Today I am presenting a discussion about the importance of Cycle 5 practice when learning music. For those of you who don’t know what Cycle 5 is, here is a brief description. Playing a musical exercise Cycle 5 means you play the exercise in all 12 keys. You organize these 12 keys by moving up or down a 5th – which is 7 half steps – each time you play the exercise.
Example of Cycle Five
For example if you move up a 5th from the key of “C” you would have the key of “G.” You would then play your exercise in the key of “G.” If you continue this process you get the following sequence of key centers C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, Ab, Eb, Bb, F. Working through ascending 5ths is more of a classically based way of approaching Cycle 5. This is mostly because of the sonata allegro form which arose in the early classical period.
Contemporary Approach to Cycle 5
Many of these innovations such as Cycle 5 were codified from that time on. Jazz and any contemporary music tends to move down a 5th. Think of a blues in “C.” it starts on “C” then goes down a 5th to “F.” So contemporary musicians tend to think of Cycle 5 as C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G. You will find many Muse Eek Publishing Courses organized in this descending 5th order.
How I Learned Cycle Five
When I attending Berklee College of Music some courses and ideas were organized via descending cycle 5 but it wasn’t till I started studying with Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Banacos that everything I learned had to be played Cycle 5, period. If you can’t play it in Cycle 5 you don’t know it. It makes sense; you don’t know what key you will be presented with in every new piece of music you learn, so to be prepared you need to know everything in every key.
History of Cycle 5
You may wonder where Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Banacos came up with this idea of playing everything Cycle Five. To grasp this particular music education history you need to look at the music genealogy of Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Banacos studied with Madame Chaloff who studied with I. Vengerova who studied with Czerny who studied with L. van Beethoven etc… To see the complete list go here. My point is you are studying various courses that I’ve created based on the teachings of my teachers. But really you are studying the same way and the same things as L. van Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart – the list goes on and on.
Conclusion
So one of the things that all of these musicians/teachers recommended was to apply the things you learn to all keys and to use the information in a real musical situation either through improvising or writing music. Some of Bach’s most famous music is written in all keys…and surely he knew something about music!
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
If you think of scales as the universe of sound that fits over a chord in any given situation, then think of approach notes practice as a way to make your improvised melodies sound like they are expressing the sound of the chord in any given situation. Most great improvisors use a combination of both scales and approach notes in order to give variety, but also to help the listener hear the harmonic implications within the melodic content.
Approach Notes Importance
If you have plans in your musical development to play over more than one chord change, then approach notes are a crucial study concept. That said, approach notes are a much more difficult improvisational concept to master, and should be studied by themselves for usually around one year or more if you are a guitarist. Approach notes can be used in many ways and the New York Guitar Method Bundle and the separate Approach Notes Course cover all the common ways approach notes can be used. That is unique to both of these courses; I know of no other course that covers approach notes in such depth.
Developing your Improvisational Abilities
Here’s the bigger picture of developing your improvisational abilities. First, you work through 22 scales in all keys. You are not trying to master these scales. You just want to get them into your playing a bit, and understand them intellectually. Learning these scales in this manner will also greatly help your ear training abilities especially if you use a MetroDrone when learning them, and apply them for 10 minutes or more a day to Jam Tracks. It usually takes 3 to 6 months to finish these scales if you have 2 hours to practice each day.
Approach Notes Practice
Now a little bit more information about approach note practice. The first thing for any instrumentalist to do is learn how to play 9 of the 13 possible chord type arpeggios in all keys. The approach notes will resolve into the notes of the arpeggios in certain places within a measure. That is a key statement I just made. That statement means a “time” element has been introduced into your improvisation where you need to get to a chord tone via an approach note at a certain place within a measure. That is one of the hardest things to develop for an improvisor, and both the New York Guitar Method Bundle and the separate Approach Notes Course cover this important aspect of improvisation.
There are many things unique about Muse Eek Publishing Inc. but these courses I’ve just mentioned are organized in a logical way, and have been used by my students for over 40 years to develop amazing musicianship and they incorporate strategies for ear training as you move through them. One final thought is if you are sold on this strategy I would include the Scale Analysis Course in your studies so that you fully comprehend how ear training and playing over chord changes relate.
