Music Lab

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday July 31, 2010 – Music Lab

Very productive Lab today. Eight in attendance: Christina, Mary Beth, Taylor, Rob, Ian, Carl, IgorK and Greg. This made an exercise possible that we could not address with fewer people.

We began with three circulations in A Harmonic Minor, tuning the air as it were.

To begin to get inside A Harmonic Minor we spent about 30 minutes on the circulation exercise we have been addressing for the past few weeks. We began on “A” at the 12th fret of the 3rd string. The first player played that A, followed by the note one diatonic step above or below; G# or B. The second player began with the second note, and followed it with a note one diatonic step above or below that, and so on. With so many people in the circle, keeping track of where we were when our turn came was something of a challenge, but the work of the previous Labs has paid off, and there was significant improvement. We moved on to include diatonic thirds to this exercise, which although a little more difficult, still resulted in noticeably more musical choices in the circulation.

Sticking with A Harmonic minor, we came back to the exercise first addressed a couple of weeks ago. I assigned notes from the tonic seventh chord to the players: A-C-E-G#. With 8 players, this arpeggio was repeated: A-C-E-G#-A-C-E-G#. We walked up through the diatonic seventh chords:

I-II-III-IV-V-VI-VII-I

…and then repeated this. In A Harmonic Minor, this was:

Amin(Maj7)-Bmin7flat5-Cmaj7aug-Dmin7-E7-Fmaj7-G#dim7-Amin(maj7)

I asked the players to track this sequence both in terms of the scale degrees (I, II, III, etc) and the root note names (A, B, C. etc – I did not insist on the full names of the chords, but simply to be aware of the harmonic movement in terms of the root). The aim was to begin to recognize the quality of each of the chords formed by this scale – however we might choose to characterize those qualities.

We then began with the I chord in the high octave and then moved “up” through the sequence while moving down in terms of voice leading. For instance:

• We began with Amin(maj7) in the high octave: A-C-E-G#
• Then moving “up” to the II chord, Bmin7flat5, with everyone who needed to change notes choosing to move to the closest available note down the scale: A-B-D-F
• Then moving “up” to the III chord, Cmaj7aug, with everyone who needed to change notes choosing to move to the closest available note down the scale: G#-B-C-E

And so on. The secret to this is that whoever is playing the root of the current chord does not change notes when the chord changes.

Once we had this sequence under control, we moved up the sequence while moving down the scale, and then repeated the sequence moving up the scale, and so on. We applied a number of different circulation strategies in order to illuminate the quality of the chords in the sequence while moving through different voicings.

With 8 in the circle, 2 groups of 4, each with the same arpeggio, it was possible to explore the concept of contrary motion in voice leading. One group began in the high octave and moved down through the harmonic sequence while the other began in the low octave and walked “up”, and then the reverse.

Some stunning musical moments, simply by following this very simple exercise.

This exercise stretched out well over the first hour, so when we reconvened after a short break, there was really only about 30 minutes available. We used this to have a little fun with the bridge of Rhythm Changes, a little practical exploration of the Circle of Fifths.

For this, rather than assigned notes, we went with the notes of our choice, making necessary adjustments to ensure good sounding and complete voicings. The basic rule of voice leading remained the same: stay with common tones, otherwise move by step, and only change by “leap” within a chord. E7-A7-D7-G7, 2 bars each, followed by a C triad as the resolution, turning around back to the E7. In reality, an 8-bar phrase would have been used in that place (likely I-V7-I-VII7), but time demanded this short-cut.

Before we were done, we were actually circulating in swing. Big fun. Very sad that time ran out.

Music Lab

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday July 24, 2010 – Music Lab

Four in the circle today; 3 of the usual suspects, and Jaxie turned up as well.

Began with a bit of free circulation in the key of G Major.

Moved on to the ear training game of circulating in G Major, moving no more than one diatonic step up or down. Beginning on G at the 10th fret of the 3rd string, the first guitarist played the G followed by either A or F#. The next guitarist would then play the previous guitarists second note, and then move to another note a diatonic second up or down from that. The next guitarist would play the second note of that pair and then another note a diatonic second up or down from that, and so on. With only 4 players in the circle, keeping track of where we were when the circulation came back around was not too daunting a challenge, and the team did well. Even though the “melody” that emerges from this is naturally a little limited and perhaps uninteresting due to the constraints of the exercise, there is a qualitative and musical shift that occurs when the players let go of thinking about notes and trust their ears and hands. A certain flow is possible, and it appeared from time to time.

From here we moved to the same exercise, but adding diatonic thirds to the allowable movement. This definitely added a more musical quality to the resulting melody, but also increased the hazard. Mistakes in this incarnation of the exercise tended to create more train wrecks, where in the 1-step only version mistakes were easier to weather.

The final stage of this exercise eliminated the step of repeating the preceding guitarist’s second note, but simply moving to a note within a diatonic third up or down. This took some time to gain momentum. A certain tentativeness in the assertion of the chosen note, and more than a few inadvertent fourths and fifths crept into the mix. Nevertheless, there was an unmistakeable musical intelligence in the resulting melody.

