I'm joining a Barbour Shop singing group and we are going to do a cover of Nearer My God To Thee which has some very nice, complex 9 part harmonies. But there are some chords in it that REALLY stand out to me. I want to know what they are and what they are made up of. Can any of you pro's help me out? You can hear the section here:

http://www.infinitelooper...rpHcA&p=n#/118;131

Thanks!

There is nothing dissonant about any of the music in that section. Funny how one hears it that way but to me it sounds very inside and rather sweet. You would have a real problem with some seriously dissonant Jazz chords. (Dominant b9 #5,#11, Minor Major 7 #11 etc..)


Matt later when I get a chance I will transcribe the chords for you.

I'd agree with Jeff there is nothing dissonant about that at all.  It's in D minor about the 3rd octave on the piano in terms of pitch, I think please correct me Jeff.  I'm still learning this stuff and it goes to F, then G.  There seems to be an octave up to D4 back to C then back to G and F 3rd octave on the piano.  But again please correct me Jeff.  Sorry Matt if you have no idea what I am talking about, I'm doing first year theory at uni, so I'm just playing along.  Looking forward to hearing if I came close.

Peace Ben 

Title changed! Something in the lower notes sounded kind of dissonant to me, but I guess not!

That would be great to see it transcribed, jeff. Thanks! Just the first chord is fine, I just want to know what all the notes are that make it up from a music theory perspective but I don't care about the actual notes as such. There are one or two notes in there that give it this kind of metallic feeling to me which I love.

Ben, Dm sounds about right to me for the fundamental components, but what are the other ones in there!?!?!

I know this piece uses up to 9 voices simultaneously. I don't know if all 9 are being used in this section though. I have a recording of a vocal performance of this song which is AMAZING but I don't think I can really put it up publicly as it's not mine. The notes that I really want are even more extreme in this vocal version I have. Maybe I can put up a snippet of if in a private link if you want to hear this section performed vocally.

Hi Matt, its as I said we start in the third octave on D, unless I'm not watching the right bit and the high notes are as I reported G, a perfect 4th in a d minor scale, then F, a major 3rd on a d minor scale and I think there is a C note in that higher phrase as well.  I think that's it.  I'm not sure I know what you mean by chord because the cello doesn't play a chord.  Nor am I hearing the nine voices in that part but again I might be watching the wrong bit.  Please correct me if I am wrong Jeff.
 
Peace Ben

Ah sorry, Ben. I miss-read your previous post. I thought you were referring to the notes that came after. My bad! I've played around with this and I think you might be right. D, G, F sound like the basis for it which would be a Dmbb5 I think? And then I think there is a C in there too which would make it a Dm7bb5, yes?

The vocal performance one I am listening too sounds slightly different as I think it has an F for the root note too I think which would make it a F/Dm7bb5? I think it might be the double flat 5 and the slash chord combined which is giving the particular tension feel that I am looking for!

I kind of just put it in the too hard basket and didn't try to work it out myself on a piano... Turns out it doesn't look too hard after all! Thanks!

Hi Matt, yes def a c in there.  Wow your going past my theory level with those double flattend 5ths.  Yes I used my Ipad piano to work out the basic notes, so no not to hard.

Peace Ben

Haha, I did research to learn that double flat 5th terminology ;) Simply a 5th, but flat, twice, which makes it a 4th, but with no 5th being played.

So I actually just got sent the music score. Turns out we were both wrong. It is made up of 9 parts officially (at least in the vocal version, not this Cello version). We have:

Solo:           F5
Tenor:         F5
Lead:          Eb5
                   Bb4

Baritone:    Bb3
                   G3
Bass:          Eb3
                   Bb2
Bass Extra: Eb2

This is of course for the vocal version. I think the PianoGuys version doesn't have those extra low bass notes in it though. Oh and the Solo is playing the same parts as the Tenor, though he is singing some different words and there are a few bits sung differently in the vocal version.

Of course I am looking at a different score so it's entirely possible that these are not the notes used on that video! But I did play them on my iPhone piano thing and it did seem to fit.

Just skimming through the sheet music and some of the bass notes go down to a C2!!! What insane Bass singer does that?!?!

Barbour shop takes a lot of discipline... And a lot of talent.

The Band19


Barbour shop takes a lot of discipline... And a lot of talent.

This is them:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LYR7SzVXd8


I believe they won two golds which took them to America (from Australia) or won two golds in America or something recently. Definitely a lot of practice to get tight, but the coaches are great. There are a LOT of very knowledgeable people in the group with a big bunch who are pushing 70-80 years old so have a few years experience under the belt!