Scales and Practicing The Real Book

Howdy!

In addition to my music history blogging I'm beginning new posts about how to use the Real Book as your practice session for your scales!

The other day I was practicing a solo over Earl Powell's Hallucinations and discovered a cool little trick that included using an altered harmonic minor scale over the chord changes. I then started playing that scale like I do when I practice my other scales. (Note that it's not the harmonic minor scale you may be used too.) It's sort of a disjunct Lydian/Harmonic Minor Polytetrachord; or 2-four note scales. The first 4-notes are taken from the Lydian scale and the last 4-notes from the harmonic minor scale combined together. Hint: It sounds like an Egyptian scale. There also may be an actual name for this scale however this is best theoretical answer I could come up with!

The 8-note scale consists of the root, flat 2, natural 3, flat 4, natural 5, flat 6, natural 7, octave. Try to figure out a convenient fingering to flow over multiple octaves and use dominant 7 chords l-lV-V on the left hand for accompaniment. Pick a bluesy song, and use the root of the key you're playing in for your solo scale on the right hand. You can alter your rhythm or use any of the notes as your solo or improvisation. Or practice playing the scale with both hands in an octave or a two octave method and act like your playing an Afro-Cuban Montuna! More on that later.

It's always great to find something to play around with while practicing. Who knows, you might come up with something new!

Another of my Real Book practice rituals is to complete one or two of the table of contents from all of my real books. First I play through all of the songs that begin with the letter A and then I go to the letter B. If I'm really feeling wild I will include a third letter. I will complete the entire book in a about 4 or 5 days unless I find something cool to hang with or arrange. I also consult my iTunes database for different artists that have recorded the songs over the years to hear what they have done. Not only does this help with my sight reading but it keeps my chops up for that inevitable wedding gig!

For advanced scales consult the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns by Nicolas Slonimsky.

Thanks for reading.

Chicago

Howdy Howdy,

Ended the Samples 2011 tour in Chicago and it was one of the best shows of the year. We played at Lincoln Hall and the crowd was, shall we say, lively!

Before this, I had never been to Chicago even though I was born in St Louis! I have to say that this town left me missing it now that I'm gone.

We stayed at The Felix downtown and was only 7 blocks from the lake. There was a delightful breeze coming into the hotel room so I slept with the windows open. I'm sure that doesn't happen over the winter.

Beside the great concert at Lincoln Hall we were treated to a wonderful steak and wine dinner at the Wild Fire restaurant by our host Jason Gilboy and his family - you shouldn't have but thank you!

Everything about this town is true, the friendships, the people, the town, it's a great place! I especially love the jog down to the water and stopping at Starbucks (a local stop on Chicago Ave), watching the Bears at Giordanos, eating Chicago Dogs at Portillos, and all the friends I met in between.

I can't wait to go back! In the mean time however I'll be performing at Children's Hospital and the Butterfly Pavillion in Denver on November 11, 12 with The Samples. I'll also be performing with Denver's own Dotsero at their club, Jazz @ Jack's through various dates in October and November. For more info see my website at www.schallermusic.com and thanks for reading.

Last Blog August 2010

Howdy,

Sorry, it's been a long time since I posted a YEAR ago! But A lot has happened. I spent the summer of 2011 touring as keyboardist with The Samples. We're going to Chicago this coming weekend and it should prove to be the best show yet even though we've been slamming all summer and last winter in Colorado.

I've also been touring with the National Recording and Performing Group "Dotsero." And hopefully will be adding 3 more groups to the roster - big ones too. It's been a long time coming (over 20 years) getting my musical life together along with 4 degrees including two in music composition.

Will get back with all soon with more on that. But in the mean time come and check out schallermusic.com for current events and stay in touch - even the hackers. It's amusing reading your attempts at the English language.

LATER.

So I found this great tool to post all your tweets, FB, and blogs from one location called ping.fm Check it out!

The History of Music - 6

Hoday and Happy New Year

Last post we discussed music of the 1300s in France. Yes, I know I haven't posted since last Sept so I hope to post more in 2010. Let's get started.

