Quote:
Originally Posted by Franzman
I think that we should move onto melodic construction and such... I want to know how I can use this knowledge and put em into composition and arrangement (and of course in Improvisation, because what is improvisation without somesort of melodic logic/thought behind it?)
|
Okay...
What you need to do is be aware of two parts of all this. Chords and scales. Chords and chord-tones are what sound good, and let listeners know you know what you're doing. Scales are good for connecting everything together; again, so you sound like you know what you're doing.
Attached is a leadsheet for the Kern/Hammerstein tune 'All The Things You Are'.
Now, chord tones - a good way to organize yourself melodically is with 'target notes'. It may be at the end of a 4 measure phrase, in the middle of an 8th-note run, or at some main tonal shift in the tune. The point is, to have a clear goal in sight, and a clear way to get there.
Guide Tones (not sure if I mentioned these here): are the third and seventh of a chord. These notes make up the meat & potatoes of the chord. 1 and 5 are merely filler, and have little to do with defining the chord; 9, 11, 13 are simply color. The 3rd defines major/minor. 7th, dominant/otherwise.
A cool thing about 3rds and 7ths appears when you analyze the ii-V7-I progression. Looking at
All The Things, measures 2-4.
Bbmin7 ... Eb7 ... AbMaj7.
We all know the construction of 7th chords, right?
Start on the 3rd of Bbmin7: Db.
What's the next logical choice, for Eb7? Db. (7th)
And for AbMaj7? C (3rd)
Flows nicely: Db, Db, C.
Works the other way too
7th of Bbmin7: Ab
3rd of Eb7: G
7th of AbMaj7: G
Alternating 3rds and 7ths makes a nicely contoured line: works beautifully for backgrounds. These work well for target notes in improvisation.
Quickie assignment: For each chord, pick a single note, find a line that flows nicely through the changes. Avoid 1 if at all possible...5 is okay...3rd or 7th preferable.
(spoiler) ...in 4-measure phrases:
C Db Db C | C B B-B |
Bb Ab Ab G | G F# F#-F# | G F# F#-F#||
A A G#-G# | Ab Ab G G
F E Eb D | Db Db C-C ||
Another one:
Ab Ab G G | F F E-E |
Eb Eb D D | C C B-B | C C B-B ||
E D# D# E | Eb Db Db C |
C B Bb A | Ab G G-G ||
Dunno how it sounds as a whole, but it goes to show that a simple line can be found to weave through the changes. Looking at the melody for
All The Things you'll notice that it uses (for the most part) 3rds of the chord. Neat, eh?!
Now, what to do is to pick one of these notes as a target, and utilize scales/modes to aproach and unify them.
SO: looking at the tune, can you identify the
parent major (or minor) scale for each chord?
....aaaaaaand.....GO!