Article 1
Hearing Notes in a Harmonic Context

Article 2
Notes of Departure ...and Arrival

Article 3
The Desired Dissonance of the Diminished Chord, Part I

Article 4
The Desired Dissonance of the Diminished Chord, Part II

ELEMENTS OF JAZZ
by Greg Fishman

Hearing In Harmonic Context

One of the most important challenges for beginning jazz horn players is learning to hear their single notes as part of a larger harmonic picture. In other words, to hear the “C natural” that they’re playing as being not only the root of a C triad, the third of an Ab triad, or the fifth of an F triad, but also hearing that note as a part of a much richer chord.

If I pick up my horn and play a “C,” and there’s no piano or guitar playing along with me, the listener would have no idea what chord I was hearing in my head. That “C” that I’m playing is part of a larger chord that I’m hearing internally.

It could be that I’m hearing a B7b9 in my head, and that “C” is the b9th. Or, perhaps I’m hearing it as a #11th on a GbMaj9#11 chord. That “C” could be a part of many different sounding chords, acting as the Root, 3, 4th, #4th, 5th, #5th, 6th, 7th, Maj7th, b9th, 9th, #9th, 11th, #11th, b13th or 13th of a particular chord.

It takes time to train the ear to hear notes in these different contexts. I always suggest to my students that they get familiar with the piano, and learn different chord voicings. My theory is that horn players need to hear harmony the same way a good piano player does. The piano player has the huge advantage of physically playing up to ten notes simultaneously. By playing multiple notes at one time, the harmonic context is there for all to hear. The full sound of the intended chord is clearly tangible to the ear, simply accomplished by pressing the right combination of keys simultaneously.

Horn players, on the other hand, do not have the luxury of hearing all those notes at once. They must have the sounds internalized in their head, and have a clear idea of the context of that particular note, or, eventually, series of notes.

To demonstrate my point, I’ll use an analogy. Suppose you’re enrolled in an art class, and the teacher asks you to paint, from memory, a picture of a landscape on a bright, sunny day. You start out with a blank, white canvas, and dip your brush in yellow paint. As soon as the paint brush touches the yellow paint, you already know that the color yellow will represent the sun in your painting. Think of all the things that yellow could have been…mustard on a painting of a hot dog…a yellow ribbon on a woman’s hat…a yellow rose…but you already knew that the yellow in your painting would be none of these other things. You had a very specific intent for that color. That intent is just what you need when selecting the notes you’ll play in a solo.

Now, take this a step further: As you’re painting the sun on the white canvas, in your mind’s eye, picture a tree in front of the sun, with grass below the sun, and the blue sky above. By picturing these things, you’re thinking in context.

The chords of a song are the harmonic canvas of a song. Just as you can see things in your “mind’s eye,” you can also hear things in your “mind’s ear.”

In the examples below, I’ve taken a very common “lick,” or phrase, and put it into different harmonic contexts. This lick, in case you’re wondering, is comprised of the opening notes to an old standard by Arthur Hamilton called, “Cry Me A River.” This is one of the most flexible jazz licks in existence, due to the fact that this combination of notes can fit at least seven distinctly different chord types.

In example number one, I’ve reprinted the lick with a different harmonic context. Play through these first on the piano, so you can hear the sounds of the lick against each of the different chords. It’s very important that you don’t skip this step. Whenever you play this lick in the future, you must know the harmonic context in advance. In other words, before the notes of this lick come out of your horn, you’ve already PRE-HEARD this lick in your mind’s ear, with the appropriate chord background for the given situation.

Once you’ve gotten familiar with the sound of the lick in its original key, and with the seven different chord types, you should learn the lick in all twelve keys. Practice it in the circle of fourths, or chromatically, in thirds, or in random intervals.

Once you play this lick in twelve keys, and hear it in all seven harmonic contexts, you’ll see that this particular lick fits over 84 different chords! It’s no wonder that this lick keeps appearing in people’s solos.



In example number two, I’ve used the lick in the context of the chords for the popular standard, “Autumn Leaves.” I’ve written the first two “A” sections of the piece, using nothing but the “Cry Me A River” lick. See if you can figure out where the lick would fit over the bridge and last “A” of the “Autumn Leaves” chord progression.

Notice that I’ve taken some rhythmic liberties with the lick, to give the piece more variety, making it sound less like an exercise, and more like an improvised piece of music. I always encourage students to experiment with different starting places for a lick, and to vary the rhythms of each lick. Also, note how I changed the context of the lick in measures ten, eleven and twelve, when compared to measures two, three and four.

In measures three and four, I altered the lick slightly, by raising the fourth note of the lick by a half-step. I call this process “harmonic adaptation.” By changing just one note of any lick (or a combination of notes,) the lick can fit in even more situations. This is especially useful when there’s just one note of the original lick that doesn’t fit a given chord. Just by changing that one note, you’ve expanded the usefulness of the lick beyond its original limitations.

I’ve anticipated the first note of the lick in measures three, six, twelve, and thirteen. This is a common practice in jazz. Notice how the anticipated note has a dual role; harmonically, it fits both the current chord, and also fits the new chord to which you’re going.

The next logical step for this exercise would be to improvise on these chord changes, using the lick only once or twice per eight-measure section, but changing the context each time. Or, try changing the actual measure where you’ll use the lick. It’s always a nice effect to blend the lick into one of your own improvised lines.

You can add this lick to the end of a line, or use it at the beginning of a new line. As a third option, this lick could be used as a connecting phrase that joins two improvised phrases together. Also, remember to use plenty of rhythmic variation.

In example number three, I've created a three-column table that should help you remember the context for this lick. It shows all seven contexts with “C” as the chord’s root.

In a future article, I’ll discuss the general concept of variation, and will demonstrate how to get even more mileage out of common licks and patterns.

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