[TPIN] Good or bad,..here it is

[Reaban, Derek (MCOE)]

Jeff,

You wrote:
> It would be an interesting exercise to measure one's tolerance
> for various levels of reharmonization of a familiar tune.  I'm
> sure it's different for different people.

There is a fantastic DVD set called the "Unanswered Question" by Leonard
Bernstein.  He gives a series of six lectures at Harvard, and in the
first lecture he ushers us on a harmonic journey through time.  He
describes the harmonic structure of the overtone series and identifies
that the 3rd overtone is the first note that is different from the
fundamental (i.e. a G in the key of C).  Then he shows how the 5th
overtone (i.e. an E in the key of C) and then the 7th overtone (i.e.
somewhere between the A and Bb in the key of C) eventually came into
"musical" existence.

He then plays the Harvard school song, harmonized, using just the open
fifth structure.  Then he adds the third (moving us thousand of years
forward in the scope of Harmonic development), then the minor seventh
(moving us along even further), and then structures chords that become
more and more modern.

It is fascinating to hear that progression back to back to back!  How
far we have all come as far as musical tolerance to reharmonization is
concerned!


Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona