Canon Project Module Thirteen

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THE MUSICARTA CANON PROJECT

MODULE THIRTEEN – MELODIC VARIATIONS (1)

CANON PROJECT
MODULE LINKS

Canon Project 6
Canon chord sequence

Canon Project 7
Accompaniment patterns

Canon Project
Transposing mini-series

Canon Project 8
Accomp, + RH thirds

Canon Project 9
Accomp, + RH triads

Canon Project 10
Mixed accomp. patterns
Canon Project 11
Suspensions

Canon Project 12
Slash basses

The Canon chord sequence is ideal for learning to create melodies around chord tones. To do this, you sketch out the ‘contour’ of a sample two-bar melodic fragment and identify what chord tone it starts on. The chord sequence’s regular structure allows you to repeat the same fragment – with minor variations – thus filling out an entire eight-bar chorus. A development of the melody fragment usually follows, and in th8is way a whole performance can be built up.

This is Module Thirteen of the Musicarta Canon Project, To get the most out of this module, you need to have done all the things detailed in the ‘Preparing to learn’ sections of the first Canon Project module, and have completed all the previous modules Don’t skip this vital preparation! Use the Quick Links in the table, right, to catch up if you need to.

You can download the latest Canon Project MIDI files (including the files for this module) using this link. Keep your MIDI files and folders tidy!

Delete your previous MIDI file folder before downloading the new one.
Always save your MIDI files to the same location.
Remember to delete the zip folder 'wrapping' when you've finished unpacking.

Warm up for your Canon Project sessions with some D major scale practice, and revise the previous module if it's some time since you studied.

Here is the performance you will learn in this module:

CPM_M13_01

Internal structure of the Canon chord sequence

The regular internal structure of the Canon chord sequence was pointed out in Module Three. The essential things to remember are:

There are four pairs of chords.
In the first three pairs of chords, the root falls a fourth.
The first three pairs overlap by one scale tone.
The last pair is a different, get-back-to-the-starting-place pair.

Play through any simple arrangement of the Canon chord sequence and check that you can identify these features.

Describing melodic fragments – contour

Module Eight introduced the idea of ‘contour’ – the up/down shape of a musical line, as if seen ‘in silhouette’ from the side.

Here is the familiar Canon bass line, seen in silhouette:

The simplest way to describe contour is to use arrows to indicate same, up or down movement between notes.

Here is the bass line with the right arrows for the slopes of the silhouette (contour) put in:

Here is the bass line as just a series of dots (representing the notes) with the contour arrows between them representing the up/down movement. (There isn’t a ‘stays-the-same’ in the Canon bass line.) Play the bass line from the illustration, starting on D.

Note that the shorthand doesn’t tell you how much higher or lower the next note is. You still have to supply something from memory or ear, or using educated guesswork.

Describing melodic fragments – rhythm

Here is a chorus of the Canon using a sample melodic fragment like the treble patterns from Modules Three and Four.

(audio only)

Listen a number of times, carefully. You want to isolate the top line of notes in your ear – the ‘melody’. You want to be hearing in your head what this version of the same performance makes obvious:

(audio only)

If we notate just the rhythm, we discover the four pairs of bars all have this rhythm:

This is a Musicarta ‘beat map’ Tap out the stems-up notes with your right hand and the stems-down notes with your left hand (and/or a foot, if you can). You should hear something like this:

(audio only)

Copy out, right across a sheet of exam pad paper, the top (RH) line of notes. It will look something like this:

This is the line of notes we want to sketch out the ‘contour’ of.

Establishing the contour of the melodic fragment

Listen again closely to the following performance clip – it’s slowed down to help you as you try to put arrows between the notes to indicate whether the note stays the same (i.e. repeats), or the melody goes up or down to the next note.

(audio only)

NB: For now, you are only listening to the first three pairs of chords: D–A, Bm¬–F#m and G–D. The last pair (G–A) is different.

You might be able to do this almost immediately or you might have to listen many times before you can identify the up/down/same shape. (If you can play it by ear immediately, it’s because you have identified the ‘contour’.)

You might find it easier to work from this clip – it’s just the first melodic fragment/pair of chords, repeated:

(audio only)

Here are some techniques which might help. Try the first four without-keyboard options first.

