modes in jazz: iiø-V7+9-I

15.viii.1431

Improvising on the 7+9 chord means playing the 7+9 scale, also called Diminished Whole-Tone scale and Alt scale (among other names; I show the scale further in the post).

But this is equivalent to the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale (ie, seven degrees below the key of the chord). This greatly simplifies the thinking on what to play. But take care that this is a modal way of thinking, rather than tonal (more on this below).

Here is a concrete example: if we have a G7+9 chord, since G is the 7th degree of A♭, we simply play in the melodic minor scale of A♭.
(♭ = fr. bémol or en. flat)

Likewise, when given a half-diminished chord, e.g., Dø (comprised of notes F A♭ C and E), this chord and scale (half-diminished scale, aka, Locrian #2) is equivalent to the sixth degree of the melodic minor scale (D is the sixth of F) so we improvise in the F melodic minor scale.

Just to complete the cadence (the ii-v-i), we note that the C major minor is the first or root mode or tonic of its own melodic minor scale, so we just improvise on the C melodic minor scale.

Just for reference here are the degrees of the 7+9 or diminished whole-tone scale:


I ♭II ♭III ♭IV ♭V ♭VI ♭VII 8va.

e.g., G7+9 = G A♭ B♭ B D♭ E♭ F G

indeed, the seventh mode of the A♭ melodic minor scale.

Note there is more than one way to write out the degrees of this scale. Some prefer to consider that rather than flatted, the fourth, fifth and sixth degrees are all raised :)

Now the caveat that this is a modal way of thinking rather than tonal.

In the modal view, or in a given "modal" piece of music, each chord change signals a change in the key (also called key center or tonal center) of the music.

Indeed, here we'd be improvising in a different key every time the chord changes in this minor ii-V-I progression.

By contrast, and also by the same token, if we consider the Major ii-V-I progression, we get a more "tonal" picture:

In the key of C, for example, the ii-V-I is Dm7-G7-CΔ, we have

Dm7 is the dorian mode of the C major scale,
G7 is the mixolydian mode of the same,
and CΔ is the tonic of the same,

so we'd be improvising in the C major scale, a tonal idea,
since, iiuc, in a tonal tune, the key or tonal center does not change with every chord change.

PS. I got this realization while practicing the minor ii-V-I progression scales given in Aebersold Volume 3 "the ii-V-I progression".
Although they made no mention of this in the tome, i can't understand why!

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piano practice notes

30.vii.1431

A draft to be edited and organized later. These notes combine insights taken from experience, books, lessons, etc. some points are super obvious and might be removed later on.

* scales and arpeggios

- play at the speed of the slowest scale.
increase speed once you gain comfort at a given speed for all scales. it is rewarding to "cover" a particular speed and move on to the next. increase the speed by an amount comfortable/feasible. sometimes an increase can be by 5 bpm, some others it can be 10 or more bpm.

- Make the goal to practice over the entire register not just a few octaves; unless this is difficult, tedious, too time consuming.

- play two octaves apart. When this two difficult play both hands only one octave apart. But the goal should be to play with the same ease any number of octaves apart.

- as a minimum play 1/8ths for a given speed, unless it is too difficult at the start. Also aim to play in triplets and sixteenths.

* scale fingerings to be added.

* take a break every hour

There is no point pushing an exercise for more than an hour, it clouds the brain and strains the muscles.

* when it hurts (anything, shoulders, forearms, wrists, fingers, back) stop.
I find that no pain no gain is a stupid and harmful misconception. playing or practicing while in pain actually risks injury. Pain is a signal from the body to stop. heed it.

* practice regimen to be expanded later. but you want to practice
- the major scale
- at least 2 of the three or four minor scales
- the whole tone scale
- the diminished scales (whole-half and half-whole) scales
- others still
- arpeggios, triads, dom 7th tetrads, sixth tetrads
- ii-V-I progressions in various voicings (to be added later, maybe)
- the piece(s) you're working on for repertoirs and rhythms and licks.

