Triad add 9 Tetrad
Improvising from a group of four notes or "tetrad" has many beneIts which I will attempt to outline in this brief introduction. First, it's easier to hear and manipulate a smaller group of notes, particularly when three of the notes create a triad. The major triad, perhaps the easiest harmonic structure to hear, helps to create strong underlying structure and with one extra note embellishing the triad, it's easy to organize the notes in a pleasing melodic way. any four note cell can lead to a wide range of compelling melodic material. There are 96 ways to order any four notes without repeating notes or exceeding an octave between any note. This means that any tetrad still has plenty of room for exploration, mastery and personalization. Once rhythm, phrasing, and space are added, Secondly, the simplicity of only four notes makes the concept of improvisation fundamentally easier to grasp. If I ask a students to improvise with only one note, they will very quickly utilize rhythm and with very little explanation, concepts like phrasing and space can be easily understood and implemented. The more notes that are added to the equation, the more overwhelming the process becomes until a student's creative spirit is The same is true in composition. If I ask a student to write a melody with only these speciIc four notes, they will immediately feel empowered and capable, where as using all twelve notes can feel much more daunting and often lead to a type of "writer's block". This simple restriction of note choice will give even the most advanced improviser a process through which they can cull new melodic materials as well as gain one more creative way to engage with harmony and melody. Lastly, the technical ease of learning to manipulate only four notes throughout the range of ones instrument is vastly easier than working within a seven note scale or a larger note set which may have hundreds or thousands of variations. This will allow for a fair amount of technical proIciency early on, giving the student material to play at fairly fast tempo and leading to a feeling of encouragement as concrete progress will be easier to perceive. Having worked with hundred of students over the last thirty years, I've found the tetrad concept to be both an efIcent and effective way to foster creative improvisation, ear training and technical development. Through working with the material in this book, the improvising artist will have a Irm grasp of the triad add natural 9 tetrad and a basic introduction to the tetrad concept in general. Future volumes will cover the speciIc use of other tetrads, although the exploration and mastery of just one four note cell can positively impact conceptual ways of improvising, clarity of audiation and the development of a concrete melodic vocabulary.
Improvising from a group of four notes or "tetrad" has many beneIts which I will attempt to outline in this brief introduction.First, it's easier to hear and manipulate a smaller group of notes, particularly when three of the notes create a triad. The major triad, perhaps the easiest harmonic structure tohear, helps to create strong underlying structure and with one extra note embellishing thetriad, it's easy to organize the notes in a pleasing melodic way.any four note cell can lead to a wide range of compelling melodic material.There are 96 ways to order any four notes without repeating notes or exceeding an octave between any note. This means that any tetrad still has plenty of room for exploration, mastery and personalization. Once rhythm, phrasing, and space are added,Secondly, the simplicity of only four notes makes the concept of improvisation fundamentally easier to grasp. If I ask a students to improvise with only one note, they will very quickly utilize rhythm and with very little explanation, concepts like phrasing and space can be easily understood and implemented. The more notes that are added to the equation, the more overwhelming the process becomes until a student's creative spirit isThe same is true in composition. If I ask a student to write a melody with only thesespeciIc four notes, they will immediately feel empowered and capable, where as using all twelve notes can feel much more daunting and often lead to a type of "writer's block".This simple restriction of note choice will give even the most advanced improviser a process through which they can cull new melodic materials as well as gain one more creative way to engage with harmony and melody.Lastly, the technical ease of learning to manipulate only four notes throughout the range of ones instrument is vastly easier than working within a seven note scale or a larger note set which may have hundreds or thousands of variations. This will allow for a fair amount of technical proIciency early on, giving the student material to play at fairly fast tempo and leading to a feeling of encouragement as concrete progress will be easier to perceive.Having worked with hundred of students over the last thirty years, I've found the tetrad concept to be both an efIcent and effective way to foster creative improvisation, ear training and technical development. Through working with the material in this book, the improvising artist will have a Irm grasp of the triad add natural 9 tetrad and a basic introduction to the tetrad concept in general. Future volumes will cover the speciIc use of other tetrads, although the exploration and mastery of just one four note cell can positively impact conceptual ways of improvising, clarity of audiation and the development of aconcrete melodic vocabulary.