55. Scale-butterflying improvisation versus scale of chords improvisation

This post is to be read after posts 18-19 and 11, and also after post 83.

The term "versus" in the title is just a way of speaking, since we already know that scale means also a set of chords and progressions of chords. But the converse is not true. In other words scale (tonality) is a special type of chord progressions. Nevertheless such types of chord progressions (chords of a  scale) are handled easier together with melody improvisation, by just remembering the cyclic interval structure of the scale rather than the chords of the scale. On the other hand chord-progressions have the advantage that may involve really many different scales that someone does not need to know by heart (see e.g. posts 51,52). For each chord one needs to know only the chord-scale or arpeggio, and create his own scale with notes of the chord-scale that last 2/3 of the time and any other note outside the chord scale that lasts 1/3 of the total time. This would give plenty many different scales, for different improvisations on the same chord-progression

IN MY APPROACH IN THIS BOOK I FAVOR MIXTURE OF AN IN ADVANCED COMPOSED MUSIC PIECE AND  A LATER IMPROVISATION OVER IT, RATHER THAN A 100% PRIMA-VISTA IMPROVISATION. THE REASON IS OBVIOUS. THERE ARE ADVANTAGES OF MUSICAL COMPOSITION THAT WILL TAKE MORE TIME THAN THE DURATION OF THE MUSICAL PIECE OVER A DIRECT IMPROVISATIONAL CREATION OF IT AS WE LISTEN TO IT. THE FORMER GIVES US THE OPPORTUNITY OF A BETTER QUALITY MUSICAL CREATION AND A BETTER BALANCE OF THE PREVIOUS TRIANGLE OF MUSICAL MENTAL IMAGES, SOUND FEELINGS AND FINGER ACTIONS WHEN WE IMPROVISE LATER ON THE ALREADY COMPOSED MUSICAL PIECE.

Scale butterflying improvisation. Here the chord progression is not strictly determined in advance , but the main invariant is a scale. Then butterflying is applied inside the scale, with skew-ascending or descending channels, or horizontal channels around a chord-area of the scale, or spikes. This is most often the improvisation by Bouzouki in Greek folk music. A guitarist following the musician who improvises may try to find and sound in the background the appropriate chords bu this is quite unpredictable, as the main invariant of the improvisation is not a chord-progression but a scale, and the butterflying pattern (which is the main concern of the instrument improviser) Scale-butterflying can become so rich and abundant in complexity and variations while at the same time  with very simple and strong invariants like a) the scale b) the butterflying patterns that by itself can substitute the concept of melody and chord progressions in the background. E.g. Very complex and rich scale-butterflying can be conducted with one only chord in the background. 

Experienced jazz guitarists claim that , as in usual chord progression playing, the left hand holds for some time a chord, in scale-butterflying  the improviser holds for sufficient long  time  in his imagination a whole scale along  all the fretboard , and butterfly in it. Then they may change the scale (modulation) and hold another scale on the whole of the fretboard for sufficient long time, butterflying again in it 

In the scale butterflying , if it is from intervasl of 1 or 2 semitones , it seems easier to conduct it by moving the left hand along the length of one or two strings rather than moving vertically to the strings among the 6-strings.   In the guitar fretboard, since at the 9th and 10th fret the pitch is identical with that of two strings higher, the movement along a single string can be repeated usually three times on three strings where at the end of the one string we go one with the other end of the next string (e.g. 1st 3rd 5th or 2nd, 4th, 6th) covering 2 or 3 octaves.

See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvCwj8NWclc

The smaller a musical interval within an octave the more it signifies sadness, and the more distant, (with maximum a 4th or 5th, as we consider also their inversions) the closer it is to joy.

Summarizing in  a simplistic way the correspondence of melodic pitch dynamics and the 4-basic emotions in music (joy, sadness, anxiety, serenity) we have 

1) Up pitch moves correspond to joy

2) Down pitch moves to sadness

3) Small pitch intervals of 1 or 2 semitones (chromatic or interval of 2nd) correspond to anxiety

4) Large pitch intervals (e.g. 4th, 5th octave etc) correspond to harmony and serenity. 

