4 - 4 - harmonic motion (06-41)

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    Though there are different kinds ofharmonic motion.And a lot of the time, the way chordsmove even suggests a kind of physicaldirection that things are moving.Up, down or sideways and so on.It, there's this suggestion there in theway the harmonies move.and each kind of resolution has its ownrecognizable characteristic.Let's just look for instance at the verycommon 5,1.[MUSIC] But what if we use the substitutedominant, it's almost the same thing.But we make E7 [SOUND].See how different it sounds [SOUND].There's a chromatic movement thathappens.What about [SOUND].That's even more easy to distinguish asbeing unique.That's chromatic motion from below,coming up into the one chord.

    So, each kind of chord movement suggestsa unique identity.in fact, when I [MUSIC], I encounter, achord movement that's going up, which isnot nearly as common as chord resolutionsthat seem to go down, I usually try tobring that upward suggestion through inmy playing.I might play a line [MUSIC] that goes up.on that harmony just to help the listenerget the sense of its motion.So, there are a couple more kinds ofmovement and chord situations that the

    improviser will encounter that'simportant for you to know.one of these is called constantstructure.In this case, the type of chord stays thesame.It doesn't go from a dominant 7 to a 1chord or to a minor this or whatever.They're all the same.Let's say this is a major 7 chord[MUSIC].You can hear they are all major 7 chords,just changing place on the keyboard, but

    all the same type of chord.So the structure stays the same which iswhere the name comes from, constantstructure.And the interesting thing about constantstructure besides the fact that it haskind of a unique sound.Harmonically it doesn't sound like[MUSIC].You know the kind of resolving changes

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    that we hear more commonly.But on constant structure because thechords are all identical, in this caseall major 7 chords, any phrase.[MUSIC].Any melodic phrase that you use on onechord you can play on, all the others,just by transposing to each new harmony,because the chords are going to be thesame.Now related to, in some ways, theconstant structure concept, is whenchords move chromatically.[MUSIC] That's again a very recognizablekind of movement to our ears, to thelistener's ear.chromatic movement is, you know, has itsown character.And, and it is a k, it's a form ofconstant structure because you know thechords are all the same, in this casedominant 7 chords moving down.so you can do the same thing.Any phmelodic phrase can be repeated just

    by, moving it down a half-step and, andso on.But in addition, there's some, somethingto know about, this, the world ofchromatics.This is one of my pieces of advice that Igive the students all the time.And I have a saying, which is that,chromaticism is the improvisor's bestfriend.And I say that because, being able toplay chromatically helps us smooth outrough sp, spots in our melodic lines.

    an example is, let's say we're playing onB flat 7.And we want to go, we want to go to the Eflat on the beginning of the next chordon the E flat chord that we're leadinginto.And I want to, I'm picturing playingsteady 8th notes, right up until thatnote.But what happens if I get close to it andI either got not enough notes or too manynotes or whatever, what do I do?And that's where chromatic notes help me

    out because I don't want to get to thatnot early or late, I want it to be on thedown beat.So I can turn it into a chromatic line.[MUSIC] You add chromatic notes, turn itinto a chromatic line.As I approach the note, I want to land onit.So it helps me to land on the right beat,on with the strong note.

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    So we use chromatic notes that way, tohelp our improvising.We also use it, sometimes, just to addinterest.let's say we're playing a long passagewith only one chord.It's D minor.[MUSIC].want to go on and on for 8 bars,something, may-, 16, 16 bars.Well, after a while our one scale startsto sound repetitive and boring.So if we can just add a few extra notesto break it up, to add some color.[MUSIC] All right.I'm still on the D minor, but adding someof these chromatic notes, adds morecolor, doesn't clash with the D minor,but it makes it a little moreinteresting.So it's another, thing that thechromatic, line does for us, thatchromaticism does for us.It not only helps us smooth out our

    melodic lines.It also helps provide interest.So you will find as you get moreexperienced using chromaticism that it isa very useful tool.So, today we've looked at several ways todeal with harmony as an improviser.One is guidelines, guide tones andguidelines.Another is common scales where the cordsall share a common scale.third, constant structure, where all thecords are the same type.

    And chromatic motion, where the cords aremoving chromatically.Now, I'll be back in a minute and I willtalk about our assignment this week.