Breaking down Michael Brecker!

When looking at musical notation it can seem like random notes. But if we break down each group into 4 note groupings called “Tetrachords” we can break down the music theory and play each group on our instrument.

We can then remember the “Sound and Shape” of each cell and then join them together. In turn we can then apply these cells to our own instrumental playing/improvisations.

FULL SOLO LINE/PHRASE

 

1st Grouping of 4 notes [Tetrachord]=E flat Pentatonic shape/sound [Mixolydian]

 

2nd Tetrachord=A flat Minor triad and 4th interval [or #11  #9 and #5] [SAME AS 7TH TETRACHORD]

 

3rd Tetrachord=Minor scale fragment [#11 Lydian]

 

4th Tetrachord=Changing cell. [From flat 9 to C Jazz melodic minor] [SAME AS 9TH TETRACHORD]

 

5th Tetrachord=Very “Outside” D major pentatonic/4ths

 

6th Tetrachord =D major Pentatonic sound/shape [very “Out”]

 

7th Tetrachord=C minor arpeggio and 4th

 

8th Tetrachord=B flat major Pentatonic sound/shape

 

9th Tetrachord=C Melodic “Jazz” minor [Augmented] sound/shape [same as 4th Tetrachord]

 

10th Tetrachord = Perfect 4th and major 3rd creating triad pairs sound/shape [or E flat minor 11 implication or G FLAT/a flat]

 

Lastly= Flat 6 for C minor

FULL LENGTH “INDEPTH” VIDEO BELOW

CONCLUSION:

In terms of fingering and musical application on our instruments learning shapes and “Connections” and breaking phrases down into 4 note cells [Tetrachords] is really useful because complex lines can be understood and learnt quickly.

In turn this gives us lots of patterns for improvisation and theoretical knowledge to improvise with as opposed to just playing scales and arpeggios.

If you found this easy then try and break this solo down into“Hexatonic” scale application. You might find it really interesting!

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MICHAEL BRECKER #2

CHROMATICS AND CELL [TETRACHORD] REPLICATION 

Played 8va

To begin with we have a bit of standard Be Bop chromaticism

BUT!

If we look further we can see that we have an exact replicated cell that descends in minor 3rds weaving in and out of the harmony.

4 note  cell

2 four note cells descending in minor 3rds replicated

We can now look at the whole line and see and hear where the descending replicated cells in minor 3rds start and how they serve their purpose.

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