arnold schoenberg – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at the mighty “Farben” chord from Arnold Schoenberg’s five pieces for orchestra.

What is the “Farben” Chord?

This a C Augmented chord with a Maj7th and a 13th [or 6th].

The way that the notes are spaced/voiced creates a unique and dramatic flavour.

Below, is a quick piece of orchestration that I composed to display this.

Here, is the Farben chord voicing:

Musical sheet notation illustrating Schoenberg's 'Farben' chord with specific notes highlighted in blue and red. — Diagram illustrating the voicing of the Farben chord, showcasing the unique spacing and dramatic flavour.

Now, let’s play this as an arpeggio outline:

Sheet music showing a musical staff with notated Farben chord above and a tablature section for guitar below. — Arpeggio outline showcasing the Farben chord voicing.

This time we will extend it to two octaves.

Sheet music notation displaying schoenberg's "Farben" chord featuring a C Augmented chord with a Maj7th and 13th. The notes are arranged across multiple staves, showcasing various voicings and articulations. — Sheet music illustrating two-octave arpeggio of the ‘Farben’ chord.

From here, we will create a chordal picking guitar vamp from this chord voicing. [Careful, with your fingers as the intervals require a bit of a stretch]

A guitar tab showing a chord diagram for the C augmented chord with a major 7th and 13th, designed for educational purposes. — ‘Farben’ chord guitar voicing

Here, is the vamp.

Sheet music showing musical notes and guitar tablature for a chord progression. — Sheet music representation for a guitar vamp based on the ‘Farben’ chord voicing.

Here, is another vamp idea:

Sheet music depicting a guitar tab and notation for an arpeggio outline of the Farben chord.

RE VOICING:

Another, lovely sound that we get [thinking from the relative minor] is AmMaj7/9.

This voicing works beautifully on the guitar creating a colourful resonance:

Diagram showing the notes and finger positioning for the C Augmented chord with a Maj7th and 13th. Fabern chord as minor

Now, let’s play it as an arpeggio outline:

Sheet music displaying annotations for 'Am', 'Maj7', and '9th' chords, with notes positioned on a staff.

From here, we will extend this to create an ascending line:

Sheet music displaying a musical piece with various notes and rhythms, designed to illustrate the 'Farben' chord by Arnold Schoenberg.

Finally, we will make another voicing.

Musical notation showing the C augmented chord with a major 7th and 13th intervals. — Diagram of chord voicing illustrating the unique structure of the Farben chord variation.

If we take the top part, we can create a nice lick from it. This gives a sort of modal improvised line impression.

[Side thought: Unordered 01348: s Forte number is 5-z17, in the taxonomy of Allen Forte].

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Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at the final chord of Arnold Schoenberg’s “Sechs Kleine Klavierstucke” 2nd movement. In thirds this reads as: C–E–G–B–D♯–F♯–A♯–Cx.

Schoenberg Chord in classic form:

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music

This extended chord of a 15th, can also be viewed and heard as a bi-tonal construction of C Major 7th with Eb minorMajor 7th superimposed on top

Schoenberg Chord Clarified:

This can also, be thought of [especially in terms of the guitar] as an arpeggio of CMaj7 and an Arpeggio of EbmMaj7.

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_explained_15th_in_music

Due, to the nature of its sound and collection of notes, it can produce some interesting counterpoint. Especially, as the Eb to E natural resolution creates colour and drama. [view video at top of page].

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music_guitar

Being, a Bi-Tonal chord it is useful as it gives us triad pairs.

Ascending Line:

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_chord_pairs_guitar

Now, we will take this a stage further by adding more chords/triads available.

D+ to C to EbmMaj7 to CmMaj7 to Em7 to Bmaj7

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_chord_pairs

CHORDS:

Let’s now, re voice the chord. Here we will make the chord of C a minMaj7 and add D Augmented [9th] on top.

In the video/audio [a quick demo I created] below, we can hear the dramatic sound of this voicing in the orchestra.

Next, we have two guitar voicing’s. Firstly we have a Bsus/C [or plain B/C] as a typical McLaughlin guitar voicing.

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music_mclaughlin_guitar

Secondly, we have the same voicing but with a changing bass.

Lastly, another guitar voicing that is useful for chordal picking:

From here, we will add a partial scale descending that is formed from the chord: This chord voicing has a flattened 5th and a sharpened 9th.