Reharmonization video: I Surrender All

Filed in Free Lessons on July 25, 2010



Here is a video demonstrating four reharmonization treatments on the song "I Surrender All".

This is is another excerpt from my course Reharmonization.  Remember that I am not really thinking about chord substitutions here.  I am rather trying to match an entire new chord progression to a melody.

If you can't see the video below, click here.





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James
7/26/2010 11:09:04 AM

Congratulations on all the work you are accomplishing. I find these videos fascinating. I especially like how the keyboard is displayed at the bottom. That is a huge help.

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Paul
7/26/2010 12:18:02 PM

Greg, I love these video excerpts you've been posting lately. When you are reharmonizing hymns using this process, do you consider how the feel of the music arrangement impacts the words of the hymn at all or are you mostly just evaluating how good it sounds? This question touches on the music style debate a little and I was just wondering how you think when you arrange your music. You are a good salesman - watching these makes me want to see more. So far I'm resisting.

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Greg
7/26/2010 12:33:25 PM

Paul, good question. The answer is I focus on the big picture.

This is a philosophy I discuss at length in the course on Arranging, but here is the short version.

An instrumentalist cannot communicate at a micro level the same way a vocalist can (through word painting etc). However, an instrumentalist can communicate a big idea.

So, do I focus on whether a chord matches a word within a hymn? Not really; there are a lot of problems with that (for example, the audience does not know the words or the verse I are playing). But I do focus on whether the overall harmony matches the message I am trying to communicate through the song itself.

I would minimize dissonance in a song like this. The use of the VI7 in the first 4 bars is not something I would likely do in real life. It works but the message of this song calls for harmony that would be perceived as less dissonant. I used it here more to demonstrate some different directions you can take.

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ben
7/30/2010 7:54:50 PM

Would you do There is a Fountain Filled with Blood?

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steven
7/31/2010 8:06:28 PM

How about reharmonizing When We All Get to Heaven?

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Sandy Owens
9/2/2010 9:42:12 PM

Hi Greg,
We all enjoyed your concert so much last Sunday evening at Gwinnett Hall. It was a joy and a blessing to meet you and your lovely family. I am responsible for our church's website; I suppose I would be called the webmaster. At this point our website has background music provided by Jon Bauer. It has served us well, but a change would be nice in order to keep our site fresh. I would love to use one of your pieces, I am thinking "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus". I would have to acquire it in mp3 format...I don't really know how that works, but can find the answer if I can get your permission to play it as our background. We don't have any funds to pay royalties or fees of any type, but would appreciate your agreeing to our using it. A credit to you would be on our front page as is the credit to Jon Bauer at this time. Would you check out our website for quality and see if it would be an appropriate venue for one of your compositions. I would surely appreciate it. I list my home email as this is where I do my website work, however I have no problem if you want to CC Lisa Almond and Brother Jeff any response you might have for me in regard to this communication.If it won't work for you for any reason, I still appreciate your consideration. Thanks so much and God bless you for your wonderful music ministry.
Sandy Owens

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Agnes
10/12/2011 10:23:23 PM

Would you have the sheet music /book for
Quiet Place and Timeless Reflections?

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