Rhythm In Improvisation

                We've spent the last two weeks discussing approach note theory and how it relates to improvisation.  Rhythm has not entered into the discussion much since approach note theory is centered around pitch.  As I reflected on this week's discussion, I thought about the fact that rhythm is often neglected in improvisation.  Many beginning improvisers yearn to play the blazing phrases that they have heard on their favorite recordings.  The mentality is to fit as many pitches as humanly possible into each measure and display one's technical dexterity. 

                True music, however, is about contrast.  Beautiful pieces of music contrast multiple musical elements, including rhythm.  Once the human ear has heard too much of any one thing it becomes bored and begins to tune out the content.  Constant contrast hold the listener's attention and challenges him or her to discover what will happen next.  These facts hold true for improvisation also, since it is a form of musical composition (the variation being that it is spontaneous).

                Attention to rhythm in improvisation can fulfill more than just the role of achieving rhythmic contrast.  In addition, motifs can be expressed through rhythm as easily as they are expressed through pitch.  A particular rhythmic motif can be expressed across phrases of static pitch, stepwise motion or leaps in pitch.  In these instances the rhythmic motif can be a commonality guiding the listener's ear through phrases of varying  pitch content.

                In my own practice, I use two methods to attempt to enhance my expression of rhythm through improvisation.  For practice in rhythmic variation, I rehearse using only one pitch per chord while improvising.  With this method, I force myself to use only rhythm for my source of variation.  This method is also useful when rehearsing dynamic and other elements of variation.  I gradually expand by introducing two pitches to my pallet, and then three.  The whole time I maintain focus on rhythm as the primary element of contrast.

                When practicing the development of rhythmic motifs, I write out one or two rhythmic motifs and try to implement the in improvisation across a wide range of pitch content.  I usually start with a narrow pitch range (even static motion) and then expand to a broader range of motion.  I save these rhythmic motifs as content that can be used in future performances.  I also listen for interesting rhythmic motifs in other people's performances and try to write them down.  This is easier to do with recordings, but I have walked away from concerts with napkin notation in my pocket (whatever works).  The main idea is to constantly be expanding our ability to express music through every element instead of just focusing on just one like pitch.  

Approach Note Theory

                Two weeks ago we discussed the use of scales and chords as content for improvisation.  This technique leads to the creation of basic improvised melodies that are diatonic to the harmony.  To further explain that statement, all songs possess a key signature which defines their diatonic boundaries.  However, some forms of music contain chords with pitches that are outside the diatonic boundaries of the key signature.  These chords tend to suggest other temporary key centers.  For this reason, it is easier to address the diatonic boundaries of the present harmony when analyzing improvisation over these types of chords.  The variety of pitches available and the temporary key centers introduced by the harmony provide the performer with a wealth of selections. 

                However, this style of improvisation can begin to feel limited or restrictive after a while.  Musicians who have been improvising for some time may find themselves desiring a wider range of pitches to add to their vocabulary.  They desire to introduce pitches that are chromatic to the harmony they are improvising over.  One way to accomplish this is through the use of approach note theory.

                Last week we discussed neighbor tones, passing tones and how they relate to target notes.  These concepts form the fundamental ingredients of approach note theory.  The chord and scale tones that we were using in our beginning level of improvisation become the target notes for this style.  Instead of stringing diatonic pitches together to form melodies, we approach these pitches with chromatic neighbor and passing tones.  The root, third, fifth and seventh tend to work best as target notes since they are strongly related to the harmony and balance out the sound of the unrelated chromatic pitches.  However, the other pitches of the scale can also be used depending on the context.  Repeating motifs and other elements that have strong melodic pull can often compensate for weaker harmonic relations.

                There are two additional factors that govern the successful use of approach notes.  They are rhythmic duration and beat placement.  In general, approach notes tend to have shorter rhythmic values and are placed on weak beats.  Of course there are always exceptions to the rules.  Approach notes can also be placed on strong beats for brief moments within some musical contexts.  In addition, this rule does not mean that all target notes must be long in duration.  Some intricate lines may contain several eighth or sixteenth notes that are a mix of approach notes and target notes.  However, these types of lines usually resolve with a longer tone that is a target note.   

                Another exception would be the use of a longer tone that is held over from a weak beat to a strong beat as an anticipation.  In this instance, the pitch would be chromatic to the harmony on the weak beat but diatonic to the new harmony on the strong beat.  It functions as an incomplete approach that anticipates the new harmony and transforms into a target note. 

