INTRODUCTION TO IMPROVISATION Berklee College of Music

By Gary Burton

And in fact, I created my own

Week 1
improvisation course for Berkley College
Improvisation as a Language
for their continuing education division.
It's called Gary Burton Jazz
Improvisation.
Overview
Been doing it for a while now and I've
Hi, I'm Gary Burton.
learned a lot about how online teaching
Welcome to my course, Introduction to
works.
Improvisation.
And particularly teaching improvisation.
This is my instrument.
So I thought, what a good idea.
It's called a vibraphone.
I'll bring my experience and my knowledge
And it's one of the mallet instruments
to anyone who is interested here at
like xylophone and marimba.
Coursera.
Only the vibraphone has metal keys and
was invented around 1930, so it's a
Learning Music On Line
fairly new instrument.
When I first started playing music I
If you haven't taken an online course
wasn't too serious about it.
before, you're in for some surprises.
I was just a kid.
the first thing you'll notice is there is
But, when I discovered jazz at about age
a lot of individual choice and
13, I became very passionate about it.
flexibility on your part.
I fell in love with the freedom and
You can take the class and the materials
creativity that comes with improvisation,
in the class in your convenience, at any
I mean, part of being a jazz musician.
time of the day, 24 hours a day.
And as you continue working on
And you can take days off when you need
improvisation yourself, I'm sure you will
to an catch up, you know a few days
come to agree that it's a wonderful
later.
experience to make up the music as you go
And you also can go back and watch the
along and play it spontaneously.
instruction over and over again.
I've been very fortunate.
And as much as you would would like in
I've had a wonderful career.
order to feel that you fully understand
I travel around the world playing
it.
concerts and make records and I'm very
It's a lot more flexible and personalized
grateful for the opportunities that have
than a typical traditional classroom
come my way.
setting.
I've also been very involved in music
In addition, there will be a whole new
education, and that's what brings me to
experience in how you interact with your
your computer screen today.
fellow students.
I was an early proponent of online
I found teaching traditionally that the
education, and when it first became
students often didn't talk to each other
technically possible to teach music
much at all unless they were just close
online, I was a very enthusiastic
friends with someone else in the class.
supporter of that as well.
But in an online class, there's a lot of
interaction for one thing all the
students get to see the homework and
assignments of the other students.
So, everybody can comment to and share,
and communicate with each other about
what they're learning and how they're
going about doing the assignments.
And this interaction is one of the most
important parts of online education, and
you will learn as much from your fellow
students as you do from me.
And that's a very healthy thing.
And along that line, I want to point out
that there's a lot of respect and trust
that goes into an online learning
experience.
We are going to be critiquing each
other's work, we're going to be talking
about how to do things, and how others
have done them.
keep that in mind when you comment on
someone else's work.
It should be supportive and helpful, and
constructive, not a demeaning or
ridiculed or anything like that.
a lot of respect is appropriate, is
called for in this kind of learning
environment.
And so, keep that in mind.
Improvisation Study
You might ask if you have sufficient
experience and musical training already
to understand this course and keep up
with the other students.
And I can tell you that in my past
experience teaching online, I've had a
variety of students.
Ranging from let's say intermediate, a
little farther along than beginner.
Let's say intermediate up to complete
professionals.
And everybody seems to thrive pretty well
in this online environment.
So, I could ask you just a few things and
that would probably tell you what you
need to know.
can you currently read a, a piece of
sheet music, lead sheet of a standard
song and play it at the regular tempo and
get through it all right.
And do you know some of the chord
symbols?
For instance, are you familiar with C7 or
F minor 7 and so on.
And, have you been trying to improvise,
by listening to records and just noodling
on your instrument.
To see if you can copy what you are
hearing on your favorite records, that's
how most of us start out, in improvising.
There is one thing I have to point out
about this course and other music courses
which would be similar.
it's a little different than some other
types of courses you might take.
For instance, if you take a math course,
and you learn a technique or a formula
for math, you can usually apply it
immediately to solve problems.
But in the case of music, the learning
experience is more subjective.
It's like learning a new language and it
takes time for these things to be
assimilated into your memory and into how
your brain functions.
So you're not going to go from being an
intermediate level player to a fully
professional player over the course of
the weeks that were having this class.
That will take place in the months and
even years that follow as you'll keep
working at it and keep adding to your
experience.
So I just want to caution you that you
may not see drastic change over the weeks
that we're studying the materials in the
class.
But you will be learning the information
and the knowledge that will will carry
you on.
to being able to do it and continue
learning and assmilating long after the
course has finished.
Story-Telling
I should explain one of my, you know, pet
concerns about the way improvisation is
taught.
there's a real difference of approach
that I think is worth considering.
A lot of books about improvisation and a
lot of ways teachers go about it are
based on learning familiar jazz phrases
and playing them over and over in
different in all keys.
In fact, a lot of jazz books are in fact
just sort of page after page of
exercises.
That are made up of a familiar jazz lick,
jazz phrase.
Cliche kind of phrase that we're used to
hearing.
And, you know, the, the writer will make
up a whole page exercise taking you
through different keys, different ranges
of your instrument and so on.
The idea being that you'll become fluent
at playing these jazz-like phrases and
sound like a jazz musician.
Now, I'm going to make a comparison here
with speech.
Let's say I'm going to go to France on my
vacation and I don't speak French.
But on the airplane, going over, I have a
little phrasebook and I memorize, some
things that I can say.
Maybe what time is it or where's the
train station or what time is lunch or
I'd like to order an omelet please?
Okay, so imagine I'm sitting in my Paris
cafe.
And somebody walks by and they hear me
say to the waiter, I'd like to have an
omelet, please, in French.
Now, for a moment, that person might
think, oh, he speaks French.
But think about it, I can't tell a story
in French.
I can't make a joke, I can't discuss
politics or philosophy.
that's the kind of language skill we want
if we're going to be improvising.
it's not enough just to have some
convenient phrases that we can play and
sound like we're a jazz musician.
That's not it.
It doesn't work just to sound like you're
improvising.
You actually have to be able to
improvise, which means we need to
understand the process and develop the
skills and the tools that make that
possible.
So, if you've been trying to study out of
books that take the repeated phrase
approach.
I advise, you know, think, giving it a
second thought as to whether that's
really helping you or not.
There's supposed to be some magic moment,
that after you have mastered these
repetitious phrases, that at some point,
you'll suddenly be able to really
improvise.
But, it, it doesn't compute, it's not
logical.
You don't learn to speak effectively by
reciting a handful of phrases over and
over again in many permutations.
You actually have to learn the language.
So, that's what we're going to be doing.
Creating your Assignment
I want you start listening to records a
little differently than you're used to.
most of us we listen to records to enjoy
them and we're kind of grooving on the
time feel, and the mood of the piece.
And we're going to go along with the flow
of the solo.
You may notice some moments that you
know, sound especially good to us and we
kind of just enjoy them as they come
along.
But I want you to try to analyze a little
more about what goes into an
improvisation.
Imagine for instance, that you have a
student, who doesn't know anything about
improvising, but he's interested in
finding out.
And one of the things you decide to do,
is play him a solo and then break it down
for him.
Explain, here are the different kinds of
things that are going on in this solo.
things like what style is it?
What you know, time feel is it?
how do, what are the sections of the
solo?
Is it eight bar sections?
Or is it four bar sections?
How does the tune break down?
what kind of intervals are being
featured, what kind of rhythm figures are
being featured?
This sort of thing.
So, this is where we come to part one of
the assignment for this week.
I've recorded a solo on piano and you're
going to hear the audio portion of this.
After I played it I wrote out the notes
that I played and listen to it a few
times, look at the written notes.
And then go to your computer keyboard
and
write a description of what my solo is
made up of.
Again, like I say, what kind of intervals
am I using, what is the breakdown of the
song?
What's the tempo and time feel?
Things like that don't get carried away
and write a ten-page dissertation on this
32 bars of music.
it seems like every time I assign
