Jonah Dempcy

 

Dick Hyman Lesson on Art Tatum

These are excerpts of Dick Hyman teaching some of the techniques and runs used by Art Tatum. There are some nice patterns and motifs featured, often surprisingly easy to play (though certainly difficult at the speed Tatum played them at!).

 

Portland Jazz Jams

This is a good resource for NW jazz artists, as well as having a Jazz Knowledge Wiki that aims to provide a repository for jazz education. Check it out!

 

Art Tatum - Humouresque (video)

 

Art Tatum - Yesterdays (video)

 

Barry Harris Substitutions

Here is a table of substitutions using Barry Harris' method of transposition by minor 3rds:

Shown here are iii-VI7-ii-V7 progressions in 4 keys. (C, Eb, Gb and A, respectively). You can freely substitute any of the chords from the vertical rows, e.g. you can substitute F-7 for D-7.





Here are some example chord progressions using this technique:

Mixed ii-V7s

|| E-7 | A7 | F-7 | Bb7 ||

|| Bb-7 | Eb7 | B-7 | E7 ||

|| G-7 | C7 | Ab-7 | Db7 ||

|| Db-7 | Gb7 | B-7 | E7 ||


Chromatic ii-V7s

|| E-7 | A7 | Ab-7 | Db7 ||

|| G-7 | C7 | B-7 | E-7 ||

|| Bb-7 | Eb7 | D-7 | G7 ||

|| Db-7 | Gb7 | F-7 | Bb7 ||


Minor7 to Dom.7 a Whole Step Up

|| E-7 | Gb7 | F-7 | G7 ||

|| G-7 | A7 | Ab-7 | Bb7 ||

|| Bb-7 | C7 | B-7 | Db7 ||

|| Db-7 | F7 | D-7 | E7 ||


For the sake of simplicity, we can consider these as being in the key of C, though in actuality these progressions can be used as substitutions over iii-VI7-ii-V7 progressions in the keys of C, Eb, Gb and A.

This is perfect for turnarounds-- there are 256 possible chord progressions generated by the above table. So, dig in and explore the possibilities!

 

The Geometry of Harmony

Excerpt from THE GEOMETRY OF MUSICAL CHORDS by Dmitri Tymoczko:

Musical chords have a non-Euclidean geometry that has been exploited by Western composers in many different styles. A musical chord can be represented as a point in a geometrical space called an orbifold. Line segments represent mappings from the notes of one chord to those of another. Composers in a wide range of styles have exploited the non-Euclidean geometry of these spaces, typically by utilizing short line segments between structurally similar chords. Such line segments exist only when chords are nearly symmetrical under translation, reflection, or permutation. Paradigmatically consonant and dissonant chords possess different near-symmetries, and suggest different musical uses.

Excerpt from Princeton Univ. page:

Composer reveals musical chords' hidden geometry

by Chad Boutin · Posted July 6, 2006; 02:00 p.m.

Composers often speak of fitting chords and melodies together, as though sounds were physical objects with geometric shape -- and now a Princeton University musician has shown that advanced geometry actually does offer a tool for understanding musical structure.

In an attempt to answer age-old questions about how basic musical elements work together, Dmitri Tymoczko has journeyed far into the land of topology and non-Euclidean geometry, and has returned with a new -- and comparatively simple -- way of understanding how music is constructed. His findings have resulted in the first paper on music theory that the journal Science has printed in its 127-year history, and may provide an additional theoretical tool for composers searching for that elusive next chord...

Making graphical representations of musical ideas is not itself a new idea. Even most nonmusicians are familiar with the five-line musical staff, on which the notes that appear physically higher represent sounds that have higher pitch. Other common representations include the circle of fifths, which illustrates the relationships between the 12 notes in the chromatic scale as though they were the 12 hours on a clock's face.

"Tools like these have helped people understand music with both their ears and their eyes for generations," Tymoczko said. "But music has expanded a great deal in the past hundred years. We are interested in a much broader range of harmonies and melodies than previous composers were. With all these new musical developments, I thought it would be useful to search for a framework that could help us understand music regardless of style."

Traditional music theory required that harmonically acceptable chords be constructed from notes separated by a couple of scale steps -- such as the major chord, whose three notes comprise the first, third and fifth elements in the major scale, forming a familiar harmony that most audiences find easy to enjoy. Many 20th-century composers abandoned this requirement, however. Modern chords are often constructed of notes that sit right next to one another on the keyboard, forming "clusters" -- dissonant by traditional standards -- that to this day often challenge listeners' ears.

"Western music theory has developed impressive tools for thinking about traditional harmonies, but it doesn’t have the same sophisticated tools for thinking about these newer chords," Tymoczko said. "This led me to want to develop a general geometrical model in which every conceivable chord is represented by a point in space. That way, if you hear any sequence of chords, no matter how unfamiliar, you can still represent it as a series of points in the space. To understand the melodic relationship between these chords, you connect the points with lines that represent how you have to change their notes to get from one chord to the next."

Here's a video sample of Tymoczko's system in action: Link

I wonder if software will be released to the general public that will be able to MIDI files and display geometric shapes as in the video sample. Seeing a visual representation of the music like this with perfect mathematical accuracy is highly preferable to seeing music visualizations purely based on amplitude or frequency response.