Hi guys.
So this lesson is going to be about
Modal Jazz and specifically
improvisation in Modal Jazz. So Modal Jazz is characterized by very sparse chord
changes, where a single chord can last for
a number of bars. There not being a
strict chord progression, a strict
written out chord progression. The use of
pedal points and drones, often. And the
use of quartal chords.
Now, Modal Jazz, as the name implies is
a genre of jazz that uses modality
rather than tonality. Now, I explain the
difference between these two things in
detail in a separate video, so you can go
check that out if you want. But
essentially tonal music uses functional
harmony; and modal music does not. So very quickly,
tonal harmony allocates every chord a
function and places each chord in a
hierarchy with the tonic at the very top.
So that every single chord is either the
tonic, and so feels like a resolution, or
is part of a progression moving towards
the tonic, that is, either a predominant,
or a dominant function. So, in a sense, the
tonic acts like the 'center of gravity'
towards which all the other chords
gravitate. For example, the chord
G7 gravitates towards and feels like
it wants to resolve to a C major.
Now, again, I go over this in detail in my
other video but essentially it's because
every dominant chord contains a tritone
interval between the third and the
seventh. And this is called a diatonic
tritone because it's the only tritone
found in a diatonic scale.
So, for example, with the G7, the tritone
interval is between B and F. And this
diatonic tritone, which gives the
dominant its characteristic sound, feels
like it wants to resolve to the tonic.
But in Modal Jazz, on the other hand, all
chords are equal.
There is still a tonal centre, so there
is still a root note. But there is no
functional harmony,
so chords do not feel like they need to
move towards the tonic. They don't feel
like they need to resolve anywhere. They are just stand alone entities which, kind of,
float there, in and of themselves.
So, as I mentioned before, in Modal Jazz
there are no strict chord progressions.
Chords are often quartal and chord
changes are relatively rare and sparse. So,
your chord progression is a little bit
boring, or you can say that it has a slow
harmonic rhythm.
However, you still use diatonic chords,
just like tonal music.
So, for example, in the key of D Dorian,
You can still use the diatonic chords
from that key: so D minor 7, E minor 7, F Major 7, G7, A minor 7,
B half diminished and C major
7. And so, in this case, because D
Dorian is just a mode of the C major
scale. All the chords found in D Dorian are
actually also found in the key of C
major.
Now, the idea behind Modal Jazz is to
give the soloist greater freedom and
greater choice when improvising. Tonal
harmony restricts the soloist because
each chord has a strict function and is
inevitably leading to the tonic. And when
you're thinking in terms of chords, with
chord progressions moving towards the
tonic,
then your improvisation is limited or
restricted in certain ways.
Incidentally, this is called 'thinking
vertically' because you're thinking in
terms of chords which are built
vertically in sheet music.
Now, if we take the classic 2-5-1 chord
progression in the key of C, in this case.
Then we find we have a predominant
functioning chord, going to a dominant
functioning chord, and then down
resolving to a tonic functioning chord.
Now, again, I have a separate video where
I go into that in a little bit more
detail, so you can check that out if you
like.
So, with this tonal 2-5-1 chord
progression
the soloist is generally forced to
target guide tones; avoid avoid notes;
start a phrase of your improvisation at
the start of the chord progression; build
up tension as the chords build up tension,
that is from the two to the five, which,
sort of, follows the harmony and the
tension of the chords. Then resolve the
tension of your solo when the chords
resolved to the tonic chord; and end
your little improvisational phrase
on the 1 chord at the end of the
chord progression. So, in a sense,
your solo is already written out for you.
The soloist's goal is just to outline the
chord changes.
So, in a sense, your improvisation is a
harmonic slave to the chords. And so what
you can do in your solo is really quite
restricted and limited. So, for example,
you could play something like this. [music]
Right, so I started my solo at the
beginning of the chord progression.
Avoided the avoid notes. Targeted the
guide tones. Built up a little bit of
tension and then resolve that tension on
the 1 chord when the chords resolve as
well. And then finished my phrase at the
end of the chord progression on the one
chord. So it was a perfectly nice
sounding solo, and that's kind of the
problem. It's very, sort of, expected. You
knew exactly what I was going to do. It
sounded very smooth and I was targeting
all the right notes, and avoiding all the
right notes, and building up an
appropriate amount of tension, and then
resolving that tension.
It was all, sort of, written out for me. It
was all preconceived, almost. And not only
that, but you can create a relatively
interesting sounding solo by just
playing one note. You can have a one-note
solo and that's because the chords are
changing and so the harmony of that note
is changing. So, for example, if I just
play the note A. [music]
Right, I was just playing the note A
and because the chords are changing, it
was the 5th of the D minor 7, the 9th of the G7, and then the 13th of the
C Major 7. And so the harmony was
changing and that single note solo
actually didn't sound that terrible. In
fact, it sounds relatively interesting,
despite being an incredibly boring and
an incredibly uncreative solo. So,
before Modal Jazz soloists generally
thought in this way, that is, in terms of
chords and arpeggios. They thought in
terms of the chord progression, where you
focus your solo on where the chord leads
rather than on the chord itself. And so by
removing the functionality of chords,
Modal Jazz allows a soloist to focus
exclusively on the melody and not worry
about the underlying harmony.
