Just over a year ago I took the voicings course with Tuomo. I remember at the end of it telling him that I thought quartile harmony was interesting but I couldn’t see myself using it much. Well here I am using it in an old Scottish tune called the Skye Boat song, which was used as the theme music for the series “Outlander.” Scottish folk music is challenging to play well on the piano because it is essentially pentatonic harmony with a very simple chord structure which makes it hard to sound interesting. Quartile harmony helps to do that. Recently I watched Hayden’s seminar on quartile harmony and got even more tips on II V I’s which I’m practicing as we speak. There are some other techniques I learned here that are incorporated into the song - drop2s, sustained Vs, spread voicings for minor chords.
This is a great example of harmonising a melody with 4th intervals. Lovely performance!
Exactly as you say, quartal voicings can be a powerful device when working with simple melodies. They add a modern, spacious, and sometimes quite angular sound.
I find that quartals don’t work with every song/situation, but the quartal voicings you have chosen for this arrangement sound awesome.
The melody is instantly recognisable and the harmony underneath is rich and textured - that’s the hallmark of a great arrangement. Congrats!
Thanks Hayden. You’re right that they don’t work everywhere. I’ve tried them in a number of different Scots folk tunes (I’m Scottish-born but Canadian now) with varying success, but they seemed to click here. I was really happy with the result.
Your arrangement is nicely balanced and structured. The left hand arpeggio section creates energy and dynamics and then the unresolved Bb9sus chord you use hints back towards quartal harmony creating a lovely transition back into the 4th voicings. Very nicely done.
He takes a different approach to harmonising the step-wise pentatonic melodies where he uses slash chords such as Eb/G instead of a basic Eb triad or Ebmaj7. He then approaches those new bass notes - G in this case - with chromatic passing chords such as Bb9sus → Am7b5 → Ab7 → Eb/G.
This opens up different harmonic pathways and reharm options compared to the basic 251 cadence (F-7 → Bb7 → Ebmaj7)
The arrangement in the seminar above is also in the key of Eb like your arrangement of “Skye Boat Song” and so perhaps some of Eddie Higgins’ reharmonisation ideas are transferable to “Skye Boat Song” too.
Thanks so much for the encouragement and for pointing me towards the Eddie Higgins seminar. I’ve spent the last few days working my way through it and practising the II V I combinations at the end of the quartile voicings seminar. The slash chords can be applied to many scottish ballads. I also notice that he uses the pentatonic scale in his improvisation. In the early change from Eb to Ab for example he runs up the Eb pentatonic scale and runs down the Ab pentatonic scale. The improvisation sounds complicated but it’s actually easy when you realise what he’s doing.
In our house we play as much Scottish and Irish music at Christmas as we do Christmas songs. This has helped a great deal.
Aye,
George.
Yes I really admire Eddie Higgins’ solo piano style. Exactly as you say it sounds complicated but after transcribing and analysing his recordings it’s often straightforward to understand what he is thinking and how he is constructing his fills and solos.
That sounds wonderful… A nice contrast to the Christmas carols I’m sure!
I’m hosting a seminar on the 29th October on Beegie Adair’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and we’ll break down her interesting approach to solo piano stride with slash chords.