First, sing and listen to establish how many different pitches (heights of notes) there are first. There are ten notes in the fragment, but only _________ different pitches.
As you listen, scribble a series of ten dots representing the notes across a piece of exam pad paper, with the higher notes higher up the page and the lower notes lower down the page. Just guess (it’s only paper!), and see if an up/down contour emerges.
Sing along. You don’t have to be able to sing well or even remotely in tune – you can feel higher/lower/the same in your throat. Have a pen and paper to jot the line of notes, then put the arrows between them.
Close your eyes and stab the air in front of you according to whether you think the note is higher or lower. Again, your muscles help you think about the pitch. (Remember, the arrows you’re trying to decide on represent the up/down movement between the notes/dots.)
Go to the keyboard and ‘check your answer’, or try to pick out the notes (just the first rhythm pattern) if you haven’t made any headway. The first note is F sharp. Write your arrows in.

Scroll down to find the contour ‘answer’ – the line of notes and arrows you should have.

This is the correct sequence of arrows:

Check your answer carefully. If you have something different, listen again to the test segment and ‘see with your ears’ where you’ve gone wrong. Correct your 'contour template'.

Repeat the fragment contour

The first instance of the melodic fragment we have now successfully ‘contoured’ starts on F sharp and covers the chords D and A (first pair of chords, first two bars).

We have said that identifying the contour of the fragment will be of some use, because we can repeat the fragment at least twice and get an easy chorus out of it. But to use our knowledge and effort, we need to know what note to start playing the fragment on.

The first melody fragment starts on note F sharp and the chord is D major. F sharp is the ‘third’ of D major.
The next melody fragment will therefore probably start on the third of the next bar’s chord, B minor. The third of B minor is note D.

Play the melody fragment in the right hand starting on note D, then put the B minor and F sharp minor R, 5, 8, 10 accompaniment patterns underneath it:

(audio only)

That works. We have found the right starting note – the third of the first of the pair of chords.

The next pair of chords in G–D. Play the melody fragment from ‘the third of G’. (To find ‘the third’, count three letter names, including G.)

(audio only)

You have now fill three-quarters of a whole chorus using your contour knowledge and the starting-note key.

Fragment contour for the last pair of chords

Our examination of the Canon chord sequence structure revealed three pairs of chords the same (root falling a fourth) and one pair – the last pair – different. In the last pair of chords, the root rises from G to A; the melody will be different and we will have to re-discover the new ‘contour’.

Go back to your blank rhythmic pattern and listen to the relevant portion of the audio performance file, hear repeated to give you a better chance to hear the contour:

(audio only)

Work away at it (away from the keyboard, preferably) until you’re sure your arrows truly represent the up/down movement of the melody fragment, then scroll down to ‘check your answer’.

This is the correct sequence of arrows

Check your answer carefully. If you have something different, listen again to the test segment and ‘see with your ears’ where you’ve gone wrong. Correct your ‘contour template’.

The whole 8-bar chorus as contour

Take plenty of time to look at the next illustration. It’s a ‘plan’ of your chorus performance.

It shows the four pairs of chords with the melody fragment contour written out in full in the first pair. The next two pairs are ‘the same’ – the contour is the same and starts on the 3rd of the chord – but using different chords, of course. (Note the handy two-bar repeat mark.) The fourth pair is ‘different’ because the contour is different – but the melody still starts on the third of the chord.

A mixed-type accompaniment pattern which avoids ‘bald patches’ and doubled thirds is suggested (same, four times), but you can substitute a simpler arrangement if you like. See the module audio challenge below for an example.

It might take you quite a while ‘just staring at it’ to see how much information the illustration contains. With practice you can read it as music and hear the notes as you look at it. You might think at this stage that it would be easier just to read the music, but the value of the illustration over the written music is that the illustration shows the thought processes and knowledge of the improvising, creative keyboard player, and studying it will train up your independent creative powers. Moving from ‘reading the dots’ to taking charge of the music-creating (or jumping straight there) is a quantum leap for most musicians, and you might have to ‘just sit with’ this new kind of notation for quite a while, not quite seeing the point, before ‘the penny drops’.

Work at playing the 8-bar module performance chorus shown in the illustration before going on to the next module.

Module audio challenge

This arrangement of this module’s treble part brings in the Module X split-up bass part (played an octave higher) and embellishes the melody with plenty of classical-style ornaments. See if you can copy the style.

(audio only)

This is the end of Module Thirteen of the Musicarta Canon Project. When you’re ready, click through to the Canon Project Module Fourteen, where you build up your melody-making skills.

The Canon Project will broaden and deepen your understanding of chords and how to use them, but if you have spare time, click through to the Chords home page and scan some of Musicarta’s other chord-related resources.

Thanks for visiting Musicarta.com! Come again soon!

SBI!