I believe the best idea is combining  the scale-butterflying improvisation with the chord progression improvisation. We must be utilizing the chord progression as rules of transformation of the theme.

Summarizing in  simplistic way the correspondence of melodic pitch dynamics and the 4-basic emotions in music (joy, sadness, anxiety, serenity) we have 

1) Up pitch moves correspond to joy

2) Down pitch moves to sadness

3) Small pitch intervals of 1 or 2 semitones (chromatic or interval of 2nd) correspond to anxiety

4) Large pitch intervals (e.g. 4th, 5th octave etc) correspond to harmony and serenity. 

Some instructive remarks in the composition of the melody based on the chord progression

1) In the part of the chord progression with minor chords, utilize descending melodic moves so that sadness from melody and sadness from harmony fit.Similarly ascending melodic moves for  major chords.

2) In the sad melody parts of the melody (and minor chords) utilize rhythmic patterns that start with faster notes and end with slower notes, and the reverse for the happy part (and major chords).

3) In a triad or 7 nth 4-notes chord the most characteristic notes are the middle 2nd note (in 1-3-5 interval notation  is the 3) and the 7 nth (if it exists). So for the anxiety part of the melodic moves we may utilize 1-semitone trills around these two notes, or waving with 1 or 2 semitones steps and notes outside the chord in the interval of minor 3rd (3 semitones) of the chord. Alternatively instead of trill or small amplitude waves we may utilize chromatic monotone scaling by steps of 1 semitone , or scaling with steps by intervals of 2nd of the scale,  that go from these previous notes of the chord to the same such notes in the next octave. But always make sure that the notes of the chord sound in the average longer, than the notes of these anxiety transition moves with notes outside the chord. 

4) Alternate up (happy) and down (sad) pitch moves , or chromatic moves (anxiety), with harmonic (on chord notes) moves (serenity-harmony).

5) Utilize at least 2 octaves, or even 3 for the melodic moves repeating the notes of the underlying chord on the next octaves , so there is sufficient space for melodic moves, to express with sufficiency the emotions.

6) For the duality of emotions anxiety-serenity, it may be utilized also harmonic waves or monotone scaling over 2 octaves at least,  on the notes of the chord, but also chromatic trill wave over the notes of this wave or scaling (modulated wave on wave or move) and then return to the pure harmonic wave or scaling on the notes of the chord.

7) A chromatic wave by 1-semitones steps or all notes of the scale (steps by intervals of 2nd) that goes up and down at least 2 octaves, corresponds to a chord sub-progression of the song , of our choice that utilizes almost all the chords of the scale!

The main parameters of a "butterflying" or "oscillation"  or "waving" embellishments  of melodies, that go from one part of the scale or one octave to  a next , are at least the next 8. 

1) Number of ascending notes (up move)
2) Number of descending notes (down move)
3) Retrace order (which defines the speed of  ascending or descending of the waving in the scale. e.g. 1234-2345-3456 etc or 1234-3456-5678 etc)
4) Repeating notes pattern or trill pattern  (e.g. if in ascending or descending move one is repeated twice or more times or two notes alternate as trill).
5) The pattern of two or more notes sound simultaneously among the other that sound repeatedly  
6) Rhythmic pattern (if the faster part is at the end or at the beginning of the up or down move)
7) The interval pattern of the up or down move (if it is 2nd or 3rd or 4th and higher  intervals). Or the scale in which  the butterflying is conducted. 
8) The 2-level butterflying pattern or larger  pattern of up and down moves e.g. (up , up down) (up , up down) , (up down down) ,(up , up down), (up , up down) , (up down down) (common in the Greek folk Buzuki layer and composer Zambetas ) etc . And the larger pattern of repeating and alternating whole butterfly patterns. 

As it is understood the number of combinations of  these parameters and creation of different ways of butterflying is very big. 

