Papers by Thomas Scott McGill
A Short Catalogue of Twelve-Tone Sets in Normal Order and Their Hexachordal, Tetrachordal, Trichordal and Combinatorial Content in the works of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Dallapiccola, and Selected Works of Krenek, 2015
A Short Catalogue of Twelve-Tone Sets in Normal Order and Their Hexachordal, Tetrachordal, Tricho... more A Short Catalogue of Twelve-Tone Sets in Normal Order and Their Hexachordal, Tetrachordal, Trichordal and Combinatorial Content in the works of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Dallapiccola, and Selected Works of Krenek . Combinatorial designations are from Milton Babbitt's listing of Semi-Combinatorial and All-Combinatorial sets. Starting notes are given for each type of division of each set.
Howard Hanson “Harmonic Materials in Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale” Study Guide Part 2, 2022
This is the second part in a two-part study guide for Howard Hanson’s “Harmonic Materials in Mode... more This is the second part in a two-part study guide for Howard Hanson’s “Harmonic Materials in Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale.”
The guide, in its totality, is based on Hanson’s original 1960 publication.
This section (Part 2) starts on page 263 of the original text and covers Part VI “Complementary Scales” (Chapters 40-50) and includes the Appendix entitled “Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Forms” ending on page 376. Chpt. 49 “Relationship of Tones in Equal Temperament” has been omitted as it deals exclusively with a “large diagram” Hanson includes with his book that “attempts to show the relationship of these galaxies of tones within the system of equal temperament” . This is referred to in the remainder of this study guide as appropriate.
This is the first in a two-part study guide for Howard Hanson's "Harmonic Materials in Modern Mus... more This is the first in a two-part study guide for Howard Hanson's "Harmonic Materials in Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale".
This work is based on the original 1960 publication of the work and covers Parts I-V and Chapters 1-39 which ends at pg. 259 in the original. Hanson's full original text is 376 pages and my Part 2 will cover the rest of the work.
Hanson places great emphasis on the development and formation of new scales using mirroring principles in particular (which he terms "involution"), thus providing a different but complementary approach to others working in this field such as Hába, Slonimsky, and Carter among others. Unlike many texts that deal with a vast array of scales and pitch sets, Hanson seeks to organise and rationalise the vast and complex symmetrical relationships that reside within the chromatic scale using, most notably but not exclusively, a variety of intervallic "projection" and mirroring techniques. Those interested in an organised approach to the resources within the chromatic scale for composition, improvisation, and analysis of existing works might find Hanson's concepts appealing and useful.
This study guide includes the concepts covered in Hanson's book while omitting the original exercises in notation, compositional suggestions, and the references to external works of other composers. The commentary has been kept to a minimum and I have endeavoured to explain Hanson's concepts in as brief and succinct a manner as I could without jeopardising key points which could lead to misunderstanding. I have chosen to omit Chapter 1 on Equal Temperament and instead start on Chapter Two where Hanson begins to discuss his generalised concepts in earnest. Additionally, in many cases I have omitted intervallic projections that have repeated tones and have only included examples which feature discreet collections rather than repeated tone examples which are present in the original.
I hope this study guide will be beneficial for creative musical work and also hope that it can be used as a companion to the original text.
This is a supplement video to my latest paper "Schoenberg Meets Slonimsky: The Symmetrical Twelve... more This is a supplement video to my latest paper "Schoenberg Meets Slonimsky: The Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Set from Arnold Schoenberg’s Serenade Op. 24 Mvmt. 5 ‘Tanzscene’ and Some Considerations for Jazz/Fusion Improvisation". I demonstrate my ideas on the Guitar.
This practical video paper deals with the practical, technical, and theoretical aspects of rotation and transposition to generate and apply improvisational patterns and phrases derived from Schoenberg's set and Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.
