Today in my Improv 1 class I discussed twelve bar blues, some of its variations and the blues scale. Talking about the blues scale prompted one of my students to ask about modes.
Music Theory
I went through the usual explanation about white keys on the piano, starting on each of the seven different degrees of the scale, and playing an octave, and about how this creates a new scale because there is a new series of whole steps and half steps. But it seemed to never quite sink in. Several students took turns trying to explain to him using their unique approaches, but it didn’t really seem to help. I tried to relate it to scales that he already knew: the major and minor scales. I explained how the Dorian scale is the minor scale with a raised sixth, about how Phrygian is the minor scale with a flat two, Lydian is major scale with a raised four, but I could tell that it was not really making sense to him.
I recommended that we get away from words and visuals and introduce the scale to his ear, less about the brain and more about the heart. I asked him to bring his trumpet and come with me to the piano. The first thing I did was to ask him to play the major scales to get warmed up. I asked him to play all of them. I suggested that he should play these scales moving up a fourth to the new one because that is the way that music naturally moves. So he began by playing major scales starting with C, then F, then B-flat, continuing until he completed the circle back to C Major.
The next thing that I asked him to do was to play all of his minor scales. Upon completion of the circle, I asked him to play a C minor stopping on each note to really listen to the sound. Then I asked him to play it again slowly, but this time when he got to A-flat I told him to play A-natural. Now there is a whole step between the fifth and sixth scale degree.
Next I played a B-flat minor 7 chord followed by a E-flat dominant 9 chord in a bossa nova style, inspired by Santana.
I played a measure of the B-flat minor 7 chord, followed by a measure of the E-flat dominant 9 chord. I asked him to play the new scale and not to worry about trying to impress anyone, just to get a sense and a feel about how each note felt against the chord progression. After a little difficulty I told him to stop thinking about the half steps or the whole steps, and start listening.
Very soon he started to play Dorian correctly and soon his sound improved. The next step was to take the scale through the cycle of fourths .This chord progression following the circle of fourths works out great because the dominant ninth chord turns into the minor 7 chord of the next progression.
The more we played the more he got a feel for his new scale. After a while he began to play the scales in random order and moved them around in a more musical way. A couple of times I told him to play that 6th, that 13th to really get a feel for the personality of the note. The more he played, the more he smiled.
He was really excited, and said that this is what he needed. He said that he needed somebody who would train his ear instead of treating it like a science class. So, even though my schedule is completely packed, I’m drawn to a student who has desire and enthusiasm and we’ll find time somehow.
