I want to share a technique I use and will develop more. It involves two keys.
This piece is a song idea I've played many times, and on this mblog many times (Timeless). It's a nice melody with a 1 - 6 - 2 - 5 diatonic progression. It's fairly simple and that's the key element here as experimenting with this technique should start with something simple, and, it makes it clearer to see how something simple can be developed into something very deep and even wild.
I'll break it down here: I start this piece in Eb and play the first phrase of the song; I then play the second phrase, or the first again as they're similar, in Gb. Then I start mixing them up any way I want. I attempted to play in both keys at once but this is the most challenging way to arrange both keys (vertical or simultaneously). This morning I couldn't handle it very long (and this is what I want to develop better in my playing). I then finished out the minute with meandering between keys (horizontal or linear).
Any two keys can be used and this opens the door to at least a million ways to do a single 4 bar phrase. I almost always use keys that are a third apart. Thirds and their inverted counterparts - sixths have a pleasing relationship in harmony. John Coltrane was on to something, as an example of someone who developed this particular subject to amazing places. His songs are full of it (2 - 5's) moving in thirds, and came as close as imaginable on a reed with vertical representation (sheets of sound).
BTW - I use this technique in many places on my latest albums. It's a significant aspect of my standard repertoire deviousness!
This piece is a song idea I've played many times, and on this mblog many times (Timeless). It's a nice melody with a 1 - 6 - 2 - 5 diatonic progression. It's fairly simple and that's the key element here as experimenting with this technique should start with something simple, and, it makes it clearer to see how something simple can be developed into something very deep and even wild.
I'll break it down here: I start this piece in Eb and play the first phrase of the song; I then play the second phrase, or the first again as they're similar, in Gb. Then I start mixing them up any way I want. I attempted to play in both keys at once but this is the most challenging way to arrange both keys (vertical or simultaneously). This morning I couldn't handle it very long (and this is what I want to develop better in my playing). I then finished out the minute with meandering between keys (horizontal or linear).
Any two keys can be used and this opens the door to at least a million ways to do a single 4 bar phrase. I almost always use keys that are a third apart. Thirds and their inverted counterparts - sixths have a pleasing relationship in harmony. John Coltrane was on to something, as an example of someone who developed this particular subject to amazing places. His songs are full of it (2 - 5's) moving in thirds, and came as close as imaginable on a reed with vertical representation (sheets of sound).
BTW - I use this technique in many places on my latest albums. It's a significant aspect of my standard repertoire deviousness!