Polychords and the Jazz Improviser: How to Practice & Apply Polychords to Improv

In the world of music, many Jazz improvisers and Classical composers eventually venture into exploring poly-harmony within their respective art form. Poly harmony is the simultaneous sounding of more than one harmonic concept. The preponderance with poly-harmony began the late 19th-early 20th centuries with classical composers as Stravinsky and Debussy. About sixty years later, jazz musicians as John Coltrane and Richie Bierach incorporated such ideas into their music. The benefits of learning poly-chords will enhance an improviser's repertoire of harmonic concepts. Thus they can create harmonic colorings that can influence a listener's outlook. This article will focus on how once can practice and incorporate tertian polychords into their improvisational styles. Many of the examples and references within this article will make use of the seventh chord and triad. One should to explore other tertian harmonies such as ninths, elevenths, and all other similar formulations.

Tertian harmony is harmony that spaces its notes a third a part from other notes. Additionally, tertian harmony includes the harmonic inversion of thirds. Before one begins their exploration into poly-chords, one should be familiar with tertian harmony in its simplest terms of inversions and through a few applied patterns. From this understanding of tertian harmony through inversions and patterns and after one has accomplished or, in the least, feels comfortable with tertian harmony, one should then attempt to combine more than one chord.

The first step in gaining an understanding tertian ploychords is to write triads and 7th chords in a formulaic fashion. For example, begin by writing each major chord a major second apart (i.e. Cmaj-Dmaj, Ebmaj-Fmaj, etc.) After writing these series of chords, write out triads that are minor third apart. For example: Ebmaj-Gbmaj, Amaj-Cmaj, and all other similar progressions. As one can see from the two previous examples, one should continue this process until one has exhausted all the permutations of the triad progression. In a similar fashion, one should continue this writing exercise with seventh chords. The purpose to this writing exercise is for the musician/composer to develop a visual and intellectual connection to the concepts that they will use in a open/free musical environment.

To continue with this process of learning tertian polychords, the next step, after one has learned by rote and memorized the permutations, is to apply their understanding of poly chords to an improvisation setting. Before one begins improvising with other musicians, one should improvise alone. This will familiarize oneself with the polychords without the aid of written materials. One should strive, during this stage, to improvise with polychords without much thought. Other permutations on this stage include the improvising within a strict harmonic setting. For example, one can improvise on chords that are a minor third apart. Similarly, one can improvise on a series of polychords.

In the last stage of development, one should perform with other musicians and observe how polychords affect other musicians playing and one's performance. During this stage, one should apply their polychord knowledge towards Jazz standards, modal tunes, or atonal standards. Each form of Jazz standard offers its own rewards and challenges. Due to the pros and cons of each form of standard, the outcome will greatly differ. In addition to performing Jazz standards, one should attempt create their original composition with polychords. Furthermore, one should attempt to re-harmonize a Jazz standard with their new understanding of polychords.

In the end, this article focused primarily on the practicing and application seventh chords and triads in a polychordal environment. One can venture into larger tertian harmonies or into other harmonic formulations, such as segundel, quartal, quintal, and all other similar formulations. During one's venture into other tertian or non-tertian formulations, one should observe the impact polychords have on one's and other performances. As a reminder to one's practicing of polychords, for one to be successful at polychords, one should remain diligent in their practice and application of tertian polychords. The process of learning polychords can be tedious, but in the long run, the rewards are greater than not learning this harmonic concept. In the next article on polychords, polychord progressions and its application to composition will be discussed.

Andrew Hanna is the CEO & Production Manager of At Hand Productions, Inc. At Hand Productions is a leading Philadelphia concert and theatrical production company. Andrew Hanna has 20 years of composition experience and 16 years of performance experience. His compositions range from duets to large theatrical productions such as My Journal, Requiem for the Now, and Prophecies of War.

---

They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano... but When I Started to Play...

Remember the old ad that used to run endlessly in... Read More

Eminem: A Social Commentator

In an interview given to Musik Magazine in 2000, Eminem... Read More

The Music Industry and Its Lack of Talent

So it has come to this... what we see overrides... Read More

Modal Theory for Guitar Players - Part 2

Playing the ModesWhen I used to use this pack with... Read More

Music as Therapy?

Frustrated in a gridlocked?Job got you stressed out?The children have... Read More

How to Create Interesting Textures

A lot of new age piano music consists of repeating... Read More

How to Create Backing Tracks If You Dont Play All the Instruments... or Any

Congratulations! Your singing has become amazing, and it's time the... Read More

How To Change Your Guitar Strings

Changing your guitar strings might make you feel a litte... Read More

How To Overcome The Lyric Writing Hurdles That Are Keeping You Behind

The lyric writing side of songwriting is known to create... Read More

Piano Lessons Can be Fun!

There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note... Read More

Painting with Sound

Whenever I go to a Borders bookstore here in San... Read More

Mp3s ? The Future of Music?

Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and... Read More

Why Do Music Lovers Still Prefer to Buy Records?

In the late 1940's, the 45-RPM record replaced the 78-RPM... Read More

How to Improvise Using a Few Chords

When a painter is getting ready to paint, a color... Read More

How to Remove DRM from WMA - Is It Legal and Worth the Effort?

Technically, it's illegal to remove DRM from WMA protected music.... Read More

Warner Music Executive Payments

"In human life, art may arise from almost any activity,... Read More

12 Reasons You Should Learn to Play the Piano

All right, folks, here you go: My 12 reasons why... Read More

Live Music!

"Live music." That common saying may contain some truth, but... Read More

Creating Your Own Compositions

The idea of actually creating a complete piece of music... Read More

Reaching For The Soul Zone

Every searching artist wants to get there. It's that magical... Read More

New Age Piano Playing and the Sustain Pedal

There are 3 pedals on most pianos. The one on... Read More

Automatic Control of Chords

CORRECT PRACTICE IS INDISPENSABLE!Your success or failure at the keyboard... Read More

Getting Rhythm - Three Tips for Guitar Beginners

If you are just starting out learning guitar one of... Read More

How To Make a Fortune Teaching Piano (or Guitar, or Drums, or Singing, or?) To Beginners

"But I'm not in it for the money" you say.Me... Read More

How I Compose a Piece of Music

A number of people have asked about my own methodology... Read More

Music for Cross Cultural Accelerated Learning

The Search for the Right MusicEver since Georgi Lozonav, the... Read More

Choosing a Jazz Band for Your Party

In many years of arranging jazz bands for all sorts... Read More

Music for Corporate Entertainment

For many years I have supplied music for and played... Read More

To Record or Not To Record - At Home, That Is

I will be honest. I am addicted to music recording.... Read More

Five Steps to Protecting Your Music and Your Money

There are a lot of independent labels out there waiting... Read More

Your First Guitar

Congratulations, you just bought you first guitar! Now that you've... Read More

The Various Countries - A Rant About Country Music

It is no secret that over the past couple decades... Read More

Guitar Performance - Make The Most of It!

Getting ready for any type of guitar performance can be... Read More