something like this, somebody goes crazy
and, and it's down to analyzing every
single note, somehow.
all this should fit on one page it's an
overview of the kind of things that I
used when I was soloing to make up this
particular improvisation.
So, once you've got your description
done, upload it to the site, that's part
one.
Part two is a continuation of this song.
Download the play along tract.
there are two versions, one is piano,
base and drums, that's for most of you
And one version is just for piano
players, that is, just base and drums
because you don't want to have two pianos
competing on the, on the recording.
So, I want you to play along, with the
recorded track, and see how you do with
this particular set of chord changes.
If you're a, an, an experienced
improviser, this will be real easy for
you to do and you'll knock it off in no
time.
If you're new at this, it may be more of
a challenge.
And but do, try the best that you can try
to find notes that work on the harmonies
and see if you can keep up with the flow
of the harmonies.
It's a place to start.
And next week we will look at the
vocabulary of the improviser.
That is the cord scales and the cords
that we use for playing.
in the meantime good luck with this
assignment.
For part two, when you have your MP3
created, upload it to the site.
And and then you'll be complete for this
week.
Good luck with it, and I'll see you here
next week.
 Week 2
The Improvisers Vocabulary
Overview
Hi, and welcome again.
This is week two and the topic for this
week is scales.
now, the first thing we see when we look
at a piece of music is a cord symbol.
And we know usually most of us at this
stage in our learning, know the basic
notes of that chord.
Let's say its a B flat seven chord.
So we know [MUSIC] we know the, the triad
and the, the seventh that makes up the
basic sound.
Now some players really don't go much
beyond that.
In terms of, of their chord knowledge.
And what you do in that case is you
feature the chord tones and then you take
a guess at filling in some other notes.
The problem is you can't play a whole
melody with just the four notes of an
arpeggio.
You need more notes to make melodies.
So, people who play just based on knowing
the chord outline have to take chances on
other notes and, use their ear to listen
to the other musicians that are playing
on that harmony and so on.
Now some players get pretty.
Good at doing this.
In fact, a great musician I played with
for several years who was a wonderful
player, Stan Getz the saxophone player.
That's how he functioned as an
improviser.
He had never really studied music theory
much, didn't know much about chords.
He just knew the basic triad for each
chord symbol that he saw.
And he would start with those notes.
And then use his ear to find other notes
and he would make mistakes sometimes
but
he got very good at correcting them by
sliding into the next note, so it would
make it sound okay and so on.
But we don't want to settle for that.
We want to have a full knowledge of the
available notes during any given harmony.
any given chord symbols.
So, for that we need a scale rather than
just a chord outline.
So, the topic for day, today is chord
scales.
Learning Scales
The topic today is scales, specifically
what we call chord scales in the jazz
world.
And, if you've looked at some books on
improvisation you might have come across
some that included page after page after
page of scales with exotic sounding
names.
the truth is, there is a small number of
scales that cover most situations.
there are ten of them, in fact, that are
the most commonly used scales.
And 90% of the chords and scales that you
come across in a tune, a standard tune or
a jazz tune will use one of those ten
scales.
So, they're the ones that you really need
to have under your fingers, that you have
to have memorized and are able to play on
them.
And we're going to look at each of those
ten scales today, and what their
characteristics are and how to organize
them and think of them.
And how to practice them.
The goal is to have them memorized to the
point that you have instant recall.
Now you probably already have instant
recall on a few scales.
Let's say the C scale [MUSIC] , that's
one that, you know, you surely have
played by now.
And you don't have to stop and think what
the notes are in that scale as you play
it on your instrument you're just used to
playing it.
Well, here's the thing.
We can memorize scales in two ways.
There are two characteristics that our
memory uses.
One is the shape that the scale makes in
terms of the pattern.
for instance if I play a [MUSIC] that
minor, that C minor scale there's a
certain shape to it.
And it doesn't matter whether you play a
keyboard instrument like mine, or the
piano.
But on any instrument, there's kind of a,
a kind of a shape and pattern to a scale
run.
And we get used to recognizing that
shape.
And we also recognize the sound of it
when we hear it.
when it, you know, we associate the sound
and the shape of the scale and that's
what allows us to have instant recall of
it.
And, you know, the, the, the situation
is, you don't have time to think about
the mechanics of the scale when you're in
the act of playing.
Chords change every couple of seconds
there is not time for conscious, you
know, study of arguing with yourself
about can I use the B flat or not and so
on.
I mean, if you have to think at all about
the scale as you're playing, you won't be
able to keep up with the music.
We have to have instant recall.
So that's the goal is to get instant
recall.
And the way we practice the scales is
what will help us attain that level of
recall.
Now, in the classical world, [MUSIC]
the way you practice scales is usually
going up and down.
But that's not much help to a jazz
musician, to an improvisor.
We need to make melodies out of that
scale.
[MUSIC] Which means moving to
different intervals, and different
groupings of notes within that scale.
So we want to have flexibility, and be,
be very facile with the notes in the
scale.
So instead of practicing [MUSIC] the
classical way with the scale we want to
[MUSIC] , we want to change the
intervals.
Use most of the range of your instrument.
Don't do it all within one octave.
[MUSIC] So you can see I'm rambling
around.
I'm not playing any particular pattern or
any combination.
I'm thinking in my mind and using my
eyes.
And I'm seeing the shape of the scale,
the C Minor scale, called the Dorian.
We're going to talk about the names
later.
And I'm using different combinations of
notes from that scale [MUSIC] .
Immersing my eyes and my ears.
I'm getting used to the sound of this
scale.
And, and eventually I recognize it so
well that the minute I see on the music C
minor 7 is called for, but without even
having to think about the notes in the
scale, I can just start playing on it.
That's the instant recall that we're
looking for.
10 Most Important Scales
As I mentioned before, there are ten
scales that are the most commonly used.
And they're the ones that you really have
to be ready to play, and have instant
recall of, and be comfortable on.
So if you think about it, there are ten
common scales, and there are 12 different
key signatures.
So, that's a total of 120.
Now that sounds like a lot, but in fact
many of these scales are closely related,
so it's really not like learning 120
totally separate things.
So it goes quicker then you think.
There's sort of two ways to approach it.
One way is to be methodical about it, and
say, well, I have 120 scales, so if I
work on two scales a day in 60 days, I'll
have gone through all of them.
I don't know anyone who's done it that
way, to be honest, but it's certainly
logical.
Almost everybody learns them another
way.
That is, every time they learn a new
song, they look through the tune and see
what chords, what chord scales are called
for, and if there's going to be some new
ones, in almost every new song you learn
at first.
And so, you add a few more each time you
learn a new song.
And eventually, you've pretty much
covered all of them just by learning 25,
30, 40 songs over the next few months, or
however long it takes you.
So, a combination of intentionally
learning them and learning them with each
new song.
What you shouldn't do, is try to guess,
or try to fake it.
when you come to a chord symbol in a
song, and you're not sure, you don't get
an instant recall of what scale goes with
it, remember that.
And know that you have to learn it, and
have to practice it, and add it to your
memory.
I mean here's a situation that happens to
everybody when they're learning.
And I'm sure it's happened to you.
you're playing a new song, and the first
chord is fine, it's a B flat chord, I
know that one.
Then it's an F7, okay, I know what to
play on that chord.
Then a C chord, I know what to do there.
And you see the problem coming up on the
next page.
It's an F sharp minor seven flat five.
And this tempo is moving along, and
you're getting closer and closer, and
finally you're there.
And now what do you do?
There's this chord that you don't know
the scale for.
You're not sure what to play.
Well, there's a couple of options, and
it's sort of funny.
one option is you don't play that
measure.
Take that moment to adjust the horn, or
pause and rest.
and listen to the rest of the musicians,
and see what notes they're playing, see
if you can recognize notes and what it
should sound like.
It's an F sharp minor seven flat five, so
you could start with the F sharp, because
we know that's going to work.
[MUSIC] Alright and, again, listen to
what the other players are playing, and
the chords, and the support notes, and so
on.
And find, you'll hear it maybe, oh I
notice a C works.
I can hear a C and the F sharp, oh an A,
I hear an A as well.
So you may find some notes that will get
you through that harmony.
at least at first.
But don't settle for that.
When you recognize a chord as being
unfamiliar, just make a mental note, the