So we were talking about music of France in the 14th century including forms, compositional devices, and composers but France was not the only country creating new and innovative styles of music and composition. Let's talk about music in Italy. The Italians during the 1300s had their own thing going on with composition and notation that allowed them to come up with different rhythmic divisions, fast rhythmic values, and they were less complicated in the way they didn't have 3 or 4 different voices going on at the same time. Most of the time they were focused on just on text and they used imitation - or one voice that follows another. For the Italians, the period is called Trecento meaning 300.

If you look closely at the example written by Gherardello da Firenze (c. 1320-C. 1362) called TOSTO CHE L'ALBA the piece is known as the Caccia - which means to chase. So in one way we have the idea of one voice following another as if it were chasing each other. In addition, the nature of the text has to do with hunting or chasing after animals. During this time hunting in this region was a very popular activity. They imitate the calls of the hunter portraying painting of the words.





Again notice the imitation happening and you also have the same idea at the bottom line structure to the piece. The piece almost functions like the tenor line instead of something based on chant. The Italians were a little light hearted when it came to experimenting with these things. The pieces during this time are more on the secular side and becomes sort of the cutting edge of the up and coming Renaissance.

Let's look at another piece in the style called Madrigal. We'll run into the Madrigal again when we get to the Renaissance but it's nothing like the Madrigal we're looking at now. As the years passed the Madrigal took on its own development. This piece, called FENICE FU' E VISSI, by Jacopo da Bologna (fl. 1340-1360) has two degrees of imitation, two voices interacting with one another but yet the technique I want to point out, and one that is very prominent in the Italian Trecento, ad actually shows up in some of the French Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior is a technique called the hockett, which means hiccup.

Hockett was an effect in the voices where one voice would be singing the melody and stop to let the other voice sing that note. And so you would have the echo effect go back and forth between two voices.

Pretty straight forward...




One last works by the composer Landini was considered by many to be the greatest composer of the Trecento. We know this because of the many books written about him and the sculptures that were made. Landini was a blind organist when organs first began to be used in church. He composed many genres similar to Machaut.

On this particular piece you again have a Madrigal in the conspicuous form. But as the middle ages die out, so does this type of Trecento Madrigal. Usually organized into two or three stanzas this form used a refrain or ritornello, which means to return, and then two lines perhaps in a contrasting meter. So the Trecento Madrigal essentially was set with two voices without a tenor, both parts carried the same text, sometimes in question-answer style called hockett with a bit of imitation.




Ok, that's the middle ages. Thanks for reading, see you soon for the 1st generation Renaissance.

Later

The History of Music - 5

Hoday,

Some of the best Motets were written by Phillip DeVitry while Isorhythm continued as the dominant form in music composition.

Another composer who found notoriety during this time, Guilliame DeMachaut, 1300-1377 found his way through the modern years to become one of NPR Radio's the number one greatest composers of all time. So for those who think Michael Jackson was the greatest composer of all time you may want to wait 633 years to see if his name still 'pops' up.

Let's begin with the piece, Missa de Notre Dame. This piece was a major milestone in history as it was the first polyphonic setting of the mass ordinary. If you need more information of the history of church music please read Ideas and Styles of Western Musical Tradition by Douglas Seaton.

From the early composers Leonin and Perotin the use of polyphony was limited to alleluias and graduals but never on the Kyrie or anything in the mass proper. This was the first attempt, as we know it, to set the mass ordinary to polyphony. There are even motivic connections between the movements perhaps making this one of the first full scale pieces of music.

The piece is Isorhythmic and not only in the tenor but also in the contra tenor, which is a new voice we begin to see more of and what will eventually become known as the bass.

You can also see how DeMachaut has begun 4-part choral harmony. The tenor and contratenor interact and even cross voices. Go ahead and take a look at the piece below.