In this session I cover the first hexachord in Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone set from his Op. 24 Serenade Mvmt. 5 which is Slonimsky's Pattern No. 6 and play through/demonstrate many Altered Dominant 7th and Diminished Patterns that can be generated from this hexachord as mentioned in my paper.
Those who follow the work of Jazz and Fusion Guitarists such as Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Pat Martino, and are interested in the work of John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Yusef Lateef, and others in Modern Jazz might find this practical video paper of interest.
This short work will look at some possibilities for using Arnold Schoenberg’s symmetrical set fro... more This short work will look at some possibilities for using Arnold Schoenberg’s symmetrical set from his Serenade Op. 24 Mvmt. 5 as pitch material in Jazz/Fusion improvisation.
I will examine some harmonic and melodic uses of the set’s two hexachords using an accepted Jazz Chord/Scale Relationship pedagogical methodology. My approach will look at these pitch groups as unordered sets or collections only, although their use as ordered sets is of course certainly possible. As many Jazz and Fusion Improvisers are familiar with Nicholas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns , I will reference this text in relation to the sets and subsets present in this survey for ease in cross referencing.
This short paper will demonstrate how derived sets created from trichordal combinations and some ... more This short paper will demonstrate how derived sets created from trichordal combinations and some common transformational techniques when applied to Schoenberg's Op. 24 Movement 5 Tanzscene set creates all six all-combinatorial hexachords and two symmetrical hexachords related by the retrograde inversion function that also form the complete aggregate at interval class (ic) 6 or a tritone interval.
This paper will examine Arnold Schönberg’s influence on modern jazz through the teachings of one ... more This paper will examine Arnold Schönberg’s influence on modern jazz through the teachings of one of its most respected theorists and pedagogues Dennis Sandole, mentor to John Coltrane, James Moody, Art Farmer, Randy Brecker, Jim Hall, Rufus Harley, Pat Martino, and many other important jazz artists.
Through the analysis of musical examples, this paper proposes that important conceptual links exist between some of Schönberg’s key compositional concepts and Sandole’s pedagogical literature and practice which would go on to influence John Coltrane and many other jazz practitioners for decades to follow helping to solidify Schönbergian ideas and concepts within the syntax of modern jazz. Schönberg’s utilisation of various segmentation schemes such as trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, use of interval cycles particularly that of interval cycle 4 or major thirds, and the compositional practice of stating the complete chromatic collection within a relatively short musical space have provided jazz practitioners such as Sandole and Coltrane with a new conceptual framework for employing the total chromatic harmonically and melodically in modern jazz practice.
This catalog of melodic and harmonic materials found in Yusef Lateef’s "Repository of Scales and... more This catalog of melodic and harmonic materials found in Yusef Lateef’s "Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns" is meant as a study guide for practical and academic use.
I have listed only the materials Lateef employed as general headings and source material for the text’s many etudes and harmonic studies. I hope that this paper stimulates further inquiry into this text in particular and in Lateef's creative output in general.
This is not an analytical paper and analysis has been kept to a minimum used solely for the purpose to aid in the general understanding of the materials and how they are used within the text . This catalog could be used both with the original text and without when the original text is not practically available.
Thomas Scott McGill
6.27.16
Conlon Nancarrow’s music has been the subject of analysis by some of the most astute composers an... more Conlon Nancarrow’s music has been the subject of analysis by some of the most astute composers and academics in modern music. His music and its accompanying scholarly literature are a potentially rich source of material for improvisation. As Nancarrow was influenced by expert jazz improvisers with virtuoso technique such as Art Tatum when constructing this music, this is a logical outcome.
Nancarrow’s work had made a substantial impact on the output of electric guitar virtuosos such as Frank Zappa and Shawn Lane, as the sheer speed of the linear material along with the dense polyrhythmic fabric present in the music had pushed these influential players to increase their technical capabilities of the instrument to a new much higher level. This in turn has had substantial impact on current electric guitar practice.
