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Fowler-Brent
Shorthand
Table
of Contents:
Preface
The symbols you
see below are my adaptation of Dr William Fowler's "Tonal Shorthand"
system.
Besides being one
of my teachers at UCDC, he was also Education Editor and Columnist for
13 years at Down Beat magazine, Theory Columnist for 6 years at Keyboard
magazine, and he co-invented the piezo pickup.
Because of his fame and respect, we were able to attend up-close and personal
master classes with such greats as Billy Taylor and George Duke.
This "Chord Shorthand" you see here was inspired by Fowler's concept
of an efficient and quick way to rapidly see whichever tones were present
in the current chord. The main improvement to Fowler's system is my
addition of a "backbone", as well as my idea to put the lower
chord tones on the left side of the backbone and the upper extensions
on the right side.
Unfortunately Fowler's
system was designed for quill and parchment. Here I have adapted it
for use in computer text documents.
Its informative
and intuitive qualities in defining chords are unparalleled. The
beauty of this system is that any chord can be expressed with zero ambiguity.
Explanation
of the Fowler-Brent Shorthand system:
Lower
chord components
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root
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third
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fifth
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seventh
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Upper extensions
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9th
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11th
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13th
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Base Template
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Scale Degree Options
1. Root options:
The root may be present or not.
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rooted
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rootless
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3. Third options:
The third may be:
natural (4 half-steps above root) or
lowered (3 half-steps above root).
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natural 3rd
(Major third)
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lowered third
(minor third)
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5. Fifth options:
The fifth may be:
natural (7 half-steps above root),
lowered (6 half-steps above root) or
raised (8 half-steps above root).
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natural 5th
(Perfect fifth)
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lowered 5th
(b5)
(flatted fifth)
(dim5)
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raised 5th
(#5)
(sharped fifth)
(aug5)
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7. Seventh options:
The seventh may be:
natural (11 half-steps above root)
or lowered (10 half-steps above root).
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natural 7th
(major seventh)
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lowered 7th
(b7)
(minor seventh)
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9. Ninth options:
The ninth may be:
natural (14 or 2 half-steps above root),
lowered (13 or 1 half-step above root) or
raised (15 or 3 half-steps above root).
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natural 9th
(major ninth)
(major 2nd)
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lowered 9th
(b9)
(flatted ninth)
(minor 2nd)
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raised 9th
(#9)
(sharped ninth)
(aug 2nd)
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11. Eleventh options:
The eleventh may be:
natural (17 or 5 half-steps above root) or
raised (18 or 6 half-steps above root).
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natural 11th
(perfect eleventh)
(perfect fourth)
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raised 11th
(#11)
(augmented eleventh)
(#4)
(augmented 4th)
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13. Thirteenth options:
The thirteenth may be:
natural (21 or 9 half-steps above root) or
lowered (20 or 8 half-steps above root).
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natural 13th
(major sixth)
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lowered 13th
(b13)
(minor sixth)
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Representation
of Chords
Major Quality Chords
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Major Triad
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Maj6
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Maj7
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Maj9
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Maj9#11
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Maj11
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Maj13
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Maj13(no 11)
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Maj13#11
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Maj69
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minor quality chords
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minor triad
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m6
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m7
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m7b5
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m9
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m9b5
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m69
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m11
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Dominant
Quality Chords
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Augmented Triad
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7th
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7sus4
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7b5
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7#5
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7b9
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7#9
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9th
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9b5
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9#5
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13(no 11)
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13th
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13#11
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Suspended Triads
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sus4
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sus2
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diminished chords
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dim7
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dim9
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Rootless Chords Examples
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rootless m9
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rootless 13th (no 5, no 11)
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rootless Maj69
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rootless 7b9
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rootless 7#9(no 5)
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rootless dim9
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There are, of course, many more chord combinations possible. The above
simply illustrates the principles involved and the rest can be extrapolated
from there.
Representation
of Scales
Fowler's system deals with chords only. My shorthand system can also
precisely express scales with much fewer keystrokes.
Simple example:
In the Major (Ionian) scale, no tone is raised or lowered. By flatting
the third, we have the Jazz minor. By flatting the 6th of the Jazz minor,
we get the Harmonic minor.
Simple Example:
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Major (Ionian) scale
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Jazz minor scale
(b3)
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Harmonic minor scale
(b3 & b6)
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Greek Modes
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Ionian
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Dorian
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Phrygian
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Lydian
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Mixolydian
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Aeolian
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Locrian
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Comparison
of Major Modes
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Mixolydian
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Ionian
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Lydian
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Comparison of minors
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Jazz m
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Dorian m
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Harmonic m
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Aeolian m
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Comparison
of b2 minors
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Phrygian
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Locrian
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To properly express all scales, (especially ones with
more than 7 notes) an additional criteria must be understood:
Sometimes
a scale degree may take more than one alteration.
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nat3
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b3
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nat3 + b3
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nat5
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b5
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#5
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b5 + #5
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nat5 + b5
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nat5 + #5
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nat5 + b5 + #5
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nat7
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b7
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nat7 + b7
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nat9
nat2
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b9
b2
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#9
#2
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b9 + #9
b2 + #2
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nat9 + b9
nat2 + b2
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nat9 + #9
nat2 + #2
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nat9 + b9 + #9
nat2 + b2 + #2
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nat11
nat4
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#11
#4
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nat11 + #11
nat4 + #4
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nat13
nat6
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b13
b6
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nat13 + b13
nat6 + b6
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Symmetrical
Scales
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HWdim
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WHdim
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Whole Tone
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Chromatic
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© 2004 Jeff Brent
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