Much of the paper is devoted to Parker's use of motives, which are the building blocks of his improvised melodies. His principal motives, about 100 in number, vary greatly in size, shape, frequency of use, and application. Some of the shorter ones are adaptable to a wide variety of harmonic contexts and thus occur frequently throughout the transcriptions. The longer ones often have well-defined harmonic implications, and are consequently rarer. Most motives occur in a number of keys, but some occur in only one or two keys, and a few occur only in a single sub-group in a single key (for example, in improvisations on "Night in Tunisia" in D minor) .
Parker's decisions as to how to apply the motives were governed largely by the key and the harmonic plan of the piece being played. As a result, the catalog of motives is different for each key, for each sub-group within each key, and for each sub-group based on the same harmonic plan when that plan (such as the chords of the blues) occurs in more than one key.
While specific motives often recur in specific locations within groups of pieces, the precise forms that they
take are varied by means of metric displacement, augmentation and diminution, addition and subtraction of notes, and altered phrasing and articulation. In addition, they are juxtaposed in many different ways and are often connected by newly invented melodic material. Thus, no two improvised choruses are alike.
Charlie Parker: Techniques of Improvisation
by Thomas Owens
Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy in Music
University of California, Los Angeles, 1974, pp VII-VIII
Originally Posted by wintermoon
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