The video performance of an electric guitar piece based on Nancarrow’s Third Study for Player Piano (Boogie Woogie Suite) is performed on electric guitar improvisation based on melodic, intervallic, and rhythmic material within the piece against two tracks of pre-recorded electric guitars also performed by me following the harmonic structure of the piece and utilizing the polyrhythmic devices contained within the original music. The performance is roughly the same length as the original piece (3’ 22”), and demonstrates Nancarrow’s rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic concepts (including what he himself called “licks”) within an improvisational format.
Perpetuum Mobile
This piece was written using a nine-tone (Nonatonic) scale (C#, D#, E#, G, A#, C, D, E, F#) constructed by 20th Century Jazz Theorist and Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (teacher of John Coltrane, James Moody, Jim Hall, Pat Martino amongst many others). My use of pitch material of a jazz origin such as Sandole’s was purposeful in order to conceptually align this work with Nancarrow’s clear jazz influences in his “Boogie Woogie Suite”. This particular scale allows for liberal use of a trichord that includes a minor third and major third which features prominently in Nancarrow’s “Suite”.
I constructed this piece using octave (registral) displacement techniques combined with a rhythmic texture of sixteenth note rhythms similar to the constant “left hand” ostinato motion of Nancarrow’s Study#3. The octave displacement of lines creates a two part texture of predominately staccato attacks and the use of changing time signatures and registers in a variety of rhythmic note groupings was meant to give the illusion of two separate rhythmically independent parts unified by one basic scalar tonality. The few cascading arpeggio sections that feature liberal use of sustain pedal were inspired by Nancarrow studies 5, 27, 37, and 45c.
The general absence of harmonic writing places the emphasis on the rhythmic and contrapuntal elements of the music and the faux “player piano” sound is an obvious nod to Nancarrow and seems to work with this essentially staccato and rhythmic nature of the piece.
I wrote this composition not to imitate Nancarrow’s work directly, but to allow his overall musical approach to influence my own musical language.
This paper will examine Arnold Schönberg’s influence on the modern jazz world through the teachin... more This paper will examine Arnold Schönberg’s influence on the modern jazz world through the teachings of one of its most influential theorists and pedagogues Dennis Sandole, mentor to John Coltrane, James Moody, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, and many other important jazz artists.
This paper suggests that Schönberg’s work was a substantial influence on Sandole and that Schönberg’s compositional innovations such as the use of trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, octave displacement techniques, the use of combinatorial hexachords, chromatic completion, and the use of major thirds tonal relationships were key aspects of Sandole’s jazz improvisation and compositional pedagogy. Some of these concepts would be utilised by John Coltrane to change the musical language of modern jazz permanently.
Through analysis of all three men’s work, this paper will illustrate conceptual connections between Schönberg’s compositional practice and Sandole’s pedagogical literature which would go on to influence John Coltrane’s creative output and that of many great jazz practitioners ever since, helping to solidify Schönbergian thinking within the syntax of modern jazz.
“The Unique Jazz Pedagogy of Dennis Sandole”
Thomas Scott McGill
Temple University
American Jaz... more “The Unique Jazz Pedagogy of Dennis Sandole”
Thomas Scott McGill
Temple University
American Jazz Theorist/Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (1913-2000) was an exceptional and legendary composer/teacher who taught such important jazz artists as John Coltrane, Pat Martino, James Moody, Art Farmer, Benny Golson and many others. Born in Philadelphia, Sandole was an autodidact who served as guitarist/composer/arranger for renowned big bands such as Ray McKinley, Tommy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet.
Sandole’s teaching methodology was unique as his weekly/monthly lesson plans consisted of bespoke lesson etudes composed for each pupil based upon modern compositional techniques such as tetrachordal combinations, synthetic scales, abstract chord substitutions, chord sequences based on interval cycles, and bitonal/polytonal compositional devices all applied to jazz composition and improvisation for any instrument.
He also advocated the use of Non-Western scales for use in jazz long before “World Music” was a commercial entity which was to have a profound influence on John Coltrane’s work.
