Harmonic Exercises For Jazz Piano Short Version
by
Stanislav Borisov
Copyright Page Harmonic Exercises For Jazz Piano Short Version Second Edition Copyright © 2016 Stanislav Borisov All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-326-54414-0 This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
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Introduction One of the main purposes in writing this book has been to develop your knowledge of the voice-leading used in jazz harmony and extend your technical abilities in that direction. The basic way of building chords (voicing) in the jazz world is different in comparison to the rest of the music styles. In order to increase tension the jazz pianists have to learn very well how to use the leading-notes (or pivot-notes) and how to resolve them. The exercises in this book will help you learn how to do that with the two of the most basic and important cord progressions. Another of the important goals of this book is also to develop the technical abilities of the left hand. That is usually the wick point of many jazz piano players especially when they have to play alone. I suggest you to work on each one of these exercises using different harmonic sequences i.e. circle of fifth, forth or any other way. That will prevent you from acquiring merely mechanical playing dexterities. In addition you will gain a better understanding of the logic in the harmonic movement. The amount of exercises might seems too much, but keep in mind that once your brain starts to process faster the information and your fingers begin to respond to it, things will start to become much easier.
Low interval limits *The low interval limits rule has to do with the harmonic structure of the chord. *
The low interval limit shown below is not an absolute rule. However, when simple harmonic intervals occur between the Bass and Tenor voices, limitation must be placed on how low they may occur. Placing the interval lower than the limitation can be risky, as the result might not work that well.
Table:
Chapter One: Basic II-V-I exercises a) Major keys II-V-I exercises: Practise the exercises in all keys.
b) Minor keys II-V-I exercises: Practise the exercises in all keys.
Chapter Two: Left hand II-V-I exercises a) Left hand II-V-I exercises with two voices: Major keys Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
The Dominant and its substitutions: Left hand II-V-subV-I progressions with two voices.
These exercises reverse the position of the dominant and its substitution.
b) Left hand II-V-I progressions with two voices and melodic movements. Practise the exercises in all keys.
These exercises are more advanced than the previous ones and they primarily have creative purposes. Every II-V-I progression is different and has a melodic movement that leads to the next one. You will have to transpose the 1st example half step lower to complete the rest of the bars in the second one. The fingering is also very difficult; some times you will have to change the fingers while holding the key down. If you cannot reach the higher note, do not hesitate leave the bass note. At the end you should play each separate II-V-I movement in all different tonalities.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
Movement in the upper voice:
The first (II-V-I) progression starts with the bass note and a 3rd when and the second one with bass note and a 7th.
The first (II-V-I) progression starts with bass the note and a 7th whilst the second one with a bass note and 3rd.
Transpose the 3rd example half step lower in order to complete the rest of the bars in the fourth.
Movement in the lower voice:
The (II-V-I) progression starts with a bass note and a 3rd.
Transpose the 5th example half step lower in to complete the rest of the bars in the sixth.
The (II-V-I) progression starts with a bass note and a 7th.
Transpose the 7th example half step lower in to complete the rest of the bars in the eighth.
Movement in the two voices:
The first (II-V-I) progression starts with bass a note and a 3rd while the 2nd with bass note and a 7th.
Transpose the 9th example half step lower to complete the rest of the bars in the tenth.
c) Left hand II-V-I exercises with two voices: Minor keys Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
The Dominant and its substitutions: Left hand II-V-subV-I progressions with two voices.
These exercises reverse the position of the dominant and its substitution.
Chapter Three: Harmonic II-V-I exercises for both hands a) Major keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and one in the right one. Practise the exercises in all keys.
Play the two lower voices with the left hand and the higher voices with the right hand.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
b) Major keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and two in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
c) Major keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and three in the right one. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
The rest of the exercises with five voices are more advanced, be aware of the range.
d) Minor keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and one in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
Play the two lower voices with the left hand and the higher ones with the right hand.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
e) Minor keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and two in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
f) Minor keys II-V-I progression with two voices in the left hand and three in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*If your left hand is small and you cannot play some of the intervals (i.e. major 10th) without filling tension, just move the bass note an octave higher. *
Chapter Four: Harmonic V-V exercises for both hands a) Harmonic exercises with three voices, two in the left hand and one in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
*The chord symbols as V7sus4 and subV7 are not included in these examples, if you have difficulties in understanding the exercise look at the table right over it. *
b) Harmonic exercises with four voices, two in the left hand and two in the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
*The chord symbols as V7sus4 and subV7 are not included in these examples, if you have difficulties in understanding the exercise look at the table right over it. *
c) Harmonic exercises with four voices and a dominant substitution. Play two voices with the left hand and two with the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
All the previous exercises (Ex-b 01 till Ex-b 72) have to be played with the extra root-note of the dominant substitution. That will give you another 216 exercises to practise. Check the fowling examples.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
First variant:
We are moving from the first chord in the bar (C7) to the second (F7) by creating extra move in the bass with the dominant substitution of C7 in this case (Gb7).
Second variant:
We are moving from the 2nd chord of the bar (F7) to the 1st of the next bar (Bb7) by doing an additional move in the bass using the dominant substitution of F7, in this case (B7).
Third variant:
We are moving from one chord to the next by making an extra move in the bass with the dominant substitution (i.e. from C7 to Gb7 resolving to F7 then from B7 finally resolving to Bb7).
d) Harmonic exercises with five voices. Practise the exercises in all keys.
Play two voices with the left hand and three with the right one.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
e) Harmonic exercises with five voices and the dominant substitution. Play two voices with the left hand and three with the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
All the previous exercises (Ex-d 01 till Ex-d 64) have to be played with the extra root note of the dominant substitution. That will give you another 192 exercises to practise. Check the fowling examples.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
First variant:
We are moving from the first chord in the bar (C7) to the second (F7) by creating extra move in the bass with the dominant substitution of C7 in this case (Gb7).
Second variant:
We are moving from the 2nd chord of the bar (F7) to the 1st of the next bar (Bb7) by doing an additional extra move in the bass using the dominant substitution of F7, in this case (B7).
Third variant:
We are moving from one chord to the next by making an extra move in the bass with the dominant substitution (i.e. from C7 to Gb7 resolving to F7 then from B7 finally resolving to Bb7).
f) Harmonic exercises with five voices and additional movement in the 4th voice. Play two voices with the left hand and three with the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
In this exercise there is extra note in the 4th voice (C#), that makes the voice-leading much smoother.
In this exercise there is extra note in the 4th voice (C#), that makes the voice-leading much smoother.
In this exercise the C in the 4th voice moves up to C#, that makes the voice-leading much smoother.
In this exercise the C in the 4th voice moves up to C#, that makes the voice-leading much smoother.
g) Harmonic exercises with five voices, additional movement in the 4th voice and the use of the dominant substitution. Play two voices with the left hand and three with the right hand. Practise the exercises in all keys.
All the previous exercises (Ex-f 01 till Ex-f 168) have to be played with the extra root note of the dominant substitution. That will give you another 504 exercises to practise. Check the fowling examples.
*These exercises do not contained big intervals in the left hand. However I suggest you to use major 10th instead major 3rd when possible. *
First variant:
We are moving from the first chord in the bar (C7) to the second (F7) by creating extra move in the bass with the dominant substitution of C7 in this case (Gb7).
Second variant:
We are moving from the 2nd chord of the bar (F7) to the 1st of the next bar (Bb7) by doing an additional move in the bass using the dominant substitution of F7, in this case (B7).
