Smorgasbord
“Smorgasbord” is a presentation of written matrices of musical elements that can be referred to visually during instructional improvisations.
The ‘smorgasbord’ concept is a successful approach to improvisation because it offers the widest range of materials coupled with infinite choices of how to engage with them. The teacher can point to an individual component of a matrix, point sequentially from one component to the next, or jump around the matrix a-sequentially developing both reading and listening skills. The ‘jumping around’ nature of it, whether with movement, singing, or playing an instrument, and in or out of tempo begins to resemble an actual piece of music beyond the use of instructional paradigms. Each complete smorgasbord topic is presented in every ear training level to allow for maximum freedom of use within and across ear training levels.
A Smorgasbord Sampling
- Smorgasbord of Rhythm: The matrix of rhythm motifs
- Smorgasbord of Scales: Major, minor, whole tone, pentatonic, octatonic, church modes, and twelve tone
- Smorgasbord of Melody: Matrix using four note combinations
- Smorgasbord of Harmony
- Roman Numeral and Key Matrix
- Common Chord Progressions