Klarinet Archive - Posting 000311.txt from 1997/05

From: "Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.net>
Subj: Re: College Auditions) (fwd) CORRECTION
Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 20:50:45 -0400

In the last paragraph I was thinking "GIANT STEPS" but wrote "Stolen
Moments." You can't answer the phone and type at the same time! :-)

>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 10:13:26 -0400
>From: "Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.net>
>Reply-To: klarinet@-----.us
>To: klarinet@-----.us
>Subject: Re: College Auditions)
>
>One of my favorite "chord" books, which goes well beyond major and minor
>scales...and one which offers an opportunity for hundreds if not thousands
>of hours of practice...is Dan Haerle's "Scales for Jazz Improvization."
>Haerle is a piano player but his works [on both theory and practice] can be
>used by anyone. This volume has the Ionian [major], Dorian, Aeolian, and
>Ascending Melodic minor scales written out in all keys. The Harmonic minor
>and its modes are also discussed, although only this scale is C is notated.
>Great book...especially for someone who wants an improvization vocabularly.
>
>Fred S.
>
>That's the sort of thing you do need a book for - but just for practising
>scales? Surely not!
>Roger Shilcock

I certainly agree...scales of all kinds in all keys should be any committed
musician's "natural output."
He/she should be able to play any one of them [in any key] as soon as the
name is mentioned.

But as a foundation, a sort of primer on the structure and function of
almost all the scales, Haerle's book is enormously valuable. For example,
if you like Lydian b7 and Super Locrian scales...which are great over
Dominant 7ths with and without alterations...Haerle's book tells you
everything you need to know, from how they are built [several descriptions]
to where they are the most compatible.
Everyone needs to start somewhere and learn the basics. And that seems to
be the purpose of Haerle's effort. Then all that follows becomes second
nature.

For true "scale lovers" please don't forget Nicholas Slonimsky's "Thesaurus
of Scales and Melodic Patterns." [It is said John Coltrane got his classic
approach to "GIANT STEPS" [moving down in Major 3rds...just like the bridge
in "Have You Met Miss Jones"] from Slonimsky's book. Some of the latter's
"artificial" [non traditional?] scales are surely different but many
provide exciting sounds only occasionally heard. This masterwork was for
years priced at $55...but Hamilton in Falls Village, CT, recently had
copies for $20. Now, that's a bargain!

Fred S.