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In my way of seeing melodic shapes there are only six basic ways to embellish in melody
1. Passing Tone
2. Neighbor Tone upper in key
3. Neighbor Tone lower in key
4. Neighbor tone lower chromatic
5. Leaping Tone
6.Escape Tone.
"Surround tone" shapes or " enclosures" are shapes that rely on combinations of the previous six embellishments:
1. Double neighbor enclosures
2. Triple enclosures
3. etc.
The only tune I know that exemplifies mostly of these is one Thelonius Monk's variations on "Blue Monk".
Some of the theory books love to over complicate by listing every variation and multi combination possible. I read a Jazz PHD's Thesis recently that listed some 47 ways to ornament melody. It was an over complication, and in my opinion more in order to earn a research PHD than help in jazz education.Last edited by rintincop; 11-12-2016 at 02:17 PM.
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11-11-2016 10:22 PM
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Point taken, but isn't that a bit like saying - "There is only one scale, the Chromatic scale, every other scale is simply a subset of the chromatic scale...:"
There are dozens of different enclosures that get used in jazz. To get good at using the simplest forms does not mean you can automatically combine them to form the more complex ones. They have to be practiced separately, just as, for example, the "whole tone diminished" scale needs to be practiced as a separate concept. No good saying "Well, I know my whole tone scales, and I know my diminished scales, so I don't have to learn the combination".
Everyone's chromatic or diatonic embellishment concepts are different. I say choose your weapons carefully, and go shed the shit out of them! ...
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There are not dozens of enclosures, there are lots of examples, but it's the same simple technique over and over with variation or simply adding more notes before the target. Please show me where I can see more than a couple of distinctive enclosures (double and triple sums it up)
Their is a double, a triple a quadruple, depending simply on how many notes "surround" the target.
There are variations because there are variations of NTs and double PTs.
Going much beyond a quadruple is sort of academic, it's rarely nice. A surround of a tone that becomes part of another surround is common (an example would be Bill Evans a Face Without A Name , motif #1 in the improv section where he keeps revisiting a surround that surrounds the note of another surround, he links them so to speak).Last edited by rintincop; 11-12-2016 at 12:11 AM.
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I remember collecting info on enclosures many years ago from several sources (some on the internet), but have only retained what my favourites were, which I have worked into my playing. If someone doesn't come along soon with a long list of them, I'll try to see if I kept a log of them somewhere.
TBH, after investigating them carefully and trying out every one I could find, I realised that not only did I NOT have to learn them all, but that aside from learning my faves, I became confident enough in what I liked that I could invent my own embellishments. I gave up caring whether certain things I would discover for myself had a name or not, or were simply combinations of this or that. Like with every concept in Jazz, after a period of "training wheels", your ear takes over to the point where the theory becomes redundant.
It's great that you are being deeply analytical of this important aspect of constructing Jazz lines. But from my own experience, I will say that to use embellishments at will for any chord, extension, or altered tone, at double timed tempo, requires endless reps. Thats why I say choose a handful of ideas, and take the time to turn them into your "Style"....
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You realized you did not have to learn them all because they all are derived from the same rather simple "surround" or "enclose" technique.
There are 6 embellishments (an enclosure is not one of them)
Enclosures all use variations of the same basic technique involving combinations of PTs and NTs
We are talkin' some of the ABC's of melody here.Last edited by rintincop; 11-12-2016 at 01:25 AM.
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Are you in the process of learning these things yourself? Or did you master them a long time ago, and wish to enlighten the novices here? Is the OP a question, or a statement? Can you utilise all your 6 embellishments at fast tempos around any note at a nanosecond's notice?
Learning your ABC's is one thing, but there's a few decades between learning the alphabet, and becoming a good Poet...
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Most of my solos are entirely 'escape tones'.
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There's basically eight kinds of notes that lead to a resolution of some type:
Neighbor tones
Passing tones
Escape tones
Appoggiatura
Change tones
Suspension
Anticipation
Pedal point
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And a hand goes up from the dumb row: what's an escape tone?
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a non-harmonic tone derived by stepwise motion and resolved by a leap (P4 or more) to a harmonic tone.
Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
C4-->D4-->G4-->A4-->E4
Note here that D4 and A4 are escape tones that are resolved by a leap to a harmonic tone.
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Change tones are simply two NTs (surrounds)
Suspension, Anticipation, and Pedal Point are ancient terms for rhythmic displacement situations. They were really uptight about any displacement back then. The Church elders didn't like that weird stuff and the choir struggled. So those can be discounted as being current.
In modern times we are down to these in melodic embellishment.
1. Passing Tone
2. Neighbor Tone upper in key
3. Neighbor Tone lower in key
4. Neighbor tone lower chromatic
5. Leaping Tone
6.Escape Tone.
"Surround tone" shapes or " enclosures" are shapes that rely on combinations of the previous six embellishments:
1. Double neighbor enclosures
2. Triple enclosures
3. etc.
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Guys like Clifford Brown spent their whole lives in "etc" land.... Originally Posted by rintincop
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FYI we call those non-harmonics. Embellishments can and often do contain non-harmonics, but an embellishment doesn't need to contain non-harmonics, so it's not a very accurate way to use the term embellishment. And as I always say: learn everything, have an open mind, don't ever think something is useless. There is nothing wrong with simplifying things, but we only need to simplify things when we are a novice at something. Later on, once we have mastered the basics, we can make things more detailed & complicated and it is not a problem.
Last edited by Guitarzen; 11-15-2016 at 04:23 PM.
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You'll find that it's very often in reverse - players learn too much detail in the beginning, then learn to simplify and master basics.... Originally Posted by Guitarzen
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I agree ... thus I have narrowed it down to 6 easily manageable shapes. Every note Charlie Parker played fits my view now, its so understandable and simple now, enlightenment rings. Originally Posted by princeplanet
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Mike Longo has a good book on this stuff... The Technique of Creating Harmonic Melody for the Jazz Improviser
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I am not fan of Longo's materials.
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Well you probably won't like the book then. But to be honest any classical theory text will cover the basic embellishments. I used the ABRSM grade 5-8 theory book. I'm sure there are comparable texts in the states.
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Why is only anticipation being mentioned (as a valid way to resolution in a couple of recent threads)?
Retardation sounds quite OK to me, playing (resolution note(s)) after chord change.
Is it the music's seen as already resolved on beat, so the following notes do not count as resolving, or people are worried they'd sound retarded if they do it?
I'm not worried, in my case it makes no difference.
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To simplify it more, aren't you just saying that you can embellish by having notes between notes, near notes, or far from notes? Seems right to me.
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Mine too. The nasty little buggers escape before I can put my damn finger down. Originally Posted by A. Kingstone
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Also Upper and Lower arpeggio tones? Like a descending scale with the 5th between every note
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