This paper will analyse Dennis Sandole’s jazz pedagogical literature in depth and discuss how it influenced John Coltrane’s output and that of other important musicians thus making a pronounced impact on modern jazz. It will also explore how this sort of concentrated training can help the jazz improviser, composer, and educator work more creatively in the jazz idiom.
Biographical Note
Scott McGill earned his BM in Jazz Performance/Composition from Temple University (Philadelphia. P.A., U.S.A.) and then engaged in ten years of postgraduate study with Dennis Sandole. Mr. McGill is an international jazz/progressive fusion improvising recording artist, a longtime monthly magazine columnist for Guitar Techniques (U.K.) and Guitar Player (U.S./Canada), and is the B.A. (Hons) Course Leader at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He holds an M.A. in Electric Guitar Pedagogy from Middlesex University and is in the process of completing two improvisational texts for guitar based on octave displacements of the twelve tone sets of various 20th Century Composers and synthetic and exotic scales as well as undertaking research on the harmonic and melodic language of Conlon Nancarrow.
Contact Information:
Thomas Scott McGill – Brighton Institute of Modern Music
e-mail: [email protected] phone: work-01273 626 666 mobile-07921 805 474
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Papers by Thomas Scott McGill
The guide, in its totality, is based on Hanson’s original 1960 publication.
This section (Part 2) starts on page 263 of the original text and covers Part VI “Complementary Scales” (Chapters 40-50) and includes the Appendix entitled “Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Forms” ending on page 376. Chpt. 49 “Relationship of Tones in Equal Temperament” has been omitted as it deals exclusively with a “large diagram” Hanson includes with his book that “attempts to show the relationship of these galaxies of tones within the system of equal temperament” . This is referred to in the remainder of this study guide as appropriate.
This work is based on the original 1960 publication of the work and covers Parts I-V and Chapters 1-39 which ends at pg. 259 in the original. Hanson's full original text is 376 pages and my Part 2 will cover the rest of the work.
Hanson places great emphasis on the development and formation of new scales using mirroring principles in particular (which he terms "involution"), thus providing a different but complementary approach to others working in this field such as Hába, Slonimsky, and Carter among others. Unlike many texts that deal with a vast array of scales and pitch sets, Hanson seeks to organise and rationalise the vast and complex symmetrical relationships that reside within the chromatic scale using, most notably but not exclusively, a variety of intervallic "projection" and mirroring techniques. Those interested in an organised approach to the resources within the chromatic scale for composition, improvisation, and analysis of existing works might find Hanson's concepts appealing and useful.
This study guide includes the concepts covered in Hanson's book while omitting the original exercises in notation, compositional suggestions, and the references to external works of other composers. The commentary has been kept to a minimum and I have endeavoured to explain Hanson's concepts in as brief and succinct a manner as I could without jeopardising key points which could lead to misunderstanding. I have chosen to omit Chapter 1 on Equal Temperament and instead start on Chapter Two where Hanson begins to discuss his generalised concepts in earnest. Additionally, in many cases I have omitted intervallic projections that have repeated tones and have only included examples which feature discreet collections rather than repeated tone examples which are present in the original.
I hope this study guide will be beneficial for creative musical work and also hope that it can be used as a companion to the original text.
This practical video paper deals with the practical, technical, and theoretical aspects of rotation and transposition to generate and apply improvisational patterns and phrases derived from Schoenberg's set and Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.
In this session I cover the first hexachord in Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone set from his Op. 24 Serenade Mvmt. 5 which is Slonimsky's Pattern No. 6 and play through/demonstrate many Altered Dominant 7th and Diminished Patterns that can be generated from this hexachord as mentioned in my paper.
Those who follow the work of Jazz and Fusion Guitarists such as Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Pat Martino, and are interested in the work of John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Yusef Lateef, and others in Modern Jazz might find this practical video paper of interest.
