HOW TO IMPROVISE AN APPROACH TO PRACTICING IMPROVISATION BY HAL CROOKTable of Contents Prerequisites 9 Preface ‘ 10 Introduction 1" Section 1 * PACING 7 * SONG MELODY 23 * PHRASE LENGTHS 26 * RHYTHMIC DENSITY 29 + TIME FEEL 32 * MELODIC AND RHYTHMIC EMBELLISHMENT 34 NON-HARMONIC MELODY NOTES 37 MELODIC MOTION AT CHORD CHANGE 43 GUIDE-TONES 48 GUIDE-TONE LINES 48 EMBELLISHING GUIDE-TONE LINES 50 CHORD SCALES 53 Section It +» STRETCHING THE TIME 61 * DYNAMICS 63 "ARTICULATION, — 65 + SCALE PATTERNS, 67 LOWER STRUCTURE TRIADS n CHORD TONE SOLOING 78 + MOTIF SOLOING 81 ~ MOTIF DEVELOPMENT 26 Section It ** RHYTHMIC DISPLACEMENT 95 ** AUGMENTATIONDIMINUTION 101 + UPPER STRUCTURE TRIADS 105 + PENTATONIC SCALES. 108 CHORD SCALES WITH NON-HARMONIC TONES 114 RHYTHMIC VALL ng * SYNCOPATION 128 * INSTRUMENT REGISTERSi I Section IV I + OVER-THE-BARCINE PHRASING 131 CONTRACTING CHORO DURATION 13 I * EXPANDING CHORD DURATION “ 136 MELODIC RANGE 138 I ** DOUBLE TIME 140 + HALFTIME vai I * PEAK POINTS 13 * soLo LENGTHS as I Section V * NON-HARMONIC TIADS var I + tRiRo couPUNGS ist + NON-HARMONIC PENTATONIC SCALES 155 I + NON-WARMONIC MAJOR SCALES 158 ~ NON-HARMONIC SYMMETRICAL SCALES 159 I CHROMATIC SCALE 163 = TaTONE scaLes 170 I + TETRATONIC SCALES. 176 I iuoex 183 ‘ABOUT THE AUTHOR a 185 I ’ I nnpoant spel ec ethan fundamental mporant othe sty morovsng, PREREQUISITES workable knowledge of scales, chords, chord progressions, sight readi vocabulary (i e. rhythms, melodies and harmonies) of early improvisational styles such as bebop, swing, Dixieland, blues, orrhythm andbiues et.,ishelpful to derive the maximum benefit rom this book, especialy fits study is unsupervised 1, and a familiarity with the musical _=_ ae