Raised + Split Progressions - Multiple Perspectives

Raised Progressions (also known as ‘split’ progressions) are another popular family of mbira chord progressions.

Check out our songs that use raised progressions here.

Here’s a few ‘ways in’ to understanding, constructing and remembering them; a warning about how to avoid confusing conversations about them; and some handy downloadable resources…

The structure of raised progressions is easy to remember. We simply raise the first and last chord of our usual master progressions by 1.

In this example, changes are shown in bold:

Master progression 1: 135 136 146 246

Raised progression 1: 235 136 146 247

Some people look at them a slightly different way, which can lead to a bit of confusion…

Let’s use Raised progression 1 again as an example. You’ll notice that I’ve highlighted the second chord:

235 136 146 247

I we start from that chord..

351 361 462 472

..our raised progression appears to be ‘split’ into two halves, where the second half is all one step higher than the first.

351 361 462 472

In this ‘split’ perspective, the first half is the same as part 2 and 3 of Progression 3 (see the ‘Split Perspective’ graphic above for another example):

357 351 361 461

and the second half might similarly be thought of as ‘extracted’ from Progression 4:

461 462 472 572

Because of these different ways of looking at the same thing, there’s likely to be confusion during conversation. People with the ‘two halves’ perspective usually orient themselves around the second ‘start’ point, often prefer the word ‘split’, and often use a different numbering system that reflects their orientation. What we might call:

Raised Progression 1: 235 136 146 247

They might call:

Split Progression 3: 351 361 462 472

There’s no correct way. I use and promote the first approach because it’s a smaller, practical adjustment to something we’re already deeply familiar with.

Here’s a page from the Shumba notation pack where I explore another perspective of raised progressions - now viewed through the lens of cascades…