I will examine some harmonic and melodic uses of the set’s two hexachords using an accepted Jazz Chord/Scale Relationship pedagogical methodology. My approach will look at these pitch groups as unordered sets or collections only, although their use as ordered sets is of course certainly possible. As many Jazz and Fusion Improvisers are familiar with Nicholas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns , I will reference this text in relation to the sets and subsets present in this survey for ease in cross referencing.
Through the analysis of musical examples, this paper proposes that important conceptual links exist between some of Schönberg’s key compositional concepts and Sandole’s pedagogical literature and practice which would go on to influence John Coltrane and many other jazz practitioners for decades to follow helping to solidify Schönbergian ideas and concepts within the syntax of modern jazz. Schönberg’s utilisation of various segmentation schemes such as trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, use of interval cycles particularly that of interval cycle 4 or major thirds, and the compositional practice of stating the complete chromatic collection within a relatively short musical space have provided jazz practitioners such as Sandole and Coltrane with a new conceptual framework for employing the total chromatic harmonically and melodically in modern jazz practice.
I have listed only the materials Lateef employed as general headings and source material for the text’s many etudes and harmonic studies. I hope that this paper stimulates further inquiry into this text in particular and in Lateef's creative output in general.
This is not an analytical paper and analysis has been kept to a minimum used solely for the purpose to aid in the general understanding of the materials and how they are used within the text . This catalog could be used both with the original text and without when the original text is not practically available.
Thomas Scott McGill
6.27.16
Nancarrow’s work had made a substantial impact on the output of electric guitar virtuosos such as Frank Zappa and Shawn Lane, as the sheer speed of the linear material along with the dense polyrhythmic fabric present in the music had pushed these influential players to increase their technical capabilities of the instrument to a new much higher level. This in turn has had substantial impact on current electric guitar practice.
The video performance of an electric guitar piece based on Nancarrow’s Third Study for Player Piano (Boogie Woogie Suite) is performed on electric guitar improvisation based on melodic, intervallic, and rhythmic material within the piece against two tracks of pre-recorded electric guitars also performed by me following the harmonic structure of the piece and utilizing the polyrhythmic devices contained within the original music. The performance is roughly the same length as the original piece (3’ 22”), and demonstrates Nancarrow’s rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic concepts (including what he himself called “licks”) within an improvisational format.
Perpetuum Mobile
This piece was written using a nine-tone (Nonatonic) scale (C#, D#, E#, G, A#, C, D, E, F#) constructed by 20th Century Jazz Theorist and Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (teacher of John Coltrane, James Moody, Jim Hall, Pat Martino amongst many others). My use of pitch material of a jazz origin such as Sandole’s was purposeful in order to conceptually align this work with Nancarrow’s clear jazz influences in his “Boogie Woogie Suite”. This particular scale allows for liberal use of a trichord that includes a minor third and major third which features prominently in Nancarrow’s “Suite”.
I constructed this piece using octave (registral) displacement techniques combined with a rhythmic texture of sixteenth note rhythms similar to the constant “left hand” ostinato motion of Nancarrow’s Study#3. The octave displacement of lines creates a two part texture of predominately staccato attacks and the use of changing time signatures and registers in a variety of rhythmic note groupings was meant to give the illusion of two separate rhythmically independent parts unified by one basic scalar tonality. The few cascading arpeggio sections that feature liberal use of sustain pedal were inspired by Nancarrow studies 5, 27, 37, and 45c.
The general absence of harmonic writing places the emphasis on the rhythmic and contrapuntal elements of the music and the faux “player piano” sound is an obvious nod to Nancarrow and seems to work with this essentially staccato and rhythmic nature of the piece.
I wrote this composition not to imitate Nancarrow’s work directly, but to allow his overall musical approach to influence my own musical language.
