Modern Patterns

& Warm-ups
for Jazz
for trumpet
and
all instruments

by
Richie Vitale
Copyright 2016, Richard Vitale Pub. Co.
Website: RichieVitale.com
Distributed by Lulu Publishing.
All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Made in the U.S.A.
 How to use this book:
I’ve written out these exercises in their entirety, as they are for your mind as well as your endurance.
They are specially designed to make you a more fluent and flexible player and help you to hear music
differently.

Once you are familiar with the exercises that are eighth notes, you can take them at a faster tempo so
they equal 16th notes. If your goal is to use them in jazz improvisation, when you feel comfortable
with these patterns, you can close the book, relax, and transpose them.

If you feel like extending the range of the exercises, please do so. If they go too high for your range,
feel free to start or end each exercise where you feel comfortable on your instrument.

These exercises were designed for execution on the trumpet but are practical on any instrument. On
patterns that first descend and then ascend, such as 1 a/b and 2 a/b, on your particular instrument, start
mid-range in the practical soloing range of your horn and descend until you reach your lowest note.
Then start again where you began and ascend to the top of your practical soloing range.

Certain exercises will start at the lowest range of your horn and ascend only and conversely, some
will start at the highest practical soloing range of your horn and descend only. Some, like Exercise
14, have a fermata mark before the end of the exercise. If it's early in your warmup, or that's as high
as you can play . . . you can stop there.

If you are a brass player, stop at the top of your range on ascending exercises, you can rest a moment
and start where you left off, and ascend as high as you can (or wish to), to increase your endurance
and range.

I’ve written the exercises in this book in all twelve keys for several purposes:

They are to be used as warm-up for brass players, picking and choosing which exercises they’d like
to do on a particular day or week. This is to make a good warmup session enjoyable and thoughtful,
instead of a daily routine.

Some of the exercises, as I began to practice and notate them, I found were so difficult, that it was
clearly advantageous to write them out transposed first. This also gives me the opportunity to write
out my thoughts on how to approach the pattern.

I also am able to show different articulations for a warmup over several bars.

Some variations of Exercises are so similar to the original I didn't make a separate "Thoughts on
Practicing this Pattern" to those variations.

A couple of the patterns are so obviously usable in soloing, or are obscure patterns, I did not include
a "Practical Use" directly after the pattern.
Regarding abbreviations I use in this book: "Pent" stands for "Pentatonic Scale" and is shorthand to
save ink and space. "R" stands for the "Root" of a chord; "maj" stands for "Major" "min" or "-" stands
for "minor"; "dim" stands for "diminished"; "alt" stands for "altered"; "p" stands for "perfect"; "+" or
"aug" stands for "augmented"; and "btwn" stands for between. "Ex." stands for Exercise and "Fig." for
Figure.

Substitute chords for the original chords will be found in parenthesis, like this: (Gb7(#11))

I sometimes talk about "target notes", and my thinking is unconventional . . . I want you to understand
the correct theory behind these lines, but use every method to memorize them.

The "target note" is the note I am aiming for, and out of the notes preceding the target note, while not
superfluous, some can be replaced by another note. The notes before a target note often wrap around a
target note like a snake, and are sometimes atonal, not being in the diatonic scale that the rest of the
phrase is in.

Just as mnemonics are used to memorize words, lists, numbers, and phrases, you can use similar
methods to memorize a musical line and transpose it into several keys. I use target notes, intervals,
similar fingerings, degrees of a scale, intervals, triads, any and all means available to help me
memorize a phrase. (I encourage you to do the same.)

This is part of improvising to me, the woodshedding process and developing new ways to get around
on my instrument. It is something you can do yourself as I encourage all of my students to develop
their own ideas and independence.

I’ve found these patterns to be useful and fun to practice and hope you enjoy practicing them as much
as I do!
 Why I wrote this book:
On the bandstand, we like to live in the moment. But as in salsa dancing, I've repeated routines, or
parts of routines, until muscle memory takes over. This repetition is in the hundreds and thousands for
me.

It is the same on your instrument. You must practice scales, arpeggios, and patterns until they are
second nature to you, so you can call upon your past practice in a live situation and play what comes
to your mind, or something close to it.

