Understanding Voicings in Music

Now, we come to voicings. Voicings are basically the same as the broken chords we've been practicing for the augmented and diminished chords.

Diminished and Augmented Voicings

• Diminished chords are played as follows:

  • Right hand
  • Left hand
  • Together

• For the augmented chords, the last chords tend to have a fairly wide stretch.

Open Voicing

Especially with the augmented chords, you're doing what's called an open voicing, which means spreading something wider than an octave.

These sorts of voicings are very common when playing:

• Jazz
• Other types of music where there's more interesting harmony

Key Points

• Watch out for open voicings, as they:
  • Require two hands
  • Involve quite a large spread

Summary of Grade One

So, that's Grade One:

• Scales
• Broken chords
• Voicings

Good luck with it all! I hope you ace the exam.

If you practice all these scales, arpeggios, and voicings, remember to:

1. Work them up slowly from the beginning.
2. If they seem too fast at the recommended tempo, slow them down.
3. Practice hands separately before putting them together.

Before you know it, you'll sound great in no time. Good luck!