209. MELODIC TETRA (4) OR PENTA (5) -CHORDS: SOLO COMPOSITION AND IMPROVISATIONS BASED ON ALTERNATING MELODIC QUARTETS OR QUINTETS OF INTERVALS OF 4TH AND 5TH.

THE ANCIENT MUSICAL THEORY SIMPLE DESCRIPTION OF RAPSODY MUSIC STIL LIVING IN THE AEGEAN ISLANDS LIKE THAN OF CRETE IN GREECE :

Such music was created in ancient times it  is mesmerizing with complicated melodic lines but in reality very simple musical description.

For these Aegean islands (Greece) improvisational folk melodies with violin or Lyra, the next factors prevail.

1) "Poetic meters" over the same note sometimes note up to 8 notes

3) Straight vectors ascending or descending usually of 4 or 5 notes so as to reach a new chord neighborhood.

2) Mainly waves by intervals of 2nds (chromatic) inside intervals of 3rds (melodic, either standing or ascending descending, and usually inside a chord  so as to reach the neighborhood of a new chord.

A) THE UNDERLYNG CHORD OF THE SONG IS ONLY ONE AND IS A POWER  CHORD AT ROOT POSITION OF SAY A DIATONIC SCALE (ALTHOUGH IN ANCIENT TIMES THEY DID NOT HAVE THE CONCEPT OF A  7-NOTES SCALE BUT ONLY OF A 4-NOTES SCALE THE  TETRACHORD WHICH WAS A SCALE SPANING ONLY AN INTERVAL OF 4TH INSTEAD OF AN INTERVAL OF 8TH, THUS POWER CHORD WOULD BE THE ROOT POSITION ON THE TETRACHORD). 

B) THE SOLOING IS ANY REPEATING PROGRESSION OF SHORT RYTHMIC MELODIC THEMES WITHIN A TETRACHORD WHICH  IS USUALLY  THE 1-2-2 IN SEMITONES THUS THE FRYGIAN TETRACHORD AT THE 3RD POSITION OF A  DIATONIC SCALE WITH UNDERLYING POWER CHORD AT THE ROOT POSITION OF THE TETRACHORD OR THE 3RD POSITIONOF A MODERN 7-NOTES DIATONIC SCALE. (SOMETIMES ALTERNATING WITH ANOTHER TETRACHORD E.G. THE IONIAN TETARCHORD AT ROOT POSITION OF THE 7-NOTES DIATONIC SCALE , AND IN ANY CASE THE ACCOMPANYING CAN BE ALSO BY THE POWER CHORD AT THE ROOT POSITION OF THE 7-NOTES DIATONIC SCALE IN INSTEAD OF THE 3RD POSITION OF THE DIATONIC SCALE)

THE MORE COMPLICATED BUT NOT  ALWAYS MORE ENLIGHTENING DESCRIPTION WITH MODERN SCALES AND CHORDS: 

MELODIC TETRA (4) OR PENTA (5) -CHORDS: SOLO COMPOSITION AND IMPROVISATIONS BASED ON ALTERNATING MELODIC QUARTETS OR QUINTETS OF INTERVALS OF 4TH AND 5TH.

(This post has not been written completely yet)

In post 208 we discussed a similar idea but with alternating major/minor 3rds creating thus underlying harmony of major /minor chords of diatonic scale. The optimal tuning for this is string instruments  tuned uniformly by intervals of 5ths.

Here the idea is the same but we alternate intervals of 4th-5th to create power-5 chords. The optimal tuning here is the octaves tuning of post 210.

When improvising is a solo in an almost random way but which tries to listen also to the inner emotions, a good path is to walk by intervals of 2nd small distances of total length and interval of alternating intervals of 4th (5 semitones) and 5th  (7 semitones) exactly as it happens in a power-5 chords of diatonic scale, as this also creates an underlying  simple and string harmony. 

This type of walking vector-intervals (see also post 183 1nd 159) in other words intervals closed together with all the intermediate notes of diatonic scale that it belongs to it we have called previous post as vector-chord improvisation as contrasted to arpeggio improvisations.