Conclusion: What You Need to Master Scales and Approach Notes
So to recap if you are a guitarist and want to be a well rounded musician prepared for anything, then you need:
Developing the courses above was one of my crowning achievements in music education. With this information you can become a complete musician. You won’t have any anxiety when playing any type of music. In other words, you are totally prepared for whatever anyone throws at you in music.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
Now that the New York Guitar Method Bundle has been created I’d like to talk in general about everyone’s overall organization of practice both on the macro and micro level. I bring this up because the New York Guitar Method Bundle encompasses pretty much everything you need to learn as a guitarist, and combines it all into one very large course. (While those books are meant for guitarists the overall ideas relate to all musicians.) I tend to divide various aspects of music into improvisational concepts. Scales and approach notes are two of the fundamental improvisational concepts a musician needs to master first. While concentrating on these two areas many other problems may come to the surface. Here are some common ones:
A weakness in music theory understanding so that it takes too long to think of various relationships in music.
A lack of knowledge of the notes found on one’s instrument. This is by far most commonly found with guitarists.
Weakness in a host of other things such as rhythm, time, ear training and sight reading.
An inability to easily apply scales and approach notes to real musical situations.
What is unique about the New York Guitar Method Bundle is it already assumes you have some or all of the problems I just described and has work built into the course to improve in all these areas. First thing to understand is you can’t tackle all of these things at once. You need to see the bigger picture and tackle one improvisational concept at a time while also working on your overall weaknesses of rhythm, time, ear training and sight reading.
Note: If you are a guitarist, you really should check out the Guitar Technique and Physiology Course to make sure you are playing correctly before jumping into this. You would be surprised how many folks have essential misconceptions in this area, and these can cause severe problems later on, both technically and physically.
So to review, you need to have one improvisational concept that you are spending most of your practice time mastering and in what time remains you are tackling one or more of the other issues depending on how much time you have to practice. Let’s say you have very limited time to practice; perhaps only one hour a day. Let’s use that as a template so you can see the overall organization and then expand the amount of time you spend on each subject if you have more than an hour at your disposal.
The New York Guitar Method Bundle starts with the scale improvisational concept. If you are not a guitarist then you would also be using the Essential Scales book which covers the 22 most commonly used scales. You want to spend one week on each of these 22 scales. Think of this first go-through of scales as just getting a general idea of how the scale works on your instrument. Things to remember:
By no means are you trying to master these scales right now; you are just playing them all through in the key of C and introducing the sound to your ear and organizing it on your instrument.
You are not memorizing fingering patterns, you are thinking about the notes names or degrees within a key center. In this case it is a “C” key center.
Most importantly, use the MetroDrone so that you improve you ability to hear these scales as you practice them.
If you are a more advanced student but don’t know all these scales you can start fairly soon in applying the concepts found in Long Line Rhythm to this practice of scales.
You should spend 20 minutes of your hour practicing the scale on your instrument. If you are more advanced you could add in some of the modal sequencing as found in the Essential Scales book or the New York Guitar Method Bundle or expand out into Two Note Modal Sequencing or Three Note Modal Sequencing. All of this sequencing will give you more melodic ideas and more physical ability with the scales.
You also need to apply these scales to real music so use either Jam Tracks Volume One or Jam Tracks Volume Three for 10 minutes each day and apply the scale you are learning. Again these are only baby steps for now. You are just getting an introduction to each of the 22 scales over 22 weeks. Next you need to concentrate on one of your weaknesses for 10 minutes.
If it’s sight reading and you are a guitarist, use the New York Guitar Method Bundle books. They are great because they start out easy and by the end you are doing professional level reading. Use the Sight Reading Solved Beginner Levelif you play another instrument.
If your weakness is rhythm, start reading the rhythm exercises found in the New York Guitar Method Bundle ensemble books or start with Rhythm Primer then the Rhythm Series Books to start introducing you to all the rhythms you need to know.
