Clusters and other melodic choices
Lesson time: (0min 52sec)
Tim Richards explores playing clusters, stacking notes a tone apart from the whole tone scale, to add deliberate dissonance to your improvising.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Beginning Jazz Piano: Triads & Pentatonics
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Exploring Clusters in Improvisation
In the repeat of the improvisation section of Dominant Distance, you'll notice it was much freer. I wasn't worrying about the left-hand chord so much, and I was experimenting with what you might call clusters.
What are Clusters?
An example of a cluster would be two notes a tone apart, such as:
- F sharp and A flat
- You can even add a third note to create a whole tone cluster.
These clusters come from the whole tone scale.
Additional Clusters
You can also try:
- C and D together
- B and C together
- Adding three notes for more complexity
Embrace the Dissonance
Just have fun with that stuff and don't worry if some of it sounds a bit out. The whole idea is to provoke the listener into embracing the dissonance.
About the instructor
Critically acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tim Richards is one of Britain’s most experienced jazz educators, teaching piano privately for over 30 years, as well as at Morley College, Goldsmiths College, the University of Surrey, Premises Studios and other venues in the UK and abroad. He has produced numerous titles for Schott Music, including the best-selling two-volume Exploring Jazz Piano, Blues, Boogie & Gospel Collection and the acclaimed Improvising Blues Piano. He is also co-author, with John Crawford, of Exploring Latin Piano and Brazilian Piano Collection.More recently Schott have published Jazz, Latin & Modern Collection (15 pieces for solo piano), comprising Tim Richards originals alongside pieces by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and the two volume set Beginning Jazz Piano (now a two-part MusicGurus course).“The real joy of Tim’s music… is that it is both hugely educational but also such great fun to play. Anyone with the slightest interest in learning to play or teach jazz piano should really acquire a set of Tim’s books.” PianoDaoAs a performer Tim has been a presence on the UK jazz scene since the 1980s, also playing the blues with UK and US legends such as Otis Grand, Earl Green, Dana Gillespie, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and Mojo Buford. He has released over a dozen albums as a leader (featuring many of London’s best jazz musicians including Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Seb Rochford, Ed Jones, Dick Pearce and many others), and toured all over Europe with line-ups ranging from duo to nine-piece. His latest recording, the album ‘Telegraph Hill’ by the six-piece Hextet, was described in The Observer as "A true joy from beginning to end". More info can be found on his website www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk read more