Baroque Improvisation Tip #3: Unwritten Ground Rules

  My experience with Baroque style improvisations over the years has unwittingly instilled within me some unwritten "ground rules" that have been internalized through lots of practice. I'm in the process of trying to extract them to share with you. So what I outline here is by no means comprehensive. None of these rules are hard rules that must strictly be adhered to. My hope is that you'll be able to apply this information to your improvisations where needed to help you keep your Baroque improvisations sounding Baroque.

It's important for me to emphasize that what I outline in this blog post is strictly based on my personal perspective, not the perspective of a composer from the Baroque period. If you want to learn about improvisational or compositional rules followed by Baroque composers, you're in the wrong place.

1-3-5: Levels of Importance

The 1st, 3rd, and 5th of a chord have varying levels of importance that should be taken into account when it comes to choosing which notes of a chord to play during an improvisation. The 1st, or tonic, contains information about the key, which gives it a very high level of importance. The 3rd, or mediant, contains information about whether the key is major or minor and, as a result, has a high level of importance. The 5th, or dominant, doesn't provide the level of information that the 1st and 3rd does, but it helps to reinforce and fill-out a chord. This gives it a lower level of importance than the 1st and 3rd in terms of the amount of information it conveys. That being said, it's safer to remove the 5th from a chord you're playing than to remove the 1st or 3rd. You'll lose more musical context by removing the 1st or 3rd than you would by removing the 5th resulting in more of a hollow, unresolved, or unsatisfying sound. Likewise, it's safer to remove the 3rd from a chord than to remove the 1st.

In the first measure, the full triad is represented. In the second measure, the fifth has been dropped but information is still conveyed about the chord. In the third measure, the third and fifth have been dropped. This rule is not violated in any of the three measures. To bring it all together, the 1st is the most important, followed by the 3rd, then the 5th.

Note Representation: Spread the Love

A chord can be fully represented, partially represented, or inadequately represented by the notes that comprise it. The primary goal of this rule is to encourage full representation, urge caution when utilizing partial representation, and minimize inadequate representation. Be conscious of the notes you're choosing, choosing to double, or discarding within chord progressions throughout your improvisations to avoid a potentially hollow, unsupported, or unsatisfying sound. Let's illustrate with a three voice phrase. Let's say, for example, that the chord progression you're improvising is G, G 6-3, Dsus4, D, G and the bass notes are G-B-D-D-G. How would you go about filling-in each of the chords?

Well, one option could be the following.

Why? The notes of each chord are fully represented across all three voices. The 1-3-5 rule isn't violated in any of the chords either. What if I changed the last chord by doubling the tonic and representing the 3rd, but discarding the 5th?

The lack of the 5th results in a partially represented chord. This might not necessarily be a bad thing depending on what you're after in your improvisation. It simply means that the partially represented chord being projected might not be as full sounding to the listener. A more comprehensive test would be to also see how it stacks-up against the 1-3-5 rule. The doubling of the tonic paired with the 3rd doesn't violate the 1-3-5 rule, because greater emphasis is placed on the more important tonic and both the 1st and 3rd are more important than the missing 5th. So this partially represented last chord should work out just fine since the most important parts of the triad are covered.

I'd be hesitant about using the following option. Can you figure out why?

Many chords are inadequately represented by their notes. Let's examine each chord.

1. The first chord has the 1st and 5th represented, but the 3rd has been discarded. It also violates the 1-3-5 rule because the 5th was used instead of the 3rd even though the 3rd has a higher level of precedence.
2. In the second chord, the 1st is represented once, the 3rd is represented twice, and the 5th has been discarded. As far as the 1-3-5 rule is concerned, the doubling of the third instead of the tonic puts a higher level of importance on the 3rd instead of the tonic. This is a violation of the 1-3-5 rule. The doubled 3rd in this chord can potentially be perceived as an overemphasis on the third resulting in a less fulfilling and more hollow sound.
3. In the third chord, the 1st is represented twice, the suspended 3rd (G) is also represented, but the 5th has been discarded. Since this is a 4-3 suspension, the suspended 3rd is required in order to convey the context of a suspension, and its associated dissonance, to the listener. Has the 1-3-5 rule been violated? No, because the 1st and suspended 3rd are more important than the missing 5th, and the doubled 1st is more important than a doubled suspended 3rd. Therefore this chord could potentially work. However, since the 5th isn't represented, this chord might not project as full a sound, especially if it's sandwiched between fuller chords. Don't forget that the 5th helps to reinforce and fill-out a chord. So for the purpose of this example, my preference would be to replace the doubled tonic in the upper voice with a 5th by lowering the D five half steps to an A. That would convey a fuller, more representative sound to the listener.
4. In the fourth chord, the 1st is represented twice, the 3rd is represented once, and the 5th is not represented. Does it violate the 1-3-5 rule? No, because the 1st and 3rd have a higher level of importance than the missing 5th. Just like with the previous chord, if you're okay with this chord not projecting as full a sound, this chord could work fine. To fill out the chord, my preference would be to drop the D in the upper voice five half steps down to an A (the 5th).
5. The final chord has a doubled tonic and a 5th represented, but the 3rd is not represented. So let's investigate further. Has the 1-3-5 rule been violated? Yes, because it stipulates that the 3rd has a higher level of importance than the 5th and should, therefore, take precedence over the 5th. Without the 3rd, there's no way for the listener to know if it's a major or minor chord. Despite this rule violation, there are some Baroque pieces that end this way. So it all comes down to the information you want to convey to the listener. To fix the 1-3-5 rule violation and fill-out the chord a bit, dropping the D in the upper voice three half steps down to a B (the 5th) should do the trick.

Indulge in 3rds/6ths/10ths

An inverted 3rd is a 6th and an inverted 6th is a 3rd. A 10th is similar to a 3rd, but with the addition of an octave between the interval. Don't be afraid to incorporate these intervals, both major and minor, into your Baroque improvisations. They're pleasing to the ear and they're used often throughout Baroque music.

Practice

Try to improvise a short phrase in the Baroque style and capture it either via software or by recording and transcribing it by hand. Check to see whether its chord progressions pass the above rules. If not, determine how the chords can be modified so that they pass the rules.

Summary

I hope my explanation of these few rules is clear, even if a bit verbose. Do I think about these rules when I improvise? Not at all. It's muscle memory. With practice, it'll eventually become muscle memory for you and you won't even have to give it a second thought.

Like I said in my opening statement, these rules are not comprehensive. I suspect over time I'll uncover more rules, or have to amend the existing rules, at which point I'll update this blog post. Also remember that these rules aren't meant to be strictly implemented. It all depends on where you want to take your improvisations. Whatever your improvisational goals, I hope these rules come in handy.

Bonus Points

Can you identify any of the following in the closing improvisation? If you find rule violations, how can the violating chord(s) be changed to address the violation?

• 1-3-5 rule violations
• fully represented chords
• partially represented chords
• inadequately represented or inadequately supported chords

Closing Thought

Sheet Music

Companion Video