I found after years of practicing etudes and exercises I wanted to exercise my mind, as well as to
exercise for range and endurance. Over the years, I've come up with certain exercises that were fun,
practical, and great for warmup in all keys.

I use to attend Barry Harris's Jazz Cultural Workshop many years ago (a really cool name for a
weekly jazz workshop).

Barry said three things I will never forget. A student asked him, "Why should I practice this (referring
to a line that was a little low for his practical soloing range) . . . I'll never use it!" And Barry replied,
"Because you should be able to play it."

At another time, as I was attending one of his classes he said, "When you make a mistake, make it into
something." In other words, make it work for you!

The third thing Barry said that stuck with me is, "We tend to practice what we know, what is easy for
us." So even though this book shows some of the most recent patterns I'm practicing, I'm always
looking for a new way to explore my instrument, or music, or life.

This book is meant for all musicians, including classical musicians and those in all musical genres,
who are not in the habit of transposing lines into all twelve keys but are intrigued by the jazz idiom
and/or the beauty of usual practical patterns and their composition.
 Table of Contents
How to use this book:
Why I wrote this book:
Table of Contents
Ex. 1 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 1 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 2 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 2 - Pentatonic Patterns
Exercises 1 & 6 - Practical Use
Ex. 3 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 4 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 4 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 5 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 5 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 6 - Thoughts on practicing the "Truncated Pentatonic Pattern"
Ex. 6 - Truncated Pentatonic Pattern - min 3rd interval
Ex. 6 - Truncated Pentatonic Pattern - perfect 4th interval
Exercise 6 - Practical Use
Ex. 7 - Thoughts on practicing the "Rodeo Pattern"
Ex. 7 - Rodeo Pattern
Ex. 8 - Thoughts on practicing the "Major (#11) Pentatonic Pattern"
Ex. 8 - Major (#11) Pentatonic Pattern
Exercise 8 - Practical Use
Ex. 9 - Thoughts on practicing the "II V I Tritone Sub Pattern"
Ex. 9 - II V I Tritone Sub Pattern
Ex. 10 - Thoughts on practicing the "Dominant (#11) Patterns"
Ex. 10 - Dominant (#11) Patterns
Ex. 11 - Thoughts on practicing the "Dominant (#11) Patterns"
Ex. 11 - Dominant (#11) Patterns
Exercise 11 - Practical Use
Ex. 12 - Thoughts on practicing "Dominant (#9) Patterns"
Ex. 12 - Dominant (#9) Patterns
Exercise 12 - Practical Use
Ex. 13 - Thoughts on practicing "Dominant (#9) Patterns"
Ex. 13 - Dominant (#9) Patterns
Ex. 14 - Thoughts on practicing "(Major) Triad Pair Patterns"
Ex. 14 - (Major) Triad Pair Patterns
Exercise 14 - Practical Use
Ex. 15 - Thoughts on practicing "(Major) Triad Pair Patterns"
Ex. 15 - (Major) Triad Pair Patterns
Exercise 15 - Practical Use
Ex. 16 - Thoughts on practicing "Minor 'Sus' Pattern"
Ex. 16 - Minor "Sus" Pattern
Exercise 16 - Practical Use
Ex. 17 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 17 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 18 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 18 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 19 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 19 - Diminished Patterns
Exercises 18 & 19 - Practical Use
Ex. 20 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 20 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 21 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 21 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 22 - Thoughts on practicing "Whole Tone Exercises"
Ex. 22-27 - Whole Tone Exercises
Exercises 25 & 26 - Practical Use
Ex. 28 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 28 - Atonal Exercises
Exercise 28 - Practical Use
Ex. 29 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 29 - Atonal Exercises
Exercise 29 - Practical Use
Ex. 30 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 30 - Atonal Exercises
Final Notes
 Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 1 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 1 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 2 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 2 - Pentatonic Patterns
Exercises 1 & 6 - Practical Use
Ex. 3 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 4 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 4 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 5 - Thoughts on practicing "Pentatonic Patterns"
Ex. 5 - Pentatonic Patterns
Ex. 6 - Thoughts on practicing the "Truncated Pentatonic Pattern"
Ex. 6 - Truncated Pentatonic Pattern - min 3rd interval
Ex. 6 - Truncated Pentatonic Pattern - perfect 4th interval
Exercise 6 - Practical Use
Ex. 7 - Thoughts on practicing the "Rodeo Pattern"
Ex. 7 - Rodeo Pattern
Ex. 8 - Thoughts on practicing the "Major (#11) Pentatonic Pattern"
Ex. 8 - Major (#11) Pentatonic Pattern
Exercise 8 - Practical Use
Ex. 9 - Thoughts on practicing the "II V I Tritone Sub Pattern"
Ex. 9 - II V I Tritone Sub Pattern
Ex. 10 - Thoughts on practicing the "Dominant (#11) Patterns"
Ex. 10 - Dominant (#11) Patterns
Ex. 11 - Thoughts on practicing the "Dominant (#11) Patterns"
Ex. 11 - Dominant (#11) Patterns
Exercise 11 - Practical Use
Ex. 12 - Thoughts on practicing "Dominant (#9) Patterns"
Ex. 12 - Dominant (#9) Patterns
Exercise 12 - Practical Use
Ex. 13 - Thoughts on practicing "Dominant (#9) Patterns"
Ex. 13 - Dominant (#9) Patterns
Ex. 14 - Thoughts on practicing "(Major) Triad Pair Patterns"
Ex. 14 - (Major) Triad Pair Patterns
Exercise 14 - Practical Use
Ex. 15 - Thoughts on practicing "(Major) Triad Pair Patterns"
Ex. 15 - (Major) Triad Pair Patterns
Exercise 15 - Practical Use
Ex. 16 - Thoughts on practicing "Minor 'Sus' Pattern"
Ex. 16 - Minor "Sus" Pattern
Exercise 16 - Practical Use
Ex. 17 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 17 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 18 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 18 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 19 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 19 - Diminished Patterns
Exercises 18 & 19 - Practical Use
Ex. 20 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 20 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 21 - Thoughts on practicing "Diminished Patterns"
Ex. 21 - Diminished Patterns
Ex. 22 - Thoughts on practicing "Whole Tone Exercises"
Ex. 22-27 - Whole Tone Exercises
Exercises 25 & 26 - Practical Use
Ex. 28 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 28 - Atonal Exercises
Exercise 28 - Practical Use
Ex. 29 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 29 - Atonal Exercises
Exercise 29 - Practical Use
Ex. 30 - Thoughts on practicing "Atonal Exercises"
Ex. 30 - Atonal Exercises
 Final Notes
Warming up for every musician is very important. I found that the same warmup I had been doing for
years, though efficient, was becoming mundane and more tedious to practice.