This paper suggests that Schönberg’s work was a substantial influence on Sandole and that Schönberg’s compositional innovations such as the use of trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, octave displacement techniques, the use of combinatorial hexachords, chromatic completion, and the use of major thirds tonal relationships were key aspects of Sandole’s jazz improvisation and compositional pedagogy. Some of these concepts would be utilised by John Coltrane to change the musical language of modern jazz permanently.
Through analysis of all three men’s work, this paper will illustrate conceptual connections between Schönberg’s compositional practice and Sandole’s pedagogical literature which would go on to influence John Coltrane’s creative output and that of many great jazz practitioners ever since, helping to solidify Schönbergian thinking within the syntax of modern jazz.
Thomas Scott McGill
Temple University
American Jazz Theorist/Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (1913-2000) was an exceptional and legendary composer/teacher who taught such important jazz artists as John Coltrane, Pat Martino, James Moody, Art Farmer, Benny Golson and many others. Born in Philadelphia, Sandole was an autodidact who served as guitarist/composer/arranger for renowned big bands such as Ray McKinley, Tommy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet.
Sandole’s teaching methodology was unique as his weekly/monthly lesson plans consisted of bespoke lesson etudes composed for each pupil based upon modern compositional techniques such as tetrachordal combinations, synthetic scales, abstract chord substitutions, chord sequences based on interval cycles, and bitonal/polytonal compositional devices all applied to jazz composition and improvisation for any instrument.
He also advocated the use of Non-Western scales for use in jazz long before “World Music” was a commercial entity which was to have a profound influence on John Coltrane’s work.
This paper will analyse Dennis Sandole’s jazz pedagogical literature in depth and discuss how it influenced John Coltrane’s output and that of other important musicians thus making a pronounced impact on modern jazz. It will also explore how this sort of concentrated training can help the jazz improviser, composer, and educator work more creatively in the jazz idiom.
Biographical Note
Scott McGill earned his BM in Jazz Performance/Composition from Temple University (Philadelphia. P.A., U.S.A.) and then engaged in ten years of postgraduate study with Dennis Sandole. Mr. McGill is an international jazz/progressive fusion improvising recording artist, a longtime monthly magazine columnist for Guitar Techniques (U.K.) and Guitar Player (U.S./Canada), and is the B.A. (Hons) Course Leader at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He holds an M.A. in Electric Guitar Pedagogy from Middlesex University and is in the process of completing two improvisational texts for guitar based on octave displacements of the twelve tone sets of various 20th Century Composers and synthetic and exotic scales as well as undertaking research on the harmonic and melodic language of Conlon Nancarrow.
Contact Information:
Thomas Scott McGill – Brighton Institute of Modern Music
e-mail: [email protected] phone: work-01273 626 666 mobile-07921 805 474
The guide, in its totality, is based on Hanson’s original 1960 publication.
This section (Part 2) starts on page 263 of the original text and covers Part VI “Complementary Scales” (Chapters 40-50) and includes the Appendix entitled “Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Forms” ending on page 376. Chpt. 49 “Relationship of Tones in Equal Temperament” has been omitted as it deals exclusively with a “large diagram” Hanson includes with his book that “attempts to show the relationship of these galaxies of tones within the system of equal temperament” . This is referred to in the remainder of this study guide as appropriate.
This work is based on the original 1960 publication of the work and covers Parts I-V and Chapters 1-39 which ends at pg. 259 in the original. Hanson's full original text is 376 pages and my Part 2 will cover the rest of the work.
Hanson places great emphasis on the development and formation of new scales using mirroring principles in particular (which he terms "involution"), thus providing a different but complementary approach to others working in this field such as Hába, Slonimsky, and Carter among others. Unlike many texts that deal with a vast array of scales and pitch sets, Hanson seeks to organise and rationalise the vast and complex symmetrical relationships that reside within the chromatic scale using, most notably but not exclusively, a variety of intervallic "projection" and mirroring techniques. Those interested in an organised approach to the resources within the chromatic scale for composition, improvisation, and analysis of existing works might find Hanson's concepts appealing and useful.