So we have secular text in the secular form and you can see 1,4,and 7 for the A section and then how the text interrelates. Measure 21 is the B section and so on; in measure 8-9 you'll see musica-ficta with the sharps. But one of the most interesting things about the piece is in the text. The text talks about the forms of the songs, "My end is my beginning." And you will see a retrograde from the beginning.

DeMachaut was also a trouvere in the northern part of France and wrote secular songs. Because he lived in a later period of time than DiVitry, and even though he was active as a sacred composer, he was one of a whole trend of composers who began to set secular songs polyphonically. He may have also used fixed compositional forms such as the Rondaeu or the Veralay as a base to his secular music. Remember however this was music in France so we should also talk about what was happening in Italy at this time as well. So next time we talk, let's make about the Italian Trecento.

See You.

The History of Music - 4

Hoday,

In our last blog we discussed the invention of Isoryhthm used by composers Phillipe DeVitry and Franco Cologne. It is important to keep in mind that the years surrounding these events were strife with The Black Plague where one-third of the world's population was dead or dying which brought forth a split in the church and led to an increase in secular music outside the church. Also, the school of Notre Dame in Paris had already been in business since 1190, and musical styles like the Motet and other forms of music had already been cataloged and other composers such as Guillaume de Machaut and Francesco Landini were already experimenting with multi-voiced harmony.

Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) was musical advisor to several kings of France as well as Bishop of Meaulx. He was educated in the liberal arts at the University of Paris and became one of the greatest music theorists of his time. He was also credited with the development of the ideas in the treatise called Ars Nova or new music.

One of the earliest pieces of multi-part harmony, called Garrit Gallus-In Nova - N[euma], Motet, began to stray from the divinity of triple meter and helped introduce the world into other measurments of the time signature also known as mensuration or measurement. de Vitry introduced systems of duple and triple meter together which was referred to as prolation. The combination of the meter fostered a new musical style and technique. These two meters combined perfect - 3/4 and imperfection 2/4 throughout the piece and affected how music would be composed throughout the next 200 years and even has some inspiration today.

Here is an example of how the piece looked, just click on it to enlarge; Keep in mind that this piece was written in modern musical language. To hear the piece you will have to download it from iTunes. Just search for Phillipe de Vitry and look for Garrit Gallus





As previously discussed this piece contains elements of color and talea. The talea, meaning to count, demonstrates mathematical relationships in sound and the color represents repetitions of melodic patterns.

In order to compose a piece that made sense de Vitry came up with mathematical systems of proportion and order. The tenor has seventy-two notes with a talea of twelve durations and a color of thirty-six pitches. The talea is stated six times and the color twice. And the tenor of the second half of the motet is identical to the first half.

We have a three voice isorhythmic motet here and with the typical motet we have three different texts. The Nuema, which was some original chant and then two texts that were written over the top of it. So if we have Isorhythm in the tenor, can you tell where it repeats? If you look at the note values and not the pitch you will find that it is in measure eleven. The piece also gives it away with a ll at the bottom of the measure as well the third repeat at measure 21 and fourth at measure 31, fifth at measure 41 and the remaining at every ten measures.

Let's look at the color or the pitch pattern. There is a repeat at measure 31 and lasts for 3 talea and is also considered a perfect talea. You following? Don't worry it's usually a straight forward thing and is only a way of constructing a piece of music so that you have this structure ahead of time so you know what's going on as a performer.

So essentially what we have is two repeats of the color and six repeats of the talea. You may also notice the sharps above the notes also known as Musica Ficta or false music. Look at measure 25 there is a C in the top part with a sharp above it. This was an improvised musical practice that told the performer to sharp this note. This note was sharp usually at the cadence and was not written because the practice was well known even into the renaissance.

The normal motet was written in 3 and 4 part for voice. But most motets were written in three voices. Remember that the pieces at this time the concept of major and minor does not exist and this still would have been a modal piece. Composing in modes went into the the baroque era and even early J.S. Bach pieces hint that he was thinking in modes. He would use key signatures like two flats that would normally equal G minor or B-flat major but he would use the 2-Flat key signature for C minor as a hold over of a certain type of modal implication.

