Harmonizing Sax Soli - Block Voicings 

Please do long like 30 min videos on just harmonizing and writing sheets for big bands etc, i love it!

*graduates from berklee* So what did you learn? *plays lick*

"Jazz is fun, that's what they told me in school." :)

ii-V-fun is my favorite chord progression!

I was questioning my whole life untill the end where the bass part came

If you teach composition i would like taking lessons.

your music abilities are one thing, but your ability to throw in references and memes is what makes you a true treasure

This whole video I was looking at the Bari part going "it's all wrong tho" and then I realised it's in bass clef.. yay for concert scores

Great lesson! Please do more lessons on harmonizing, big band writing/arranging, etc

And people say music theory is pointless🙄

8:29 "Pressing play right now!" *We are number one begins*

I've calculated that 2% of the time when I try to like a video I accidentally dislike it. Assuming this is close to the norm, any video with a 98% like ratio or higher actually probably has a perfect like ratio. (this video: 2000/12 = 99%+ like ratio) *thumbs up*

Even I, an old lady piano teacher, often learn new things from your wonderful videos. Thanks, Adam! P.S. I wish I could match your facility with SIBELIUS program!

This was the first time I ever learned about writing tutti horn sections and now I am a professional big band arranger. Thanks, Adam!

sounds like you figured out music.

As a classically trained person who thinks with a jazz mindset, these simple rules that "break" the rules help me tremendously on a day-to-day basis with sectional part writing. Thanks so much for making it clearer than the books.

This is so funny and useful at the same time xD

Okay but in ii-V-Fun is the fun major or minor?

Love how you end up talking in the key of the note you just play

I'm new to this so excuse me if this sounds uninformed. There is no D in the D7. On beat three, why not have the bari sax play D? Or would that clash with the Eb tenor 1 is playing?

I don't know why, but this kind of voicing makes me think about a casino.

Hi Adam, Great video! I love this kind of stuff, and would like to learn more about this kind of harmonization, specifically as applied to a larger section of a tune for a sax soli; for example Thad Jones' "Three and One," or Jerome Richardson's "Groove Merchant." If one were to carry out this process for a longer section, should the same principles be applied? Does the bari always double the melody of the lead alto? Any other fine-tuning kinds of things such as keeping the smaller intervals such as 2nds between the altos out of the equation? Is it a coincidence that both of the examples I mentioned use a soprano as the top voice rather than alto, or is that more of a stylistic choice that the composers wanted the color of soprano instead of alto? I have a feeling this is the kind of thing that I would just need to dive into and learn as I go along, but I'd love to get your input for how the process should work for a longer section in the context of an actual arrangement for a big band, rather than simply an exercise like you've demonstrated here.

amazing. it takes you less than 10 minutes to compose this...it'd take me 10 minutes just to transcribe it on the computer.

Wow this is a great video! Arranging anything can be scary if you look at it from a really broad perspective but this really broke it down in a way I could understand

oh my god thank you so much, I needed this for my jazz assignment and I was struggling with making the soli not sound abysmally dissonant with accidental tritones appearing everywhere due to my severe lack of arranging ability

Wow. I learned some stuff. The "Lets ignore this and leave it out" part comes as sort of a revelation.

Nice video, I've never heard that lick as a major 251 though. Maybe it would've worked out a little better as a minor 251 or 151 in A.

"Two Five Fun" Jazz cringe XD

it sounds like jazz!!

Can you do a video on this sort of thing, but for trumpets?

Anyone got a link to that "jazz" vocal effect

Go on, push it to 5 voices! :D

You could have use the diminished chord on two occasions here- especially on that g towards the end, i think it would have been better. Another option is a chromatic neighbor to each note of the solution. Overall it's a good demonstration of the "4way close" technique.

I like watching the clock as he shoots the video in one take and then spends 2 and a half hours editing or doing whatever else before recording the final/intro clip

Sounds good but you don't really get that much ensemble music written for Saxophones in G major concert pitch. You would normally make it Ab concert from what I've seen. Sounds good though - another cracking video from Adam Neely. 5*

1:42 that E is not high at all the program you’re using thinks the tenor players are 6th graders

Bummer!! I just arranged some close harmony vocals for an EP the other day. It worked out, but if I saw this earlier... Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Diction, mimicry, humor and the stave - and I forget that I barely know English. Dude, you're incredibly cool! Thank!

