Week 15 14-03-14
It was time for a ballad: So Nice by Tomasz Stanko.
When
I began transcribing this piece I was tempted to notate it without any
bar lines at all but the rhythmic entries from the bass persuaded me to
write it in 5 (at least for the first section).
Most
of the improvising in this piece is very diatonic (generally in F
aeolian). The piano introduction sounds quite 'classical' (rather a
vague description - obviously from someone who knows very little about
'classical' music!)
I
took this session as an opportunity to explore playing in one mode (F
aeolian, or Ab major if you prefer). We did a few exercises playing this
scale in broken thirds, fourths and fifths (sixths, sevenths, octaves,
ninths etc could also be useful). Familiarity with all these intervals,
within a scale, can give the improviser more melodic possibilities (it
is also useful for creating voicings for comping or horn arranging).
Later on, we played through the diatonic seventh chords which come out
of the F aeolian scale ( Fm7 Gm7b5 Ab∆ Bbm Cm7 Db∆ Eb7 notice these all occur in Ab major). Again, knowledge of these chord shapes can be useful both in soloing and in comping.
I
also suggested looking to make the most of the semitones which occur in
the scale (there are two semitones in F aeolian: between G and Ab and
between C and Db). Any two notes a semitone apart can be rearranged to
create an interval of a major seventh, or a flat ninth. All these
intervals are dissonant. The flat ninth is generally regarded as the
most dissonant (try using it in a voicing), it can also sound very
beautiful used in a melody (such as the first two notes of Stanko's So Nice.)
If you are interested to explore the idea of dissonance a little further you might like the following project:
1) how many semitones occur in the major scale ? (answer is 2 semitones - see above)
2) how many semitones occur in the melodic minor scale?
3) how many semitones occur in the harmonic minor scale?
4) how many semitones occur in the diminished scale (half-whole or whole-half)?
5) how many semitones occur in the whole tone scale?
Pick
one of these scales and try creating some really dissonant voicings
using the semitone intervals you have found (ideally, work at a piano or
keyboard). Hours of fun …
Next session is this coming Friday 28th March when we will be looking at a lively number called Don't Mess With Miss T. by the Norwegian group Jazzmob.
Cheers Mark
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