I decided I had to change my routine and began to devise my own exercises to warm up which were
fun and challenging to play.

Every day I play something from this book, much of which I've incorporated into my warmup routine
(and playing), and which I don't even need to open the book to play.

(Fortunately, I like to write things out, so as I was going through the finals of this book, I discovered a
couple of exercises I had completely forgotten that I have included along with the other exercises in
this book.)

I wanted to find a way to exercise my mind and the way I hear, and at the same time work on my
embouchure. And warming up was once more something I looked forward to.

This is not meant to replace your warmup or what your teacher (if you have one), thinks is best for
you at this stage. It is meant to augment your warmup if you are a brass player, and/or to stimulate
your hearing so you can interpret pitches, intervals, and phrases more easily.

And it isn't to end at this book. A good teacher teaches students to think for themselves, so I show
instances of how to use these exercises and how to change them to fit the particular changes in a song.

(I encourage you all to do the same with the material you work with and the music you listen to.)

Every time I learn a new song, it is another opportunity to find new ways to navigate through the
chord structure, be it one chord for 8 bars, or a standard, or an entirely original composition of mine
or someone else's.

This way of thinking has not only made me a better musician, but a better composer, as I think of
writing a new song as improvising . . . but at a slower pace.

I hope this book helps you in your search to be a better musician. Writing it has certainly been
beneficial for me and I continue to write out and practice phrases that are constructive in the way I
wish to perform and think about music.