* one writer adviced repeating a given exercise (or measures in a piece) until it can be played seven times in a row without error.

for time limitation or boredom reasons, i sometimes make do with three times in a row.

* when learning measures in a musical work, or trying an exercise, or a rhythm pattern, slow down until you get it right.

slow down the speed at which it is played until you can play it accurately.

once you reach accuracy you can progressively increase the speed as long as accuracy is maintained.

there is a threshold in speed (early for some, like me, or late for others) at which once accuracy in playing the pattern is achieved the pattern can be played at much greater speeds without problem.



* note on voicings,

* focus on problem moments , the switch over the thumb (usually where and when
the fourth and third fingers on each hand land)

once playing is flawless at a given speed

we can increase the speed.



some keys will be easier to play at higher speeds than others

i read somewhere or was told to stay the speed fo the slowest
and bring the whole up together.
i don't know the pedagogic correctness of this but i follow this point anyway.


- for the rusty but /and lazy, unmotivated
the prospect of running through the cycle of fifths
may be quite daunting - particularly if you are error prone
due to rustiness, or are still working your way up to perfection.
just imagine,
on the face of it, one has to play through
12 keys, at least 3 scales each in each key
7 times of flawless (read errorless) playing in a row
where each key has many errors (mostly fingering + timing)
that's 7 time for a given range (be it 1va up to 9th, 2va)
(for the whole register, i don't really do 7 times if well played
or unless i'm enjoying it)




so here are a tip or two

- on good (full) energy days, i intend and make an effort to go through the twelve keys

- frankly most days i am not at that ideal energy / motivation levels, so

- on a given busy , depressed or lazy day,
i focus on fewer than the twelve keys.

if i happen to be extra lazy, unmotivated, depressed or busy,
i can even just focus on one key.


even if i end up practicing in more than one key,

i form the intent to practice in only one key.
this clears up the mind, and the daunting prospect mentioned above.

at one time to overcome my aversion to a full regimen of 12 keys or errors and repititions
i worked out these variations of a rough schedule

- focus on a single key each day
- do two keys every day
- do the whites on a day, then do the blacks on another day


- take breaks. do not exceed an hour

- no pain no gain is a fallacy.

in fact , pain may lead to injury.

when an exercise begins to hurt stop.

- when you've hit a wall , where no matter how hard you try
there is no improvement such you can effortlessly play without error

sleep on it. step away, step back, get up and leave, disconnect, walk out on it .


working on a difficult piece or a problematic fingering
to the point of hitting a wall in terms of performance

means that the problem / improvement will not get better from endless repetitions
in the same session.

i find that taking time off,
even letting the day pass and revisit it the following day

works a lot better than repeating the pattern 70 times or
n times until it gets better.

this is also true when solving other kinds of problems, like math or programming,


- clear your thoughts.
particularly problems and negative feelings, distractions, anxieties


- i often discover myself playing the scales , arps, or pattern
without errors if my thought happen to wander away , or just daydream
the immediate task at hand, while repeating it.


when i'm not particularly thinking hard of it , sometimes the so-called muscle memory just takes off on its own
and i play well.

that's at least a good sign that the "muscle" memory (actually it's just memory) has absorbed the pattern
and it will stay there for good - ntil the neural connections themselves deteriorate.

it is perhaps the anxiety over the problem pattern or fingering that distracts more than helps.

on the other hand,

focusing perhaps on the landing of the fourth or third fingers with a clear mind obviously helps improvement.

solving a performance mini-problem, hitch does require focus and attention.

the wandering thought thing works in repetitive exercises, like scales and arpeggios.


- jam

most jazz books are full of the jazziest coolest funkiest voicings ,

to get my mind off a difficult/ boring exercise

i take time off to jam - to actually enjoy the instrument,


jamming after exercising is often fun, because there a sense of having paid one's dues that
propels confidence, a desire for well-earned fun with the instrument.



- work on pieces.

the other half of practice work - is the performance practice of course.