From the point of view of the pitch-shape of the butterflying or waving we may have the next classifications

HORIZONTAL

1) Standing horizontal channel of constant width  (Balance)

2) Standing horizontal channel of diminishing  width (Contraction, expiration with little sadness)

3) Standing horizontal channel of increasing  width  (Expansion. initiation with joy)

In 2) and 3)  one of the sides of the channel maybe horizontal which is an isocratic pattern

SKEW 

4) Ascending  waving in channel of constant width  (Joy)

5) Descending waving in channel of constant width  (Sadness)

6) Ascending  sequence   (Joy)

7) Descending sequence   (Sadness)

ALMOST VERTICAL 

6) Up spike (extreme joy)

7) Down spike (extreme sadness)

We may simplify the morphology of the melody moves to the next 4 (see also post 59)

1) up/down spike (=large interval of 5th or larger in one or very few steps, extreme emotional effect, excitement , emotional intensity)

2) up/down waving (also called in this blog butterflying, emotional effect of playing either sad of with joy, emotional complication and ambiguity)

3) up/down scaling or monotone ascending/descending  (direct ascending or descending of notes in a monotone order without waving, emotional effect straight usually with simplicity, emotional clarity)

4) Iso-kratic waving (=horizontal waving with repeating same note, peculiar emotional effect of internal symmetry , and emotional stability )

From these 4 patterns the 1) and 3) are simple and with emotional clarity. The 2) and 4) are with emotional complication and ambiguity.

From the 4 basic patterns only the up/down scaling is in the context of calm and long term stable emotionalism. The other patterns are in the context of  complicated and fast changing emotionalism.

Of course if we want more elementary classification of the pitch moves (like not analyzing substances to their chemical type but resort t the 3 elementary particles of electron , neutron and proton), then there are only 3-types  a) the (non-waving) up move of pitch (upward vector) , b) the (non-waving) down move of pitch (downward vector) c) and the sustained sounding of a note (horizontal vector)

The themes of a melody consist of a plot or sequence of the 4 basic moves (see post 59)  which by itself says an emotional story without the help of the harmony. If we have (as here we assume we do) an underlying chord progression, then utilizing almost all the notes of the chords and one theme for each of the 3-harmonic-types of chord transitions , we may define the set of themes of the melody in easy way. Alternatively we may define a theme for each type of emotion, sad, joy, anxiety or serenity, or a theme for each type of chord respectively minor (sad) major (happy), 7nth or diminished or augmented (anxiety) and r5 (serenity.) The chord progression serves as a way to transform and make variations of the themes. The notes of the simplicial submelody are the centers of the melody that sound longer and are usually the tops and bottoms of the 4 basic melodic moves that create the themes of the melody but also the notes of the underlying chord. 

We summarize the basic concerns in the melodic improvisation 

(similar to the syntax of phrase with subject verb and object etc).

1) Always use a finite set of melody motives , themes or moves. A theme may consists of the basic 4 melodic moves.  (The theme entity for melodies is so important as the chord in harmony. A theme can  be inside a chord or over a chord transition. Conversely any of the 3 types of chord transitions may define a theme for the melody, thus a finite set of themes for a chord progression)

2) Transform these melodic themes or moves  which will be the invariant of their transformations. The simpler the themes the easier the transformations.

3) Close it by returning to the initial theme. 

The ways to transform a theme are at least the next 5 and combinations of them

1) Translate it in different pitches (within a scale or not changing possibly the pitch distances )

2) Translate in time (repeat it)

3) Invert it in time or change its rhythm (if at the begging is slower and at the end faster it will be now the reverse etc)

4) Invert it or distort it in pitch (Create 1st 2nd 3rd or 4th voice versions, utilizing the chord progression as rules of transformation of the theme, or if it is ascending now it will be descending etc)

5) Change it as morphology  (from a non-waving ascending it may become waving ascending or iso-kratic) . We prefer spikes and scaling as  the main  morphological types, while the waving and isokratic as intermediate bridges. 

