Upper Intermediate Book Vol 2
Intermediate
Author - Mayukh Sarkar
Category - MSMA Text Books
Descriptions
This book is dedicated to different structural ideas. A bouquet of scales have been used to create these exercises to help develop our ears, understanding and skill level. We may also name this as a broader perspective or extension of modal study.
As we know C Lydian major scale is made up of - C D E F# G A B C . We can witness the sound of a Lydian movement in this passage due to the presence of the flat 5 in the presence of a major 3rd, perfect 5th and a perfect 7 note on top of it. As a result of this we can hear the sound of a maj7b5 in the scale, which is the main characteristic of a lydian family.Now the question arises for the students, explorers and the improvisers of creating different shades, colours, moods of musical statements using the sound of a maj7b5 as the base context . So we can say, the extended study of the lydian scale for us would be to be able to add different shades and colours to it keeping the tonality of maj7b5 intact in the process of exploration. This process of creating different shades keeping the sound of maj7b5 intact is the demanding area of learning and improvisation. We may add a flat 9 or a flat 6 , or both could be added to colour the sound of a lydian passage keeping the base sound of maj7b5 intact. We can always add a minor 3rd, or both the 3rds, a flat 7 or both the 7ths to improvise and colour in various musical contexts. But the challenge of maintaining the purity of maj7b5 and improvising on top of it is the demanding area of work to be explored in a very detailed manner. I have been learning this approach of melodic improvisation due to my cultural roots in India. This is an extremely beautiful soundscape for learning and exploring music in life. I have tried to put some interesting ideas of sonic improvisations based on these scales in this book. Namely : Harmonic minor, Phrygian minor, Lydian major, Lydian b9 , Mixolydian b5 b9, Mixolydian b9 b6 b5, Mixolydian b6 b5 , Mixolydian b6. Once you are done with an exercise, you can always change the scale pallets is the main idea of learning.