Practcing melodic sequences

[Aquatist]

Hello, long time no see.

I have a quick question about practicing melodic sequences. At the moment, I am in my "woodshed" moment in life. I came up with a few sequences on my own, particular in scales that I love such as the half-whole/double diminished scale.

Now the Mark Levine book has a few, but I only played a couple just to get my ears acclimated to what some of the greats played.

There isn't a lot of information about this on the web. So question is, what's a good way to practice my own sequences without sounding too repetitious?

Also, I tried taking some of the same sequences and played them in different keys, (example, from B half-whole diminished to Eb major). but some of them sound a little funny due to the harmonic/ melodic shift in the structure.

[Haddock]

Originally Posted by Aquatist

Hello, long time no see.

I have a quick question about practicing melodic sequences. At the moment, I am in my "woodshed" moment in life. I came up with a few sequences on my own, particular in scales that I love such as the half-whole/double diminished scale.

Now the Mark Levine book has a few, but I only played a couple just to get my ears acclimated to what some of the greats played.

There isn't a lot of information about this on the web. So question is, what's a good way to practice my own sequences without sounding too repetitious?

Also, I tried taking some of the same sequences and played them in different keys, (example, from B half-whole diminished to Eb major). but some of them sound a little funny due to the harmonic/ melodic shift in the structure.

A previous saxophone teacher had me play short 4 note melodic sequences (or scale fragments) taking them up or down chromatically in rapid succession (each time changing key). Each exercise would stick to the same melody using the same scale type, modulating chromatically, but different exercises could be devised that used melodies utilising different types of scale (eg maj, min, diminished).

I found the exercises helped to let me play phrases that fit in with a tune's chordal backing, using either knowledge about what scale fragment fits with the chord or (ideally) using my ear to select the approprite scale fragment type to fit the chord.

Alternative to playing the sequences chromatically could be taking them through fourths, minor thirds or major seconds. Some examples or the scale sequences are 1 2 3 5, 2 3 5 1, 1 2 b3 1 and 5 4 b3 1.

The most useful aspect of this for me is breaking out of playing phrases that start on the root note of the backing chord but instead are based around other chord tones (not necessarily starting on them). For example on a dominant chord i would play a minor sequence that is based off the 5th of that chord (thereby ensuring a match with the b7 sound in the chord) or a diminished pattern based off the 3rd of the chord such as B D E F (or E F D B) over G7. J

I Just thought this might give a slightly different perspective on the notion of sequenced melodies.. Hope it helps..it did me! Mat

[michaelsorg]

Originally Posted by Aquatist

Hello, long time no see.

I have a quick question about practicing melodic sequences. At the moment, I am in my "woodshed" moment in life. I came up with a few sequences on my own, particular in scales that I love such as the half-whole/double diminished scale.

Now the Mark Levine book has a few, but I only played a couple just to get my ears acclimated to what some of the greats played.

There isn't a lot of information about this on the web. So question is, what's a good way to practice my own sequences without sounding too repetitious?

Also, I tried taking some of the same sequences and played them in different keys, (example, from B half-whole diminished to Eb major). but some of them sound a little funny due to the harmonic/ melodic shift in the structure.

One of the most important parallel sequences to practice is through what can be called the Minor Matrix. It's enormously useful for a major or minor ii - V - I. Let's say you have a Dm7 - G7 - C. Start on A, descend thru F E D, jump up to C, descend thru Ab G F, jump up to E, descend thru C B A. You just played 5 3 2 1 on a Dm, Fm, and Am. Worried that somebody will say you shouldn't play a C on the downbeat of a G7 without resolving it to B? If you know what's going to come out and you like it, don't worry about "avoid notes!" But if you don't like it personally, just start your pattern an eighth note earlier so that the C falls on the upbeat of beat 2, and you're landing on the Ab on beat 3. But the patterns are endless, so use your imagination. The exact same patterns will work over the relative minor, so same pattern for Bm7b5 - E7b9 - Am. Of course for a ii - V - I over 4 bars, you need more notes. You may want to vary the last part of the sequence so as not to sound too parallel or planned. Maybe when I get a bit more timeI can post some notation on this. You can use this over more static progressions as well; a V - I or even just the I chord.

[Haddock]

Originally Posted by michaelsorg

One of the most important parallel sequences to practice is through what can be called the Minor Matrix. It's enormously useful for a major or minor ii - V - I. Let's say you have a Dm7 - G7 - C. Start on A, descend thru F E D, jump up to C, descend thru Ab G F, jump up to E, descend thru C B A. You just played 5 3 2 1 on a Dm, Fm, and Am. Worried that somebody will say you shouldn't play a C on the downbeat of a G7 without resolving it to B? If you know what's going to come out and you like it, don't worry about "avoid notes!" But if you don't like it personally, just start your pattern an eighth note earlier so that the C falls on the upbeat of beat 2, and you're landing on the Ab on beat 3. But the patterns are endless, so use your imagination. The exact same patterns will work over the relative minor, so same pattern for Bm7b5 - E7b9 - Am. Of course for a ii - V - I over 4 bars, you need more notes. You may want to vary the last part of the sequence so as not to sound too parallel or planned. Maybe when I get a bit more timeI can post some notation on this. You can use this over more static progressions as well; a V - I or even just the I chord.

This is an interesting idea.. so you create minor patterns using 1,2,(b)3 and 5 based off each note of the ii triad in a ii-V-I, giving a nice fitting pattern that creates a b9 sound over the V7 chord? Without wishing to hijack the original thread could I ask where I could get more information about the Minor Matrix?

[michaelsorg]

Originally Posted by Haddock

This is an interesting idea.. so you create minor patterns using 1,2,(b)3 and 5 based off each note of the ii triad in a ii-V-I, giving a nice fitting pattern that creates a b9 sound over the V7 chord? Without wishing to hijack the original thread could I ask where I could get more information about the Minor Matrix?

I couldn't find much on the Web on it... what I did find was a posting of mine on this forum! http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=52121

It's not just restricted to particular tones; that was just an example; you can use the whole melodic minor scale in this way, or the Dorian modes of each, or the Aeolian modes of each (a little tricky), or Romanian modes (4th mode Harmonic minor).

Say you use Dorian: you get Dorian over Dm7,you get Phrygian over G7 (F Dorian), you get Lydian on C (A dorian).

Maybe I can start a new thread on it soon with some notated examples.