Lessons from Jazz/World to 20 Century Classical Music Harmony Rhythm and Theory
Author: Modern Music Theory and Application
Clifford Martin is a trained classical musician and composer. His 1st study being piano and composition and a deep study in the application of modern music theory. He also studied jazz piano and jazz drums privately.
This website is a catalogue of ideas and musical concepts for improvisation and composition.
Here is the TAB/Notation for the “String Skipping” exercise in the style of guitar great Robert Fripp.
This 12 tone concept was taken from the brilliant 12 chromatic forms of jazz great Pat Martino.
EXERCISE– Analysis:
I am staring this little etude/exercise on an “Up” stroke with alternate picking guitar technique.
As an example here is the first part:
The key to be aware of, is the exploitation of “Octave displacement”. This creates unique harmonies and S.A.T [B] style lines.
As you can see, in the diagram above this is just the chromatic scale, but, moving/resolving through the different registers.
This octave displacement technique, offers us a way to create/extract interesting colourful music from the chromatic scale, whilst, keeping us far away from one string banality.
Although, there is octave displacement, there is also some basic scale parts to link it all together:
I am starting both of these scale fragments on an“Up” stroke with strict alternate picking once again:
Also, the last part descends back into the chromatic scale to tie the [Composition] etude back together and give clarity to the ear, and let it know that we are still in an atonal chromatic form.
Today, a look at the amazing orchestral chord from “The Rite of Spring”[“Augurs of Spring ” – Les augures printaniers] by composer Igor Stravinsky.
PART 1:
What is the “Augurs of Spring” chord?
This is a Bi-Tonal chord consisting of two parts or two different tonalities. In the Bass we have a chord of F flat Major and in the treble we have a chord of Eb7
Musical notation illustrating the bi-tonal chord of F flat Major and Eb7 from Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring.’
Stravinsky calls this F flat Major as opposed to its enharmonic [E Major] because, he employs an Eb Major key signature making it easier to read and follow, whilst removing any # accidentals that could create messiness. [The extra flats make it legible].
BUT……
In our modern analysis we can think of it this way,
Here, is how the rite of spring chord sounds in an orchestral context:
From Stravinsky’s score: Here, we can see Stravinsky’s mastery, displayed by his execution of rhythmic brilliance.
Below, is how it sounds as a pad on an modern keyboard
PART 2: GUITAR VOICING’S
Due, to the nature of the guitar we really need an extra finger and an extra string to do this unique chord justice.
But, here are two guitar voicing’s for harmony, strumming and chordal picking:
Voicing #1
Guitar voicing example for the Bi-Tonal chord from Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring.’
Voicing #2
PART 3:
Investigating the harmony:
In the example below, we can see the amazing way Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” chord resolves and how the structure of the harmony moves.
CHORD PAIRS:
Due to the nature of the two chords being a semitone apart we can create some interesting chord pairs lines/licks from this:
Okay, now let’s develop this a bit,
PART 4:
We, can also build on this concept and create some interesting guitar or solo instrument lines with this approach:
Here is a lick/line example:
Musical notation highlighting the transition between E Major and Eb Major chords in Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring.’Musical notation illustrating the E Lydian and Eb Major scales, highlighting the rhythmic structure and chord pairs from Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’.
In Conclusion:
This was just a quick look at the potential of just one chord!
This Bi-tonal and Polytonal approach opens up so much in terms of inspirational ideas, originality and fresh harmonic perspectives.
In this way, cliches can be rung of banality and forged into something interesting and unique andthoroughly challenging.
“Les Augures Printaniers/The Rite of Spring” is such a great example of this, possessing a little world within itself. Add, to this Stravinsky’s brilliant exploitation of rhythm and we have a [Bi-tonal]chord that’s an all time classic!
![Musical notation displaying the F flat Major and Eb7 chords, highlighting Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" chord [augurs of spring chord]](https://jazzimproviser.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/screenshot-2025-05-19-at-16.32.59.png?w=322)
