Triads: Patterning
Goal: To set up the improvisation using triads in inverted positions, major, minor, augmented, and diminished (with focus on using whole tone and pentatonic scales to create triads and singing in three-part harmony).
Out of Tempo
All Levels
“Out of Tempo” exercises are not presented separately in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV improvisations. Should any exercise prove difficult performed in tempo, out of tempo versions of the materials in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV can be modeled on Ear Training I and Ear Training II approaches to out of tempo improvisations.
In Tempo
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 Triad Smorgasbord for ideas.
Beginning
- Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Using the whole tone or pentatonic scale and keeping the first note the same, sing a root position triad, then a first inversion triad, then a second inversion triad.”
- Students do so.
Intermediate
- Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Using the whole tone or pentatonic scale and keeping the first note the same, student A sings the root, student B sings the third, and student C sings the fifth. All three students then rotate to a different triad position above the first note.”
- Students do so.
Advanced
- Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Singing downward from the fifth of a triad, using the whole tone or pentatonic scale, and keeping the first note the same, student A sings the fifth, student B sings the third, and student C sings the root, all downward from the fifth. Students then rotate to a different triad position below the fifth.”
- Students do so.