This study guide includes the concepts covered in Hanson's book while omitting the original exercises in notation, compositional suggestions, and the references to external works of other composers. The commentary has been kept to a minimum and I have endeavoured to explain Hanson's concepts in as brief and succinct a manner as I could without jeopardising key points which could lead to misunderstanding. I have chosen to omit Chapter 1 on Equal Temperament and instead start on Chapter Two where Hanson begins to discuss his generalised concepts in earnest. Additionally, in many cases I have omitted intervallic projections that have repeated tones and have only included examples which feature discreet collections rather than repeated tone examples which are present in the original.
I hope this study guide will be beneficial for creative musical work and also hope that it can be used as a companion to the original text.
This practical video paper deals with the practical, technical, and theoretical aspects of rotation and transposition to generate and apply improvisational patterns and phrases derived from Schoenberg's set and Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.
In this session I cover the first hexachord in Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone set from his Op. 24 Serenade Mvmt. 5 which is Slonimsky's Pattern No. 6 and play through/demonstrate many Altered Dominant 7th and Diminished Patterns that can be generated from this hexachord as mentioned in my paper.
Those who follow the work of Jazz and Fusion Guitarists such as Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Pat Martino, and are interested in the work of John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Yusef Lateef, and others in Modern Jazz might find this practical video paper of interest.
I will examine some harmonic and melodic uses of the set’s two hexachords using an accepted Jazz Chord/Scale Relationship pedagogical methodology. My approach will look at these pitch groups as unordered sets or collections only, although their use as ordered sets is of course certainly possible. As many Jazz and Fusion Improvisers are familiar with Nicholas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns , I will reference this text in relation to the sets and subsets present in this survey for ease in cross referencing.
Through the analysis of musical examples, this paper proposes that important conceptual links exist between some of Schönberg’s key compositional concepts and Sandole’s pedagogical literature and practice which would go on to influence John Coltrane and many other jazz practitioners for decades to follow helping to solidify Schönbergian ideas and concepts within the syntax of modern jazz. Schönberg’s utilisation of various segmentation schemes such as trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, use of interval cycles particularly that of interval cycle 4 or major thirds, and the compositional practice of stating the complete chromatic collection within a relatively short musical space have provided jazz practitioners such as Sandole and Coltrane with a new conceptual framework for employing the total chromatic harmonically and melodically in modern jazz practice.
I have listed only the materials Lateef employed as general headings and source material for the text’s many etudes and harmonic studies. I hope that this paper stimulates further inquiry into this text in particular and in Lateef's creative output in general.
This is not an analytical paper and analysis has been kept to a minimum used solely for the purpose to aid in the general understanding of the materials and how they are used within the text . This catalog could be used both with the original text and without when the original text is not practically available.
Thomas Scott McGill
6.27.16
Nancarrow’s work had made a substantial impact on the output of electric guitar virtuosos such as Frank Zappa and Shawn Lane, as the sheer speed of the linear material along with the dense polyrhythmic fabric present in the music had pushed these influential players to increase their technical capabilities of the instrument to a new much higher level. This in turn has had substantial impact on current electric guitar practice.
The video performance of an electric guitar piece based on Nancarrow’s Third Study for Player Piano (Boogie Woogie Suite) is performed on electric guitar improvisation based on melodic, intervallic, and rhythmic material within the piece against two tracks of pre-recorded electric guitars also performed by me following the harmonic structure of the piece and utilizing the polyrhythmic devices contained within the original music. The performance is roughly the same length as the original piece (3’ 22”), and demonstrates Nancarrow’s rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic concepts (including what he himself called “licks”) within an improvisational format.
Perpetuum Mobile
This piece was written using a nine-tone (Nonatonic) scale (C#, D#, E#, G, A#, C, D, E, F#) constructed by 20th Century Jazz Theorist and Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (teacher of John Coltrane, James Moody, Jim Hall, Pat Martino amongst many others). My use of pitch material of a jazz origin such as Sandole’s was purposeful in order to conceptually align this work with Nancarrow’s clear jazz influences in his “Boogie Woogie Suite”. This particular scale allows for liberal use of a trichord that includes a minor third and major third which features prominently in Nancarrow’s “Suite”.