Let's look at the text of this piece. During the times of the Great Schism and the Babylonian captivity there was a lot of poking fun at the Catholic church or different nationalities or political events going on at that time. You have to realize that we look at these words without provocation but in these times those words may have meant something insulting;

"The cock babbled lamenting sorrowfully for the assembly of cocks..." see the text on page two of the image above.

If you notice that the two top lines, the duplum and triplunm have text but the tenor does not. Does this suggest that there was an instrument paying this line? Perhaps it was simply a chant, but we do not have evidence what type of instrument this would be. Modern recordings however usually have an instrument accompanying the two voices on top which suggests that de Vitry would have been one of the first composers to pair an instrument with a multi-voice harmonic piece.

As time progressed however you will find more instruments subtly added to music. And at the end of the 1300s the motet would be expanded into new forms both in secular and religious aspects.

Next up we'll look at a composer who would set new standards that even are today are studied and analyzed; Guilliame DeMachaut.

Later,

John

The History of Music - 3

The Middle Ages 1300s

As I said in the last segments there were two defining moments in history during the 1300s and they were The Great Schism and The Black Plague. These vents caused a lot of trouble for the Catholic church prior to the Renaissance as the people began to lose faith in church leadership. And then on top of this the 1300s are defined by the Black Plague. Europe loses some one-third of its population and unbelievable devastation that is difficult to understand.

These defining cultural events had an impact on musical development. You will see the cutting-edge avant-guard music at this time centered around rich cities usually protected by the church. The countryside however was not able to participate in the technologies and musical concepts of the city and most were most likely unaware of Gregorian Chant.

Some of the new musical concepts introduced by Phillipe DeVitry and Franco Cologne were divisions of note and values as well time signatures. In written music the circle and the dot stood for perfection and all the note values would be divided into three.

The higher levels would be divided into three and the lower levels of the music would be divided into twos or sometimes visa-verse. You would see evidence of 9/8, 6/8, or 2/4 divided into triplets. The now common meter 2/4 was also developed.

Another invention was with the use of color. When notation was first developed in chant the first line, or the chant line, or the C-Line, might be the color of red and when they added the F-Line the color might be yellow in place of actually writing the F or C note since actual notes were not invented yet. The color also informed the performer if they were singing perfect or imperfect meter.

Isoryhytmic Motets were developed in the Ars Nova and became the dominant form of composition and eventually influenced the masses of musical composers. You may recall what a Motet is. The origin was mainly a trope that eventually became its own piece and by this time Motets have very little relation left over from the original chant other than using a few belts from some chant and building a new piece on it.

Isorhythm basically refers to a device that you would use in the tenor voice. You may recall the tenor had been the original chant. And basically what you would do is that you would have a repeating rhythmic pattern and a repeating pitch pattern. The rhythm was known as the Talea. If you are familiar with Indian Music, as in North India, they refer to the rhythm as the tal so it's actually a connected word. So the rhythm was the Talea and the pitch was the Colour. Basically you would establish some sort of repeating pattern, which was the Talea, and then you would have a series of pitches you would use that was probably part of the original chant. Now these may or may not coincide as you might have a situation when the rhythm may not change with the colour.

Next up an analysis of Garrit Gallus - In Nova Fert - N[uema], Motet by Phillpe de Vitry (1291-1361)

Later,

John

The History of Music - 2

Hoday,

You may be wondering why I am posting all of these blogs on the same day...well, I've been writing but not posting. There you go so here it is.

The following points are just a summary to lead us up to the 1300s.

Medieval period - 313 A.D. through 1150 A.D.