The next 10 minutes for guitarists concentrates on chords and applying them to chord progressions. This is built into the New York Guitar Method Bundle but I would also recommend using the Complete Blues Comping Both Major and Minor MP3s which approximates having me play a duet with you as you apply chords to chord progressions. If you don’t play guitar you should concentrate on arpeggios like those found in the Ultimate Arpeggio Course. I can make suggestions on applying arpeggios if you are going down this path.
Finally, you have 10 minutes left so work on anything that you want, but make sure it is FUN. It’s psychologically important to have some fun in your music practice because you need to be consistent in practicing every day and if practicing is only a drag, then you won’t want to do it every day.
You should also work on ear training, which I would do as you take breaks in your practicing, or commuting, or other down time throughout the day. If you are just starting ear training use the Ear Training One Note Complete and Contextual Ear Training.
I hope this gets you organized and started on a path. I’ll discuss how to tackle approach notes in my next post.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
This is part 2 of suggestions on how to use the Music Rhythm Series Course which is on sale for 1/3 of its usual price. I should point out that I created this series for MY OWN practice! Here is a brief history which should also give you plenty of ideas on how to use this series. From the Music Rhythm Series Course Rhythms Volumes 1-5 was a specific assignment given to me by my music guru Charlie Banacos. The assignment was to take the 9 basic rhythms on 4 metric levels and add rests and ties through all permutations of each rhythm. I augmented this assignment here, by also adding in all possible rhythms within a half, one or two measures. I entered this information into a computer rather than writing it out by hand. This made them available to you but also with midi files so you can check your accuracy. What does this accomplish?
By working with this you are dealing with every possible rhythm that can exist within a half, whole or two measures depending on the metric level. If you think about that it’s a very powerful exercise that will weed out any rhythms that are going to cause you problems, either when you are sight reading or when someone in your band wants you to play a specific rhythm.
Later on I realized I needed to change my right hand technique on guitar. Sight reading through these rhythms trains your forearm to recognize all these rhythms. Remember, your muscles learn rhythms so if for any reason you are changing your technique to use other muscles, you will need to train those muscles to play all common rhythms.
At the time there was no MetroDrone so I recorded a loop in “C” and played the rhythms on an “Ab” because I just couldn’t hear “b6” in a key center. It made a world of difference doing that. I’ve already prepared that for you with the Rhythms Volumes 6-12.
Again, all of these books come with midi files so you can test your accuracy at any tempo. I wish I had had that, back then…. But I did have the ear of Charlie Banacos checking every damn rhythm. 🙂
I wanted to make sure I could perform odd groupings such as quintuplets, sextuplets and septuplets with a high degree of accuracy.
By reading through the odd grouping over a piece of music or a drum beat in 4/4 you are actually superimposing one time over another which is a common technique used in contemporary jazz and prog rock.
I added an ear training component because it allowed my students to work directly on notes that were causing them problems while they were working with one note ear training. It worked great for me and I’ve seen it work countless times with students. By the way it doesn’t mean you even have to learn the rhythms; it can be used solely as an ear training listening exercise.
I wanted to master my ability to sight read odd groupings and also used the “Beat Reading” exercise on one page of Rhythms Volumes 6-12 each day. That only takes maybe 10 minutes at the most to do. It made a huge difference in my reading skills.
I also extracted one or two measure rhythmic patterns, and applied them to real music such as the Jam Tracks or a jazz standard. I applied this as both a melodic and harmonic rhythm. Again, just 10 minutes a day yielded great results.
One last thing. A few questions have come in about what tempos folks should shoot for with Music Rhythm Series Course . Here is a synopsis:
Music Rhythm Series Course Practice Suggestions
Any exercise using eighth note rhythms i.e. Rhythms Volume One should be read as straight eighths and swung eighths. You should put the metronome (MetroDrone) on 2 and 4 for the swing and one and three for the straight eighths. You want to get these rhythms to a 1/2 note equals 120 BPM. That is as fast as you will usually see these rhythms used. Reaching that tempo requires multiple passes through the 120 page book and usually takes 3 to 6 months to complete. I encourage you to use the MetroDrone and place that beat only on the downbeat of the measure.
