Crystal Silence by Chick Corea

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 6

Form: A Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → C Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

A Section 1

• Am – Em – Fmaj7♯11 – Bm7 – B♭maj7 – Am – Bm – C – D7 – E7 – Am – B♭maj7♯11
  i – v – bVImaj7#11 – ii7 – bIImaj7 – i – ii – bIII – IV7 – V7 – i – bIImaj7#11

A Section 2

• Am – Em – Fmaj7♯11 – Bm7 – B♭maj7 – Am – Bm – C – D7 – E7 – Am – B♭maj7♯11 – Am – Em – Fmaj7♯11 – Bm7 – B♭maj7 – Am
  i – v – bVImaj7#11 – ii7 – bIImaj7 – i – ii – bIII – IV7 – V7 – i – bIImaj7#11 – i – v – bVImaj7#11 – ii7 – bIImaj7 – i
• Dm – E7♯9 (×2)
  iv – V7#9
• Fmaj7 – G7sus4 – Am
  bVImaj7 – bVII7sus4 – i

B Section 1

• Dmaj7 – Am7 – B♭maj7 – Fm7 – Cmaj7 – Gm7 – B7
  IVmaj7 – i7 – bIImaj7 – bvi7 – bIIImaj7 – bvii7 – II7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 2.

B Section 2

• Dmaj7 – Am7 – B♭maj7 – Fm7 – Cmaj7 – Gm7 – B7 – E7sus4 – E7
  IVmaj7 – i7 – bIImaj7 – bvi7 – bIIImaj7 – bvii7 – II7 – V7sus4 – V7

C Section

• Am – Em – Fmaj7♯11 – Bdim7 – B♭maj7 – Am – Bm – C – D7 – E7 – Am – Em – Fmaj7♯11 – Bdim7 – Am
  i – v – bVImaj7#11 – ii°7 – bIImaj7 – i – ii – bIII – IV7 – V7 – i – v – bVImaj7#11 – ii°7 – i

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Am	i	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, C Section
Em	v	In the key	A Section, C Section
Fmaj7♯11	bVImaj7#11	In the key	A Section, C Section
Bm7	ii7	Borrowed from A major	A Section
B♭maj7	bIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, B Section, C Section
Bm	ii	Borrowed from A major	A Section, C Section
C	bIII	In the key	A Section, C Section
D7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
E7	V7	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section
B♭maj7♯11	bIImaj7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Dm	iv	In the key	A Section
E7♯9	V7#9	In the key	A Section
Fmaj7	bVImaj7	In the key	A Section
G7sus4	bVII7sus4	In the key	A Section
Dmaj7	IVmaj7	Borrowed from A major	B Section
Am7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Fm7	bvi7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Cmaj7	bIIImaj7	In the key	B Section
Gm7	bvii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
B7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	B Section
E7sus4	V7sus4	In the key	B Section
Bdim7	ii°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section

Harmonic highlights

• Bm7 (ii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• Bm (ii) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• Dmaj7 (IVmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• B7 acts as V/V: it resolves to E7sus4.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Crystal Silence” (credited “Corea Chick”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Crystal Silence” (credited “Corea Chick”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 96%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• 1 chord was simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.