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TOPICS Permutation – “often major or fundamental change (as in

character or condition) based primarily on rearrangement of
Ask a Saxophone existent elements.”
Repairman

Audio “the act or process of changing the lineal order of an ordered

set of objects.” – Merriam-Webster Search
Doubling

Ear Training

Education
Thank you Merriam. You hit the nail on the head.

Great Recordings The “rearrangement of existent elements” and the “ordered set of
Humor objects” in question here in our case is none other than the four-note
Interviews grouping (tetrachord) formed by steps 1 , 2 , 3 & 5 of the Major Scale
(C
C–D
D–EE–G G in C Maj.).
Intonation

Jazz Improvisation Whether played or sung, and regardless of style, the 1235 Major
Live Performance tetrachord is probably the most commonly heard, used and
recognized group of 4 notes in Western music. It’s closely related to
Mouthpieces
the Major Pentatonic scale (CC–DD–EE–G G-A – one note short), which is
Music business
itself based on the Cycle of Fifths (C-G-D-A-E) – and therefore the
Music Equipment natural series of overtones.
Music Theory
“So,” you ask, “why the fascination with 4 notes instead of 5?”
Podcasts

Popular Music Well, from a purely mathematical standpoint, any group of four
separate, individual items (notes in this case) yields 24 unique
Practicing
arrangements of those four items, while with a group of 55, that
Recording
number increases five-fold, to 120
120.
Reeds

Resources
Now, I don’t know about you – but even 24 possibilities seems almost
unmanageable, let alone 120!
Saxophone Brand
Overviews
Another reason is that since most Western music, especially Jazz and
Saxophone Lessons
Pop, is in some type of 4/4 time, four-note groupings of eighth and /
Saxophone Parts or sixteenth notes became the standard division – especially, for
Saxophone Technique example, in post WWII Jazz. These groupings became known as
“digital patterns” (that’s digital as in “finger”). The great John Coltrane,
Tone Production
among others, was a purveyor of this device at certain points in his
Transcriptions
career.
Video
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the below graphics tell us
what the 24 permutations of 1235 and and their corresponding
letter names – CDEG in C Major – look like.

Ex.1 – The 24 Permutations of 1235

(1,2,3,5) (1,2,5,3) (1,3,2,5) (1,3,5,2) (1,5,2,3) (1,5,3,2)

(2,1,3,5) (2,1,5,3) (2,3,1,5) (2,3,5,1) (2,5,1,3) (2,5,3,1)
(3,1,2,5) (3,1,5,2) (3,2,1,5) {3,2,5,1) (3,5,1,2) {3,5,2,1)
(5,1,2,3) (5,1,3,2) (5,2,1,3) (5,2,3,1) (5,3,1,2) (5,3,2,1)

Ex.2 – The 24 Permutations of CDEG (Scale Steps 1235 in C

Major)

(C,D,E,G) (C,D,G,E) (C,E,D,G) (C,E,G,D) (C,G,D,E) (C,G,E,D)

(D,C,E,G) (D,C,G,E) (D,E,C,G) (D,E,G,C) (D,G,C,E) (D,G,E,C)
(E,C,D,G) (E,C,G,D) (E,D,C,G) (E,D,G,C) (E,G,C,D) (E,G,D,C)
(G,C,D,E) (G,C,E,D) (G,D,C,E) (G,D,E,C) (G,E,C,D) (G,E,D,C)

“Permutation
Permutation Station 1-2-3-5
1-2-3-5” presents all the above
permutations in notation form, as well (of course).

The 1235 tetrachord, in root position, contains the following interval

make-up
make-up:

two Major 2nds (C-D & D-E),

one minor 3rd (E-G),

one Major 3rd (C-E),

one Perfect 4th (D-G) and

one Perfect 5th (C-G).

The sequences are organized by chapter in ascending or descending

fashion by:

half steps (Semitone

Semitone Cycle
Cycle),

whole steps (Whole

Whole Tone Cycle
Cycle),

minor 3rds (Diminished

Diminished Cycle
Cycle),

Major 3rds (Augmented

Augmented Cycle
Cycle), and

the Cycle of Fourths (5ths

5ths)

Playing them through these cycles,.not only facilitates technique and

ear training, it’s also much more interesting than if you would simply
play them straight up, staying within one key center, which would be
monotonous – to say the least.

It will also familiarize you with the different possible melodic &
harmonic connections and resolution points between them, as
happens with an actual tune.

Ex.3 – Minor 3rds Cycle – Permutation 2153a & 3521a

RECENT COMMENTS

Ex. 3 above shows a 2153 permutation ascending in minor 3rds Doron Orenstein on GapCap and Spit Sponge – A
Review of Two Unique New Sax Care Products by Key
(Diminished Cycle), as well as its descending retrograde 3512 The
Leaves
Diminished Cycle splits the octave into to 4 equal parts. Hence,
the a , b , c & d designations. Best Tenor Sax Reeds | AmazonUSBuy on 6 Crucial
Facts About Saxophone Reeds

Since any note of a 1235 can be altered (e.g. 1 b2 3 5, 1 2 b3 b5, etc.), as A. Pro on The Plane Truth: 10 Tips for Traveling with your
in any other scale or chord, in order to fit a particular harmony, altered Saxophone

or not, I became curious to see if it might be possible to employ Grant Koeller on GapCap and Spit Sponge – A Review of
unaltered 1235 groupings in order to create altered tensions within Two Unique New Sax Care Products by Key Leaves

chords with different roots. For example, 1235 in Eb over G = G7#9 GapCap & Spit Sponge - A Review of Two Unique New
b13
b13, or 1235 in Db over G = G7b5 b9 b13 – or both – which would Sax Care Products by Key Leaves » Best. Saxophone.
Website. Ever. on NAMM 2019 Saxophone Gear
contain all 4 possible altered tensions (G7alt), as in bar #2 in Ex. 4 Roundup
below.

