Million Faces Feedback

Million Faces is a modal composition based around three chords, all drawn from the aeolian mode (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8 - see week 9). The melody is only 8 bars but with many variations all overlaid (each variation following the same rhythm but exploring different melodic contours). It is impossible to tell where the composed material finishes and the improvisation starts - the transition is seamless.

I used this session to explore some ideas on 'how to build a solo' (Hilary, amongst others, has been asking about this subject). To do it justice I felt we needed to focus on just a few soloists. I hope the exercise was useful and of interest to everyone.

There is no one way to build a solo but a typical shape is to start at a low level of intensity and gradually increase it to a peak (somewhere past the halfway mark) and then allow it to come down again in readiness for the next solo. (There are of course many other ways of shaping a solo - perhaps more on this another time).

So how do we control the intensity level in a solo? The main elements are (in no particular order): 

>  volume start quiet, get louder (be aware of your own dynamic capabilities and use them carefully)

>  range start low, go higher (work within your comfortable range, have a playable top note in mind)

>  density start with just a few notes (lots of space), use more notes (less space), play as busily as you can (little or no space)

>  harmonic relevance start with notes that fit the harmony, then add notes that don't fit the harmony 

Other ideas to consider might be tonal variation (not necessarily directly connected with levels of intensity) and motivic playing, intensity can be increased by repeating a motif a number of times.

All of the above techniques can be combined in different ways. In a performance situation this is usually desirable. However, when practising it may be useful to focus on just one (or two) at a time. Try playing over a sequence you know well and feel comfortable with. Plan the length of your solo (eg 3 choruses) and see if you can engineer a peak towards the end but allow time to bring the intensity down again at the end. Record yourself doing this.

Next week we shall look at The Saloon. This is another 8 bar form but it is not entirely modal (check out the chords in bars 4 and 8 - are they related?) There is also a sneaky little bridge (which involves a metric modulation!)

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com