next time I practice, find the scale
[MUSIC] that goes with that chord.
And then, try to memorize it.
Now, let's talk a little more about how
to do that.
We're going to [MUSIC] play around on it
in random combinations.
[MUSIC] The idea is to get used to the
shape [MUSIC] and the sound that it
makes.
[MUSIC] So that your brain remembers the,
this combination of shape and sound.
And next time you come to an F sharp
minor seven flat five, you'll have
instant recall and you can start playing
on it.
So, that's what we're going to be doing.
Now, as I said, there are 120
theoretically possibilities, if you're
talking about all 12 keys.
But you'll learn them fast enough once
you start doing this with each new tune
that you learn.
figure out the right scales, and then
make sure that you've played them before,
or make sure that you have the time to
stop and learn them now.
The Modes
Have you heard of scales called modes?
That's a term that's used in traditional
music teaching and classical music to
describe scales that are derived from the
major scale, the diatonic scale.
And if you, they're usually explained
this way.
You start [SOUND] with the major scale,
that's called a Ionian mode.
And then if you go to the next step in
that scale and start [SOUND] it from
there, that's called a Dorian mode.
And you go up to the third step, [SOUND]
it's called a Phrygian mode, and then the
[SOUND] Lydian mode and so on.
Now, technically, that's true and maybe
interesting, but it doesn't really work
for us as improvisers to think of them
this way.
What's important to us as improvisers is
that the scales belong in a certain
category of scales, are they major or are
they minor or are they dominant seven And
what color are they?
Are they fairly bright or dark?
Those are the characteristics that we
need to know about the scales as we use
them in the songs that we play.
So here's a better way to remember the
modes and keep track of them.
And these seven scales, by the way, are
among our ten common scales.
They recur- quite frequently throughout
popular music standard jazz, you name it,
these are among the most commonly used
scales in western harmony.
So, we start with the brightest of the
seven modes.
That would be [SOUND] the lydian.
Which is a major scale, [SOUND] but with
a raised four.
[SOUND] That's the very brightest
sounding.
It's a major scale, it belongs with major
harmonies, and it's got a [SOUND] raised
four, making it bright.
The next scale coming down [SOUND] is the
basic major scale which is called the
Ionian Mode, and it is also used on major
harmonics.
Next, we have [SOUND] the, you, you
noticed notes in the scale are steadily
lowering, they're get, as they get lower,
the scale sounds darker.
In this case,sss now, this mode is called
the Mixolydian.
And, and it is used on Dominant seven
harmonies.
[SOUND] Now, we change one more note,
[SOUND] we lower the third [SOUND] and
that turns the scale into a minor kind of
scale that's called the Dorian.
[INAUDIBLE].
[MUSIC].
Next, we lower another note.
The A goes down to A flat.
The six goes to a lowered six.
[SOUND] You can hear the sound of the
scales are getting darker and darker.
This is the Aeolian mode.
[MUSIC].
And next we lower the second.
That's called the phrygian.
And finally we have the locrian, we lower
the fifth as well [SOUND].
So there are the seven modes from bright-
Lydian, all the way down to the darkest,
the Locrian.
Four of those scales belong with minor
harmonies.
Two of them belong on major harmonies.
And one belongs on the dominant seven
kind of chord.
Dominant 7 Scale Choices
So now we have the seven modes.
There are 3 three scales that are very
commonly used in jazz music and popular
music and all three of them are used on
dominant seven type harmonies.
So let's take a look at each.
The first one we're going to discuss is
called the Lydian flat 7.
It's a Lydian scale but instead of having
the natural 7 it has a flat 7.
Right.
[SOUND] That's the Lydian flat seven
scale.
Then we have a scaled called the altered
scale.
Now, you've all seen chord symbols that
for instance say c seven flat nine.
[SOUND] Well, that ninth, [SOUND] has
been [SOUND] altered.
Been made a half-step lower, in order to
make it sound more dissonant and have a
richer color.
There are several notes in this scale
that can be altered to make them more
dissonant.
And there is a scale, which uses all of
them in one scale.
And there, that's how it gets the name
the altered scale.
So think of it this way.
I'm going to walk you through each note
of the scale.
There's the root, then theres the flat
nine, the sharp nine, the three, the
sharp 11, the flat 13, the flat seven and
the C.
So, the.
The four altered notes, flat 9, sharp 9,
sharp 11, flat 13 are in that scale along
with the basic chord outline, 1, 3, and
7.
It's a very common scale.
In jazz harmony [UNKNOWN] seven chords
so
you'll use them a lot.
That's the altered scale, and I'm going
to come back to it in a minute and tell
you one little oddity about the altered
scale that you need to keep in mind, but
the third of these additional scales and
the last of the ten Is the symmetrical
diminished.
As you might expect, it sounds like the
diminished chord.
[MUSIC] And in fact it's made up, you
could say, of two [MUSIC] of two
diminished scales, combined.
Two diminished chords combined.
[MUSIC].
It's a close cousin of the altered scale.
It's almost the same.
It starts out the same, [SOUND], the
root, [SOUND], the flat nine, [SOUND],
the sharp nine, [SOUND], the third,
[SOUND], the sharp 11.
But instead of the lowered six, that flat
13.
[INAUDIBLE] We have the five and six
[MUSIC] , so the bottom of the diminished
scale, the symmetrical diminished scale
[MUSIC], is the same as the altered but
[MUSIC], the top notes are slightly
different.
So, those are the three, and their, all
three of these scales are used on
dominant seven type.
Harmonies.
Now, as I said, there's one more thing to
point out about the altered scale.
It has a secret note.
That's what I call it.
As it turns out, the fifth of the chord
is perfectly usable.
During an altered chord harmony and an
altered scale.
It's not included because we have a
complete sounding scale without the fifth
so if we added it- [SOUND] It would just
be an extra chromatic note in there.
And so, it was left out in terms of
describing the official altered scale.
But the reason you need to know about the
fifth being possibly included is that you
will run into altered harmonies in songs,
and there'll be the fifth in the melody.
You know, obviously called for by the
composer.
It sounds good and it works.
So keep in mind in an altered harmony
situation even though it isn't officially
in the scale.
It is also a perfectly usable note on an
altered scale.
Using Chord Scales
Okay, that's all ten scales, these
commonly occurring scales that we need to
know really well.
So let's review what we're supposed to be
doing with them.
We want to assimilate them using their
two characteristics, the pattern that
they make and the sound that they make.
Now, when I say pattern, [MUSIC] it's the
shape of the scale.
And some people always ask, well, wait a
minute, I don't play the vibraphone or
the piano, where the notes are laid out
in front of you.
I play the saxophone.
What am I supposed to do?
Well the truth is, every instrument,
every player of every instrument, has a
way of picturing groups of notes, whether
it's a chord outline or a scale.
And I've often asked players of other
instruments, in fact how do they picture
a scale or a group of notes?
And I'll tell you that most of them [MUSIC] And the scale is the Dorian, and
answer, they picture them on the piano you're playing around on it.
keyboard, even if they don't really play [MUSIC] Be aware that it is an E flat
the piano. minor 7 chord, even though you're playing
that seems to be a common, you know, way around on the scale, because we have to
of thinking about them. actually be using not only the chord
Some people will say I picture them tones but the chord scale as we play
written out on manuscript paper, and some through a harmony.
people, saxophone players, for instance, So, being aware of the chord tones, as
tend to say, I picture the fingering of well as the scale tones is important, is
running the scale. useful to you as an improviser as well.
When I think of, you know, how do I So, for this week's assignment, I'm going
picture a, a seven, eight note run of to ask for you to demonstrate some of
notes, a scale line, I, I picture the these chord scales.
fingerings real quickly. I'm going to give you six of them and ask
however you do it, you will have some way you to do just what I've been doing here;
of visualizing the scales and the shape play the, the basic scale [MUSIC] and
that they have, and you'll hear the sound then start [MUSIC] bouncing around,
of the scales, and it's those two playing different combinations.
characteristics that let us form a memory you know, be creative, but remember that
that we can recall. what you're trying to show me is that
So with any new scale, [MUSIC] find the you're comfortable playing around on each
notes [MUSIC] and then [MUSIC] ramble of these scales.
around. So record that and upload it to the site,
[MUSIC] Make different combinations. and I'll see you next week.
[MUSIC] Use the whole range of your
instrument, don't just stay in one
octave.
I've said that several times already.
[MUSIC] Speed is not an issue.
It doesn't matter if you can play them
faster and faster and faster.
What matters is, are you assimilating the
memory of this group of notes and
different ways to combine the notes into
different combinations?
So that's what you should be doing with
every new song that you learn or
practice.
check out the chord symbols and make sure
that you are familiar with the chord
scale that goes with each one.
In addition, if you're playing, let's
say, this chord is an E flat minor 7.
 7 Modes (From Bright to Dark)

