Scales: Patterning

Teacher sets up a tempo, time signature, tonality, and rhythms.

Phrases can be four to thirty-two measures in length depending on the student’s ability.

Start with one note per measure and add different rhythms as students become more comfortable with the exercise. For more confident students, use non-repeating notes and rhythm patterns.

Students sing one, two, three, or four notes per measure.

Speaking, singing, playing.

Refer to the Scale Smorgasbord for ideas.

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Student A chooses a pattern of three notes using a church mode. During an improvisation of y measures, student A will repeat the pattern on different scale degrees of the mode.” For example: pattern 2, 3, 1: pattern repeated on 5, 6, 4.
2. Student A does so.

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Student B chooses a pattern of three notes using pentatonic scale x. During an improvisation of y measures, student B will repeat the pattern on different scale degrees of the scale.” For example: E, D, G: pattern repeated on A, G, C.
2. Student B does so.

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Student C chooses a pattern of three notes using the chromatic scale toward creating a twelve-tone row. During an improvisation of y measures, student C will repeat the pattern on different scale degrees of the scale such that all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are used.” For example: Eb, Ab, A: pattern repeated on F, Bb, B.
2. Student C does so.

1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “I sing or play the first four notes of a tone row. Student A sings the retrograde. Student B sings the inversion. Student C sings the retrograde inversion.”
2. Students A, B, and C do so one at a time.