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S 1.2 - Kia Lora
I am not sure of its name, I don't know where it
comes from or who wrote it, but I will never forget this song !
It was the very first tune I learnt when we started the
Bougainville Jazz Band back in the late 70s on the exotic
island of Bougainville (in the Pacific Ocean NE of Australia).
In hindsight this marks the turning point in my life, the
moment that I started to think about leaving my profession as a
scientist and turning to music. Kia Lora is
therefore a most appropriate start for the Improvisation 2
Series. |
Kia Lora is a typical 3-chord song. The V chord is a dominant 7th
chord, I and IV are triads.
Melody

This is a very simple song. You can improvise over it using
one scale only.
Still, I urge you to go through the standard
practice routine you should apply to each and every song. This
will firmly install the chord progression into your mind and
enhance your creativity and improvisation output.
The regular routine is :
- Play the chord root tones
of the progression in 4-beat notes (semibreves). If a chord applies to half a bar
only, play the root tone for 2 beats.
When you can play this from memory play the root tones using a
rhythm pattern.
- Play the chord tones of
each chord in crotchets (1-beat notes).
When you can play this from memory play the chord tones using a
rhythm pattern.
- Play the scale tones
appropriate for each chord in quavers (half beat notes).
- Use a rhythm pattern for
improvisation over the song, using all chord tones and scale
tones. When you can do this comfortably use a second and perhaps
third rhythm pattern.
Root tones 1.2 - Chord tones 1.3 - Scale
tones 1.4

Using a predetermined Rhythm
Pattern is a simple method of achieving two important
things.
- It helps you to keep track of where you are in the songs
chord progression.
- It helps to build a repertoire of good Jazz phrases in your
mind.
You can extract good phrases from melodies or from solo
fragments of famous players.
Simply ignore the note pitches
and write the phrase down in rhythm only (as show under '4.'
above).
A blank Rhythm Pattern page
for writing your own patterns is included.
Just print out
copies as you need them.
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S 1.3 - Phrasing : Rhythmic
Activity
Besides learning which notes to play in your
improvisation, it is equally important to learn how to play these notes in a
musically interesting way.
This involves understanding and
development of good musical phrasing. This aspect is extensively
covered in the Improvisation 2.
One of the most useful tools for building good phrases is the
variation of rhythmic activity
levels.
-
High rhythmic activity areas are created by short
notes, like quavers and semiquavers (eighth notes and shorter).
- Low rhythmic activity areas created by long
notes, like minims (2-beat notes)
and longer and also by rests.
But the two levels are relative.
In a succession of mainly 2- or 4- beat notes a few crotchets (1-beat note) represent high
rhythmic activity.In a succession of many quavers on the
other hand, a few crotchets will produce low rhythmic
activity. |
Below some two bar segments going from high rhythmic activity
to low rhythmic activity.
Audio 1.5

Here two examples with a reverse sequence, going from low
activity to high activity. Note that activity levels can extend
across bar lines, in fact this usually creates more interest as
it is less predictable.
Audio 1.6

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S 1.4 - The 8-bar Blues
Included in this session are two Play-a-Long
tracks for practising rhythmic activity levels.
It is the
old 8 bar blues chord progression :
The first track is 8 x 8 bar blues in F, then 8 x 8 bar
blues in G.
The second track is 8 x 8 bar blues in Bb, then 8 x 8
bar blues in C.
Use the examples provided to get started.
Then use your own
notes and own rhythm patterns.
-
C- instruments
8 bar blues | I chord | IV
chord | V7 chord |
Key of G | G | C | D7 |
Key of C | C | F | G7 |
Key of F | F | Bb | C7 |
Key of Bb | Bb | Eb | F7 |
Transpose the
examples from the key of C to the other
three keys.
Bb- instruments
8 bar blues | I chord | IV
chord | V7 chord |
Key of A | A | D | E7 |
Key of D | D | G | A7 |
Key of G | G | C | D7 |
Key of C | C | F | G7 |
Transpose the examples from the key of D to the other
three keys.
Eb- instruments
8 bar blues | I chord | IV
chord | V7 chord |
Key of E | E | A | B7 |
Key of A | A | D | E7 |
Key of D | D | G | A7 |
Key of G | G | C | D7 |
Transpose the examples from the key of A to the other
three keys.