Lydian Major

& #w w w w
w w w

Ionian Major

& w w w w
w w w

Mixolydian Dominant 7

& w w w bw
w w w

Dorian Minor

& w w w bw
w w bw

Aeolian Minor

& w w bw bw
w w bw

Phrygian Minor

& w w bw bw
w bw bw

Locrian Minor

& w bw bw bw
w bw bw
 Additional Scales

Lydian b7 Major

& #w w w bw
w w w
#4 5 6 b7
2 3
1
Altered Dominant 7

& w bw bw
w bw bw nw
b9 #9 3 #11 b13 b7
1
Symmetrical Diminished Dominant 7

& #w w w bw
w bw bw nw
#9 #4 b7
1 b9 3 5 6
 WEEK 3
Making Scales Choices in Real Time
Choosing a Cord Scale
Hi, welcome back to Introduction to
Improvisation.
This is week three and we're going to be
talking about chord scales again, a kind
of continuation of what we covered last
week.
last week we talked about the ten most
commonly used chord scales and how to go
about practicing them.
And especially how to go about memorizing
them and learning them so that you can
use as improvisers.
Well, there's one more aspect to these
scales that has to happen quickly and
sort of automatically, when we play.
And that is choosing the right chord
scale to fit each harmony as you come to
it.
Now, normally you might think well, that,
that's something I'll have to study for a
bit.
I'll have to take the so, song home and
play it for a while and work out what the
right scales are.
But we don't want to have to do that.
We want to be able to play the song and
solo on it if it's put in front of us, at
a rehearsal or at a session or whatever.
So, there's a sys, a little system that
I've come up with that allows us to make
these decisions quickly on the fly, in
real time as we're playing through the
song, and that's what we're going to talk
about today.
Finding the Correct Major Scale
So this is how it works.
With any harmony, there are questions one
or two that you have to ask, to determine
the right chord scale.
Let's take the easiest example, let's say
it's just a major chord.
it's a major harmony, let's say it's C
major 7.
remember the scales we talked about last
week.
Up, among the 10 most common scales,
there were two major scales involved.
There was the Ionian [SOUND], and the I,
and the Lydian [SOUND].
The difference is in the fourth degree.
The Ionian has a natural 4, the Lydian
has a raised 4.
So if you come to a major, C major 7
chord in a piece of music you have to
answer the question is it a natural 4 or
a raised 4?
Or in other words is it an F natural or F
sharp?
And then you'll know which of the 2
scales is the right one for that measure.
And here's how you find the answer.
first you look at what you see in front
of you.
Look at the written music.
Half the time, the note in question will
be right there in the written melody of
the song.
So if you see an F sharp, [SOUND].
Then you know, [SOUND] it's Lydian.
If you see an F natural, [SOUND] you know
it's Ionian.
if you don't have written melody in front
you.
Sometimes, like, you may be playing a big
band chart and all you have are chord
symbols.
or, if the note in question that F or F
sharp doesn't appear in the written
melody.
Then we find the answer to the question
by looking at the preceding chord scale,
the harmony before the one we're looking
at.
And you'll find the note there.
It'll, you'll find that F natural or F
sharp in the preceding chord.
So using the most common example of going
G7, [SOUND], to see.
We see that [SOUND] there's an F natural
in the G7 chord, [SOUND] and that's
going to influence the C Major chord to
be Ionian.
Whatever is ringing in the harmony, wants
to continue ringing into the next harmony
if it can.
If something forces it to change because
the chord symbol requires it, that's
another story.
But if nothing forces it to change, then
any note that's ringing wants to continue
on into the next harmony, and it's
going to influence it.
So that's [SOUND], that's how we answer
that question.
So there's two ways to answer the
question.
It's either, visible in the written notes
that you see in front of you or you look
at the at the preceding cord scale and
use that as an indicator.
Chord Scale Method
Now, in reality, everybody in the band is
going through a similar process to decide
about the cord scales.
that is, as they approach each new chord
they are trying to guess, make their best
educated guess as to what is the best
choice, the most likely choice that
everybody's going to make.
The band is not going to be in a 100%
agreement all the time.
Naturally people will have different
thoughts about what might be the right
scale for each moment.
But you'll be right most of the time,
because in many cases the answer is very
clear cut.
It's obvious that this particular harmony
is [UNKNOWN], no question about it.
But there will be sometimes harmonies
that are a little unclear, in fact
sometimes you'll find that, two chord
scales both seem to work, you know,
reasonably well.
And there's no strong rationale for
ruling out either one of them.
And you might try them both and say, boy
they, they both seem to work.
at that point you may choose the one that
you seem to like best.
Or, you may notice, well everyone else in
the band seems to be preferring this one
so, I'll go with that.
Ultimately, we want to end up in
agreement with everyone.
But the first time or two through the
tune we're finding our way.
And using my system that I'm recommending
here today, you'll be right 85, 90% of
the time.
It's not going to be 100% absolutely
clear cut choosing the scale.
but it'll be right enough of the time for
you to get playing on the tune and get
through it in real time so that you can
play the song.
And of course, with each additional
course that you play through it, you'll
notice, okay, there's one chord scale
that doesn't isn't quite right.
I'll try a different one when I get there
this time and you'll, you'll make the
corrections as, as they're needed.
But this gets you up and running.
Finding the Correct Minor Chord Scale
Now let's talk about minor harmonies.
Once again, we have one or two questions
to ask.
And the first one is what about the six.
Now remember our minor scales.
There's the [SOUND] Dorian, [SOUND]
Aeolian, [SOUND] Phrygian and Locrian
[SOUND].
Each one has an additional lowered note
in it.
So, that Dorian, [SOUND] has a natural
six.
And if you see the natural six in the
melody or strongly indicated in a four
harmony, then that's the only question
you have to answer.
It's going to be Dorian if it's a natural
six.
If it's a flat six [SOUND], then it could
be Aeolian.
Most likely it will be.
But there's also the possibility that it
could be Phrygian if the second is also
lowered.
So if only the six is lowered [SOUND],
it's Aeolian, if the [SOUND] second is
also lowered, it phrygian.
So in the case of the minors, you have
the possibility of having to ask two
questions.
Once the six gets lowered, you have to
check two and see what's going on with
it.
I'll tell you that the Aeolian occurs
more often than the Phrygian, so the, the
first guess, when you see a lowered six,
is that it's probably Aeolian.
But, take a quick look a the second as
well, in this case, b natural, I'm using
a d minor, minor chord symbol here, to
see if it's a lower second to give you a
Phrygian.
Now, the fourth scale, the Locrian
[SOUND], we we need a little help on this
one.
Whenever the composer wants to use the
Locrian-type scale, the Locrian sound, it
will be indicated in the chords symbol.
It will say, instead of just d minor 7,
it'll say d minor 7 flat 5.
Or, some people call it, the d minor half
diminished.
That's, that means the same thing, and
there's two different ways of describing
it.
at Berkley, we say that minor 7 flat 5,
but you'll see both versions used out in
the professional world.
So, any time the Locrian is going to be
called for, it'll be in the cho, it will
be in chord symbol.
So you'll know immediately when you see
minus 7 flat 5 in the chord symbol that
it calls for Locrian.
So, with minor, two questions maximum.
The six, and what's going on with the
two.
And that's the answer for minor scales.
Minor Examples
Let's look at some examples using minor
scales.
The first one we look for the sixth
that's the first thing we look for and we
see a b natural.
And that answers our question its
going to be a dorian scale for that d
minor.
Now the next example.
We look at it and we see that there is a
b flat, in the melody.
And that tells us well, it's going to be
at least Aeolian.
That answers question number one.
The second note in question, that second
degree of the scale is the E natural.
[SOUND] So, we want to see if there's an
e natural present.
And there isn't one in the melody of the
D minor.
But, if we look at the preceding harmony,
there's an E natural, right in the
melody, and it would be in the, chord
scale as well, of that particular
harmony.
So, [MUSIC] that tells us that, the E is
going to be natural, and.
That's going to be an Aeolian scale.
And finally, here's an example that calls
for a Phrygian scale.
In this case, we're approaching the D
minor chord from an E flat major.
[MUSIC] So, we have a prominent E flat.
Now, that in the D minor, that is the
second degree of the scale.
And in this case, since it's the lowered
two, it's going to be the E flat, it
tells us this is going to be a Phrygian
scale.
[SOUND] So, those are examples of all
three of the different minor scales and
the questions you have to ask yourself.
What about the 6?
What about the 2?
And that'll give you the answer.
Finding the Correct Dominant Chord Scale
So what's going on with dominant 7
harmonies?
We've looked at major chords and minor
chords and now, let's look at these
dominant 7 situations.
It starts off being very similar to the
major harmonies, in that it's the 4th of
the scale that we're interested in.
In the case of the [MUSIC] the Mixolydian
scale, it is a natural 4.
And with a raised 4 [MUSIC] it's called a
Lydian flat 7.
These are the scales we looked at last
week.
So that may be all you need to.
Determine when you look at your piece of
music that it's maybe obvious that it's
either the mixo or the lydian flat seven.
Just depending on whether it's a natural
four or a raised four.
In addition, we also need to ask a
question on dominant seven chords which
is.
Are there any altered notes?
Now remember last week we talked about
the altered scale including the flat 9,