Now, this is called 'thinking horizontally'
or in terms of scales or entire keys or
entire modes. So Modal Jazz treats
chords as decorative rather than
functional. So, this gives you greater
flexibility and greater creativity when
improvising. And, in fact, it forces you to
focus on creating interesting melodies
and not just outlining the chords or
modifying your solo to fit the chord
progression.
Now, this can be quite challenging at
first because you cannot rely on the
chord progression to make your solo
sound interesting. So no more
one note solos. That would be incredibly
boring because you're essentially
playing one chord for a long period of time
in your left hand, and
one note in your solo.
Right, incredibly boring. And so, instead,
with Modal Jazz,
you can now target any note in the
scale.
There are no guide tones and there are
no avoid notes.
However, there are something called
character tones, which I'll get to later.
And because there is no strict chord
progression and each of the chords, kind
of, just floats there by itself, you can
start and finish a phrase whenever you
like.
There's no limitation on phrase length
because you don't have to work around a
pre-existing chord progression.
Right or something like that.
So, as you can see the chord progression
doesn't really go anywhere. It, kind of, just
sits there and then floats back and forth
doing its own thing. So, whereas with
the tonal 2-5-1, you have to fit your solo
around the chords, both harmonically and
in terms of timing and phrasing. In Modal
Jazz, because only one chord is played
for a long time and it doesn't really
feel like it needs to move or resolve
anywhere because you're playing those
quartal chords, and so you eliminate any
sense of harmonic motion, the solo
doesn't have to focus on where the chord
progression is leading.
But instead the soloist can create a
free and unique melody that captures the
sound of an individual chord or the mode
or the groove of the song.
So even though a Modal Jazz solo is much
freer than a tonal solo, there
nevertheless, are some restrictions.
Firstly, you generally stick to the
diatonic scale.
So in this case I was in the key of D
Dorian.
So, I was generally using the scale
of D Dorian with some occasional passing
notes. You want to avoid playing or
emphasizing the diatonic tritone,
because that sounds very tonal. You
want to emphasize the root note in the
bass to establish a tonal centre. And
while there are no guide tones for each
chord that you have to target,
there are still things called character
tones which you should try and emphasize.
Now, I don't want to say you should
target character tones, because in Modal
Jazz you don't have to target any note in
particular. Or rather, you can target any
note that you want.
So, even though all the notes in the
scale are equal, that is, there are no
guide tones or avoid notes.
You could say that the character tone is
the first among equals.
Now, this is because a character tone is
the unique note or degree that makes a
particular scale sound like that
particular scale. And helps distinguish
it from the major or a minor scale or
any other mode.
So, for example, the difference between a
major scale, or the Ionian mode, and a
Lydian scale, is that the Lydian scale
has a sharp 4. Therefore the sharp 4
is a character tone. The sharp 4 is
what gives the Lydian scale its character.
Similarly, the Mixolydian scale has a
flat 7 which distinguishes it from
the regular major scale.
So the flat 7 is the character tone.
Similarly, the thing that distinguishes
the Dorian mode from the Aeolian mode, or
the natural minor, is that the Dorian has
a natural 6, whereas the Aeolian has a
flat 6. And so the character tone of the
Dorian scale is a natural 6. And so the
character tone of the Phrygian scale is
a flat 2. And of the Locrian is a
flat 5.
Now, I've written them up here in the
picture in picture. And notice that all
of the character tones are either a B or
an F, which are the two notes which make
up the diatonic tritone in the key
of C Major.
So, that's just an interesting little
aside. And so, if you go back and listen
to my little modal improvisation earlier
in this video, you'll see that i was
trying to emphasize that character tone
in the key of D Dorian, the B.
Now, this is where it can get a little
bit confusing. Even though
Modal music does not have a functional
harmony, different chords still have
different amounts of tension, and so you
can still classify all of the chords in
a particular key into three different
categories.
Now, the first category is the tonic. Now,
if you're building chords out of thirds
then the chord that fits into the tonic
category is the tonic chord. But if
you're building chords out of fourths,
then a tonic category chord, or a tonic
functioning chord, is any chord that has
the tonic note in it but does not have
the character tone in it. And naturally,
the tonic category chords are the most
stable. Aow the second category are
cadential chords. Now, a cadential chord is a chord that has the character tone of
that particular mode as a chord tone.
That is, in the chord, in the 7th
chord, whether or not you're building the
chord in thirds or in fourths. And if
a chord has both the root note and the
character tone of that mode in it, then
it is still classified as a cadential
chord. And this is the most unstable chord
in modal harmony.
