Tag: Dorian

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Technical
    • A Dozen A Day
      • “Stretching” — in C, F and Bb
      • “Flinging Arms” in all keys
    • Hanon
      • No. 26 (full)
  • Modal studies + left hand
    • 2-octave Mixo 7th arpeggios in LH, voice leading with shells in RH, e. g. (KILLER EXERCISE!!!)
      • I7 arpeggio going to ii arpeggio with I7 chord in 7-3-5 (A) voicing going to ii chord in 7-3-5 voicing (A)
      • I7 arpeggio going to IV△7 arpeggio with I7 chord in 7-3-5 (A) voicing going to IV△ chord in 3-7-9 voicing (B)
      • Repeat with all movements (I7 — ii7, I7 — iii⌀, etc.)
    • Harmonising Dorian mode with 7-3-5 shells (in all keys)

Observations

Just as Rick Beato says — any practice should be musical, never boring. Yes, you do need to spend some time just playing arpeggios, but after you’re somewhat familiar with them, you should immediately start introducing musical context, otherwise you’ll either be stuck or just eventually grow tired of perfecting your 2-octave runs and forget about them. Combining 2-octave arpeggios with voice leading and A-B voicings did the trick for me! The moment I felt the thought “Oh, those boring Mixolydian arpeggios—” creeping in, I knew I needed to change something. So I did, and it was a success, I literally couldn’t stop playing these combinations (although they sounded like crap at first). So yeah — whenever you can, add context. Even if your academic self tell you “it’s too early”. Sum hooligan advice here! :D

Piano day (2h)

  • Technical
    • A Dozen A Day
      • “Stretching”
      • “Going Down Stairs”
      • “Flinging Arms” in all keys
      • “The Push-Up”
  • Modal studies + left hand
    • 2-octave Mixolydian 7th chord arpeggios in broken 4ths (C7 — Fm7 — BbM7 — EbM7 — Am7b5 — Dm7 — Gm7 — BbM7 — EbM7 — Am7b5 — Dm7 — Gm7 — C7) — LH and RH
    • Harmonising Dorian scale with shells & stride patterns
    • Voice leading, A — B voicings in C Dorian (i — ii: stay in A, i — III: A to B or stay, i — IV7: A to B, i — v: A to B, etc.)
  • Jazz voicings
    • Recap minor to dominant
    • Recap (augmented) dominant to minor
  • Improvisation
    • Major blues scale over dominant chord in all keys
    • Minor blues scale over minor chord in all keys

Piano day (2h)

  • Improvisation
    • Studies in D Dorian
      • ii — v — i in shells in LH
      • Improvisation with “blanket scale” (D Dorian)
      • Try all chord scales for each degree (Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian and Hm4 for minor), i. e. E Aeol, E Dor, E Phryg and E Hm4 for E-,  A Aeol, A Dor, A Phryg and A Hm4 for A-, etc.
      • Try keeping same modal color over the whole progression (only Aeol / only Phryg / only Dor)
      • Try mixing with blanket scale (sounded weird but definitely playable)
      • Mix Hm4 with minor blues (only a few notes’ difference)
  • Jazz voicings
    • m7 → 7
    • 7 → maj7
    • 7 → m7
    • Fourthy modal voicings (D Dorian, G Dorian)

Observations

Mixing chord scales with key scale is definitely a wonderful framework for improvisation. I learned it from Rich Brown, as he was combining Aeolian and Phrygian over a minor chord to produce cool chromaticisms. It’s not always guaranteed to get great results, but it definitely helps a lot in terms of expanding your vocabulary. For example, I would’ve never thought of combing minor and harmonic minor mode 4 over a minor chord unless I forced myself to try it (which I did), and it actually sounded AWESOME! So yeah, Hm4 over Dorian ii chord — try it, folks.

Piano day (1h)

  • Improvisation
    • Quick recap of the blues scale in all keys (2-octave runs over minor shell chords in LH)
  • Modes
    • Chords of the Dorian mode: cycling progressions around 12 keys w/ voice leading (using shells)
      • i — IV7
      • i — v
    • Cycling Phrygian progressions
      • i — bVI▵7

Piano day (2h)

  • Jazz voicings
    • Dominant to major in 2 versions
    • Dominant to minor in 2 versions (recap)
    • Minor to dominant in 2 versions (recap)
    • Cycling all 7ths chords in 7-3-5 to 3-7-9 and backwards at 120bpm
  • Improvisation
    • Blues scale in all keys + minor chords in shell voicing (without voice leading) in LH
    • Mixolydian scale in all keys + dominant chords in shell voicing in LH
    • Dorian scale in all keys + minor chords
    • Mixing Dorian and blues over minor chords

Next time focus: II — V — I — VIs, try nine tone scales in a couple of keys, back to Hm modes, add voice leading to LH pattern while improvising. Optional: pick a lick from “Tons of Runs” and run in a couple of keys