the sharp 9, the sharp 11, and the flat
13.
Those are altered notes.
And if you see altered notes in your
melody on your dominant 7 chord, or they
are indicated by the, the preceding
harmony.
Then that moves your dominant 7 chord
into the world of the altered let's say,
and it's going to take one of the altered
scales in order to to be the right
choice.
So there are two if you remember from
last week that are closely related.
I call them cousins, there's the [MUSIC]
altered scale, and there's the
symmetrical diminished.
The bottom half of the scale is the same
for both altered and symmetrical
diminished, and the only difference being
that instead of a flat 13 [MUSIC] on the
altered, it's the natural six on the, on
the symmetrical diminished.
So now let's look at some examples.
Here's, first an example where there's,
clearly an F sharp in the melody of this
C7 and it, that tells us it's going to be
a Lydian flat seven.
That also, I don't don't see any altered
notes either.
So, Lydian flat 7 is the right chord
scale for this first example.
Now, we see an example that calls for the
altered scale.
We see, [MUSIC].
We see altered notes in the scale.
In the melody.
And that's the, [MUSIC] the logical
scale.
Now I'll give you a second example and
just remind you of something that we
covered last week.
You'll notice in the second example there
is a natural five in this altered scale.
Remember this is the hidden note, secret
note, that's in the altered scale.
It's not officially there, but it works.
It doesn't clash with the scale at all
and it occurs a lot in melodies on
altered harmonies.
So don't let it throw you off.
If you see a natural five, don't jump to
the conclusion and say, well, it can't be
altered because it's not in that scale.
It is.
Think of it as being part of the altered
scale.
And in this example we're looking at now,
you'll see there's a G natural in the
melody but it's still got altered notes.
It is an altered scale that's being
called for.
Finally, here's an example that calls for
the symmetrical diminished scale.
In this case, there's an A natural.
Called for in the melody [MUSIC].
So, instead of the flat 13 [MUSIC] of the
altered scale, we get the symmetrical
diminished.
the altered scale occurs much more often
in tunes than the symmetrical diminished
does.
So, your first guess usually is, if it's
in the altered family, start with the
altered scale.
And then if you have a moment to look
further or the next course then it comes
up again.
Take a look at the sixth and see if it's
natural or flatted to make sure you've
got the right choice.
But altered occurs far more often.
Now, let me once again explain that this
is meant to be a fast moving process.
We want to do this, you know, in time
with the music.
so we don't have a lot of time to stop
and think.
It takes me, I don't know, 10, 20 seconds
to verbalize the steps in the process as
I describe it to you, each chord that
we've talked about here today.
But in fact, once you're used to doing
it.
It happens almost instantaneously.
Your eyes see the note you are looking
for and you start to play.
It's a very quick reaction.
So don't, you know, get hung up feeling
like you have to sit down and study this
over and over again.
The more you do it, the more tunes you
learn the faster this will become, until
you do it pretty much automatically.
And that's what we're looking for, that's
the goal.
 WEEK 4
Harmony for Improvisers
Harmonic Motion
Hi, and welcome back.
This is Introduction to Improvisation and
this is week 4.
Up to now, we've been talking about the
vocabulary of the improviser, that is,
what notes are available.
We've looked at chord outlines and chord
scales, but now it's time to look at the
grammar for the improviser.
This is the way the music moves, the way
the harmonies change.
And it's necessary for us as improvisers
to include this in our thinking.
It's not enough just to play right notes.
We also have to help the listener
anticipate what chords are coming next
and follow the flow of the harmonies, and
the way they change, and, and so on.
And we all know for instance that some
chords [MUSIC] want to move [MUSIC] and
some are at rest.
So we, we there's some basic issues about
harmony that we use as improvisers.
let's look at this actual progression of
the B flat 7 to E flat.
[MUSIC] This is the most basic
progression there is modern harmony
that's, it's a five chord going to a one
chord.
And ask ourselves well, what's, [MUSIC]
what's the essence of this movement?
Well, it's right here.
[MUSIC] The A flat moves to a G.
The D moves to an E flat, and you get the
sense of resolving.
So if I'm playing and the music call for
a B flat 7, followed by an E flat major.
Then, I can guarantee you that at the
very moment the change comes at the
beginning of that new chord, I'm going to
be playing [MUSIC] or
[MUSIC].
[MUSIC] Do you hear it?
[MUSIC] Because I want the listener to
hear that change take place.
You'll notice with expert players,
professional players that they don't
really even need a chord instrument
accompanying them to make the harmonies
come to life.
They'll use enough of the important notes
in their solo to show the harmony for the
listeners and that's what we want to do
as players.
Now, these notes [MUSIC] in Classical
harmony or traditional harmony, those
are, that's called voice leading.
At Berkley we call them guide tones.
And you know, we use them to help bring
out the changes of the harmony.
So, we're always kind of on the lookout
for where, where are the strong notes,
where are the notes that lead in to the
next chord?
They are called guide tones.
Guide Tones
When you have a series of guide tones in
a row, we call it a guide line or a guide
tone line.
And they're very useful to the
improviser.
particularly it comes in handy when we've
got changes moving at a very fast pace.
Let's say a every two beats, there's a,
there's a new chord change.
You got about one, one and a half seconds
to play something on that chord, each
individual chord.
And if you know, we take the conventional
approach of I have the chord outline, and
we have the chord scale we can play on.
You know, there isn't time to make a
whole melody phrase on each one of those
very short chords.
we need a way to see them differently in
order to play more melodically and have
more continuity.
This is where guide lines come in.
So, the official definition of a guide
line is it is a line that moves like a
scale, in half steps or whole steps.
And each [MUSIC] note of that scale is a
chord tone on its respective chord.
So,
[MUSIC]
you hear it, see?
[MUSIC] You see how it's moving in
half-steps and whole-steps like a scale.
And each one of those notes is a
chord-tone on it's respective harmonies
in this song.
So here's where we find them.
look at the chord symbols and anytime you
see a chord symbol with a substitute bass
note.
let's say its C7 flat 9 and that the line
under it and then there's a G.
Well, that means that the C7 flat 9 with
the G and the bass.
You may have thought that up to now that
is an instruction to the bass player, to
the G.
But it's also an instruction to all of
you that there is a guideline being used.
Now there's one alternative that it may
not be a guideline, and it's easy to
tell.
That's if it's a pedal.
if you haven't heard that expression
before, this is a pedal.
Where the baseline, base note stays the
same [MUSIC] and the harmony above it
changes.
[MUSIC] Alright.
That's a pedal.
It sustains the bass note.
But in the case of a guide line, you'll
see that the bass notes of the chord
symbols make some kind of a scale-like
line, and that is our guideline.
That's the first place to look, is in the
bass notes.
If you find a guideline there, then
almost always, there's a second guideline
to choose from that starts a third above
the bass line.
[MUSIC] Right, you hear that?
[MUSIC] Again, it moves like a scale, but
each note is a chord tone on its
respective harmony.
So now we have two possibilities for
guide tone lines in this progression.
There's a third, actually often there's
one or two, the third one's a little bit
unusual, but this tune has one.
you can go up or down.
This one goes up, starts on the B.
[MUSIC]
So I have, all together I have three.
[MUSIC] So I have these lines that are
moving the, along with the changes, and
now we're going to talk about how to use
them in a solo.
Using Guide-Tone Lines
Okay, let's look at how to use these
guidelines, now that we've found them.
So the first thing to do is just get
yourself familiar with the sound of the
line and how the notes move.
So as you play the changes, [MUSIC] just
you know, play, follow along, just play
in half notes.
[MUSIC] And listen to the sound of it.
Then start embellishing it a little bit,
making some rhythmic variation.
still using the line
[MUSIC].
Alright, starting to sound like I'm
soloing a little bit.
Here's the second line.
[MUSIC] See I'm adding a little chromatic
motion here and there, filling in,
changing the rhythms, turning it into
little melodic phrases.
Now, here's where the interesting part
comes in.
These lines are so strong and so basic to
the flow of the harmony that they're very
interchangeable.
I can start my solo on [MUSIC] this line,
and switch to the next one [MUSIC].
And I can, I can go back and forth
between line one or line two or line
three in the middle of the progression.
It doesn't matter.
I can also switch the octave.
[MUSIC]
Now it sounds now like I'm just soloing.
But I'm still keeping my mind, my focus
[MUSIC] is on these you know, guidelines.
And I, I can move them around, I can
switch octaves, I can switch between
them.
And that gives me a lots of [MUSIC], it
sounds like I'm soloing.
And in a way I am.
But instead of thinking of the individual
[MUSIC] chord and scale, I'm thinking
more about this, these [MUSIC] guidelines
that move me through those changes much
easier.
So now, we've looked at guidelines.
Let's also consider another way of
thinking about harmonies, and that's
called the common scale.
In some cases you will find several bars,
several chords in a row that all share
the same scale.
Let's say it's [MUSIC] D minor 7, G7, C7,
A minor 7, F major 7.
There's five chords in a row and they all
happen to share [MUSIC] the same notes.