A short break, and then we moved on to more fun with voice leading. For this week, a rudimentary blues progression in G.

With 4 players, I assigned notes of a basic tonic G7 arpeggio, which were played in circulation with return, up and down:

G-B-D-F-D-B

…giving a basic 6/8 feel. This took some time to settle in, and in fairness the people sitting in the 2nd and 3rd chairs are in the “hot seats” since their notes bounce back at them more quickly than for those in the pole positions.

We then established the C7 (IV) chord by having everyone simply move up a fourth. D7 (V) was established by moving a fifth up from the tonic (a whole step up from the fourth). Using these voicings, we established the form of the simple 12-bar blues, visualizing it in terms of 3 4-bar phrases:

C7-G7-C7-C7
G7-G7-C7-C7
D7-C7-G7-D7

or, in functional terms:

I-IV-I-I
IV-IV-I-I
V-IV-I-V

Played this way, there was very little elegance to the voice movement, very much the way beginner guitarists tend to play the blues when they have just learned how to use barre chords, everything moving in parallel blocks. But it helped us to establish, in our ears and capacity to visualize a pattern, the harmonic movement of this iconic form.

When we began to look at the harmonic movement in terms of voice leading, we quickly abandoned the circulation in favor of pulsing together in eighth notes. We again established the “rule” that in moving from chord to chord, we moved 1) by not moving at all if the note was common to both chords, or 2) by half or whole step. Thirds were allowed if absolutely necessary. Giving ourselves this kind of freedom to chose our own note had the immediate effect making it more difficult to keep track of the 12-bar form, but eventually it settled in. It was understood that since everyone was following their own “melody”, it was inevitable that notes would sometimes be missing from a particular chord. The final step was to allow leaps of up to a major third within a particular chord. In this way, intelligent adjustments could be made to the resulting voicings in order to 1) fill out missing elements, and/or 2) move individual players out of narrow melody loops that they might be feeling stranded in.

With 7 or 8 players, there is a further refinement possible that I am longing to hear. Perhaps next Saturday.

Music Lab

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday July 17, 2010 – Music Lab

More good work with voice leading. Not exactly the same players who have been working with this exercise for the past few weeks, but a definite sense of continuity and progress. With 5 players the last two week we managed a certain critical mass. If we can get everyone who has taken part in this series of exercises into the same room at the same time, things could get very interesting.

For the first hour we worked with diatonic triads in C Major, and then diatonic seventh chords in C Major. We began by walking up the scale, one player on the bass notes (roots to begin with, then roots and fifths, and eventually roots, fifths and thirds), the other players on assigned notes from the triad, first pulsing and later moving to circulating the arpeggios. We walked up the scale, once at the octave resetting back to the bottom and doing it again. Next we worked on how to move from the high arpeggio down as the harmony moved up. This required every player not only to know what note they were playing, but what interval within the chord of the moment it represented.

One of my hopes, if we can get enough players together, is to work through this exercise with two groups of circulators moving in contrary motion, chorale writing period of common practice style.

For the second half of the session we moved into an evolution of Rhythm Changes in the key of C. New bass player for this round. We began with circulating, but quickly reverted to pulsing chord voicings together in order to keep things moving. For this exercise, notes were not assigned, and it was up to the four players to find voicings together that were complete and convincing. We began with a simple…

I VI II V

…progression, getting the feel for how to find the simplest voice leading. The basic rules:

1. If your note is common to both chords, stay where you are.
2. If you must move, half steps are best, whole steps are good.
3. If absolutely necessary, moving a third is permissible.

The 4th rule, which did not figure much into this particular version of the exercise, since the chords where changing so quickly, is…

4. Moving a third or more within a particular chord is permitted if it helps to improve the voicing.

To this “pattern 1” we added a second pattern…

I I7 IV IVmin6

…creating the basic 8-bar “A” section of Rhythm Changes:

I VI II V
I VI II V
I I7 IV IVmin6
I VI II V

Or, in practical terms:

C Amin7 Dmin7 G7
C Amin7 Dmin7 G7
C C7 Fmaj7 Fmin6
C Amin7 Dmin7 G7

From here we moved into standard substitutions, gradually hipifying the chord progression. First, all of the Amin7s were replaced with A7s, as the V7 of II. After several steps we ended with this version:

I #Iº7 IImin7 #IIº7
IIImin7 ♭III7 IImin7 ♭II7
I I7 IVmaj7 IVmin6
I VI7 IImin7 V7

… in which the #Iº7 is functioning as V7 of II, the #IIº7 as V7 of III, the ♭III7 as V7 of II, and ♭II7 as V7 of I.

In C Major this is expressed as:

C C#º7 Dmin7 D#º7
Emin7 E♭7 Dmin7 D♭7
C C7 Fmaj7 Fmin6
C A7 Dmin7 G7

… in which the C#º7 is functioning as A7 (V7 of Dmin7), the D#º7 as B7 (V7 of Emin7), the E♭7 as A7 (V7 of Dmin7), and D♭7 as G7 (V7 of C).