Please note that if you are using Rhythms Volume Four or Rhythms Volume Five which are in 3/4 time you can start with the metronome on every beat but switch to the metronome only on the downbeat as soon as you can.
Any exercise with sixteenth note rhythms i.e. Rhythms Volume Two should be read with straight eighths only. The metronome should be playing on the beat, though it would be much better if you used the MetroDrone or the files in The Big Metronome and placed the click only on every other beat or even the entire measure. The goal is 120 BPM for a quarter note. Again reaching that tempo requires multiple passes through the 120 page book and usually takes 3 to 6 months to complete.
Any exercise with thirty second notes i.e. Rhythms Volume Three should be read with straight eighths with the metronome on every beat. You goal is 60 BPM for a quarter note.
Rhythms Volumes 6-12 rhythms are usually not played that fast so as an estimate you could halve the goal tempos I’ve mentioned above.
One further clarification: I usually have a student work through Rhythm Primer, Rhythms Volume One and Rhythms Volume Two as their first assignments. This applies to musicians at any level. If they are a beginning student, Rhythm Primer is perfect. For a beginner the assignment in Rhythms Volume One and Rhythms Volume Two would be to learn only one measure per week. Finally, fast forward to the last few years, when I’ve been working on various applications of pitch class sets. I’m getting back into these books again to help me diversify the rhythms I use when soloing or comping with the various pitch class sets.
Conclusion
The Music Rhythm Series Course will transform your ability with rhythm and time. If you have some of the common problems musicians face with rhythm then this is truly the series you need. I’ve found through my 40 years of teaching that most musicians do notadequatelyprepare themselves when it comes to rhythms. This adverse affects their groove, feel and rhythmic accuracy when playing. Most musicians when deciding whether to play with someone are either consciously or unconsciously guided by how it “feels” to play with the person. Rhythm is the secret sauce that will put you in the right place within the time of the music and make you a much better and sought after musician.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
Applying Rhythm Ideas : I recently completed the Music Rhythm Series which is a series of 12 books with exercises covering all rhythms from eighth notes to quintuples, sextuplets and septuplets. Here is what the series primarily focuses on:
1. Learning to play all common and uncommon rhythms.
2. Learning to sight read on multiple metric levels
3. Increasing the speed at which you can recognize AND PLAY these rhythms. It includes midi files so that you can challenge yourself and check accuracy at any tempo.
4. Rhythms Volumes 6-12 add in an ear training element; an exercise where you can be actively involved or just listen to it as you do anything else.
5. Teaching your eye to read ahead of the music by using the “Beat Reading” concept. This is a simple but almost magical concept that will speed up your ability to read music amazingly fast.
There are actually a lot of additional exercises you can do once you get to the point that you can read through even just the first couple of books.
Applying Rhythm Ideas
Pick out a one measure rhythm if you play a melodic instrument, and add notes to this rhythm. I did this a lot with the pitch class sets but it could be anything from a C scale to an arpeggio to a II V lick.
1st: loop the rhythm and the notes every measure
2nd: start to change the order of the notes but keeping the same rhythm
3rd: start using this rhythm to play through an entire tune in any style
4th: start using the rhythm to play through a set of chord changes you find challenging
5th: try playing the rhythm with both straight eighths and swing eighths.
What Applying Rhythm Ideas Will Do for You
You don’t need to do all of the above, but even a few of these activities will do the following for you:
Ingrain a new rhythm into your memory
Help you to see rhythm problems when you loop an unfamiliar rhythm.
Usually will help you realize if the scale, arpeggio etc… that you are using is sufficiently memorized. Playing a note group that you know in an unfamiliar rhythm usually points out one’s deficiencies.
Applying Rhythm Ideas with Drum Beats
I also do this same process with a drum groove. I use the Drum Genius app which is way cool. Get the additional drum beat downloads. Not only are the drum grooves great but it also allows you to change the tempo and the pitch of the drums. But it doesn’t end there, many times it also gives you examples of real music where that groove was played. That really helps a non-drummer to understand the different types of beats which helps you communicate with a drummer much more effectively.
