MAR23084610 – SHR6E011C~001 – Portfolio & Video Documentary

by

Martin,Brynley (STUDENT)

Introduction: 

Since this module is set out to expand improvisational practice beyond conventional diatonic harmony and rhythmic frameworks, I knew that I’d have to expand my taste through research as I was not experienced in this style of improvisation prior to starting this module. As a guitarist from a metal/math rock background, my prior understanding of improvisation was mainly influenced by stylistic conventions of the music I listen to and traditional music theory. My method of improvisation, like most musicians, would be based around a home key and a general pulse. I’d typically use backing tracks of specific genres or scale modes and stay confined within the set key and mode. My efforts would be based around improvising to chord changes using arpeggio shapes around the neck to build my phrasing. I’d also rarely improvise with people in a live setting which is limiting because the skill of adapting to harmonic and metric modulations wasn’t refined enough as I’d play to set tracks in a fixed key rather than with people where the ideas are more free flowing and subject to change. Through our weekly seminars, collaborations with other musicians and my own private practice, I developed more Avante-garde improvisation techniques outside of traditional conventions. 

Early Weeks: 

Within the early weeks of the seminars, we immediately started improvising as a group. Initially I started the improv sessions without much context of the improvisation style we were playing in. This was helpful because it highlighted specific habits within my improv style that weren’t necessarily appropriate for an extended improv style session. For example, since I’m used to improvising over diatonic harmony, the main habit I’d fall into was playing repeated chord sequences and rhythms to try and form a conventional accompaniment for people to solo over. While this is a good thing to do for general improv, it wasn’t within the extended improv style as extended improv follows more of a free form structure with atonal harmony, avante garde playing styles and horizontal composition. I used the first few weeks of this module to focus on the style of playing people would perform in our group improv sessions. It showed me that i don’t need to be playing all the time and in fact holding back would help the piece to move forward and develop. I figured that it’d take some research to learn what kind of techniques are appropriate in my approach to extended improv. Since this is a relatively unfamiliar genre of improv, I decided to use the resources on the module page as well as my own individual research of artists and composers within this style. I originally learned to improvise by learning theory and exposing myself to different genres and learning various songs to add my repertoire. Since this worked for me in the past, I figured I’d take the same approach with extended improv by delving into its roots in free form jazz music and dissecting the common themes in these artists melodic phrasing and harmonic structures. 

Technique development and theory: 

During our improv sessions, it was clear that I needed to delve more into use of chromaticism and atonality within my improv. As a metal guitarist I am very familiar with this in terms of theory. A lot of the songs I have played in the past utilise scales and chords with chromaticism such as the diminished scale, chromatic scale, diminished chords, minor 2nds and tritones. Metal bands like Slayer, Death and Necrophagist heavily utilise these, I just needed to learn to use them in the content of extended improv. I started off by learning to improvise with chromatic enclosures based around an arpeggio. Since I typically base my improve around arpeggios, I figured this was the best way to start improvising with atonality. The method behind this is simple as it fundamentally involves adding a note one semi-tone above and below each interval of the arpeggio. For example, if I started on the root, before I’d move to the 3rd, I would play a semi-tone below and above before landing on the 3rd. I’d practice this by doing it to each note in the arpeggio. Another example would be to play a diatonic 7 triad with the chromatic enclosures on the end of the triad. I’d apply this to the major scales and create lines by going up the scale in diatonic 7 triads with the chromatic enclosures. This was a simple technique to incorporate jazz harmony into my playing as it was an extension of something already familiar to me. Applying this in a live improv setting was harder as I wouldn’t know what to expect. My goal is to improvise in this style with intention rather than basing it off random note choice so in context of an improv session, I’d start my phrasing off by finding the root of the home chord of whoever was playing and build my lines from there. This only really helped when there was a distinct home key within the group rather than something atonal. At first it was easy to simply play random atonal things, however, it held me back as it displayed less of a clear intention for the other people I would play with. This resulted in some of the improv sessions sounding confused and directionless. During times like this, I’d resort to more percussive styles of playing, particularly using a string thumping technique. Like slap bass, thumping utilises a double thumb technique where the thumb strikes down and up on the muted strings, similar to alternate picking, and allows your fingers to pluck upwards to create rhythmic patterns. This is a familiar technique to me as many prog metal bands use it such as Unprocessed and Animals as leaders. I found that using this technique provided a better development for when other players started soloing between one another as it provides a pulse without any tonal contribution to the music and allows some space for melodic ideas to develop from the other players. I decided to practice more unorthodox scales to apply to my improv. Common scales used for jazz phrasings are the bebop scale, melodic minor/major, altered scale, Lydian augmented and diatonic modes. As a guitarist, I was already familiar with my scale modes, so I focused more on the altered scale and the bebop scale as these were out of my repertoire. I understand that a primary part of extended improv is to take your playing outside of conventional frameworks so I figured that practicing these scales more would add more colour to my playing and help me develop more interesting and unique lines and phrases. 