                There are many possibilities, and it would be exhaustive for me to attempt to describe them all.  The point is to start our journey into this type of improvisation with following the rules, and once we are grounded in basic approach note theory we can look for ways to expand by bending the rules.  With the introduction of approach notes to the vocabulary of improvisation, we will find access to a vast variety of melodic expression.

Neighbor Tones & Passing Tones (a prerequisite to Approach Note Theory)

                I want to start discussing approach note theory as it relates to melodic improvisation.  In preparation for that discussion, I am using this week to explain neighbor tones and passing tones.  These two types of melodic ornaments are the fundamental ingredients in approach note improvisation. 

                The main concept to grasp in this discussion is the difference between a target pitch and a ornament or traveling pitch.  A target pitch is the primary pitch of the melodic passage.  It is both related to and supported by the overall harmony in that section of the music.  I say "that section" because music can often contain harmonic moments that travel outside the main key signature to introduce leading tones or suggest other temporary key centers.  The most basic target pitch of a given melody would be either the 1st, 3rd or 5th interval of chord at that moment of the music.  More complex styles of music also incorporate target pitches that are the 7th, 9th, 11th or 13th of the chord. 

                Ornament or traveling pitches are pitches that are outside of the overall harmony in that section of music.  The strongest examples are chromatic in relation to the intervals of the present harmony.  For this reason, they cannot be utilized as foundational pitches within the melodic passage.  Instead, they act as additional melodic dressing around the target pitches, and provide fleeting moments of melodic variation.  Pitches that are diatonic to the present harmony, but weaker in relation when compared to the focus pitch can also be used (such as 9ths, 11ths and 13ths). 

                Neighbor tones are ornaments that are related to one target pitch.  There are actually two types of neighbor tones, complete and incomplete neighbors.  A complete neighbor tone starts on the target pitch, travels (a half or whole step up or down) to the neighbor tone and then returns to the target pitch.  An incomplete neighbor tone starts on the neighbor tone (a half or whole step above or below) and then travels to the target pitch.  The mindset is that the target pitch is the melodic goal and the neighbor tone is a fleeting pitch that leads to the goal. 

                Passing tones are ornaments that are related to two target pitches.  They are melodic content used to travel from one target to the next by filling in the gap.  For example, if a melodic passage contained the pitches E - D - C over a C major harmony, the D would be considered a passing tone traveling from the 3rd interval (E) to the 1st interval (C) of the chord.  When traveling between the 5th and root of a chord the gap is filled with two passing tones. 

                Next week I will discuss approach note theory in melodic improvisation.  I will expound on this discussion and show how the concept of target notes can be used to introduce additional pitches and chromaticism into your improvisation.  Please comment with any questions you may have in preparation for next week!              

Improvisation - Scales vs. Chords

                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.

Some Secrets to Effective Practice (part 2)

                Continuing on from last week's post, the next key to effect practice it to remain focused and organized.  There is a natural progression within the study of musical performance.  Some skills and concepts are prerequisites for the study of other skills.  A good teacher will help you to organize your studies into a logical and practical format.  As students of musical performance we need to recognize where we are in our skill/understanding level, where we need to be and what we need to do to get there. 

Have A Plan      

                It is easy to get lost in minutes or hours of meaningless practice when we approach our sessions without a plan.  A practice plan usually is centered around a musical piece (or pieces) that we are studying and the concepts that we are currently striving to master within that piece.  We should start with warm-ups that develop tone, dexterity and flexibility.  Incorporating warm-ups that are related to the difficult concepts of the main piece helps to center our practice.  Finding warm-ups that relate to the focus concepts of the piece is surprisingly easy, but implementing that focus while playing the warm-ups is often difficult to remember.

                Scales, for example, can be used to reinforce tone, intonation, knowledge of key signature, dexterity and many other skills.  However, scales can easily turn into rote exercises that we run through thoughtlessly.  To maintain effectiveness we must concentrate on the desired skill and deliberately develop it while playing the scales. 

Keeping A Journal

                Keeping a journal is a huge aid in maintaining focus.  Seeing the warm-ups and practice goals written down helps us to remember what we did last session and what we should do now.  We can monitor our progress in each area of practice and easily determine when a concept is mastered.  Within the piece, we can remember which sections we were focusing on last time and keep a record of further progress.

Work In Sections

                Breaking the piece into sections gives us a logical format for progressing to completion.  The human brain retains small chunks of information much more effectively than large strings of data.  This is the reason why we separate seven digit phone numbers into a group of three and a group of four digits.  Separating a musical piece into sections aids us in developing a clear practice strategy for mastering the piece.  The progress within each section can be monitored within one's journal.  Smaller sections can be eventually combined into larger sections until the piece is finally performed as a whole. 