So, we have the choice of course of
outlining each one of those individually.
But, we also have the option of just
thinking of it as one large group sharing
the same scale.
One of the things we do a lot in
improvising is group the changes together
into larger units, so that we can play
longer melodic themes over them, longer
phrases.
So guidelines helps us get through
changes that are moving a lot and, for,
make, you know, resolving and changing
and so on.
Common scales help us play over an area
that shares the same scales, so we change
our thinking and say oh I figure I've got
one scale to work on.
Now, now I'll think of that while I'm
soloing.
So that's two of the most common ways of
dealing with harmony as an improviser and
we're going to look at some more.
Harmonic Motion
Though there are different kinds of
harmonic motion.
And a lot of the time, the way chords
move even suggests a kind of physical
direction that things are moving.
Up, down or sideways and so on.
It, there's this suggestion there in the
way the harmonies move.
and each kind of resolution has its own
recognizable characteristic.
Let's just look for instance at the very
common 5,1.
[MUSIC] But what if we use the substitute
dominant, it's almost the same thing.
But we make E7 [SOUND].
See how different it sounds [SOUND].
There's a chromatic movement that
happens.
What about [SOUND].
That's even more easy to distinguish as
being unique.
That's chromatic motion from below,
coming up into the one chord.
So, each kind of chord movement suggests
a unique identity.
in fact, when I [MUSIC], I encounter, a
chord movement that's going up, which is
not nearly as common as chord resolutions
that seem to go down, I usually try to
bring that upward suggestion through in
my playing.
I might play a line [MUSIC] that goes up.
on that harmony just to help the listener
get the sense of its motion.
So, there are a couple more kinds of
movement and chord situations that the
improviser will encounter that's
important for you to know.
one of these is called constant
structure.
In this case, the type of chord stays the
same.
It doesn't go from a dominant 7 to a 1
chord or to a minor this or whatever.
They're all the same.
Let's say this is a major 7 chord
[MUSIC].
You can hear they are all major 7 chords,
just changing place on the keyboard, but
all the same type of chord.
So the structure stays the same which is
where the name comes from, constant
structure.
And the interesting thing about constant
structure besides the fact that it has
kind of a unique sound.
Harmonically it doesn't sound like
[MUSIC].
You know the kind of resolving changes
that we hear more commonly.
But on constant structure because the
chords are all identical, in this case
all major 7 chords, any phrase.
[MUSIC].
Any melodic phrase that you use on one
chord you can play on, all the others,
just by transposing to each new harmony,
because the chords are going to be the
same.
Now related to, in some ways, the
constant structure concept, is when
chords move chromatically.
[MUSIC] That's again a very recognizable
kind of movement to our ears, to the
listener's ear.
chromatic movement is, you know, has its
own character.
And, and it is a k, it's a form of
constant structure because you know the
chords are all the same, in this case
dominant 7 chords moving down.
so you can do the same thing.
Any phmelodic phrase can be repeated just
by, moving it down a half-step and, and
so on.
But in addition, there's some, something
to know about, this, the world of
chromatics.
This is one of my pieces of advice that I
give the students all the time.
And I have a saying, which is that,
chromaticism is the improvisor's best
friend.
And I say that because, being able to
play chromatically helps us smooth out
rough sp, spots in our melodic lines.
an example is, let's say we're playing on
B flat 7.
And we want to go, we want to go to the E
flat on the beginning of the next chord
on the E flat chord that we're leading
into.
And I want to, I'm picturing playing
steady 8th notes, right up until that
note.
But what happens if I get close to it and
I either got not enough notes or too many
notes or whatever, what do I do?
And that's where chromatic notes help me
out because I don't want to get to that
not early or late, I want it to be on the
down beat.
So I can turn it into a chromatic line.
[MUSIC] You add chromatic notes, turn it
into a chromatic line.
As I approach the note, I want to land on
it.
So it helps me to land on the right beat,
on with the strong note.
So we use chromatic notes that way, to
help our improvising.
We also use it, sometimes, just to add
interest.
let's say we're playing a long passage
with only one chord.
It's D minor.
[MUSIC].
want to go on and on for 8 bars,
something, may-, 16, 16 bars.
Well, after a while our one scale starts
to sound repetitive and boring.
So if we can just add a few extra notes
to break it up, to add some color.
[MUSIC] All right.
I'm still on the D minor, but adding some
of these chromatic notes, adds more
color, doesn't clash with the D minor,
but it makes it a little more
interesting.
So it's another, thing that the
chromatic, line does for us, that
chromaticism does for us.
It not only helps us smooth out our
melodic lines.
It also helps provide interest.
So you will find as you get more
experienced using chromaticism that it is
a very useful tool.
So, today we've looked at several ways to
deal with harmony as an improviser.
One is guidelines, guide tones and
guidelines.
Another is common scales where the cords
all share a common scale.
third, constant structure, where all the
cords are the same type.
And chromatic motion, where the cords are
moving chromatically.
Now, I'll be back in a minute and I will
talk about our assignment this week.
Creating Your Assignment
For this week's assignment, it's another
two part assignment.
first download the PDF file for Kieth
Jarret's song Memories of Tomorrow.
And I want you to go through the
manuscript paper, just like you did last
time, and on the second line fill in some
information for me.
Fill in first of all what's the chord's
scale that belongs with each measure?
And then, see if you can identify what's
going on in the song.
Is there, are there sections that are
featuring guide tone lines?
Are there sections that are common scale?
you know, what compositional elements is,
is Keith using in this song.
And kind of just make a bracket.
Say okay, well, this four bars is guide
tones, and this two bars here is common
scale, and this two over here we have
guide tone lines again in this two bars,
and then, and so on.
See if you can identify.
And if there are guide tones lines, write
the guide tone lines in, on the
manuscript paper on that second line.
And if you get a common scale, write the
scale out, over and show that it lasts
for you know, several bars.
so do this for the tune, and then
practice playing it.
Download the play along track for Members
of Tomorrow.
Get your instrument out and record
yourself soloing on this song as well.
I will point out one thing that I haven't
talked about yet, but you'll encounter it
as soon as you start analyzing Keith's
song.
in the first few bars, the chords, the
rudiments chord stays the same but
there's a moving line in the chord
sample.
[MUSIC] The second chord is a minor chord
with a natural seven.
That's a scale that we haven't looked at
yet.
cause it's not so common.
It's not one of the ten common scales.
It'd be a melodic minor.
so I didn't want you to be too confused
when you see that and wonder what, what
should I use there.
It's the melodic minor scale.
[SOUND]
[SOUND] Right?
So, other than that, you should be able
to figure out Keith's tune pretty well
and hopefully find it fun to play.
So that's your assignment for this week.
Upload both of those parts to the site,
so you can compare with the other
students on your analysis.
And also listen to each other's
interpretations of how to play Memories
of Tomorrow.
And I'll see you right here, next week.
 WEEK 5
Theme and Variation
Theme
Hi.
Welcome again to my course, Introduction
to Improvisation.
This is week five.
And at the beginning of the course, I
talked a little bit about the comparison
of speech to improvisation.
They share a lot of the same functions
and it's a good comparison to make.
Anytime you have a question about how
something is supposed to work, think how
it works in language and then you'll have
a pretty good idea.
we started off talking about the
vocabulary of the musician, which is the
scales and chords outlines and so on.
And then we talked about the grammar for
the improviser which is harmony, the way
the chords move from one to another.
Now these two areas these two areas of
skill, become automated the more you
become experienced using them.
And eventually you won't think about the
scales or the Carmen emotions and so on,
any more than you think about nouns and
verbs when you speak in sentences.
It's something that we just do, you know,
automatically and instinctively after
we've assimilated the information and
gotten used to doing it.
So then you, that raises the question,
well, what do we think about while we're
playing?
And, this is where the interesting part
comes in.
We want to tell stories.
We want to explain what we're doing, want
it, you know, to tell people about this
song.
What we're playing and why we like it and
what's interesting about it.
So, it's, it's think how an explanation
takes place when you talk to somebody.
The first sentence you speak introduces
the subject.
And the next sentence adds some more
information, and the next sentence adds
some more information.
And eventually you have you know, said
everything you had to say about this
topic.
And you've made your point, and you're
finished with that explanation.
A good story follows the same approach.
That is you know ,there's a introduction,
it sort of announces what the story is
about.
And then the story takes you kind of on a
trip.
Through various activities and various
things.
ending up, finally, with the story being
complete when you get to the end.
That's what we want to do musically.
And we do this using a very established
technique in music which is called theme
and variations.
The Unfolding of a Story
Let's look for a minute at what motivates
