AN APPROACH TO MODAL IMPROVISATION PART 1

November 19, 2023  by Stefano Palleni

AN APPROACH TO MODAL IMPROVISATION PART 1

The most recent years of my Asian residency - from 2019 to 2023 - have passed by in a state of relative cultural isolation, also due to the pandemic. This particular condition has characterized my research work both personally and professionally, giving me the opportunity to solve a few rhythmic problems that have haunted me since long ago and further develop expressiveness and creativity that I was gifted with. The great work carried out projected me into a more mature phase of my artistic evolution, being able to focus on compositional and technical priorities. Going in detail, I made up to concentrate on original compositions inspired by Indian ragas, which are based on a modal system. I also wanted to design a series of studies that would allow me to develop the skill of pre-hearing, i.e. the ability to play on the instrument instantly and effortlessly whatever musical idea comes to mind, just as it happens to a singer or when talking.

The results showed up quickly, both in proficiency and imagination to the extent that I decided to craft a new method out of this experience which will most likely be titled Music Yoga. The idea is that of a guide who leads the musician on a simple and effective path aimed at developing his skills to the point they become spontaneous, progressively removing hindrances and rigidity. The aim is to achieve a natural and pleasant musical practice. The function of the exercises is to make the improviser capable of delivering musical phrases instantly and effortlessly as he thinks of new ideas and stays relaxed.

My experience with modes, first intuitive rather than theoretical, starts with rock music. The song No Quarter by Led Zeppelin features a long keyboard solo in the Dorian mode. At that time, rock groups used to perform long improvisations lasting more than ten minutes, as was already a common practice in jazz since the early sixties. Listening to melodies on basic harmonic background with one chord or two offers the opportunity even to the most uneducated ear to get some pleasure without much effort.

The true revelation about the modal approach arrived at the age sixteen, when a high school friend let me listen to a record of early medieval music, a collection of the famous Carmina Burana performed by René Clemencic's consort, featuring copies of the original instruments. The Burana codex is a true archaeological mine source of sacred and profane themes of the European tradition, dating back to the 12th century, of which there are today numerous recorded versions.

I clearly remember feeling of awe and the sort of almost genetic memory that music awakened in me. A nearly three hour repertoire was immediately intelligible to me. Even though it was some eight hundred years old music and despite my young age I immediately recognized it as mine without any effort.

Later on, the encounter with modal jazz showed me the direct relationship existing between early music and modern improvisation, even if in the latter it is more vertical as will be explained below. In fact, jazz musicians improvise on modes using three pentatonic scales contained within: one built on the root, one on the fifth grade and one on the fourth, altogether with their inversions. Harmonic instruments such as the piano can play vertical chords structured by fourths that will produce the typical modal style sound that you can hear on John Coltrane’s recordings such as My Favorite Things or Impressions, as well Miles Davis' most famous album Kind Of Blue. This approach spread to the point of influencing pop and rock music.

The formalization of music in the form of structures known as scales or modes began much earlier than the medieval period and was at the hand of the Greeks. Although almost the entire corpus of Greek music is lost, the theoretical system has come down to us with the works of Plutarch and some other philosophers. In the classical era it was common breaking scales into two smaller groupings of four notes called tetrachords, each one enclosed the space of a fifth and containing an interval of a semitone. The combination of two tetrachords dawned a seven-note mode which carried a name reminiscent of the style pertaining to a local tradition, such as Lydian or Phrygian.

Let's now examine the Ionian mode of C, which corresponds to the major scale of C, if we split the scale into two descending tetrachords starting on C we’ll have first a tetrachord whose sequence is C-B-A-G and a second one whose series is F-E-D-C. In both cases the half step is found on the top, C going to B in the first and F going to E in the second, while the junction between the tetrachords, Sol and F, is separated by the interval of a whole step. There are other possible combinations, in which the half steps are positioned in a different position and some where the junction between the two tetrachords is by one half step only. The recombination of these elements gives rise to the peculiar taste that each mode brings about, depending on the atmosphere you want to evoke.

In my case I have always thought of modes as images associated with a feeling or a psychological quality. For example, the Mixolydian reminds me of the pinnacles of a castle with banners soaring into the sky, at the same time it might recall a languid atmosphere which is commonly present in Indian music. The Aeolian mode, on the other hand, is perfect to evoke the chanting of a mother lullying his child, or either nocturnal landscapes and mountain forests covered in snow.

Another characteristic element of early modes consisted in the fact that they were originally played in descending form, starting on a note and descending to the same tone in the lower octave. From the middle ages on, however, the ascending form became dominant, in which the scales are played up-wise. This factor, which is not one of secondary importance, has certainly contributed in changing the style of the compositions altogether with the philosophical implant of the music.

The idea of breaking up modes in two four-note fragments offers us a more synthetic and practical approach to improvisation than thinking of a full seven-note scale. In recent years I have thoroughly investigated the theory of modes, coupling the study with extensive listenings of Indian music along other European and Asian traditions, of which the former remains perhaps the most faithful form nowadays. The modes and the various scales, although they differ in names, are widely used in contemporary music in all its forms, while they remain intact only in classical Indian music, where the tradition has undergone only minimal stylistic variations despite being transmitted orally.