How To Make It More Musical
Most students
who explore the Scale Game find it a difficult task, at first, to make consistently
satisfying music out of such a limited palette of sounds. Sometimes it’s
pleasant, sometimes dull, sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly. The true essence
of the exploration would emerge if a student had the patience and attention to
discriminate all the various factors that make the music attractive, enjoyable,
and meaningful, i.e. musical. That same discrimination would result in a clear
understanding of what causes the music to be unattractive etc. - i.e. unmusical.
Most of us are not that persistent, however. We need some hints, some direction
or we get discouraged by the inconsistency of our results and give up. Before
I attempt to provide that assistance, let me just say again that the more you
can just listen and experiment within the ‘rules’ of the game, so
that you discover as much as possible on your own, the more meaningful your discoveries
will be.
That said, here are some observations that I hope will help you get the most out
of the Scale Game.
Problem #1:
The music sounds rambling, - just goes on and on so that it seems like random
notes.
Suggestion #1: Melodies need to breath. Most melodies are related
to speaking or singing. Sooner or later the voice needs to pause for breath. Pausing
for breath creates phrases. Phrases become musical ideas - they communicate -
they feel meaning-full.
NOTE: None of these ‘suggestions’ are to be taken as rules. There
are many examples of artists who do their art differently than these guidelines.
But for the novice improviser these can serve well.
Suggestion #2: Play a chord as often as you wish until you are
ready for the sound of a new chord. Chords are like background colors that emotionally
‘color’ the foreground line - the melody. You could think of them
as theatrical lighting that influences the effect of the action on stage. A longer
chord emphasizes a certain ‘mood’. Chords can change more frequently
as well, but if you play a new chord every time you move your left hand, the effect
is of some force, like a hand in the small of your back, pushing you to keep going
and going. It feels compulsive and, after a while, random.
Suggestion #3: Remember to play with a definite beat. In order
for most beginning improvisers to discover how to make phrases the beat is necessary.
When you play ‘in time’ your phrases will sound either good or awkward.
You can hear the difference. When you play ‘out of time’ your phrases
sound indistinct, nebulous, neither good nor bad.
Problem #2: Sometimes ‘correct’ melody notes (correct
in the sense that they are in the scale you’re working with) still sound
like mistakes.
Analysis: There are two notes in the (major) scale that have
the potential to sound like mistakes. In future articles I will explain why that
is so. For now I will point out the practical knowledge of these notes and how
to deal with them so that they sound musical.
The Root of the scale (!?) and the Fourth note of the scale can sound very awkward,
like you were jogging along and stubbed your toe. This is especially surprising
to most students who usually rely on the Root of the scale as one of the easiest
notes to remember and think of it as a ‘safe haven’. Just the opposite
is true.
There are three ways to deal with the ‘problem’ that will give musical
results. There is only one way that results in the unmusical “stubbed toe”
sensation”.
The Root and the Fourth are special notes with special properties. The only way
to stumble over them is by accident. If you are unaware of their special qualities,
or forget to take them into account, then you might play them at an awkward time.
Once you know what I am about to outline, it will rarely occur that they sound
wrong. Just think of how hard it is to stub your toe on purpose. It has to come
by surprise.
There are three positive options for those notes.
Suggestion #1: Don’t play them. Obviously, I don’t
mean to never play them.
I mean that at any moment in the flow of your melody you might choose to skip
over one of those notes. However, an interesting way to experience the effect
of skipping them is to ‘never play them’ for a little while. Your
melodies then will only use the other five scale notes. This will show you that
melodies can be quite interesting without relying on those ‘special’
notes.
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Suggestion #2:
The second option is to ‘sandwich
them in’. If you start on a
neighboring note and then play the special note, and then the next note, the Root
(or Fourth) is part of a moving line of sounds and does not ‘stick out’.
It is what’s usually called a ‘passing tone’.
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Suggestion#3: Stick it out. If you know the effect of the Root
or Fourth and you want that sound at a particular moment and play it on purpose
then it will not take you by surprise. You will probably like it’s sound.
If you start a phrase on that note, or end on it, or have it as the highest or
lowest note on a line of notes then it will ‘stick out’.
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Suggestion #4: A fourth way to cope with the ‘special notes’
could be called ‘the quick recovery’. If you do play one by accident
but can quickly move it to a neighboring note it will become a passing tone -
a kind of ‘open-face sandwich’. Sometimes you can, instead, stick
it out and create your line from that now emphasized note.
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Problem #3: It always sounds like you’re playing the same
tune. There’snot enough
variety to keep the exploration interesting.
Suggestion #1: Play discreet tunes’ or ‘pieces’
that have a definite beginning, middle and ending. Begin tunes on a variety of
chords. Start some on the I chord. Start some on the II chord, the V chord etc.
Suggestion #2: Change tempo. Have at least three speeds - slow,
medium, and fast. If you are not a technically advanced pianist you can still
play a fast tempo. Think about dancing to a fast beat. You don’t necessarily
have to do fast, complex movements. You just have to be in ‘sync’
with the beat. Similarly, playing a fast tempo doesn’t necessarily mean
fast runs. It means playing notes in sync with the beat. They might be 1/2 notes
and 1/4 notes but they will feel different than if the pulse were slower.
Suggestion#3:
If you are familiar with the dance rhythms of Swing, or Latin dances such as Cha-cha
or Bossa Nova, you can play your Scale Game music to reflect a rhythmic mood.
This is too complex a subject for me to elaborate in this article. Perhaps I will
expand on it in a future article. For now, if you are already a musician then
Suggestion #3 will suffice to remind you that meter and rhythmic mood can be varied
in different pieces to enhance the Scale Game.
Suggestion #4: Change key. The Scale Game should be played in
all twelve major scales. Changing keys during a practice session will help to
keep the music fresh.
Suggestion #5: Change
Mode. Whichever chord is the main sound (‘home base’, Tonic) of your
scale piece is the Mode you’re playing in. You can get the modal sound going
by strongly emphasizing one particular chord. Then, when you play other chords,
play only one or two chords then go right back to the main chord. After a while
your ear will accept that you are in that modal ‘key’ instead of the
original major scale key of the I chord. Some Modes are easier than others for
creating satisfying music. Part of the value of the Scale Game is to inform yourself
about the Modes and to form your own preferences regarding them.
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