Art and Design Review, 2017, 5, 181-188
http://www.scirp.org/journal/adr
ISSN Online: 2332-2004
ISSN Print: 2332-1997
The Art of Improvising: The Be-Bop Language
and the Dominant Seventh Chords
Carmine Cataldo
Mechanical Engineering, Battipaglia, Italy
How to cite this paper: Cataldo, C. (2017). Abstract
The Art of Improvising: The Be-Bop Lan-
guage and the Dominant Seventh Chords. The aim of this article lies fundamentally in illustrating the first part of a sim-
Art and Design Review, 5, 181-188. ple and intuitive method, finalized to “speaking” the Be-Bop language imme-
https://doi.org/10.4236/adr.2017.53014 diately, without possessing any jazz background whatsoever. The main pecu-
liarity of the method consists in the fact that the attention of the improviser is
Received: July 24, 2017
Accepted: August 11, 2017 always focused on Triads. We herein exclusively discuss the improvisation
Published: August 14, 2017 techniques regarding the dominant seventh chords. Starting from a specific
extended “sentence”, built around the Major Triad, we show how to instantly
Copyright © 2017 by author and deduce further sentences, how to modify them, by cutting and adding
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
“words”, and how to effectively combine them.
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0). Keywords
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jazz Improvisation, Be-Bop, Fast Learning, Triads, Dominant Seventh Chords
Open Access
1. Introduction
We herein exclusively deal with the dominant seventh chords, starting from a
fundamental extended “sentence”, built around the major triad that immediately
gives birth to three further sentences. The sentences so obtained can be easily
cut, modified, by using new “words” (Wise, 1983) and extensions, and then
combined.
Basically, the peculiarity of the method lies in the fact that the attention of the
improviser is always focused on the triad. On this subject, we reveal in advance
that the above-mentioned peculiarity apparently loses its importance when the
(minor) seventh and the ninth are introduced. Actually, the integrity of the me-
thod can be effectively preserved by learning to locally focus the attention no
longer on the major triad, but rather on the minor one placed a perfect forth
higher (with respect to the root of the dominant seventh chord we are consider-
ing). Anyway, we will discuss this particular in the “Final Remarks and Conclu-
sion” section.
DOI: 10.4236/adr.2017.53014 August 14, 2017
C. Cataldo
2. The Method
2.1. The Fundamental “Sentence”
We here in will deal with a C7 chord. Obviously, the method should be practiced
and mastered in all 12 keys.
Although it is anything but a novelty (Wise, 1983), we will carry out the whole
discussion in terms of sentences and words. Before starting, it is worth under-
lining how the only required background actually consists in the mere know-
ledge of Triads.
The fundamental sentence we have to start from is shown in Figure 1.
In Figure 1, like in all the staves in this paper (net of a single exception), the
chordal notes (meant as the notes that constitute the triad) are depicted in red.
The fundamental sentence, intentionally extended along two adjacent octaves,
allows playing, all at once, all the altered tensions (b13, #11, #9, b9) of the chord.
2.2. Learning to “See” the Major Triad
The fundamental sentence can be evidently played starting from each of the
chordal notes, by means of a simple translation.
It is essential to underline that, in playing both the sentence we have just ex-
amined and the ones that will arise from it, the musician must focus his/her at-
tention “exclusively” on the major triad and its inversions (in case of transla-
tion).
From the pattern shown in Figure 1, exploiting the translation and carrying
out a banal cutting, we immediately deduce the three following sentences:
(1)
(2)
(3)
The ascending (chromatic) approach that appears in the anacrusis is optional.
Although the topic is not herein properly addressed, we highlight how the
sentences in Staves (1), (2), and (3) lend themselves to several metric displace-
ments.
At this point, it is worth practicing an exercise, simple and useful, based upon
the major triad and the ascending (chromatic) approach:
(4)
Figure 1. The fundamental “Sentence”.
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C. Cataldo
From Staves (1), (2), and (3), imposing a banal metric displacement and ex-
ploiting the previous exercise, we deduce the three following sentences:
(5)
(6)
(7)
At this point, we can already start to combine the sentences deduced, so as to
obtain something more complex (Baker, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c, 1988d; Wise,
1983).
For example, from Staves (5), (6) and (7), the latter transposed an octave
higher, we can easily deduce the underlying long sentence:
(8)
Let’s now practice the following pattern, based upon the mixed approach
concept:
(9)
The previous sentence, especially if we consider the optional accidentals in
brackets, allows the musician to sound very “chromatic”.
Obviously, coherently with what highlighted at the beginning of this section,
in performing the exercise proposed in Staff (9), the improviser must focus
his/her attention “exclusively” on the major triad.
We can clearly continue to melt the sentences, now with an additional ingre-
dient.
For example, from Staves (2) and (9), the latter transposed an octave higher,
we immediately obtain:
(10)
Let’s now consider the following new word, nothing but a very short “back
and forth” chromatic bridge between the fifth and the sixth:
(11)
Obviously, our attention must be exclusively focused on the fifth.
Exploiting the word just considered, we obtain a great deal of new sentences.
For example, from Staff (1), with an extension to the third, and Staff (11) we
obtain:
(12)
2.3. Introducing the (Minor) Seventh
Let’s consider the following new word that simply consists in a descending
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C. Cataldo
chromatic bridge between the minor seventh (depicted in green) and the fifth:
(13)
From Staff (1), with an extension to the third, and Staff (13) we obtain:
(14)
By juxtaposing Staves (11) and (13) we deduce the underlying new word:
(15)
Exploiting the word we have just obtained, from Staff (1), with the usual ex-
tension to the third, we deduce the following sentence:
(16)
Now, let’s abandon for a while the seventh. The sentence proposed in Staff (1)
may be modified by using a short cut, nothing but a descending chromatic
bridge that links the third to the root:
(17)
It is worth noting how the prior sentence can be evidently played considering
an Fmaj7 chord on the last bar.