a person to listen to music.
the listener wants to experience some
kind of pleasant feel, time feel, the
pulse of the music, the beat whether it's
swing or straight eight or ballad or
whatever it is.
that is one of the elements that the
listener is a looking for.
The listener also wants sound that is
pleasant and a rich, you know, chords
chord scales the sounds that they hear
need to sound pleasant and as well as
interesting.
And there needs to be some kind of
storyline moving through the song so that
the listener has something to follow
other than just, well, it sounds pretty
and I can pat my foot to it.
There needs to be more content than just
the two basic things offer.
So our goal as improvisers is to create a
storyline that is interesting and clear
enough for the listeners to follow us.
Now, if you play a storyline that's stop
and start and confusing and unclear,
pretty soon the listeners are no longer
following what you're doing.
They may be, you know, enjoying the feel
of the music or padding their foot to it
or something.
But they're not as focused on your
playing as you would like.
And what happens in that case is you get
to the third chorus of your solo and you
have that really great creative moment
that only happens occasionally once a
night or something.
They're not going to be there to notice
it.
Because they've already stopped listening
to what your playing, they're just kind
of enjoying the overall mood of the, of
the music that they're hearing.
So it's important for your solo to be
clear and something that the audience can
keep following.
Three Characteristics of Melodic Form
Okay, let's talk about this theme in
variation concept.
there are three characteristics to every
melodic theme.
There is, first of all a rhythm [MUSIC]
four eigth notes in this case.
there is also a melodic shape of some
kind to the notes.
In this case, [SOUND], it's an arpeggio
going down.
It could be the same rhythm but different
notes [SOUND] and much different
character if I play those notes.
But I chose instead, [SOUND].
Right?
So that's.
The second characteristic, the melodic
shape.
The third characteristic is it suggests a
harmony.
In this case, it's a [SOUND] major seven
chord and E flat major seven, to be
precise.
So now we have [SOUND] this theme.
And our job is to repeat it.
And repeat it and repeat it.
And as we repeat it, we make variations.
We change it around so that it, it
becomes interesting and the listener
starts to follow it and says, oh, I
wonder what he's going to to do next.
How is he going to play it the next time?
[MUSIC] You see me doing this all just on
this one chord.
I'm changing it around in a variety of
different ways.
Now how long do you need to do this to
establish a theme and for the listener to
identify the theme and notice that it's
going somewhere, it's being developed.
Well, you play it once, nobody will
identify it as a theme.
If you play it a second time, maybe they
might think, oh I think I've heard that
before.
It must be something he's focusing on.
But the third time, yes.
Definitely people will generally notice
by then that you're working on a certain
melodic idea.
And but once you get it established, you
have to use it for awhile.
for it to really feel like it's creating
a little trip for the listeners to
follow.
A lot of times when I listen to students
improvise, they'll play very short
developments on their themes.
They'll play it once or twice and barely
get it established before they quickly
move on to something else.
It isn't long enough for listeners to
really, you know, latch onto it and
follow along.
It's almost like listening to somebody
talk and every other sentence they start
a new topic and after a few minutes you
think I'm sorry I, what are you talking
about, I can't follow you.
we want to continue our ideas long enough
for the story to get told.
Now, that might be as long as eight
measures 16 measures.
It could even be a whole chorus of a
tune.
And in some cases, I, there are examples
I can think of on record where people
play their entire solo is based on one
theme that they keep working with.
you don't necessarily have to carry it to
that length every time you play but keep
in mind it needs to go on long enough for
people to notice that there is a theme
and that you're working it.
And you're doing things with it, that's
where the creativity comes through for
the listener.
Variation
Now, before, you heard me playing on one
harmony as I move my idea around.
let's look at, a little closer at some of
the possibilities for making the
variations.
Here's the original phrase.
You can reverse it [SOUND].
You can change, move to a differeinversion of
the same chord [SOUND].
You can play it faster or slower [SOUND].
Alright, you can extended.
[MUSIC] You can embellish it.
[MUSIC] So, that's just some of the
possibilities.
As you can see, you know, you, you can
keep coming up with more and more things
and still maintain the character of the
original theme.
Now, we need to take this a step further.
it's, it's fairly easy to do this on uh,1
chord scale or 1 chord outline with
nothing changing.
In fact, when you try it yourself, you'll
discover that's pretty easy.
It gets a little harder when you're
playing a song and the harmony change
every measure or so.
Because then you have, in order to keep
using your theme, you have to change it
to match the new chord.
So, I'm going to play a tune now and use
my theme.
And, but as I play the song [MUSIC] and
the chords change [MUSIC] I will have to
adjust my four note theme to fit each
harmony.
So, here we go.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
Okay, there's a whole chorus, 32 bars of
the song.
And I hope that you were able to follow
my development, that, that you could tell
that I was still using my original theme
as I played through that song.
Doing as many creative and interesting
things as I could.
I used the whole range of the instrument
and you know changed it up quite a bit.
If I thought I was getting a little far
removed from my basic theme, then I
would, you know, reestablish it soon
after, nice and clear.
So that the listeners are reminded that
yeah, yes, we're still listening to the
same theme.
The listener likes being able to follow
that kind of improvisation.
Musical Sentences
Let's talk for a minute, about, the way
sentences, work in speech.
Because we need to, use the same concept,
when we, make melodic phrases.
sentences serve a purpose, to help us
understand the information that we're
hearing.
You know, a sentence goes on over a
certain length of time and then pauses.
And there's a space before the next
sentence.
Well, that space allows the listener to
have just a second or so, to absorb what
they've just heard.
And get ready for the next piece of
information that comes in the next
sentence.
That's how we keep our, you know,
conversation, kind of organized.
And we need to do the same thing when we
improvise.
If we play too continually you know, the
listener can't absorb it and keep up with
what's going on.
They need spaces between the, the melodic
phrases.
Now, wind instruments, players of wind
instruments have it easy because they
naturally have to leave spaces.
They have to breathe.
So, they play a melodic phrase, stop for
a breath, start another one and so on,
which is what happens when we speak.
We're also are leaving spaces because we
need to breathe as well when we talk.
But if you play a piano, a vibraphone,
guitar, ecetera then you have to remember
to intentionally play in sentences.
And it doesn't necessarily come naturally
to do that.
when I'm playing, I'll tell you honestly
I often picture the way a horn would
play.
When I'm playing a line, I might think,
see, I could really imagine a trumpet
playing this line, or a saxophone.
And that helps me get a sense for how to
phrase it, how to create the dynamics, as
well as how long the phrase can go on
before it needs to rest for a second.
Before I continue with another phrase.
Now, just like setnences, melodic phrases
are not all the same length.
Some are short, some are long.
Same with the spaces in between.
Some are short, some are long, depending
on, you know, how dramatic the, the
phrase was or how short or long it is,
and so on.
We develop a sense, fairly quickly once
we start thinking about this, for how to
pace our melodic phrasing.
So, think about sentences and make sure
that you're playing in sentence-like form
when you improvise.
Analyzing Songs
Well, we've covered the basics of
improvisation vocabulary, chords and
scales, grammar, the way harmony moves,
content, the stories that we tell in our
improvisation.
Let's turn our attention now to the songs
that we play.
these are important, we don't choose them
lightly we choose them, because we
personally like something about the song.
And we want to show it to the listener.
So, in much the same way, you know might
do the same thing if you have a visitor
come to your house.
To see your new house, and you would, for
instance, walk them over and show them
the view from the window of the garden.
And then take them into the new kitchen
and show them this fancy new refrigerator
that you've got and so on.
Well, we want to do the same thing with
the songs that we play.
There are elements in the song, that the
composer used to create it.
for instance we might want to show them
in the first section of the song there
are guidelines that dominate the, the
music.
And in the second section they're
chromatic genes, chord changes that are
going on.
we, we want to, that's the thing, those
are the kinds of things we want to show
to the listener.
Just like we would in in showing somebody
around out house.
We want to, you know, have, help them
learn what's going on in this composition
even if they don't understand literally
what a guideline is we want want them to
hear it.
And understand that that's an important
element in the song.
There is another element to songwriting.
The composer is not only using
compositional, you know, techniques.
But there is also what you might say is a
mood or a character that every song has.
And this is sort of like, compare this to
what an actor is, is handed when he takes
on a new role in a play.
Maybe in today's play, he plays a witty,
sophisticated, funny character who's very