World Events:
Contstantine 313 A.D. Edict of Milan, Destruction of Rome 455, Code of Justinian 1 529, Rule of St. Benedict 530, Reign of Pope Gregory 1 590-605, Charlemagne becomes Holy Roman Emperor 800, Norman conquest of Britain 1066, First Crusade 1096-1099, First Universities founded in Paris, Bologna, and Oxford 1150

Music and Musicians: 700 Liturgy of Office, 900 First classicifcation of Pslam Tones, 1000 Troping, Sequences, Parallel organum, Notker Balbulus, 1200 Mass liturgy completed, Solmization, Staff Notation, Free organum, Goliard songs, Conductus, Guido of Arezzo, 1098-1179 Hildegard von Bingen, 1100-1200 Troubador Songs, Melismatic organum, 1150-1300 Trouvére songs, Minnelieder

Figures in the Arts and Humanities: 500 St. Ambrose, 354-430 St. Augustine, 600 Martianus Capella, 480-524 Boethius, 480-527 St. Benedict, 540-604 Pope Gregory, 1075-1142 Abelard

Middle Ages 1163-1364

World Events: 1163-1250 Cathedral of Notre Dame built in Paris, 1189-1199 Reign of Richard the Lionhearted, 1215 Magna Carta

Music and Musicians: 1163-1190 Notre Dame School, Leonin, 1200 Perotin, Motet, 1291-1361 Phillipe de Vitry, 1300-1377 Guillaume de Machant

Figures in the Arts and Humanities: 1225-1274 Thomas Aquinas, 1265-1321 Dante Alighiee, 1267-1337 Giotto di Bondone

Let's begin at this point we're going to begin the next series with The Great Schism and The Black Plague.

Later,

John

The History of Music - 1

This multi-part series will attempt to generally discuss music history, overall music theory, composers, performers, and instruments reigning from 1012 B.C Through 2009 A.D.

Essentially music history is broken up into categories and subcatagories known as periods.

Antiquity

the 1st period is called Antiquity and generally spans 1012 B.C. through 313 A.D.

World Events: Reign of King David, First Recorded Olympic competitions 776 B.C

Music and Musicians: First notated music 800 B.C., Greater Perfect System 4th Century B.C.

Figures in the Arts and Humanities: Homer 700 B.C., Pythagoras 500 B.C., Aeschylus 456 B.C., Sophocles 400 B.C., Plato 340 B.C., Artistotle 322 B.C., Jesus.

For the most part little is known about the entirety of music prior to the 1300's. Therefore this series will begin around that time period. In the meantime however I will bore you with the information available prior to music's real beginning.

In essence we know about the Doctrine of Ethos and how music can affect human character. Plato thought of music as education and Aristotle thought of music as art. There was some music theory we knew called tetrochords and tonoi. Tetrachords was a span of two octaves with a series of intervals based around the fourth. Tonoi was an order of pitches that eventually led to the greater perfect system which was the development of two octaves of tones - essentially invented by Pythagoras.

Before 313 B.C., music was basically passed down by story telling and education but little written music was around basically because notation wasn't invented yet. The Edict of Milan (313 B.C.) when Constantine and Licinicus granted freedom from Christianity dictated the beginning of cataloging music in written forms however not in the form of the notation we read today.

It was not until 480 B.C. when Boethius wrote a doctrine known as De Institutione Musica that we have written forms of how music was perceived, taught, played, and cataloged.

And it was not until Pope Gregory 590-604 A.D. developed the first school that musicians could read and sing together by using a codified system of notes.

Charlemagne 742-814 A.D. along with Thomas of Celeano cataloged Pope Gregory's Schola Cantorum's writings and established the first body of church music and classified it as the following: (Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Trinity, Advent, Divine Office, Rule of Benedict, Matins, Lauds, Vespers, Compline, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Antiphony, Mass, Eucharist, Ordinary, Proper, Requiem, Dies Irae, Recitation Tones, Psalm Tones, Melismas, Church Modes, Authentic, Plagal, Modes, and Nuemes. Yes, he was a busy fellow.

Guido of Arezzo: 1000 A.D. by means of Guidonian hand standardized the 4 line staff, sight singing, and the additional solfege; ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and the ever popular la.

As music grew through between 1000 and 1300 a plethora of scholars, religious figures, and composers developed more modernized theories but from this point I would like to discuss the two most defining moments in history during the 1300's - The Great Schism and The Black Plague - next time on The History of Music

Later,

John