Chromatic Improvisation

[ranjit]

Here's my attempt at building an improvisation off a chromatic scale.

[frodo3]

I enjoyed hearing this.  I have to ask - was that a mistake at 0:57? If yes - NICE SAVE!

I remember hearing some nice improvs along this line listening to some silent films.

[ranjit]

Thank you!! I didn't expect the note I landed on in the left hand at 0:57, so yes, it was a bit of a fumble.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Suggestion: in this the chromatic scale is mostly used as a filler mechanism which gets from a to b (and sometimes back to a). As an exercise, how about trying to use it thematically and harmonically? I think this is genuinely difficult to do without thinking it through in advance for progressions, but you might find it useful in developing schema for harmonic relations.

Impromptu effort here, and I used too many scale notes as passing notes for my satisfaction. Apologies, my piano needs tuned and the cold weather is not helping it.

[ranjit]

It is an interesting idea. I see what you're trying to do in your improvisation, especially at the beginning. But the problem is, by using those fairly traditional harmonies in that way, I feel you're increasing tension and setting up a resolution eventually. You hear it leading to a note, resolving, and then don't do it (because that would become scalar and take away from the emphasis on the chromatic scale). This is similar to any number of classical pieces by Chopin or Liszt, for example.

[ranjit]

Here's my (better) attempt at an improvisation which uses the chromatic scale as much as possible. I think using sequences instead of a plain harmony, (think Chopin chromaticism), somewhat ambiguous harmonies such as the French impressionists or even jazz chords such as the maj7b9 or other somewhat dissonant chords can offset the "classical" resolution tendency.

I don't know if the improvisation here adequately addresses that though. Forgive me for the audio quality, I recorded it quickly on a keyboard I have at hand. I'm sending it as an attachment with this post.

[quantum]

I like the ideas you are working out here.  In the first piece you focused more on contrasts, like a series of vignettes strung together.  The second piece had more of an overarching idea behind it. 

The idea of tension-resolution does not have to be strictly applied to classical sounding material.  It is a very universal construct that can be applied to many forms of music.  It can be analogous to the concepts of light-shadow in painting and photography, or protagonist-antagonist in storytelling.  It is a tool used to bring dynamism, a tool used to generate action and movement, as well as establish context.  You can use it to highlight emphasis on chromatic scales and chromatic movement. 

For an example take the C major triad and G major triad.  Technically they are constructed the same way, just transposed to different pitches.  Used in a certain way, they can be made to function as a dominant-tonic, dissonance-consonance, V-I, or in other words tension-resolution.  Wouldn't that mean the tension chord is the exact same formula as the resolution chord, yes it is!  It is the context of how it was used that gives it the perception of tension-resolution. 

Used in a different context, you establish a chromatic scale or chromatically moving chord pattern as the consonance, and use a plain C major triad to contrast as a dissonance. 

[quantum]

Have a listen to the following.  Note how chromaticisms are contrasted to more typical sounding harmonic motion.  Also note how the accompaniment was crafted, again chromatic movement paired with non chromatic movement.