PRACTICE PORTAL

Here are some arpeggio and intervallic patterns based on the major and minor bebop scales each pattern cycles through all twelve keys…

I was playing a gig last night with a friend of mine, Ray along with drummer, Sonosuke- two saxes and drums, a challenging situation but fun nonetheless. we had a great time playing through some of Ray’s original material and standards. at one point in the evening, Ray suggested that we play “Cherokee” in 7/4. i wasn’t going to say no, but the thought playing in an odd meter without any harmonic anchor made me a little queasy. i immediately began counting in my head, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3…” Ray, who’s quite an incredible young sax player, ripped through his improvisation and sounded very relaxed and loose, and Sonosuke, very adept at incorporating odd meters and rhythmic modulation into his concept, skillfully accompanied Ray’s blowing. i, on the other hand, kind of limped through my solo. i made it to the finish line by falling back on a technique i learned from a college teacher (”when in doubt, play soulful long tones!”) but i pretty much got my butt handed to me on a platter…

Tokyo has always been behind the curve as far as the trends in jazz concepts. only recently have i been hearing players here starting to address improvisation over odd meters, something that the straight ahead guys in NYC were heavily into by the time i left, some 8 years ago. being a  California guy who went to music school in L.A., i was hip to that concept many years ago, but i generally heard it in the context of badly played jazz fusion, so as someone who was more into straight ahead styles, i didn’t pay much attention to it. my argument for disregarding it was that i thought it generally  sounded mechanical and cold, as if guys were, like i did last night, counting in their heads, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3…” it seemed like a certain portion of musicians’ brains were dedicated to the task of metronome, which inevitably left less space for actual music… in my opinion, the more things a musician can internalize (instrumental technique, sight-reading, knowledge of harmony, grasp of past styles, etc.), the freer he will be to actually create. it follows that playing in odd meters also must be internalized if it’s to sound human and natural. over the last couple of years, i’ve heard more and more musicians who sound very comfortable improvising in odd meters. i plan to be one of those guys too!

i went out to my favorite practice spot today, and before i got started, i told myself that i would stop using the term “odd” meter.  the word “odd”  is loaded; perhaps it’s a small thing  but the word carries negative connotations, (foreign, strange, difficult, etc.) that can become mental roadblocks. how about a different name that’s already in common use, like “compound time”, or something like “complex meter”? they still sound a little daunting, but better than “odd”. the only reason that playing in 5/4 or 7/4 is more difficult than playing in 4/4 and 3/4 is that we’re not as familiar with them. we have to get to know them. the best way to get to do that is to first relate them to ones we already know well. for example, why not divide 5/4 into two groups: one of 3/4 and one of 2/4? use the same procedure for 7/4, divide it into two groups: 4/4 and 3/4. or reverse the group order: 3/4 then 4/4. the first thing i worked on was taking a tune very familiar to me and working out the melody over a compound meter (7/4). i laid it over the time signature in as many ways as i could think of, playing it slowly. then i improvised over it using the two meter groupings that i mentioned above. i tried to think simply, using half notes and quarter notes at first, then moving on to lines using eighth notes. after a time counting out aloud, my brain became more accustomed to functioning over 7/4 but i still heard that little voice in my head, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3″. i’m convinced, however, that my inner metronome will subside as my brain becomes accustomed to alternating between the two (or more) simpler meters that comprise the compound meter. from playing familiar melodies in compound meter, i went on to play through some exercises that i usually play in 4/4 or 3/4.

one kind of obvious conclusion that i came to in the short time i’ve been working on compound meters is that the reason melodies and improvisations tend to sound mechanical in compound time is because  we’re oriented to playing, writing and hearing one simple meter at a time. it’s funny though- i can play and hear quite easily in 5/4 time, mainly because of playing and hearing the song “Take Five” over the years. i hate that song with a passion (not that it’s a bad song per se, but it’s been beaten to death) but it did serve a purpose because  i’ve more or less internalized playing in 5/4.

one of my goals is to create songs that are actually oriented to compound meters, melodies that naturally flow through the divide between the simple time signatures groupings. in that way, i will have a body of work to draw from rather than mutated standards. i wrote out some exercises i came up with during my practice session…