Many
people disagree on whether or not we should be using scales or chords as the
pool of notes we draw from when improvising.
Improvisation based on scales tends to sound to "scale like"
and chord based improvisation tends to sound too much like endless arpeggios. I say why not use both while using neither?
Relationship Between
Scales And Chords
There is a hidden link
between chords and scales that is important to recognize and understand. Especially within the musical style of jazz,
sevenths and upper extensions are included in chord voicings. There is an experiment we can conduct on the
piano, since it is a very visual instrument (keys laid out in front of us), to
display the relationship between scales and chords. If we
were to play the four pitches of a seventh chord in root position with our left
hand, we will see a pattern of stacked thirds.
If we then add the 9th, 11th and 13th to this chord with our right hand
we continue the pattern of stacked thirds even higher. However, if we move our right hand down an octave,
it is now playing the notes located between the pitches of the left hand. The result is that our two hand are
depressing seven consecutive pitches within an octave, or a scale. This scale is a logical pool of pitches for
improvisation over its corresponding chord.
Why Use Both?
Musical
melodies are composed of static motion, stepwise motion and jumps. The key to constructing a beautiful and
interesting melody is using a proper balance of these types of motion. Too much of any one type of motion will cause
the melody to sound like an exercise and not a musical line. Static motion does not require a pool of
pitches since it involves only one pitch.
However, actual motion will tend to resemble this "exercise"
effect when only one mindset (scales or chords) is applied to the improvisation
construction. When we learn to flip
between these mindsets we can alternate between scale and arpeggio like
passages in our improvisation. This approach
brings balance to the melodies we create and causes them to sound more
melodic. This balance is further
enhanced when we contrast the direction of the motion (leap up followed by a
scale down or scale up followed by leap down).
Why Use Neither?
True
melodic phrases express ideas that are identifiable and memorable. This is the component of a well constructed
melody that brings it to life. John
Williams used this concept to connect certain melodies with the identity of
characters in his soundtrack for Star
Wars (a technique used by Stravinsky and other great composers). If we concentrate only on combining and
contrasting scales, arpeggios and static motion we will construct lifeless
melodies. The audience will be lost in a
sea of pitches with no identifiable or memorable reference points to anchor
their ears. For this reason, it is most
effective to start with the mindset of creating motifs. While creating these melodic (or rhythmic in
the case of static motion) motifs we draw form the pools of scale and arpeggio
collections. However, these scales and
arpeggios only serve to aid our construction of the motif. We are not looking to utilize every pitch in
the collection, only those that form the memorable melodic idea we wish to
express. Through transposition,
inversion and other devices of variation one motif can be transformed into
several bars of interesting melodic content.
Conclusion
Beginning
students play notes, but musicians play music.
This statement is true for both the performance of written music and
improvisation. The only difference is
that improvisation combines the skills of performance and composition into an
instant art of musical creative expression.
The proper focus of melodic identity composed with varying types of
melodic motion will ensure that our improvisation maintains its musical life
and expression.
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