BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
9232 / 18210 · Workshop 75 — Intervallic Improvisation: Fourths, Fifths, Wide Leaps, Octave Displacement, and Making Modern Lines Sing Without Losing the Harmony← prev⊞ allnext →

75.99Mini-composition exercise

Write 32 bars over a relatively simple harmonic framework, where melodic interval design creates most of the development.

Requirements:

  • first 8 bars mostly stepwise
  • one recurring fourth+step motif
  • one sixth-based lyrical phrase
  • one seventh or ninth used as dramatic structural leap
  • one scalar phrase transformed only by octave displacement
  • one guide-tone target reached by a wide leap
  • one side-slipped intervallic motif
  • one triad-pair-derived intervallic phrase
  • one pentatonic-derived intervallic phrase
  • widest register at the climax
  • final 4 bars contract into mostly steps

The harmony should remain simple enough that contour is clearly the main event.