I should also mention that when you play a random rhythm with a drum beat you will soon find out how well that rhythm works with a specific drum beat. That is the beginning of you understanding drum beats and starting to improvise with appropriate rhythms when improvising. Bottom line is your rhythms need to fit into the groove of the drum beat. That’s quite important to be a successful member of a band. The rhythms you use to improvise are actually more important than the notes you play. If you don’t play within the groove no amount of notes will sound right.
Learning to Write in the Correct Metric Level
If you are a beginner at mastering rhythms then you might also consider the Rhythm Ear Training Video Course because that explains in what music you will commonly find the various metric levels covered in the Music Rhythm Series. This is priceless information because no one really talks about this; they just assume that (for example) you know that jazz is written with eighth notes and funk is written with sixteenth notes. The Rhythm Ear Training Video Course talks about all types of music and gives you a list of examples that you can check, then search for, on the web via YouTube or iTunes.
The Rhythm Ear Training Video Course contains very important information because the last thing you want to do is write out a tune in the wrong metric level– the drummer will hand you your head, and the band will have a much harder time reading the chart. This is true even if it’s just a chord chart with rhythmic notation.
Conclusion
Rhythm is easily the most under practice and misunderstood part of playing music. Musicians often want to concentrate of learn melodies or chords and don’t think about the rhythms that are connected to these pitches. When playing with a band there are two important factors that will be the most important. How the rhythms you play fit with the groove of the music and you be sensitive and listening to the other players so that not only your rhythms fit the music but also the volume at which you play is appropriate.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
The Music Rhythm Series instills solid musicianship by improving reading skills and learning an array of rhythmic styles and situations.
They may not know it, but many students really need to work with the rhythms found in The Music Rhythm Series Bundle And they often think that the The Music Rhythm Series is just about sight reading. But it is a lot more than that, including the following:
1. Learning to play all common rhythms.
2. Learning to sight read all common rhythms.
3. Increasing the speed at which you can recognize AND PLAY these rhythms.
4. Rhythms Volumes 6-12 add in an ear training element.
5. Teaching your eye to read ahead of the music by using the “Beat Reading” concept which is explained later in this email.
To explain #3: There are certain tempos that you need to play at when reading music. For instance if you were a rock or jazz player you need to be able to read, feel and perform the rhythms found in Rhythms Volume One at a half note equals 120 BPM. This is because 120 BPM is a common up tempo for so many styles of music especially rock and jazz.
Another virtue of working with rhythms and ear training: When you have trouble hearing a note with one note ear training, sometimes students think it is helpful to listen to the note in question along with a constant drone. (For instance singing the note in question as a long sound over a MetroDrone.) While that does help, it is far more effective and useful to sing the note in question in various rhythms, because your mind registers each rhythm you sing as a new event. The more your mind hears a new event the more likely it is to remember it.
I’m sure it’s the same where you live, but in all the major cities in the USA the people who are the best readers are the folks who get most of the work. I have all my student work on the following from The Music Rhythm Series :
1. Rhythms Volume 1-3 so that they have all common rhythms together.
2. Rhythms Volumes 4-5 which are 3/4 studies, working on playing each exercise with 1 beat per measure.
3. Rhythms Volumes 6-12 for both those that have issues with hearing certain notes with one note ear training. For example, this does a great job fixing “b6” which is a note that is typically difficult to hear and retain.
Get Gigs with The Music Rhythm Series
I’ve gotten lots of gigs because of my ability to read the rhythms found in The Music Rhythm Series . Guitar players are notoriously bad sight readers, as are bassists. If you can read at a professional level you will get a lot more work over the long haul. For instance, I do have a few of my students who are rock guitarists working through The Music Rhythm Series. I just got one of them a gig in a touring Broadway musical paying $1500 USD a week plus expenses.
