MUS 501 (Lesson 1)

General Improvisations on the I vi ii V Chord Progression (An Introduction).

By

Perfect Mcsnup. 

Hello y'all... 

Welcome to ReHearsal House again. 

And, on Today on General Improvisation 5 (a.k.a MUS 501) we'll be looking at the I vi ii V chord progression. This progression is also called the circle progression (ReHearsal House MUS 300). And the reason is simply because it, in its root form (every progression has its root form,  see what is the root form of a chord progression?) that is vi ii V I, is a chain of perfect 5ths (P5)  intervals [what is P5? (see intervals on MUS 200)], it is therefore so named after the circle of 5ths in which it travels! 

Here's what we mean:

Background Study:

The vi ii V I progression is said to be the most common and strongest of all harmonic progressions. The circle progression consists of adjacent roots of ascending 4ths (vi-ii is on ascending a perfect 4th interval) and descending 5ths (vi-ii is on descending a perfect 5th interval). The same is true of the other members of the progression namely V and I. Furthermore, the progression is one of the most balanced progressions, and this is important for our study in improvizations. Why? The circle progression consists of 4 chords: the first two of these chords are minor chords [from a diatonic major scale point of view, (don't know the diatonic major scale for all keys? Join the class now!)] and the last two are major chords. In Music notations, major chords are represented by capital Roman numerals (V and I for instance) and minor chords are represented by small Roman numerals (vi and ii for instance). Thus we see a balance, the two minor chords, cancelling out the two major chords! Furthermore, both chords I-vi and V-ii are effective substitutions one of another, that is, we can say for instance in the song: 

"oh Lord my God how excellent is your name":

The regular progression would go thus:

(I) IV I V I IV I V I. 

The relative minor progression is:

(vi) ii vi iii vi ii vi iii vi 

And the primary substituted progression is:

(I) IV I ii (substituted for V) vi (substituted for I) IV I ii (substituted for V) vi/I

Now, with the following background to this progression, let us get ready for Lesson 2, but first try out the following practice exercises and assignments:

Practice Exercise 1 (The circle progression on various keys 1)