Characteristic Triads and Practice Tips (13:13)

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From the course by University of Rochester

The Blues: Understanding and Performing an American Art Form

302 ratings

University of Rochester

The Blues: Understanding and Performing an American Art Form

302 ratings

The blues is an American art form and the most important musical form in jazz. Although there are other formal paradigms of the blues, such as 8-bar or 16-bar, this course focuses on different incarnations of the 12-bar blues. There are considerable differences between Early Jazz blues, Swing blues, Bebop blues, Modal blues, and Post Bop blues. Each type has its unique harmonic syntax, melodic vocabulary and, associated with them, improvisational techniques. While other aspects of jazz performance practice have been constantly changing from one stylistic convention to another, the blues has never lost its identity and expressive power, and continues to exert a powerful influence on the harmonic and melodic syntax of jazz. This seven-week course explores important aspects of the blues, blues improvisation, basic keyboard textures, jazz harmonic and melodic syntax. Topics include: (1) Blues Progressions; (2) Blues and Other Scales; (3) Improvisational Tools, and others. This course will also cover valuable theoretical concepts enabling the student to master the art of jazz improvisation. Each topic will be introduced from a practical perspective with the clearly stated goal: to improve one’s improvisational skills. Jazz improvisation is rooted in spontaneity, creativity, self-expression and, at the same time, self-control and order. A unique pedagogical approach based on a one-to-one musical interaction conducted with different instrumentalists will help to reinforce many of the concepts introduced in this course and realize its stated objectives.

From the lesson

Improvising the Blues – Part 2

Lesson 7 explores modal categories and scalar patterns in improvisation, in addition to continued discussion on pentatonics. As in the previous lesson, live musicians demonstrate key concepts and principles presented in the lecture, with additional play-along tracks provided for the student to explore concepts on their own.

Introduction and Diatonic/Chromatic Modes (7:46)7:46

Modal Categories (10:06)10:07

Characteristic Triads and Practice Tips (13:13)13:13

Minor Blues - “Sea Blues” Improvisation (7:50)7:51

Play-Along Session - “Mr. PC” Progression (3:06)3:06

Pentatonics – Introduction (7:09)7:10

Sus7 Blues Improvisation with Pentatonics (7:36)7:36

Play-Along Session – “Sus Blues” Progression (2:52)2:53

Scalar Patterns – Introduction (7:41)7:42

Scalar Patterns - “Top Set” Improvisation (7:39)7:39

Play-Along Session – “Isotope” Progression (2:42)2:43

Conclusion (0:47)0:48

Meet the Instructors

Dariusz Terefenko
Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media
Eastman School of Music

Besides beauty marks, which offer a unique insight into the structure of modes,

characteristic triads that can be derived from individual modes

offer a very effective way of projecting the specific model color.

And as such, are particularly useful in improvisation.

The reason why, modes are seven note scales.

Triads are three note groups.

So if you concentrate on three notes,

it's much more effective to get inside of the sound of individual notes.

And in addition, triads offer a kind of unified melodic statement,

easily recognizable, even though if

you play it inside of that model area or outside.

Triad will be easier recognizable by to listen.

So let me go over major modes and show you which triads

are these characteristic triads that define sound of individual modes.

Ionian mode, [SOUND] there are two characteristic triads,

[SOUND] on five G major [SOUND] and one minor on three.

[SOUND] So you have two triads that you can utilize within the sound of Ionian.

Dorian mode, [SOUND] you have definitely triad on flat seven [SOUND] and

triad on two, minor triad on two.

[SOUND] So what these triads do,

they project upper partials of the chord.

With the triad on flat seven,

we're going to get seventh, ninth, and 11th.

The triad on two, you're going to get 9th, 11th, and 13th, all upper partials.

The Phrygian mode, the characteristic triad is on flat two.

[SOUND] Now because that triad utilizes flat two as its beauty mark.

With the Lydian, [SOUND] we have a triad on two,

major on two [SOUND] and minor on seven.

[SOUND] And again, as it was the case with Dorian mode,

these upper structure triads in the Lydian mode project upper extensions of chords.

Major on two, [SOUND] sharp 11 and 13th.

Now, Mixolydian, [SOUND] upper structured

triads on five, [SOUND] and one on seven.

But on seven, you have to be a little bit more careful because it kind of either, or

situation.

[SOUND] Either you use a soft sound or this triad on flat seven would work,

or you use major third [SOUND] in which case the triad on five would work.

[SOUND] Aeolian, triad on flat six,

[SOUND] and Locrian,

[SOUND] triad on flat five.

[SOUND] Also you can really project these triads in your solo and

convey the sound of underlying harmonies.

We can do the same thing with chromatic modes.

Melodic minor, [SOUND] upper structure triad on five.

