made up
entirely of chord tones and/or ac-
ceptabletensions(see ®). Conversely,
a numberof different ambichordsmay
be used appropriately over a single
conventionalchord (see ®).
Whendetermining which form to
use (I, II, III, or III-A), considerthe
ranges of the instruments involved. EII EIII El EIII-A
All of the instruments used in the
voicing should be in comparable,
compatibleregisters. Beyondthat,
taste and experience should be your
guides.
DI
To avoid muddinessof sound when
using ambichordsover conventional 0 J J J J j j
harmonicstatements, the bottomnote
of the chordshould be no lower than
Bb maj7 C-6 D-7 Eb maj7 F7
G below middle C. 6-7 etc.
CII DI DII DIII El Eli etc.
A SmallProblem andSome Solutions
Whenthe lead note of an ambichord
is the seventh of a dominantseventh
chord, formsI and II are problematic
Cmaj7
becauseeach contains the natural 11,
whichis not acceptablein traditional FI FII Fill
circumstances(see ®). FormIII (or
III-A) maybe used providingthat the Z o
arrangement’sstyle allows for a flat
13 and raised nine in the voicing. 67 (noteflat 11in first i~voforms,last is OK)
A secondsolution to this problem
is to use a triad whichcontainsa per-
fect fourth (see ®). In contextwith
series of ambichords, these triads will
be quite acceptableto the ear.
Thethird possibility involves re- 67 67 sus4 Db 9
harmonization. The main advantage
to this choiceis that it allowsreten- CI CII CIII CIII-A
tion of the ambichordform(see ®).
OtherIdeas
Ambichordprinciplesmaybe applied
to three-part voicings by eliminating
the lower note of the octave bracket
(see ®).
Try not to use consecutive ambi-
chordsof the [Link] instance,
don’t follow an FI with an AI, or a
Bill with a Dill. This will avoid the I
sound of parallelism. (A form III
I
ambichordmayprecede or follow a
formIII-A becausethe two are built
fromdifferent intervals.)
Fall1990 Berklee
t oda y 23