I constructed this piece using octave (registral) displacement techniques combined with a rhythmic texture of sixteenth note rhythms similar to the constant “left hand” ostinato motion of Nancarrow’s Study#3. The octave displacement of lines creates a two part texture of predominately staccato attacks and the use of changing time signatures and registers in a variety of rhythmic note groupings was meant to give the illusion of two separate rhythmically independent parts unified by one basic scalar tonality. The few cascading arpeggio sections that feature liberal use of sustain pedal were inspired by Nancarrow studies 5, 27, 37, and 45c.
The general absence of harmonic writing places the emphasis on the rhythmic and contrapuntal elements of the music and the faux “player piano” sound is an obvious nod to Nancarrow and seems to work with this essentially staccato and rhythmic nature of the piece.
I wrote this composition not to imitate Nancarrow’s work directly, but to allow his overall musical approach to influence my own musical language.
This paper suggests that Schönberg’s work was a substantial influence on Sandole and that Schönberg’s compositional innovations such as the use of trichords, tetrachords and hexachords, octave displacement techniques, the use of combinatorial hexachords, chromatic completion, and the use of major thirds tonal relationships were key aspects of Sandole’s jazz improvisation and compositional pedagogy. Some of these concepts would be utilised by John Coltrane to change the musical language of modern jazz permanently.
Through analysis of all three men’s work, this paper will illustrate conceptual connections between Schönberg’s compositional practice and Sandole’s pedagogical literature which would go on to influence John Coltrane’s creative output and that of many great jazz practitioners ever since, helping to solidify Schönbergian thinking within the syntax of modern jazz.
Thomas Scott McGill
Temple University
American Jazz Theorist/Pedagogue Dennis Sandole (1913-2000) was an exceptional and legendary composer/teacher who taught such important jazz artists as John Coltrane, Pat Martino, James Moody, Art Farmer, Benny Golson and many others. Born in Philadelphia, Sandole was an autodidact who served as guitarist/composer/arranger for renowned big bands such as Ray McKinley, Tommy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet.
Sandole’s teaching methodology was unique as his weekly/monthly lesson plans consisted of bespoke lesson etudes composed for each pupil based upon modern compositional techniques such as tetrachordal combinations, synthetic scales, abstract chord substitutions, chord sequences based on interval cycles, and bitonal/polytonal compositional devices all applied to jazz composition and improvisation for any instrument.
He also advocated the use of Non-Western scales for use in jazz long before “World Music” was a commercial entity which was to have a profound influence on John Coltrane’s work.
This paper will analyse Dennis Sandole’s jazz pedagogical literature in depth and discuss how it influenced John Coltrane’s output and that of other important musicians thus making a pronounced impact on modern jazz. It will also explore how this sort of concentrated training can help the jazz improviser, composer, and educator work more creatively in the jazz idiom.
Biographical Note
Scott McGill earned his BM in Jazz Performance/Composition from Temple University (Philadelphia. P.A., U.S.A.) and then engaged in ten years of postgraduate study with Dennis Sandole. Mr. McGill is an international jazz/progressive fusion improvising recording artist, a longtime monthly magazine columnist for Guitar Techniques (U.K.) and Guitar Player (U.S./Canada), and is the B.A. (Hons) Course Leader at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He holds an M.A. in Electric Guitar Pedagogy from Middlesex University and is in the process of completing two improvisational texts for guitar based on octave displacements of the twelve tone sets of various 20th Century Composers and synthetic and exotic scales as well as undertaking research on the harmonic and melodic language of Conlon Nancarrow.
Contact Information:
Thomas Scott McGill – Brighton Institute of Modern Music
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