ArpeggioExercises

Dr.MarkWatkins,BYUIdaho

Thefollowingexercisesrepresentonlyasmallsamplingofthepossibilitiesfordevelopingfluency
witharpeggios.Manyoftheexamplesbelowcanbeappliedtootherarpeggioqualities.Students
shouldusetheirowninitiativeandinventivenesstogobeyondwhatisincludedhere.

TriadLadders

Startonthelowesttriadnotepossible.Playasbelowtothetopofthehornandbackdown.Each
patternstartsonthenextchordtoneupwhenascendinganddownwhendescending.Resolveto
theroot.

Major

Example:AMajor(startsonthe3rd)

Example:BflatMajor(startsontheroot)

Minor

Example:AMinor(parallelminortoAMajorabove;startsonthe3rd)

Example:EflatMinor(startsonthe5th)

(ifnoGflat)

TriadStiles

Startontheroot.Playchordtonesupanddownthenproceedtothenextchordtoneascending.
Continueinthesamemannerdescendingtothebottomofthehornandreturntotheroot.

Example:AflatMajor

Dothesameexercisewithdescendingtriads.

ChordToneSkips

Startontheroot,skipatoneascending,playskippedtone,skipatoneascending,playskipped
tone,etc.Proceedtothetopofthehorn,reverseandplaytothebottomofthehornandbackto
tonic.

Major

ExamplesfollowinBflat,Eflat,Fsharp,andG.

(ifnoFsharp)

Minor

ExamplesfollowinBflat,C,E,andFsharp.

(ifnoFsharp)

DiminishedandAugmentedTriads

Theaboveexercisesshouldberepeatedwithdiminishedandaugmentedtriads.

Diminishedtriadsconsistoftwominorthirds.Onecanfindthecorrectpitchesbytakingaminor
triadandloweringthe5th.

Example:CMinortoCDiminished

Augmentedtriadsconsistoftwomajorthirds.Onecanfindthecorrectpitchesbytakingamajor
triadandraisingthe5th.

Example:CMajortoCAugmented

TriadScales

AscendingArpeggio

DescendingArpeggio

AscendingArpeggio,AscendingScale/DescendingArpeggio,DescendingScale

DescendingArpeggio,AscendingScale/AscendingArpeggio,DescendingScale

Arpeggiatedscalepatternscanbeappliedtodiminishedandwholetonescales.

Diminishedscalesareoflimitedtransposition;meaning,applyingthetriadscalepatterntoeachof
thefollowingscaleswillcoverdiminishedin12keys.

Wholetone(foraugmentedtriads)scalesarealsooflimitedtransposition.Applyingthetriad
scalepatterntoeachofthesescaleswillcoverwholetonein12keys.

Thetriadscalepatternwillcreateasequenceofdiminishedtriadswhenappliedtothediminished
scale.

Example:Ddiminished(ascendingtriads)

Thetriadscalepatternwillcreateasequenceofaugmentedtriadswhenappliedtothewholetone
scale.

Example:DWholetone(ascendingtriads,ascendingscale/descendingtriads,descendingscale)

Triadscalesmayhaveseveraldifferentmeanstoturnaroundattopandbottom.Studentsshould
usetheirowncreativity.Triadscalescanstartonthelowestnoteofthesaxophoneorthehighest
regardlessofperceivedroot.Studentsshouldpracticetriadscalesstartingondifferentnotesasin
12keys.

Additive7thChordsAscending

Thefollowingexamplesare7thchordswiththerootofE.Eachnewchordchangesonlyonenote
fromthepreviouschord(MM,Mm,mm,,o).Thesamesequenceshouldbeappliedtoallkeys.
AdditionalarpeggiosmaybepracticedincludingmM,M7+(MMwithaugmented5th),andV7+(Mm
withaugmented5th).

EMajor

EDominant(keyofAMajor)

EMinor(asiiinDMajor)

EHalfDiminished(asiiinDMinor)

EDiminished(asviioinFMajor)

Additional7thChords

EMinorTonic(mM)


EMajor7Augmented

EDominant7Augmented

Additive7thChordsDescending

Alloftheabovechordqualitiesshouldbepracticeddescending.

Example:EMajor7

7thChordSequence

StartontherootandproceedwithoutstoppingthroughMM,Mm,mm,,andochordsascending
tothehighestnotepossiblewithintheselected7thchordthendowntothelowestnoteandbackto
therootsequencingthroughthechordqualities.

Example:GRoot

LadderandChordToneSkipsfor7thChords

TheaboveTriadLadderandChordToneSkipconceptscanbeappliedto7thschords.

Example:7thChordLadderinBflat

Example:7thChordToneSkipinF

7thChordInversions

Startonthelowest7thchordNote.Repeatuntilcomfortable.Startonnextchordtoneup,etc.

Ascending/Descending

Example:AMajor

Descending/Ascending