What worked for me: 

Over the first few improv sessions with the group, I found some good habits that I’d do and leant into that direction. A prominent habit was my use of natural and artificial harmonics. Using natural harmonics can help provide texture to an improv session rather than something musically complex. I found they helped serve as texture for when other people were soloing or when a new theme has been established as it helps bring attention to the new theme established by other players while also giving me time to breath so I can figure out my next move. Artificial harmonics were useful for when I wanted to do more complex chord inversions across the fretboard. This wouldn’t be possible with natural harmonics as they have a fixed register. Artificial harmonics helped me keep the texture while adding more harmonic development to the piece. I also found that tapping harmonics helped with faster arpeggios. I also found my ability to read the room was improved over the first few improv sessions. We were told to imagine as if we are writing a piece in real time and this mindset has changed my initial approach. It made me value the structure of the improv more than flashy techniques or solos. It taught me to not stay on one thing for too long. As I mentioned previously, I would typically hold a repeated chord progression during my improv sessions, however, I do this less now. I only repeat chords or phrases if the dynamic is dying down and the piece is in need of a new theme. Another technique I use during these sessions are drones. If I need to start an improv, I often find that drones help as it gives wide tonal freedom with what I can play over it. For example, I’d let my open E string drone while I’d establish a melody, and I could steer it in any direction. When doing this, I typically like to base my melodies off exotic scales like, Phrygian dominant, melodic major and harmonic minor. These scales can create interesting lines which allow for more use of chromaticism and even microtones. My use of microtonal bends is inspired by Marty Friedman who often used these scales alongside prebends and accidentals to create unorthodox phrasing. It uses a similar concept to arpeggio enclosures where you target a semitone below the note and then resolve to a note in the scale, however this uses prebends. This gives you more freedom for microtonal experimentation. It almost imitates a sitar as it utilises fast vibrato and wide range bending over the drone note to give the piece a different colour. 

Creative ideas developed: 

Too create a soundscape outside of conventional guitar play, I decided that using an acoustic guitar would help provide more variety. Using the acoustic, I can access musical elements that an electric wouldn’t be able to do particularly with percussive playing. I’d use my strumming hand to hit the body of the guitar to access more percussive elements in my playing. For example, hitting the lower part of the body would provide a lower kick drum like sound while hitting the side of the guitar gives a snappier snare like sound. I’d use this to change texture within the piece by adding rhythmic elements rather than melodic elements. This gives more space for other people to take over the melody and provide space in the piece. Utilising the strings behind the nut, I’d access higher pitches and more dissonance within the piece while also providing a harsher dynamic which would help for when the piece is reaching a crescendo. It created a harp-like sound which gave more versatility in the instrument’s timbre. Experimenting with the tuning pegs gave interesting articulation as I could finish a phrase by letting my string ring out open and then tune it down to give a portamento effect. In future this will also be useful for experimenting with microtonal tunings to get more unorthodox phrasing. 

What to work on: 

Through my time of improv sessions over the semester, I’ve realised that a large part of what I need to work on is creating a better structure with my improv. This could be done by having more harmonic and dynamic range within the improv sessions. I often find myself resorting to the same keys and chords when improvising and this hinders the development of the piece. I feel that the way to improve on this is to experiment more in my free time and learn more theory. I found I could make use of interesting techniques well, however, I know I need to break out of harmonic box that I often find myself in. Learning more jazz harmony and jazz songs would be the natural step forward for me to expand my playing and my musical vocabulary. It’d mean I could throw myself into an improv session and provide more horizontal development to the piece. This means I’d improve my ability to listen and understand what the other players are doing which in turn would help me make better decisions that complement the progression of the piece. 

References: 

5 minute video vlog:

https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a17d6246-cc94-4d3e-ab5b-b3d201110e3b