                When studying a piece of music in this way it is important to understand the form and musical patterns contained within the music.  All music is composed of patterns.  This is the fundamental element that causes music to be so memorable.  Breaking the piece into sections that correspond to the musical patterns will aid us in understanding, learning and remembering the music.  While practicing this way we will often find patterns that repeat throughout the music.  Identifying these repeated patterns will further aid in efficiency.      

Tempo 

                Another key to effective practice is the carful monitoring of tempo.  We will perform whatever we practice.  Many people (including myself at times) practice difficult passages at a tempo that is too fast.  This prevents them from achieving true mastery of the passage.  It is important to practice difficult passages at a slow enough tempo to allow yourself to achieve mastery of the passage.  It is easier to play the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, articulations, etc. correctly at a slow tempo and then gradually increase the tempo.  Once those other elements are practiced incorrectly, the mistake becomes ingrained in our mind and is difficult to remove.  Journaling metronome settings helps to achieve this gradual increase. 

Section Size      

                The other variable (beside tempo) that can be manipulated while practicing is section size.  Difficult passages are already examples of this, since they are isolated sections within a larger section of the piece.  Isolating these passages in our practice helps to gain mastery more efficiently since repetition is not wasted on measures that we have already mastered.  Breaking these passages down into smaller sections can make them more accessible (or digestible).  Once mastered, these smaller sections can be combine into larger ones, and then the entire passage.  The correct combination of tempo variation and section size can make any passage learnable. 

Balancing Practice And Performance

                Many of the things mentioned above (sectional work, tempo, ...) pertain to learning new pieces of music.  We must also practice performing in order to become good performers.  Once we have learned the sections of a piece of music, brought them up to performance tempo and combined them, we need to practice performing the piece straight through.  This step is where most beginning students start.  They play through every piece without breaking it up and employing the practice strategies we have discussed.  However, one can also error on the other side of things and get caught up with focusing only on sectional work.  It is important to work toward an end goal and take the time to apply the final polish to our performance.  Playing through a piece (after it has been correctly rehearsed) presents its own problems of flow, continuity and endurance.  Once these elements are mastered, the piece is ready for public performance.

Balancing Work And Fun

                This topic is somewhat related to the last one since performance is usually the fun element of our studies.  The feeling one gets when comfortably and expressively performing a beautiful piece of music in front of an audience is extremely rewarding.  This reward is what pushes us through the daily grind of diligent practice.  Maintaining a balance between the grind and the reward is important.  If our schedule consists of mostly performance and little practice we will not advance in our skill (and my even lose some skill).  If our schedule is skewed in the opposite direction, we may become burnt out.  To quote The Shining, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  One way to prevent this is to mix the review of finished pieces in with the study of new ones.  Another is to look for an ample amount of opportunities for public performance (even if it is house concerts for friends and family).  Finally, work some straight fun time into your musical schedule.  This could consist of fooling around and exploring sounds on your instrument.  It could also be playing along with recordings of your favorite songs, or getting together with some friends or family members and jamming.  These are the moments that inspire us to continue in our practice.     

Some Secrets to Effective Practice (part 1)

                Everyone is looking for quick fixes to their problems.  A diet pill that will let you eat what you want and still lose weight or an easy way to make good money by working at home.  In the case of musicians, we search for a practice secret that will grant us instant improvement.  Kenny Werner wrote a book entitled Effortless Mastery that tricked me into thinking I had found the solution.  Upon reading this book I quickly realized that the title can be taken two ways, and I (along with many other people) had taken it the wrong way.  You are a tricky guy Mr. Werner.  However, I happily continued to read because the book confirmed some truths that I already knew and laid out new strategies that were extremely helpful.  Although I am not into meditation, I would recommend Effortless Mastery to any musician who wants to take their performance ability to another level.  The concepts I am about to discuss come from both this book and my own experience as a musician and music educator.  

                The truth is that there is no “effortless” way to achieve “mastery” of instrumental or vocal performance.  Mr. Werner was actually referring to the fact that we are not really ready to publicly perform a piece of music until we have obtained the ability to perform it effortlessly.  It takes consistent, focused and diligent work to achieve mastery in the field of musical performance.  I spent most of my childhood assuming that I did not possess the ability to achieve mastery on my instruments.  I loved music, but my ability to understand theory seemed to far exceed my physical ability to perform.  It wasn’t until I grew older that a realized the level of practice I was investing was not equal to the result I was hoping to achieve.

