Seventh Chords: Arithmetic

Letters, scales degrees, intervals, solfege.

One student at a time or in groups of two or four students.

Beginning

1. Teacher prompts, “Add the notes of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord from bottom up.”
2. Students do so one at a time in groups of four students – one per chord tone.

Intermediate

1. Teacher prompts, “Add the notes of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord from top down.”
2. Students do so one at a time in groups of four students – one per chord tone.

Advanced

1. Teacher prompts, “Add the notes of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord from the given chord tone which is the third or fifth of the chord.”
2. Students do so one at a time in groups of four students – one per chord tone.

Beginning

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord. Remove the fifth and sing the other chord tones."
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord. Remove the third and sing the other chord tones."
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord. Remove the root and fifth and sing the other chord tones."
2. Students do so.

Beginning

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord. Sing it from bottom up x times.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord. Sing it from top down x times.”
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord in root position starting on the third or fifth, not ‘bottom up (from the root) or top down (from the seventh).”
2. Students do so.

Beginning

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord in root position. Two students sing the root and third and two students sing the fifth and seventh.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord in root position. Two students sing the root and fifth and two students sing the third and seventh.“
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher prompts, “Here is a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord in root position. Two students sing the root and seventh and two students sing the third and fifth."
2. Students do so.

Sung (scale degrees, solfege, chord tone) and playing.

Teacher chooses a tempo, time signature, key other than C major or minor. One note per measure until students are comfortable with the exercise.

Beginning

1. Teacher sets up as above, playing all chord tones and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord singing one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher sets up as above, playing three of the four chord tones and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.

Advanced (Up and down)

1. Teacher sets up as above, playing two of the four chord tones and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord seventh chord one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.
3. Teacher continues, playing only one chord tone and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord seventh chord one note per measure.”

Beginning

1. Teacher sets up as above, removing the 5th and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord one note per measure removing the fifth.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher sets up as above, removing the third and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord one note per measure removing the third.”
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher sets up as above, removing the root and seventh and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord one note per measure removing the root.”
2. Students do so.

Beginning

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord arpeggiated from bottom up, x number of times, one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord arpeggiated from top down, x number of times, one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord arpeggiated from third, root, seventh, fifth, x number of times, one note per measure.”
2. Students do so.

Four students singing at the same time.

Beginning

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Four students sing the root of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord.”
2. Students do so.

Intermediate

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Three students sing the root of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord and one student sings the third.”
2. Students do so.

Advanced

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Two students sing the root of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord, one student sings the third, and another student sings the fifth.”
2. Students do so.

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “One student sings the root, one student sings the third, one student sings the fifth, and another student sings the seventh of a major, minor, or dominant seventh chord.”
2. Students do so.