[SOUND] Dorian flat two [SOUND]

characteristic triad is augmented

triad on flat two [SOUND].

Lydian augmented has two unique triads [SOUND]

on two [SOUND] and on three, two major triads.

And notice when I use these triads as voicings, I utilize them in inversions.

They are far more effective either as first inversion or

second inversion because inversions have different intervallic content,

as opposed to root position triads.

Mixolydian sharp 11 [SOUND] two triads,

[SOUND] one on two major and

augmented on flat seven [SOUND].

And then Mixolydian flat 13,

[SOUND] augmented triad on flats 13 [SOUND].

Locrian natural 2 [SOUND]

augmented on two [SOUND].

And altered [SOUND] has a lot of triads,

minor on flat two, [SOUND] minor on flat three,

[SOUND] and two major, one on flat five [SOUND] and

one on flat six [SOUND].

Listen, all these triads can be used to project the altered sound.

I'd like to welcome Luke Norris,

who's going to help me demonstrating how to practice modal improvisation and

later on is going to demonstrate how to improvise with the rhythm section.

So first thing when we work on a minor blues

is the ability to spell out underlying modes on your instrument.

And on the screen,

you can see the distribution of modes over the minor blues.

So, look, let's try that, okay.

I'm going to play the first chord, and

you'll just play mode from the root up, okay.

[MUSIC]

Okay, now can you try improvising?

Just on that sound, and try to prioritize in your solo game free improvisation,

prioritize the use of beauty marks, natural six, and

upper structured triad on flat seven.

Okay, let's try that.

[MUSIC]

Okay, beautiful, you could hear that my harmonic ideas and

his melodic ideas were perfectly synchronized.

[SOUND] Now how about altered scale over C7 because in measure four,

we have the change of harmony from C minor to C dominant, anticipating the F minor.

So let's do C7 altered.

[MUSIC]

How about can you spell those upper structured triads?

>> Sure, okay.

>> Let's see if you can do like flat six and flat five major.

>> Okay.

>> [SOUND]

Mm-hm, and

flat five.

[SOUND] Okay.

Now, can you combine those two?

>> Sure.

>> Three, four.

[MUSIC]

Yeah, very nice.

When you are getting ready to improvise on a tune like this one,

you have to be able to transpose your modes.

So, that's why we introduced all the modes starting on the same scale degree.

So, that's why when you have C Dorian mode, you have to transpose it,

you have to kind of come up with a new bridge content then.

I can ask Luke, whether the element of transposition when you practice,

you transpose modes, and how do you like practice something like this one?

>> Yeah, well, transposition is very important, especially in practice.

Especially as a saxophonist,

you kind of are expected to know pretty much everything you play in all 12 keys.

So take the Dorian mode, for example.

One thing I like to do, so the Dorian mode belongs to obviously the major scale.

So one of the exercises I like to do would be something like this

where I run the scale up to the ninth, and I run it down to the ninth.

And then I go to the third, and then the third, so it would sound like this.

[MUSIC]

And of course, you could start on the Dorian mode.

[MUSIC]

And that would seriously give you control over your horn in a linear way, so

that you have the entire scale under your fingers.

Also practicing intervals, very helpful.

>> Can you demonstrate?

>> Sure.

[MUSIC]

And then like you said before,

arpeggios like the flat seven arpeggio exists as an upper structure.

But for the Dorian mode a good tool to use would be something that would sound like

this, like where you alternate different seventh arpeggios.

[MUSIC]

>> So, you can hear those practice ideas sounds like patterns but

you know in the context of improvisation you can actually make use

of them because they clearly project the underlying modes.

Let's just talk a little bit about upper structured triads.

And the way you can use them in the context of minor blues.

Now, on the screen,

you can see my selection of upper structured triads over C minor blues.

And you can see that the C minor takes the triad on flat seven.

[SOUND] Can you play that?

[MUSIC]

Now, when you look at the relationship between B flat major triad and

G flat major triad, you can see these two triads are from the voicing

perspective perfectly utilized because there's one note in common and

two notes moving in contrary motion That's a really good voice reading.

So, when you listen the way these 2 triads behave, you can,

even though we're using very chromatic triad on C7 because

the previous triad establishes good voice reading connection,

it will all sound perfectly acceptable.

Now, Luke can you combine these two triads?

[MUSIC]

Like let's play in time, okay.

One, two, and one, two, three, four.

[MUSIC]

Okay, it goes here was like.

[MUSIC]

and then it goes down to a different triad, right?

So for F minor six we selected minor triad on two.

So going from G flat, [SOUND] again very small voice and so forth.

And we can do that basically with any scale or collection.

Later on, when look actually demonstrate for real the use of these

ideas you'll hear him kind of using these idiomatic ways that

are saxophone friendly of utilizing either modes or upper structure triads.

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