                This leads me to the first secret to effective practice which is to set realistic and reachable goals.  Kenny Werner discusses one aspect of this concept by suggesting that we not set out to practice for a long period of time.  Instead he tells himself that he is going to practice for five minutes.  Sometimes his practice session does only last for this amount of time.  On other occasions, he is swept up in the moment and a much longer period of time goes by.  The idea is he got over the hump of bringing himself to practice. 

               I would take this concept even further.  Mr. Werner was addressing professional (or at least extremely serious) musicians in his book.  We are not all at that level, but this does not mean we cannot pursue musical performance as a hobby.  We just need to set realistic goals for what we want to achieve.  Many top level professionals practice 4-8 hours every day.  Many public school music students practice 15-30 minutes a week (out of those who even practice).  Where do you fall within that range?  How much time do you have to devote to the study of musical performance?  What level do you wish to achieve?  If you answer these questions honestly, it will help you to set more realistic and achievable practice goals. 

              Once we have set our practice goals, there are ways to ensure that we achieve them in the most efficient and effective manner.  One is to regulate the amount of time spent in any one sitting.  Studies have shown that we retain information most effectively during the first and last ten minutes of any study session or lecture.  Some practice technicians use this information to suggest that the most effective form of practice is to break one’s time into twenty minute segments throughout the day.  A lower “hobby” level musician may have just one twenty minute session per day.  More serious musician will have multiple practice sessions per day.

             I have personally experienced practice sessions that have extended beyond twenty minutes in which I was totally engrossed in the task at hand.  For this reason I do not apply this twenty minuet concept as a hard and fast rule, but I do use it as a guideline.  If I am in the middle of a very productive practice session, I will continue until the current thought has concluded.  However, even during productive moments I do find it helpful to stop for a brief water break and relax my mind.  We must learn to both focus on our practice material and be mindful of our state of mental fatigue.  Eventually it becomes easier to judge when to continue and when to take a break. 

            With that said, I have already extended this post to my normal weekly limit.  I do not want to cram too much information into one week and lose your attention in the process.  Instead, I will end here and continue with this topic next week.

Consonance & Dissonance

                One of the key components to good music is the proper use of consonance and dissonance.  To understand the use of consonance and dissonance we first need to understand what these terms mean.  Webster's defines consonant as: being in agreement or harmony : free from elements making for discord.  It defines dissonant as: mingling of discordant sounds; especially : a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord.

                The unit of measure used to determine the distance between musical pitches is the interval.  Since there are seven letters in the musical alphabet, there are seven basic musical intervals.  Each interval can be lowered or raised by a half step (flat or sharp) to create alterations, but there are seven basic labels as seen below.

Interval numbers do go beyond seven, but they are basically repeats of the first seven intervals displaced by one (or several) octave. 

                There are two types of consonant intervals, perfect and imperfect.  Perfect intervals portray the purest form of musical consonance.  Imperfect intervals still sound harmonious, but they are not as pure as perfect intervals.  The unison, fourth, fifth and octave are perfect intervals.  The third and sixth are imperfect intervals.  This leaves the second and seventh as the dissonant intervals. 

                You may think that music which contains only consonance would be ideal since the harmonies all blend well with each other.  However, a key element of all forms of entertainment is conflict and resolution.  Great books, television shows, plays, movies and sporting events all contain this.  A question or challenge is presented and the characters struggle to conquer that challenge.  There is usually a climactic moment toward the end of the event where the conflict reaches a peak and is finally resolved.  Whether it is a murder mystery in which the killer if finally found or a football game that ends with the winning field goal, all people look for this element of conflict and resolution in entertainment. 

                In music, dissonance is used to create conflict.  Harmonies and chord can be combined in ways that build tension.  The tension is then released with consonant harmonies.  Too much dissonance can be considered distasteful by the audience.  In the same way, too much consonance can be considered boring.  Of course there is no absolute solution since music appreciation is subjective.  However, the majority of listeners within a given genre of music will agree on the general boundaries of good and bad music.  The key to great composition is knowing those boundaries and knowing how to utilize consonance and dissonance in a way that is tasteful and interesting. 

                Understanding this concept is advantageous for performers as well as composers.  While performing music, it is important to know how the conflict and resolution unfolds throughout the piece.  This better enables the performer to express these aspects of the music.  A composer uses conflict and resolution to gain the audience's attention.  A performer can either accentuate or diminish this component through his or her performance.