- memory is faithful ,
no matter how rusty one gets , or how many years of neglect have passed,

the memories of earlier (bygone) practice and fingerings or pieces does come back after a little bit of work.


this is why every bit of practice is useful and helps.


it always pays off the following day, week, year or decade.



- think , these fingers control and master and rule the keyboard not the other way around

with difficult passages , patterns, stubborn fingerings problems,,

play lightly (ie, do not pound the keys) and think the above thought,

it helps relieve the anxiety and sense of a daunting task to overcome,

when effort-fully laboring at getting it right, because of the keyboard layout and prescribed fingering

i get to feel i'm at the mercy of the instrument and the rules / patterns involved.

i switch roles, and activate the thought that it is my fingers that command thhat keyboard

and by god i'll bend it to my will (my will being the desired result)

i lighten up on the fingers, and hop! a little boost of confidence improves things - even if just a bit.



- play staccato as well as legato (slurred)

often i see advice to play slurred in jazz books.

i think they should say play both slurred and staccato

they are different sounds, different efforts ,

sometimes when i thought i practice a scale so well, when i switch to playing staccato from slurred or vice versa

i find a little more work is needed.


- play on a real (acoustic) piano .

there is nothing in the world like a real piano.


even if one is only looking for dexterity on electonic keyboards,

practicing on a piano making playing the plastic keys so easy , effortless and confident.


- play german russian english and japanese pianos.

it's okay to be racist in piano manufacturers.

i've played bielaruss american romanian and ukrainian pianos.

the tone is just missing, and the former age better than the latter.



- damping the sound

if playing in an apartment building and embarassed at how silly you sound making errors
on easy pieces, or figuring out any piece like a retard, or making errors on scales

and can't afford to sound proof your music room ,

- put rondelles underneath the piano legs/wheels these are like very thick glass cups on which the piano rest
- put the piano over a thick carpet
- the more furniture in the room the more sound is absorbed, curtains, carpets, bookshelves, shutters,
although they do not insulate sound, they help dampen it.
- if using an upright put cushions b/t the piano back and the wall
- using an upright (city dwellers who can't afford pro insulation jobs) will more likely only have an upright
but i imagine this works - if needs be - for a baby grand too, place a blanket inside the soundbox,
in front of , or on top of the string board.

- moth ball your piano
it'll smell bad, but will keep away wood loving pests.

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etymo note: olive, oleum, زيت , زيتون

30.vii.1431

the word for olive in arabic and european languages has a relation to that for oil.
thus on one hand we have (zayt, zaytoun) for oil and olive respectively in arabic; and on the other in european language we have ἐλαίϝα ἔλαιον olea oleum olive.
the original usage for ἔλαιον and olea was to designate olive oil per se.
it therefore seems that the name for olive predates the name of oil.

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etymo note: camera قمرة

30.vii.1431

قمرة (qamarah) means chamber or room, particularly chambers on a ship. Conjecture is that is it related to camera and hence chambre the same way "magazine" is related to مخزن (makhzan).

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great things i've said

Partial list of chord voicings (2010), at scribd. -- 13.xii.xiv.

As primates, we're as crazy as they come. -- 02.xii.xiv.

Ousting George Lucas from Star Wars writing is like a Star Wars Spring.
-- 02.xii.xiv.

...

i am therefore i think.

26.vii.1431

self confidence starts at home

time is not the fourth dimension.

if cleanliness is next to godliness why not skip the cleanliness and go straight for the godliness?

peak oil is a myth.

there is no race and no ethnicity.

there is scarcely a human invention stupider than bass clef notation.

the metric is what you make of it.

archaeological excavations of ancient corpses strike me as part of the process of resurrection.

christianity and christian theology have been dumb in the face of any challenges mounted by intellectuals.