Now the final category are non-cadential
chords. Now again, if you're building
chords up in thirds then a non-cadential
chord is any chord that is not the tonic
chord and does not have the character
tone of that mode in it. And if you're
building chords up in fourths, then a
non-cadential chord is just any chord
which does not have the character tone
or the root note in it.
So, for example, in the key of D Dorian,
the root note is D and the character
tone is B. Now, the chord F major 7 does
not have the root note or the character
tone in it.
Therefore, it is non-cadential. The chord
E minor 7 has the character note in it,
therefore it is a cadential chord. And
the chord D minor 7,
of course, is the tonic chord,
because it starts on the tonic, on the
root note, and it doesn't have a
character tone in it.
Now similarly, with quartal harmony, a chord like this does not have the D or the B
in it,
therefore it is non-cadential. A chord like this has the B in it, which
is the character tone,
therefore it is cadential. And a chord
like this does not have the character
tone, but it does have the root note in
it,
therefore it is a tonic. However, to make
the chord changes a little bit more
interesting,
you can add chromatic approach chords.
Now, the interesting thing to notice here
is that the tonic chord in the Locrian
mode, for example, in B Locrian, is
B half diminished. So B half diminished
is, of course, the tonic chord of B Locrian mode. But it also contains the
character tone of that mode, which is
the F.
Do you find yourself in a bit of a
paradox, where you have an unstable tonic
chord that wants to resolve to itself.
Now, this is why the Locrian mode
generally isn't used in Modal harmony.
So then, any chord which contains the
character tone of that mode, and is
therefore a cadential chord, feels
unstable and feels like it wants to
resolve or pulls towards the tonic chord.
Now, this is pull for a resolution, or
pull to the tonic chord, is not as
strong as a dominant chord wanting to go
to the tonic chord.
But it, nevertheless, has a slight
tendency to, kind of, feel like it wants
to resolve back to that tonic chord.
Now, of course, the most common cadence in functional harmony is a 5,
the dominant chord, going to the 1. But
the most common cadence in modal harmony
is a 2 going to the 1,
so moving by a step. And so, just like in
functional harmony, where the usual chord
progression or the usual functions that
you would go through in a chord
progression would be a predominant
function chord, to a dominant function
chord, to a tonic function chord. In modal
harmony, the equivalent kind of
progression would go from a non-cadential chord, to a cadential chord, then
to a tonic chord.
So you can describe the movement of
chords, or the fact that a particular
chord feels like it wants to resolve, as
that chord acting 'like' a functional
dominant chord. But it wouldn't be
accurate to call it a functional chord, or to
call this functional harmony. That term
is exclusively reserved for tonality
rather than modality. And so you'll find
then, that in the best known Modal Jazz
song, that is, the song 'So What', the chord
progression goes from an E minor 7 down
to a D minor 7.
Now notice that this E minor 7,
using its So What chord voicing, has the
note B in it. Which is the character
tone in the key of D Dorian, which is the
key that this song is in. Therefore this
is a cadential chord
and therefore creates a little bit of
tension that feels like it wants to
resolve
down to that tonic chord which is the D
minor 7. And notice that there's no
character tone in this voicing, that is
there's no note B.
And so, in the song 'So What', which again
is that classic Modal Jazz song,
we have that little riff at the
beginning.
And then we have a cadential chord
moving to be tonic chord.
And that's why that particular chord
combination or chord movement sounds
really strong and good.
So, you are still creating tension with a
cadential chord and resolving it to a
tonic chord, but you're doing so in a non-functional manner. And also, as a bit of
an aside, where the character tone is
located in the chord effects how much
tension you create and therefore how
much that chord feels like it wants to
resolve to the tonic. The character tone
in the root of the chord creates a lot
of tension. The character tone in the
fifth of the chord creates a bit less
tension. The character tone in the third
of the chord creates even less tension.
And the character tone in the seventh of
the chord creates even less tension. And
so, it feels like it wants to resolve to
the tonic chord less.
Now, I've written all of that up here in
the picture in picture so you can pause
it and have a look at it if any of that
didn't make sense.
So then, Modal Jazz is designed to give
the improviser greater freedom and
flexibility,
,however, there are still some
restrictions. There are no guide tones,
however, there are still character tones
which you should try and emphasize.
Similarly, there's no functional harmony,
however, you still create non-functional
tension with the chords that you play; and
that tension you create still slowly
wants to lead you back to the tonic
chord. So the chords still want to float
back down to the tonic chord.
However, that need of resolution or that
feeling for resolution is nowhere near
as strong as a dominant chord wanting to
go to the tonic.
It's much more subtle and it's much more
vague and ambiguous but it still exists
because different chords create
different amounts of tension.
So, in conclusion, in Modal Jazz, because
of the lack of chord progression and the
lack of chord functionality the focus of
the improvisation is on creating a
coherent and a meaningful melody rather
than merely restating the chord changes.
And precisely because the chord changes
are so boring,
it forces you to be more creative and
more interesting in the actual melody
that you create.
Cool, that's it for me guys. Thanks for
watching. As always feel free to leave
any questions or comments. See you.