We ran a little long, in order to hear this played in improvised circulation. Of course this is a pretty complex sequence of chords, and quite new to several of the players, so we inevitably settled into a few reliable paths through changes. With a little practice, a lot more dynamism would be possible. And with a few more players we could even develop improvised rhythm and melody parts.

Next week, perhaps the bridge? All kinds of potential fun awaits.

Music Lab Part 2, Crazy

Saturday July 10, 2010 – Music Lab Part 2, Crazy

The chords and analysis of the first 8 bars of Crazy, as we worked with them today, in the key of G (pretty sure Patsy sang it in B♭):

Gmaj . . .   E7  . .  .   A-   . A-(maj7) .   A-7 . .  .

D7   . . .   A-7 . D7 .   Gmaj . G#º7     .   A-7 . D7 .

The analysis of this goes…

Imaj . . .   VI7  . .  .  II-  . II-(maj7) .   II-7 . .  .

V7   . . .   II-7 . V7 .  Imaj . #Iº7      .   II-7 . V7 .

…where both VI7 and #Iº7 are functioning a V7 of II. The sequence IImin-IImin(maj7)-IImin7 is what is referred to as a “minor line cliché” and is familiar to anyone who has ever attempted Stairway to Heaven, to name but one of about a bazillion examples. The other common minor line cliché is min-min(aug)-min7 (see any James Bond movie you like).

Music Lab

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday July 10, 2010 – Music Lab

The regular Music Lab crew has elected to continue meeting, at least from time to time, through the Tuning the Air summer break. We had five on board this morning, including one new arrival to Seattle.

The last time we met, I had introduced a simple exercise in voice leading; choosing notes from a given chord and playing them together, and then moving to the next chord with as little movement as possible, staying put on common notes, moving by whole or half-step when a change is necessary, and possibly by a third when absolutely necessary, but never more. This is a horn player’s bread and butter skill, but for guitarists it tends to be unknown or a mystery. For that Lab I had taken a few bars of Big Rock Candy Mountain as material to work with, since Sgt Bones was working on it for their monthly podcast; seemed relevant. Earlier in the week there had been a casual discussion about the virtues of Willie Nelson’s Crazy, and so for today I had the idea to use as much of that as possible. It contains an interesting assortment of harmonic movements, most very typical of a certain genre of music and something players are likely to encounter often. In particular, in the first 8 bars there are two variations on the sequence: V/II-II-V-I. The bridge and the out-chorus both involve other iconic chord sequences, which I imagine we will take a look at in the future, if this continues to be a useful endeavor.

We began by simply pulsing the chord changes, discovering the relationships. Once the sequence was established, and the players had identified some paths through it, we moved on to playing it in time, in 12/8 bars. I gave IgorK the role of bass player, sounding roots on 1 and 3. I had the remaining 4 players move to circulating their notes, from Ian to Christina to Greg to Carl, with return. Once this pattern settled in it formed a good, though far from easy, 1-2-3 4-5-6 feel; twice through the circulation per bar. Igor moved to roots and fifths. At this point the time ran out. I took a few minutes with Igor to look at where we would move next in developing a strong bass line. More on this in the future, I’ll wager.

Fall/Winter 2010 Season

A Tuning the Air Journal

Tuning the Air - Fall/Winter 2010 Season

Every Thursday, October 7 through December 16, 2010.
Fremont Abbey Arts Center – The Great Hall
4272 Fremont Ave N, Seattle
Doors open at 7:45pm
Admission $10

Monthly Open Circle and Tuning the Air Season Completion Meeting

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday July 3, 2010 – Monthly Open Circle and Tuning the Air Season Completion Meeting

Good work with the Open Circle this morning at Fremont Abbey. Entirely family and friends, and so we were able to push the challenges and exercises a bit. Both Frank and Teo onboard, so the AT Teacher to guitarist ratio was doubled. Bonus!

This was followed by a meeting at my place (outside in our back yard, to be precise) of the Tuning the Air company. Very good reflections and observations about the season just completed. Much of this inevitably suggested thoughts about the upcoming season. But we endeavored to keep our primary focus the wrapping up the present one.

“Free dispersal from the circle” declared, and the season was completed. We have until August 1 to contemplate and declare our commitment for the next season.

Tuning the Air #185 - Closing Night

A Tuning the Air Journal

Thursday July 1, 2010 – Tuning the Air #185

A full house! 96 to be exact. We can still squeeze a few more in, but we are actually beginning to approach the limit. Amazing. Wonderful show. Now a break, and we open again in October.

Setlist:

Joel Palmer – Improvised preshow music into C Harmonic Minor
C Harmonic Minor Chimes w/Joel
Voices of Ancient Children
Cultivating the Beat
My Precious Dream

From the Hat: “7 chords led by Mary Beth”
Pipeline
From the Hat: “What is the secret to an idyllic life?”

Address the Audience – Travis

Spiral Circulation
Sigh and a Kiss

The Children’s Hour
A Day in the Life

Spontaneous Composition in E Minor w/Oboe
Ikada-Jima
Space Zombies! From Outer Space! w/Joel
Twilight

Encore:

Thrak
Eye of the Needle