living systems violate the 2nd law of themodynamics by reversing entropy

living systems violate the law of inertia

tax property not income

being a vampire   sucks

maybe is someone tells the jews the west bank is not actually a *bank* they might let go of it

the antichrist has a hell of a press agent

you are what life makes of you

primates should be given quasi human rights

not only do the dead visit us in dreams, but so do remote viewers

ironic that awesome and awful both share the same root

the 19th century had the underground railroad, this century has filesharing

women are not equal to men

la vengeance est inutile, la rancune nuisible

la rancune est inutile, la vengeance nuisible

democracy is the opiate of the masses

democracy is a hoax

objectivity × sincerity → correctness

the problem with most 3rd world states is that they are authoritarian and laissez-faire in all the wrong areas

prehistoric == posthistoric

if it's a video conference why can't i smoke?!

i look in the mirror and instead of mysql i see postgresql

it's time the jet engine was re-invented

no breakfast is complete without five different types of cheese at the table

what is a man's life but his work his society and his sex?

il fut un sultan insultant

anticipation of external events in dreams breaks causality and temporal linearity in physics

happy Easter-usalem

eid sadat

physical laws are mostly the same across analysis domains

on m'appelle le roi des cons, néanmoins c'est un roi qu'on m'appelle

does every cell have a soul?

the eukaryotic cell cannot be expressed in a single n-th order differential equation

if they nominate Internet for a nobel peace prize, i'd like to also nominate the printing press and common sense

i'm not anti-social it is social that is anti-me

femininity is all about tertiary structure

is a hierarchy-finding algorithm a form a clustering?

time to start a new browser tab in my life. Ctrl-T

water is the substrate of life

women are motivated only by their clits and their vanity

the prettier a woman the more of slut she actually is

la cellule eukaryote ferait une metropolis tel qu'aurait voulu fritz lang

ʒə syʁvivʁe

electric charge = isospin + ½ hypercharge

proteins have four general regulation/control mechanisms

water is the substrate of life

the cell is a nanotech biomimetic wet dream

frankness not deception   openness not opacity   collaboration not competition

my house is haunted by a ghost .. and i am the ghost

femininity is all about folds, it seems

about 40% of women will dissolve a marriage

dreams manifest built-in high level literary interpreters

we generate not only language but also rhetoric to serve as high-level knowledge classificaº/organizaº, retention(storage) & retrieval

nothing is lighter than light

women, fuck me literally not figuratively

i've never in my life seen a hymen

the eyes are the linux of the soul

the parsec is one of the stupidest units ever conceived (also the fahrenheit)

downloads are like horses they prod each other on faster

discovering exobiota needn't and won't change anything

why make movies about zombies when u can make movies about republicans ?

scarcity is a myth

seriously, what good is a *random* access memory?

most algorithms are built into either our minds or cognition

your illumination is incomplete, your self-righteousness ate the rest of it

most morally deficient nations: belgium colombia czech egypt ethiopia georgia india iraq israel lebanon north-korea philippines? uk usa

when all's said and done humanity can boast hundreds of thousands of funk riffs

a woman's vagina usually extends only to a length of about 10cm (4 inches)

the way the universe is right now, entropy is fucked

sex in the 40s is no longer about whether u both want it, but whether your bodies will allow it

destiny is intimately intertwined with one's deeds

In the beginning, there was the buffer

Isn't it time to abstract the TLD away from users?

thermodynamique(ΔU = 0, ΔS ≥ 0, lim_T→0 S = 0)

extensive sets are semipositive scalars

Lévi-Strauss makes no sense at all

a universal law or pattern seems to point to a common origin

hardware is grey, software is blue, i use 'em to say i love you

everything there is has some form of consciousness/awareness

l'un des plus grands effets de l'informatisation est que l'on tape bcp pls souvent qu'auparavant

in the performing arts intent is key

if u build it, there's a good chance no one will come

at the end of the day, actors are just bullshitters

hierarchy often also denotes history

the lagrangian L is to the action, what velocity is to position

meaning can be ascribed to any "random" selection

semantic idioms are the same across languages

design patterns are features that others stole then everyone ended up copying

learning any field of knowledge is a matter of learning a new language

A tragedy is created by humans and not God

some of the best grooves are monotonous

bavardez et ça va barder






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