Ex.4 – Multiple unaltered 1235 Permutations (w/ inversions)

as altered extensions in a ii-V7-I melodic line.

Which leads us to our next stop: “Permutation

Permutation Station II – Next
Inversions“, which in turn takes a closer look at the 1st, 2nd
Station: Inversions
and 3rd inversions of each individual permutation. Along with the
original root positions already examined, a total of 96 (4 x 24) unique
melodic possibilities per key are up for examination.

Possibly, for the first time anywhere, this book explores the
possibilities, as in Ex. 4, of using both single and multiple unaltered
1235 units as melodic material to fit any chord type; a handy tool for
improvisers and composers alike

The graphic below depicts three different 1235 permutations of CDEG,

in root position, 1st, 2nd and 3rd inversions (moving from left to right).
In each case:

Root Position – C or 1 is the lowest note

1st Inversion – D or 2 is the lowest note
2nd Inversion – E or 3 is the lowest note
3rd Inversion – G or 5 is the lowest note

Although the note names change with the key, the number
designations relative to their inversion remain the same.

Ex. 5 – 1235 and 1253 inversions in C

Ex. 6 illustrates how a common tetrachord (the same four notes –

CDEG) with varied permutations and inversions, might be employed
effectively over a changing harmonic landscape.

The numbers underneath each staff represent its permutation. Those

in parenthesis represent the inversion.

Ex. 6 – “A Jiggy Little Ditty” (B. Stern)

Listen to ex. 6

“A Jiggy Little Ditty (B. Stern)”

BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM

00:00 00:00

1. “A Jiggy Little Ditty (B. Stern)” — BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM 0:20

As in Ex. 44, the ii-V7-I line in C in Ex. 7 below employs multiple

unaltered 1235 permutations.

In bar #1
#1, the two root position permutations from F & Ab
respectively, combine to melodicise the Dmin7b5 ii chord.

In bar #2 = G (3rd inversion) & Eb = G7#9 13,

bar #3 = C (1st inversion) & G (2nd inversion) = C Maj7

bar #4 = Bb & Ab (both 1st inversion). It might be helpful to think of

each bar’s groupings in pairs
pairs.

Ex. 7 – ii-V7-I line employing m

multiple
ultiple unaltered 1235
Permutations (w/ inversions) as altered extensions.

Listen to ex. 7

“Permutation Station II ii-V ex7”

BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM

00:00 00:00

1. “Permutation Station II ii-V ex7” — BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM 0:10

It’s interesting to note the different intervallic relationship between

groupings in each measure above – min 3 rd , Maj 3 rd , Perfect 5 th &
Maj 2 nd , respectively. These are all cycle sequences which are covered
in the initial volume, “Permutation
Permutation Station 1-2-3-5
1-2-3-5” .

Ex. 8 – One more ii-V7-I for the road.

Listen to ex 8.

“Permutation Station II ii-V ex5”

BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM

00:00 00:00

1. “Permutation Station II ii-V ex5” — BOBBYSTERNJAZZ.COM 0:10

See if you can determine the “key centers” in Ex. 8 above.

The ii-V7 sequences found in either volume were not conceived in a

preordained, formulaic manner. Rather, they were built using different
combinations of permutations, inversions and interval spacing
between their respective “key centers”.

The only two basic rules

rules, which I tried not to breach for each 4-note
grouping were:

1. Limit the range in each case, from bottom note to top, to

an octave
octave, and

2. Hold the integrity of each four-note group of eighth-notes

intact – meaning foreign notes or rests in between are a no-no –
all four notes must be present and form an uninterrupted unit.
Triplets are fine as long as the previous conditions are met.
Exceptions can be made in the case of static chords which last
several beats or more.

This all might seem to some of you like trying to fit a square peg into a
round hole…

But hey – it works!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHEET MUSIC EXAMPLES

IN A MORE READABLE AND PRINTABLE PDF FORMAT.

Bobby Stern is a veteran Jazz & Pop saxophonist who, over the
years, has performed and / or recorded as a soloist with such
diverse musical icons as Marvin Gaye
Gaye, Thad Jones
Jones, Joe Perry
Perry, as
well as the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble II II, to name but a
few.As an author, his first book “The
The Melodic Minor Handbook”
remains a Best-Seller, published and sold by Jamey Aebersold
and is available from jazzbooks.com.

As of this writing, he has self-published just short of 20 additional

books under the category of Jazz Theory and Practice
Practice, which are
all available through his website.

The material in this article was taken from the Bobby’s two books,
Permutation Station 1-2-3-5 & Permutation Station II –
Next Station: Inversions
Inversions..

Check out Bobby’s complete library.

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Bobby Stern
My name is Bobby Stern. I'm a long time professional saxophonist,
jazz player, educator, Bari Woodwinds endorser and author of
"The Melodic Minor Handbook: A Jazz Player's Perspective"
published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz, as well as a new self published
eBook "Slick Licks That Stick!". I've been performing, teaching and
studying for 35+ years and the more I've learned, the more I've realized that it's an
endless universe; there's always so much more to learn; and that we are all students,
regardless of our present levels. I've performed in many diverse musical contexts
worldwide with some of the greats, near-greats as well as a few not-so-greats. ;)
→ Bobby Stern

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One Comment

REPLY
Don Wilburn
AUGUST 2, 2018 @ 3:38 PM

Great tuff. As a beginner, this provides some basic simple exercises

that will help ear training.

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