Quote from Forum Archives on October 27, 2003, 3:49 am

Posted by: erinanne <erinanne@...>

On Sunday, October 26, 2003, at 11:50 PM, Wulf Forrester-Barker wrote:

Quote from Mark Levine:
> "There is no one single set of standard chord symbols.
> The lack of a universally agreed-upon set of symbols is
> not a bad thing at all. Jazz is a living, breathing, growing,
> constantly evolving art, and its changing terminology
> reflects this."

I like Mark Levine's attitude. Heard that his book is a good one, but
haven't got it yet. It's on the "one of these days" list...

Yes, I've read in multiple sources (don't have references handy, it's
12:30 am and, well, I shouldn't be up, but I'll look later), that use
of the triangle is improper or incorrect. I was most disappointed when
I read that. Personally, I like it - it's easy and is very
distinguishable from other information without thought - a triangle is
very distinct from an "m", for instance.

My old Real Book (illegal?) uses the C-7 version of minor notation, and
my Sher Real Books series uses Cmi7 version of notation, while my Hal
Leonard Ultimate Jazz Fakebook uses the Cm7 variation of minor
notation. I like the C-7 best - same reason as the triangle. No
peering required, chord type is instantly obvious. Again, sadly, I
read that this is considered improper.

Maybe it's the typesetters that don't like the symbols!

Guess I'm a rebel. Of course, I also use a Mac. (Oh! Bad! Bad! Bad!
No, don't start that again... bad girl...) Enough said on that.

My instructor also made it clear from his sources of knowledge that the
symbols are out-moded - and then uses them anyway. Gotta like that
style. Again, I like what you quoted from Mark Levine's book.

However, I suppose that having some degree of consistency of notation
across regions and styles is a good idea, however. That's what the
history of music is full of, after all, isn't it? Development of a
style, then figuring out a way to write it down so that different
people in different places and across the ages can learn to play/sing
it the same way... and then work together easily... Somehow trying to
figure out those old fancy square notes, or the 13 line (have I got the
count right?) stave without clefs is something I don't even want to try
to learn....

I'll go to the library and find the most recent book I was reading that
made it very clear that the symbolic methods are uncool, and I'll
rummage in my other books to see what I can find. It's a while since I
cared about that subject! Good to go digging again.

🙂

e/