I should also mention that with the Rhythms Volume One from The Music Rhythm Series there are also “swing” MP3s for the first 10 pages. Students who haven’t played or listened to much blues or jazz usually have a hard time “getting” the feel. These MP3s from the Rhythms Volume One from The Music Rhythm Series will really help a student play the first 10 pages with the right feel. The MP3s are at 10 different tempos so even a beginner can get started with this.
I also have students work with the “beat reading” concept which is like speed reading for music. You can find information on beat reading in the free member’s area click on the “Help Files for Rhythm.” It is contained in many books like the New York Guitar Method Ensemble Volume One. This book is an excellent place for students to start to working on their sight reading if they are an intermediate student.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
Welcome to Bruce Arnold Music Blog. Here’s where I’m going to discuss my music, books and music education and my current activities. Here is also where I hope you’ll dialogue with me. The topics can be about what I’m currently working on; new books I’ve written or read, or just notes about the things that interest me.
I have a deep interest in many of the musical ideas of the early 20th century such as 12 tone music and serial composition. Over the years I’ve developed many ideas on how to apply the techniques used in Second Viennese School to improvisation. I’ve also have a deep interest in using the program SuperCollider in live performance to create uniques sounds using my guitar as a controller. I will also explore some of these ideas in the Bruce Arnold Music Blog.
Over the years I written many books on music education to outline some of the ideas that I’ve come up with on my own or where shown to me by the great teachers that I’ve worked with along the way. I’m also very grateful to the many fantastic musicians that I’ve had the honor to play with. They have greatly affected my ability, knowledge and approach not music.
I also maintain a couple more blogs on the muse-eek.com website that deal specifically with ear training and guitar specific ideas. If you have interest in those topics please follow the links.
Hopefully you will find the Bruce Arnold Music Blog to be educational but I also hope it stimulates your intellectual curiosity about the subjects I explore.
Bruce Arnold Music Education Genealogy Chart
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings is just a fancy name for a chord. Any chord can be a Pitch Class Set Chord because Pitch Class Set Theory is another way to organize sound, which I find very useful. It does this by using numbers which are really the distance between each note. So if we have a C minor triad that would be called an 037. “O” is the “C,” “3” is the “Eb” because it is three half steps above “C.” Finally “G” is “7” because it is seven half steps above “C.” Pitch Class Set Theory does get more complicated than this when you consider “prime form,” but for now let’s make it simple and just say that whatever the group of notes you are using which could be a scale, arpeggio, chord etc is, they all have intervals between the notes and you identify any group of notes by starting with a “0” for your first note and then count the half steps that exist between the first note and every other note.
A Great Way to Organize Sound
What I find cool about Pitch Class Sets is they include all possible combinations of notes. This is where it gets interesting because traditional harmony pretty much sticks to chords built in thirds and the seven notes scales of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor scales. A few additions like the Diminished modes, Whole Tone, Pentatonics and Blues scales and possibly maybe Harmonic Major Modes can be included, but that is pretty much it. So if you are interested in exploring other sounds, Pitch Class Sets are the way to go because they offer such a variety of alternative organization. This organization makes it easier to categorize pitches, and especially to see relationships between different groups of pitches.
Some Suggested Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings
I’ve been studying Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings since 1990 and have created a system to help others learn these chords and apply them in places where traditional harmony would be used. For instance, rather than playing a C major 7th chord, I would play B, C and G. This is very much like a major 7 chord except it only has the root, 5th and 7th. If you are worried about the “3rd” not being there, don’t; you will see and hear that leaving out what most people think of as crucial pitches isn’t as big a deal as you might think. I give you a link to a video further down this page so you can hear the use of this type of chord.
A common replacement that I use for a C dominant chord is E, A and Bb. So in this case I have the 3rd and 7th and have added in the “13th.” So that particular combination wouldn’t rattle any feathers.
Two Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings Is All You Need
Believe it or not, by just using these two combinations we can play all major, minor, dominant, minor 7b5 and diminished chords. So now you are starting to see the power of pitch class set chords. Basically learn two chords and their inversions, and you can play through 99% of all music. Yeah that what I’m talking about! It’s an easy way to play chords by just incorporating a couple of Pitch Class Set Chords.
