“A tune with a unique harmonic structure which I will soon write about.”
After coming up with an interesting chord progression, which I made a recording with and posted as RWW #11, I aimed to write a short article describing the harmonic structure at play, because it turned out to be very enjoyable to improvise over. Slightly under a month ago I said I’d do this soon, so perhaps I’m catching the promise just in time.
The piece is named after the San Fernando Cooperative, a group of coffee farmers in Peru who produce exceptionally great coffee. I discovered them through the superb roaster Wonderstate, who worked with the SFC to publish one of my favorites coffees ever.
San Fernando, like many of my recent compositions, is just a chord progression. No specified melody accompanies the chords; material of this nature is to be invented in the moment. What makes the progression interesting is that it is an interleaving of two subprogressions: the first consists of only 1 chord, a C (super-)Lydian chord, and the second consists of 4 chords, which are:
B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)
and which I usually voice as:
B min / D -> C♯ min 7 -> B maj -> Bb maj (♭9, no5)
The interleaving is done in the following way: starting on the first progression(/chord)
(p1), we alternate between it and the second progression (p2), with the
first visit to p2 only using the first of its chords, and each subsequent
visit using one more chord than the previous. Following this process, we achieve
the following superprogression:
C Lx -> B min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)
(where “Lx” stands for “Lydian-extended”. This is my own notation, which essentially means what I’ve heard others call super-Lydian. I can explain this in more detail elsewhere, but for now, one can read “C Lx” as “D maj7 / C maj7” and have they’ll have the right sonority in mind).
At this point the 4 chords in p2 have been exhausted. One possibility is to
simply loop the above, but another is to continue the interleaving in such a way
that p2 keeps expanding its temporal majority. The way I’ve been doing this is
by looping the whole of p2 an increasing number of times between p1
instances, resulting in something like the following:
C Lx -> B min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)
C Lx -> [B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)] * 2
C Lx -> [B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)] * 4
(where the notation [prog] * n indicates that the progression prog is to be
repeated n times).
This method (and especially the above example specifically where the repetition
values ascend through powers of 2 instead of through natural successors) leads
to an effect of settling into p2’s world, which opens up new improvisational
possibilities in that a.) p2 becomes seldom interrupted and hence more
fulfills the role of a traditional looping 4-chord progression, opening the way
for more conventional improvisational experience to kick in, and b.) occurrences
of p1 now feel special and refreshing by rarity, giving them dramatic utility
as bookends to ever-longer chapters (a treatment that may have felt out of place
before the Lydian-extended sonority receded from its position as an ostensible
contender for the reigning harmony of the piece).
An idea like the following, which mechanically continues the interleaving in the way it began:
C Lx -> B min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9)
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9) -> B min ->
C Lx -> B min -> C♯ min -> B maj -> B♭ maj (♭9) -> B min -> C♯ min ->
(...)
may be interesting, but I prefer the method given earlier; it tells more of a story.
Improvising over these ideas has been very enjoyable for me, because it enables me to think in ways that I otherwise wouldn’t. Weaving lines over a structure like this is a skill that isn’t commonly exercised, but I’ve found that practice of this kind can have a greatly positive effect on one’s general musical ability. San Fernando has become my go-to warm-up material for this reason, and even more so for the fact that its component harmonies are beautiful to spend time with.
Banner image: “The Home of the Heron” by George Inness, composed in 1893, is in the public domain (CC 0).
Various extensions to this article (additional text, sheet music, and recordings) are planned and will be documented here as they are published:
- April 14th, 2024: Added a paragraph explaining the name “San Fernando”
- April 13th, 2024: Original article