At 5:17 to 5:42 I don't really understand why you skip A. You said it's "normally" how you do it but I don't know why not to use both B and A, and then F#, spelling downwards. Also, at 7:02 I don't understand why you keep worrying about D7 if you changed it all to Bb9 at 6:06. The entire final part since that moment confuses me because of that...

So... That D7 doesn't have a D, and that Gmaj7 doesn't have a G??? With the final notes, I would imagine an analysis would call this a VII-bII-I in B-minor. Is that "II-V-I" more thought of as a "framework" for harmonization?

I’m glad someone realized that TENORS DONT LIKE REPEATED NOTES IN A FUCKING SOLI.

Hi many compliment for your work. I have a question. how harmonize in block position when the lead is low. ex f in first space E and f etc. in Eb key. is too low for normal disposition... thanks a lot

2nd eighth note works better as an F natural in Tenor 1, so it becomes G# dim 7th to Ami7

How would you harmonize a large melodic leap in jazz? Do all the voices move by leap or just a few like in classical harmony?

Have you see "The Glen Miller Story" with James Stewart???If not don't worry you can still call yourself a jazz musician - probably. In it Glen miller describes finding his "sound" by using 13th chords in the sax section -as far as I remember- and I was just wondering if this was true or hollywood . Anyway ,who cares ,really.

transposing instruments? is it like how when us metallers drop tune our guitars to C but still refer to our power chord fret positions as if it were still tuned to standard? so the first fret of the E string is usually F, when we are dropped to silly tunings we still call that fretting position F just to make it easier? so the lowest note of a transposing instrument could be thought of as a standard tuned guitar's open E, then the very next an F... ect, is that what that is all about?

Noticed that there are'nt any Metric modulation markings, how does Sibelius know that it should play with a swing feel? Because that swing feel is what make it ultimately sound like Jazz

If I choose to reharm 4 voices (trp 1 trp 2, ten sax & bar sax) in a neo soul arrangement, can I double up the melody with the baritone? With midi it sounds acceptable, but in reality is it possible or is it a mistake? Thanx

Also, interesting on changing that chord to a minor 6 chord. I find that I have to change the major 7 to a major 6 in the traditional version of "A Christmas Carol" to get it to sound right, also because of that clash. I'm glad to know this is a normal substitution. (The only time it sounds like a Cmaj7 is when I extend it, particularly at the end, where I make it a Cmaj9 for that "jazz chord" ending.)

Scoring in concert pitch makes my instrumentation hurt.... also I hate that b9 because it cannot be maintained thru due to the #2 that would result in the A2 part. It's just a bit jarring. Other than that, this is exactly how I write for saxes and great job!

other possibilities exist, like diminshed approach (F natural for the tenor instead of F#.) Beat four could be called a diatonic approach for all voices.

Hello. Don't you think that this kind of writing is a bit artificial because you write without hearing them? Whenever I do something similar I think that it's not quite right. Do you hear each chord and each voice in your head? Thank you.

If you want to help people with ear training on anything block voices, commercial 4 part harmony Barbershop what ever. use real reed or brass or guitar or piano instruments. Thats like using out of tune piano to hear a real song or chord progressions. Thank you soooo much!

As a sax player this is really cool man I appreciate this

Great.................The college of Adam....thank you......rc

I would have gotten a Sax friend to play this on real horns to cap off the lesson, playing each part individually then as an ensemble.

the intro😂😂😂

I know this is an older video but I’m new to the channel. What program is he using to write out the notes? Thanks!

Pls more about the process of harmonizing!

Binged most of your channel a few months ago to start learning harmonies and the idea of chords flew over my head, but with a bit of high school level theory class and jazz improv under my belt, this video and many others on your channel are starting to make much more sense, and have helped me tremendously with composition. The style of video where you turn a musical meme into a legitimate theory and composition lesson that could pass as a college lecture has done more for me inspirationally than any music class I've taken, as the results always sound great. Keep the spice turned up and the chords rootless, thanks a ton!

You couldve just wrote it in sax key

Bro u r awesome i wis i had a fren like u who is professional

i knew nothing of this when i started . i know a little now . thank you

I could actually follow that. Nice.

Nice video, but I wish he'd get over the lick some day

IF THE ROOT OF A CHORD IS IN THE MELODY, THE CHORD IS A MAJOR 6TH RIP

Fuck me, you theory is brilliant.

Finished a music school in Lithuania, still doesn't understand sh*t

The panning (mixing) for them please?

thank you this is amazingly usefull i greatly appreciate it!!

I like this kind of gameplay

I've heard the "jazz... jazz... jazz jazz jazz jazz" thing somewhere. someone please tell me where it's from!

He's like a doctor, but in music.

Itd be cool to see this melody employed with other techniques too!

Before the lick was funny 😳

Amazing lesson! I hadn't seen it yet, since I discovered your channel in late 2016. "Cool!"

How are you writing for Tenors in treble clef? Is that their sounding pitch but 8vb? I usually have them writing in bass clef?

Why wouldn't you treat that B (alto 1) as a Bm7? (B frygian) Since it's a chord progression in G major.

Give me them jazz chords!

Great video! Thanks.

Isn't bari sax a trebble cleff instrument? Or is using bass clef some sort of jazz or composition rule?

Talking about 9ths and 13ths... wouldn't it be simpler musically to consider it as a 2nd and 4th(/tritone)?

That's very cool. I was just wondering how the Gmaj7 can be a Gmaj7 when the notes are actually the notes of a B7 or a Gmaj9 minus the root. Either way, it doesn't seem to be a Gmaj7. Can you please explain? Thanks.

This is a very helpfull video, and really, I wanted to thank you for this one and for all the others. However, I don't feel that the justification you give for a lot of your choices is enough. I am not saying it didn't sounded well at the end, but I didn't really understood how and why.

Gordon Goodwins sax soli are diffrent

6:45 what do you mean with "let's pretend A is the root. Then the seventh is F#"?

Hi Adam, I'm currently writing a tune for my Riot Jazz Brass Band (a la Youngblood/Hackney Colliery etc) which I may or may not submit to How To Not Suck At Music, I'm pretty happy with it but the only thing I'm wanting to add is interjections around the main tune as well as backings for solos. Any tips for these things? I guess in a big band/brass band context. Thanks!

I found me some early meme old-school Neely.

Thank you. I have just recently ventured into the world of jazz arranging, and this was very helpful.

Always preferred drop-2 and 5-part to block voicings tbh. Block and drop are just ever so slightly to square for me.

2, 5, _f u n_ !

What application do you use? I would like to use the same because i like to make music there and then

great explanation! I love your sense of humor indeed , keep on posting videos!!!

This was extremely helpful and concise. Also, “2five… Fun“LOL

Is it possible to go from a low-key New Orleans blues ensemble into a full swing band within the space of a single passage of 12-bar blues? Or are there technical reasons why you can't harmonise a blues shuffle similar to the melodies of a swing band? I'm totally confused about the distinctions between various styles, would love for you to do a longer video on the different approaches, particularly on the voicings for the blowy instruments! Cheers.

what is the name of the music software app you are using @Adam Neely?

And if this were the end of a passage, I might take the last two notes for the bari and double the bass... so A B C D B -> D -> G (down from B to D, then down from D to G). Now that's saxy phatness! The only thing I might've written differently is the labeling of the Am7 to actually be Am6. The chord really only has one instance of the 7, but three of the 6. Sure it can be considered natural chord tension or even a 13 for a technical interpretation, but I'd rather just make it the Am6 in this case. If I were providing the chords for a comp, I'd probably also mark the D7 as D13(b9) and the Gmaj7 as Gmaj9 (personally), but I'm ok with them being what they are for simplicity.

Hi, is there any program that can do the whole process automatically? I have understood this and can also use it for shorter pieces. But I have to arrange a 15-minute piece and harmonizing takes a long time. So I don't need the program because I can't do it that way, but to save time.

HI Adam, do you have any recommendations for books and resources for studying these types of Harmonizations/Voicings and arranging?

Most high school bari players will take anything down the octave that they can, I couldn't stop thinking about that at the beginning when you have them that doubled alto 1 part. I myself am guilty of the "take it down the octave" mantra.... composers hate me