A very useful remark for improvisation of melody within a particular chord is the next.

Suppose we are at a note y1 of the melody which fits the underlying chord with notes x1x2x3 (whatever that may mean), then depending on the particular position of y1 relative to the x1x2x3, a shift by an interval of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th wil lead to a note y2 that will again fit the chord!. This is because the relative positions of the notes x1x2x3 of the chord are intervals of major, minor 3rd and pure 5th, and their complementary intervals relative to the octave are minor or major 6th, and pure 4th 

LATIN JAZZ AND HARMONIC BUTTERFLYING 

This butterflying is very often utilizing intervals of 3rds (3 or 4 semitones) and 4ths (5 semitones) and their complementary (6th,  8 and 9 semitones and 5th, 7 semitones when changing octave too),   thus it is ascending or descending chords (chord-scales or chord-arpeggios  , that is why it is called harmonic butterflying) and it is thus chord-harping too, but it involves also intervals of 2nd (1 or 2 semitones) which correspond to chord transitions. A hidden simplicity or invariant in this  butterflying is obviously the underlying chord.  This butterflying maybe of  waving type of melodic move but the amplitudes of the waves may be intervals of 3rds (3 or 4 semitones) and 4ths (5 semitones), instead of intervals of 1 or 2 semitones as in eastern folk music butterflying. And it can be of course of non-waving and monotone scaling type of melodic move. Obviously this butterflying prefers changing strings tuned by 4ths, rather than moving along a single string as in the Greek Bouzouki butterflying. If we move by an interval of 3rd lower to the root
 (inside the scale) of a 3-note chord of the scale, we get a 4-note chord with 6th, which extends the initial 3-notes chord by its lower relative, and we get sounds as in Romani (Gypsy) Jazz.





DEFAULT MELODIES  FOR A CHORD PROGRESSION.
Given a  chord progression it is direct how to create a melody that fits the chords, with the following rules
1) During  each chord, the entry note of the simplicial submelody , is the middle note of the chord.
2) During  each chord, the exit note of the simplicial submelody (two notes per chord here), for major chords (including 7nth chords and extensions) is the upper note of the chord, for minor, diminished and augmented chords it is the lower note of the chord.
3) During the chord the melody follows an harmonic theme in one or more octaves span, in other words from notes of the chords, and is walking the chord by a spike, straight scaling or waving (these are parameters for the composer or improviser to choose) from middle and down to up (joy) if the chord is major, or from middle and upper to down (sadness) if it is minor, diminished or augmented. If the chord is simply major or minor we may enhance its harmony by extending it with its upper and lower relatives thus  by an interval of 3rd at the highest note and up , or at the lowest note and lower (in normal position). In other words making it a chord with 6th and/or 7nth.
4) At chord transitions x->y , the melody utilizes a dense melodic move (anxiety), with steps from 1 or 2 semitones, and within a scale (including the chromatic 12-notes scale) from the exit note of x of to the entry note of y , of the simplicial submelody.
5) The harmonic move   lasts longer than the transitional dense melodic move , as the latter  takes less than 30% of the duration of x, and y.

From the rule of local fitness of a melody to a  chord  progression , such a default melody will fit the chord progression.

There is  small number of  exactly 12 characteristic tetra-chords (=4-notes sub-scales)  containing intervals of 1,2,3, semitones and where inverses and cyclic permutations of them do not count as different 

Diatonic

2-2-1, (major)

2-2-2, (major, augmented)

2-1-2 (natural minor)

Melodic minor  

1-2-1

Melodic double minor

2-1-1,

Harmonic minor 

1-3-1

Harmonic double minor

1-2-3,

 Diminished 

3-3-3 , (diminished 7nth)

3-3-1, 

Pentatonic

3-3-2, 
2-2-3

Chromatic

1-1-1

We should be also familiar with the ways we can play them in 1 , 2 or 3 strings.

There is also the CHORD BUTTERFLYING, which is to start with a chord progression, and wave some parts of the progression. This is very common to the songs.