Hear and See Pitch Class Set Chords In Action
Applying Pitch Class Set Chords to Traditional Harmony Watch the video on this page. It shows you how I apply the chords I’ve mentioned to a jazz standard. You will hear that they sound very modern, yet not super dissonant or weird. You could use these chords in any situation and any style. People will notice that you are playing something different but not be upset by it. That is the beauty of pitch class set chords. When used in the right way they give you a modern yet acceptable sound to replace all your chords voicings.
Where to Start to Learn Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings
If you want to get started with using Pitch Class Set Chord Voicings I recommend starting with the Applying Pitch Class Set Chords to Traditional Harmony This course gives you voicings for 15 standards and has you write out and learn your own examples too. Most of my students have this down within six weeks with a minimum of practice so it’s a win win situation.
Check out other Bruce Arnold blog entries on brucearnold.com here
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
“23rd Chords” is a 12 tone concept that the great teacher and musician Charlie Banacos invented. Although most people equate 12 tone with atonal music Charlie didn’t believe there was such a thing as atonal music. With maybe the exception of some “noise” compositions by Stockhausen for example, Charlie believed, as do I, that any music can be heard in a key center. That key center may be changing often but you can hear a key center if you your ear is sufficiently developed. (You can get that skill via Contextual Ear Training.) But what made me excited was the fresh way I started to hear music, and eventually to play and compose it. Any artist is hell bent on discovering their own particular sound. I think learning this concept can broaden anyone’s musical palette. And maybe I gravitated to it because I just really like the way it sounds.
Examples of Hearing 12 Tone Music in a Key Center
When I studied with Charlie he had me sing through “Five Piano Pieces” by Arnold Schoenberg. Charlie knew I was interested in 12 tone composition techniques and that those pieces contain Schoenberg’s first 12 tone forays. From singing through the whole piece and grabbing single linear lines of my choosing, I definitely heard these lines in a key center (though I did modulate quite often). I later formed an ensemble with the great saxophonist John Gunther, called Spooky Actions. I affectionately called this group my cover band because we did covers of contemporary composers such as Webern, Messiaen and Schoenberg, among others. We played the music as written and then improvised on each movement. Here are some links to some of these recordings:
What I learned about hearing this music and learning how to play it seriously affected me as a composer and improvisor. First, I realized from working on the Five Movements for String Quartet by Anton Webern that his music is tonal; it just took me about a year to hear it that way. I also learned from analyzing the internal structure of Webern’s music, that if I improvised with the same pitch class sets as he used to compose the music, I was able to improvise “in the style of” Webern. I then applied the same approach as Spooky Actions tackled Schoenberg’s and Messiaen’s music.
23rd Chord Construction
When I was improvising on the music of Webern, Schoenberg and Messiaen I was using a technique that is closely related to 23rd Chords. The idea behind a 23rd Chord is to take three 4 note arpeggios to represent a specific chord type. For example if you have a G7 chord, you would use:
G7 arpeggio G, B, D, F.
A Major7 arpeggio A, C#, E, G# .
C-7b5 arpeggio C, Eb, Gb, Bb.
You many notice that I’ve worked my way up from a “G” all the way to the 23rd degree; in other words:
G = 1 B = 3 D = 5 F = b7 A = 9 C# = #11 E = 13 G# = #15 B# = #17 D# = #19 F# = b21 A# = #23
The Use of 23rd Chords
So that is the reason they are called 23rd chords. So far I’ve found very few serious compositions that utilize this method, though I do hear musicians in New York City occasionally use the concept in their improvisation. I took on the challenge of composing and improvising with 23rd chords on my first CD back in the 1990’s. The CD was called “Blue Eleven” and the the title cut “Blue Eleven” is a 23rd chord composition using an 11 bar blues form in the key of G. I also improvise over the form using 23rd chords. I’ve included the first page of the chart below as well as two audio examples; one from the head and another excerpt from the guitar solo. You can find the complete chart and audio in any of the following books or CDs:
Tools for Modern Improvisation This book contains a listing of all 23rd chords for all chord types plus a 62 page étude for each chord type in every key for a total of 744 pages. There is also a PDF showing other possible ways to combine three 4 note chords into 12 tone aggregates.