From Staves (11) and (17), bearing in mind that the ascending (chromatic)
approach that appears in the anacrusis is optional, we immediately obtain:
(18)
Recovering the seventh, from Staves (13) and (17) we deduce the following:
(19)
Similarly, from Staves (15) and (17) we have:
(20)
It is worth noticing how the sentence we have just obtained can be evidently
played on the G–7/C7/Fmaj7 harmonic progression.
The sentence in Staff (1) can be further modified by means of a deviation.
Very simply, once reached the third, instead of playing the sentence the way it
was initially conceived, we start moving along the well-known Be-Bop dominant
scale, until we reach the minor seventh:
(21)
From Staves (11) and (21) we have:
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C. Cataldo
(22)
From Staves (13) and (21) we have:
(23)
From Staves (15) and (21) we have:
(24)
If we extend the foregoing sentence along two consecutive octaves, we obtain
a new long sentence, in which the role of the root is now played, if we can say so,
by the minor seventh.
Following the same procedure we have exploited in order to deduce Staves (1),
(2), and (3), the new sentence, shown in Figure 2, instantly gives birth to three
further sentences, omitted for brevity that can be progressively modified in the
usual way.
At this point, we can already build a great number of new sentences, so cov-
ering a large portion of the “Be-Bop vocabulary” (Baker, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c;
Wise, 1983).
For example, by opportunely overlapping Staves (6), (21), and (23), the latter
transposed an octave lower and stopped once reached the third, we obtain:
(25)
Obviously, further modifications, no matter how significant they may be, al-
low to considerably increase the number of possibilities. Suffice it to consider
that the chromatic bridge introduced in Staff (17) can be also bidirectional.
In the light of the previous remark, exploiting the deviation considered in
Staff (21), we deduce the following interesting new sentence:
(26)
From Staves (8) and (26), acting in the usual way, we have:
(27)
2.4. Introducing the Ninth
For the sake of brevity, in this section, since the method should be clear enough
by now, the writing of the single words is intentionally omitted.
Firstly, we can build a simple descending chromatic bridge between the ninth,
and the minor seventh (both are depicted in green).
Figure 2. Another useful “Sentence”.
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If we exploit such a procedure, from the sentence in Staff (24), transposed an
octave lower and extended to the fifth, we deduce the following sentence:
(28)
We can also build “back and forth” chromatic bridges: the simpler, obviously,
is the one that involves the ninth and the tenth (the third an octave higher).
From Staves (20) and (28), for example, we obtain:
(29)
The most interesting “back and forth” chromatic bridge is the one that in-
volves the minor seventh and the ninth.
From Staff (28), for example, we deduce the underlying sentence:
(30)
2.5. How to Enrich a Sentence (a Very Short Outline)
As soon as the improviser becomes reasonably able to master the method, an
enrichment phase can finally start. Although the procedure is not herein ad-
dressed, we can simply state that the easiest way to enrich a sentence consists in
using “repetitions” and “diatonic oscillations” (Garland, 1999; Kelly, 2013; Pow-
ell, 1998, 2002).
A simple example of enrichment, fully based on the sentence deduced in Staff
(30), is shown in Figure 3.
3. Final Remarks and Conclusion
In the Be-Bop language, the dominant seventh chords are very often replaced by
diminished chords (Parker, 1978) built on the third, the fifth, the minor seventh,
or the flat ninth. On this subject, it is surely worth practicing the following exer-
cise:
(31)
By exploiting the diminished substitution (Levine, 2009), we can further mod-
ify the sentences obtained up until now. Let’s provide just a couple of useful
examples (the flat ninth is intentionally depicted in orange).
From Staff (24), we can easily deduce the following sentence:
(32)
From Staff (28), without the “back and forth” chromatic bridge on the fifth,
we have:
(33)
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Figure 3. How to enrich a “Sentence”.
The last two sentences can be evidently played on the G–7/C7/Fmaj7 har-
monic progression. This is not a coincidence: on the contrary, we are finally
given the opportunity to qualitatively explain the reason why, notwithstanding
the introduction of non-chordal notes (minor seventh and ninth), the method
may still be considered as being exclusively based on triads. In the first bar of
Staff (33), for example, the attention of the improviser must no longer be fo-
cused on the C major triad, but rather on the G minor triad. On this subject, we
can state that, to a certain extent, C7 may be treated as if it were G–7 (both
chords have a diatonic relation with E–7b5). Consequently, the improviser can
serenely play on C7 almost all the sentences suitable for G–7 (herein not dis-
cussed), and vice-versa, with very few exceptions, so considerably enlarge the
language.
Obviously, this method constitutes nothing but a simplified introduction to
the Be-Bop language: in fact, we have intentionally avoided to investigate the
employment of several very effective scales (hexatonic, such as the whole-tone
scale, heptatonic, such as the super-Locrian, octatonic, such as the halftone-
tone), “public domain” patterns (Coker et al., 1982; Nelson, 2010), and tritone
substitutions (Levine, 2009).
Acknowledgements
This paper is dedicated to my mother, Giuseppina, who has always encouraged
me to play piano with passion and devotion.
I would like to thank my friends Francesco D’Errico, Giulio Martino, and
Sandro Deidda, excellent Italian jazz musicians and esteemed teachers at the
Conservatory of Salerno, for their precious suggestions.
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