energetic and full of laughs.
And next week's play, he may play a sad,
melancholy character who has a lot of
problems.
So the actor, you know tries to stay in
character.
During the performance of each play and
make sure that the, the mood and feel of
that character comes across to the
audience.
And we do the same thing with the song,
every song has some kind of mood to it
and some kind of personality.
It may be a bright, you know, quick and
dancing kind of piece or it may be a very
peaceful, beautiful piece, or it may be a
dark, sad, minor piece.
every song you play will have a
character, and you'll want to know
consciously, what it is, and say, okay,
my, my job is to show this song to the
listener.
I'm going to show the listener the
compositional elements that are in it
and, I also need to show them the mood
that the piece has.
And what it's, what it's feeling is like.
And, that's something that, you know, I
think about trying to stay in character,
just the way an actor tries to stay in
character when they're acting a part.
I try to stay in character with that song
not only when I play the melody, chorus,
but also when I improvise on it as well.
So let's take a look at a song, this is
written by a friend of mine, composer
Carla [INAUDIBLE] It's called Ojos de
Gato.
It means eyes of the cat.
And we're going to walk through this
song.
I'm going to play it on the piano and
talk about the different elements of the
song.
So that by the time we're finished with
it we'll have a lot of things at our
disposal, things that we can feature.
When we play this song to help sell it to
the listener, who listens to us play.
[BLANK_AUDIO] I'm going to play Carla's
song, Ojos de Gato, and the first time
I'll just play it all the way through.
And we're going to, then, get a sense for
what kind of song it is, what mood it
has, and so on.
So, here goes.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
.
Okay, so we can draw some conclusions.
it's a short piece, and it's got a very
simple melodic theme, [MUSIC] that keeps
repeating throughout the song.
it's a slow, straight eight, kind of
bossa nova time feel.
And in terms of mood it's kind of
melancholy and sad.
It's in minor for the first half of the
song, so I think that kind of is a useful
description of the song, so as we get
ready to play more on it.
So, the next thing we want to do is take
a look at the chord scales, make sure we,
we know which scales we're supposed to be
using on these chords.
And in fact, we have a bit of a question
right here on the first chord.
[MUSIC] because normally on an A minor
chord symbol, we would be, want to see
what is happening with the sixth.
Is it the natural sixth?
[MUSIC] Or is it a lowered sixth?
[MUSIC] And it turns out that both of
them are there in the music.
So we have to decide which one is more
important.
So is it the F natural?
[MUSIC] Or is it the F sharp?
[MUSIC] Well, one piece of evidence is
that the F only lasts for one beat, but
the F sharp goes for the whole two bars.
So, that tells me, anyway, that it's
going to be [MUSIC] the F sharp is going
to be the note we'll want.
And that makes it the Dorian scale on
that A minor chord.
Next we have an F major.
And the question is, is it going to be
Lydian with a B natural or Ionian with
the B flat.
Well, there's a B natural in this scale,
before it.
So, that's going to carry over into the F
major chord and make it Lydian, [MUSIC].
When we get to the B flat chord over A,
again its Lydian the raise four is right
there in the melody.
[INAUDIBLE],
[MUSIC].
Right?
And now we come to another unusual
situation.
look at the harmony first.
It's a D minor with a natural 7 in it.
So, it's one of those scales that doesn't
occur too often, it's the melodic minor.
[MUSIC].
[MUSIC] It's not as common as the ten
common scales that we covered in the
second week, but it does come up
occasionally.
So, that's the chord, but meanwhile she's
done something in the melody.
[MUSIC] She's managed to work in a major
third on a minor chord in that melody.
Now, we accept that, it sounds harsh but
we've none the less accepted it's not the
wrong note because we've gotten used to
this pattern in the melody.
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] See, because we've gotten
used to it, even when it comes in kind of
on the harsh side, we say, oh yeah,
we're, we've heard this before.
We know this is what's supposed to happen
here.
So, that's the chord scale's, it's
going to be the D minor [MUSIC] melodic
minor.
Now, we switch now to [MUSIC] C7 flat 9
over B flat.
What does it sound like to you?
It sounds like a diminished chord, very
obviously, and if you look at the notes
in the scale, in the chord, and the notes
in the preceding.
you can see that we're going to want
symmetrical diminished [MUSIC] because
there's a A natural here that's
continues, wants to continue on into the
next one.
So, this is going to be C7 flat 9 over B
flat with [MUSIC] with symmetrical
diminish scale.
[MUSIC] Next, we come over to B over B
flat.
Well, very quickly we see that the F
natural [MUSIC] is the raised 4.
So, that makes it Lydian.
Same is true of this one.
[MUSIC] Again, we have the Lydian.
[MUSIC] Raise, raise four in the, right
in the melody, and even on the last
measure of B-flat major.
[MUSIC] Again it's Lydian.
So, those are all the chord scales for
the song.
Now we want to determine how the song
breaks down.
what are the sections, does it Break down
into four bar, or eight bar phrases just
what is going on compositionally?
So, I'm going to play it all the way
through, and you try to determine, how
long is the first section, or a second
section, and so on.
How does it break down?
Here we go.
[MUSIC] .
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
So, what do you think?
How long is the first section of the
song?
for me the answer is eight bars.
usually the sections represent a chord
progression that runs its course and
comes to rest, and then it feels like
we're starting something new.
Well, that section can be a 2-bar phrase,
a 4-bar phrase, an 8-bar phrase, they're
almost always even numbers of bars.
Occasionally, you'll find a 3 bar phrase
or a 5 bar phrase.
But most of the time, they're even
numbers of bars.
2, 4, or 8.
In this case, the 8 bars kind of go
together.
And let's look at what's, going on there.
first of all, there's a pedal.
[MUSIC].
[MUSIC] So that's one thing that we
notice compositionally.
There's an A pedal to that whole eight
bars.
Also let's look at how the scale, chord
scales change from one chord to the next.
The first one, [MUSIC], the A minor
Dorian.
When it goes to the F Lydian, there's
only one note changes.
[MUSIC] That F sharp becomes F natural,
and then when we go to B flat Lydian,
again, only one note changes, the B
natural goes to B flat.
[MUSIC] [SOUND] And then, [SOUND], we get
this rich melodic minor to kind of
conclude this progression.
So, that's what's going on, those are
things we can feature during the first 8
bars of the song.
In the next section, it's also 8 bars.
We have, also, a pedal [SOUND].
[MUSIC]
Alright.
So so once again, we have a pedal that's
just featured.
And we have now major sounding chords,
instead of minor [MUSIC].
[MUSIC] Sounding, we instead have this
rich sound then we have a B major.
So, it's a brighter more major sounding
section that leads us back to the top.
[SOUND] To go back to the minor again.
So, that gives us a lot to work with in
this song when we get in front of a band
and we're going to solo on it.
there's lots of compositional things that
we can feature and we also of course want
to feature the overall mood and style of
the piece.
We're going to play simple melodies that
are lyrical and, leave lots of space
between phrases, just the way Carla did
with the melody, when she wrote the song.
Creating your Assignment
Okay, here's the assignment for this
week.
we've covered two topics today, so
there'll be an assignment to go with each
topic.
The first one has to do with developing a
theme.
I hope you've been trying it on a single
chord.
Getting the feel for what it means to
keep repeating a theme and develop,
developing it.
I want you to give me an example of theme
development on a blues.
So, upload the PDF of the chord changes
of this blues tune, and also, the play
along track that I've created.
And you know, show me your, your ability
at theme development.
Now, this is a 12-bar blues. the things we've covered in the course,
if you can stick with the theme for a that you'll have plenty to keep you busy
whole 12 bars, before you start another in the months ahead, as you continue to
theme and so on, that would be fine. develop your skills as an improvisor.
If you can continue it even further all For now, I wish you all the best with
the better. your music, and if I happen to be playing
But at least, you should be able to make in your area sometime in the future, come
it through a 12 bar stretch sticking to by and say hello.
your one theme before you have to switch And in the meantime, goodbye.
to to another set of melodies.
So that's part one of the assignment.
Part two, download the lead sheet to
Olhos de Gato, Carla Bley's song, and
also the play along track for this tune.
We've talked about it, looked at it.
there's no reason why you can't play it
now.
So get your instrument out and record
yourself playing the song.
Play the melody for one chorus and then
solo through the remainder of it.
And try to bring out these compositional
elements in the song, and also, try to
capture this mood that the piece has.
There, their simple melodic themes, kind
of minor quiet mood to it.
see how well you can capture what
Carlette means for this song to be all
about.
So that's the assignment for this week.
post both pieces on the site and compare
your versions with those of your fellow
students.

Conclusion

Well, this is the last lesson of the

course.
And for those of you that have stayed
with it all the way through, I thank you
very much.
I hope you've learned a lot, and that
you've enjoyed yourself.
I also hope that you have found the
interaction with your fellow students to
be very helpful during the course.
I think it's safe to say that given all
(Medium Slow Bossa)
Olhos de Gato
- Carla Bley

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