Therefore instead of the concept of scale (and as here we do not assume a chord progression or scale of chords) we have the concept of tetra-chords and penta-chords   as vector intervals of  4th and 5th respectively.
In ancient Greece the dominant concept was not the 7-notes scale but the tetra-chord and penta-chord. By combing two such we get 7-notes scales  

Of course here also a 4-chord and a 5-chord (or vice versa) of length an interval of 4th and an interval of 5th create a 7 -notes scale . Some of them are modes of the diatonic scale, the harmonic minor  the double harmonic minor and the melodic minor.

Of course we add wavings by intervals of 2nd and we go up or down according to the alternation of sad and happy changes of the emotions. 

The 4th/th  alternation also corresponds to alternation of sad and happy emotions. 

If we are on string instruments tuned by octaves (see post 210), then we can also accompany this solo with the interval of 8th of the two immediately lower strings as a kind of drone power-8 chord. The melodic themes created in one or two consecutive such (vector) intervals of 4th-5th can be varied of course with translations, inversions, rotations (including expansions)  and mutations. In an octaves tuning this can be done by shifting octaves which means shifting among the strings.
Normally two tetra-chords/pentachords  are for the first poetic line (8 beats) and two more for the 2nd poetic line (7 syllables) in lyrics of 15-syllables poetry.

ALL 6 TETRACHORDS   (also called vector intervals of  4ths)

DIATONIC FAMILY

(containing only 2 and 1)

2-2-1  syntono major  , Ionian/mixolydian

1-2-2  syntono minor  , Phrygian/Locrian

2-1-2   minor, Dorian/Aeolian

CHROMATIC FAMILY

(containing 3)

1-3-1   2nd chromatic

1-1-3    parachromatic tonal

3-1-1    1st chromatic 

ALL 20 PENTACHORDS   (also called vector intervals of  5ths)

All pentachords contain a single power-5 chord that power-5 chord which is defined by the end-notes of the pentachord.

DIATONIC FAMILY

(containing only 2, and 1)

2-2-2-1       Major Lydian    Contains a major chord (known also as Natzi/Zaouil)

2-2-1-2        Major Ionian/Mixolydian    Contains a major chord.(known also as Rast/Mahour)

2-1-2-2       Minor Dorian    Contains a minor chord (known also as Bousselik/Nichavent)

1-2-2-2       Minor Frygian/Aeolian    Contains a minor chord (known also as Qourdi)

CHROMATIC FAMILY

(containing  3 )

1-1-3-2

1-1-2-3

1-3-2-1   Contains a major chord and a diminished chord

1-2-3-1   Contains a minor chord and a diminished chord

1-2-1-3   Contains a minor chord and a diminished chord

1-3-1-2   Contains a major chord and a diminished chord (known also as Hijaz)

3-2-1-1    Contains  a diminished chord

2-3-1-1

3-1-2-1   Contains a major chord and a diminished chord

2-1-3-1   Contains a minor chord and a diminished chord (known also as Nevesser/Nikriz)

3-1-1-2   Contains a major chord (known also as Saz-kar)

2-1-1-3   Contains a minor chord (known also as Samba)

ENHARMONIAN FAMILY

(containing  4 )

1-1-1-4   Contains a minor chord

1-1-4-1

1-4-1-1

4-1-1-1   Contains a major chord

Of course a 4-chord and a 5-chord (or vice versa) of length an interval of 4th and an interval of 5th create a 7 -notes scale . Some of them are modes of the diatonic scale, the harmonic minor  the double harmonic minor and the melodic minor.

In composing melodic themes based on melodic tetra-chords/penta-chords  we should use also the concept and technique  of  variational  independent base of melodic shapes or melodic seed (see post 106). I other words the melodic themes shapes that are mutually variational independent, in other words neither translation neither , inversion, neither rotation can derive any one of them from the others , and in addition all other melodic themes of  the song can be derived with variations from them.