You will notice how each of the three seventh chords are used over the I IV and V chord of this Blues. Just for clarity I thought of the last three bars of Blue Eleven as a V chord, only returning to the I chord at the top of the form–in other words the harmony is as follows:
I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I V, V, V
1st page of 6 pages “Blue Eleven” Chart:
Here is the Melody from Blue Eleven with Ratzo B. Harris on Bass and Tony Moreno on Drums
Here are the two choruses from the guitar solo from Blue Eleven
23rd Chords Were a Great Influence
The 23rd chord concept, as well as the hexatonic scales that McCoy Tyner used in his soloing and composing techniques i.e. “Passion Dance” greatly influenced all the compositions on my nine solo recordings, which are listed below:
These ideas also lead me to publish many books about Pitch Class Set Improvisation. Those books are listed below. Please check Muse-eek Publishing Company for the latest on this ever growing list:
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
Minor Key Ear Training is a subject that comes up often and this blog post is dedicated to some of the 1st steps you can take to fix this problem.
It’s true that a lot of students have problems with minor keys. They either have a lot of problems hearing One Note Ear Training in a minor key or they always hear a minor chord as a relative minor. Example: when an A minor 7 is played, they hear “C” as the root. I find this most often with musicians who have a strong classical background, and also with students that don’t have a lot of experience listening to or playing contemporary styles such as Jazz, Blues or Rock.
Fixing this issue can be difficult, and the best thing is to stay in contact with me as I recommend different exercises and courses to fix this problem. Almost always, a student needs more experience hearing and playing along with minor key progressions to improve their aural recognition skills.
For this I recommend the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One, because it comes with audio files so you can hear the chord progressions at 3 different tempos. The book includes both chord charts and exact chord voicings for each progression.
Common Minor Key Ear Training Assignments
Here are some of the common assignments I give students with these minor chord problems:
1. First some background information. Go to page 137 and look up the chords for the C minor blues progression.
Notice that many of these voicings are “drop 2” i.e. Drop 2 chords (or drop 2 voicings) and that means taking a closed-position (closed position means that it is stacked up 1,3,5,7 etc.._) chord and dropping the second-highest note down an octave in order to create an open-position chord. See if you can play these chords on a piano or guitar or arpeggiate the chords. Have a MetroDrone going in the background when you play these chords.
2. Listen to the MP3s that come with the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One so you can hear how these voicings sound and hear the minor key center.
a. Arpeggiate the chords on your instrument but also sing these chord voicings using the notes as seen below or on page 137 of Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One,. In some places you many need to leave out the lowest note because of the range of your instrument or voice.
b. Use solfeggio to sing or play guide tones (3rd of one chord to the 7th of the next chord or vise versa.) Other chord tones are also used. Most of the time you are trying to get a descending line (A much deeper understanding comes from the Guide Tones course) as a way to understand the voice leading from a linear perspective. For instance, C Major Blues page 131. One guide tone line would be:
C-7 = Bb or Tay
F-7 = Ab or Lay
C-7 = G or So
C-7 = G or So
F-7 = F or Fa
F-7 = Eb or May
Ab7#11 = D or Re
G7b13= D or Re
C-7= C or Do
G7#9= B or Ti
These guide tones can be used to improvise, so use the structure above as a template and then mess around with adding a few notes here and there both as a technique on your instrument as well as for your voice. Start with 1/2 notes and whole notes then start changing the rhythm.
I would take one or two progressions a week. Some will be harder, like the Ab Minor Blues and you may spend a week just on that progression. I’d spend about 15 minutes writing out a guide tone line and playing it, then improvising around it each day. I’d also read through the chord voicings and arpeggiate the chords, which will probably take a minute or two.
This is a lot of stuff but you need to seriously address your Minor Key Ear Training Skills. It can take about 6 months to totally change your way of hearing, but keep in touch and let me know your progress; that will help me help you
Check out other Bruce Arnold blog entries on brucearnold.com here
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
