"#$% #&' ()*+,-./#0.

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~A ieseaich on how useful Bach is foi impiovising music. ~


Yuusaku Ichio










Examensaibete inom konstniliga kanuiuatpiogiammet i impiovisation
viteiminen 2u11
Banuleuaie: Naiia Bania


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9,6&8: 1SBP
:.073: Bach anu Impiovisation ~A ieseaich on how useful Bach is foi
impiovising music. ~
;<+=#00#+3: Yuusaku Ichio
:3+).& ,$% >+: viteimin 2u11
?@+/#&/-#+.8 .&/0.0@0.,&: Bogskolan foi scen och musik
A#'73'#+3: Naiia Bania
12#).&#0,+: }oel Eiiksson
BC$537,+': Bach, Impiovisation, phiasing
D@))3+C
I wiote this thesis foi myself anu someone who woulu like to leain
impioviseu music not fiom }azz but Bach. I analyzeu one composition
by Bach, then I showeu one example of using his iuea to a }azz
stanuaiu tune. It was challenging foi me to unueistanu anu analyze
his composition as a }azz impiovisei. To be honest I uon't like to leain
the music language fiom Bebop music but I like to play }azz stanuaiu
music. If someone woulu like to be goou at playing jazz music, I think
that it is impoitant to know the music language in jazz.
I'm suie that knowing the compositions of Bach is helpful to impiove
oui skills foi youi impiovising music anu playing jazz.
Thanks foi people I've met anu special thanks to my paients.


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C0NTENTS

I. Intiouuction
a. Ny backgiounu
b. Thesis uoals
II. Analyze Bach
1. Tiiaus
1.1 closeu tiiau
1.2 tiiau + 7
th
note
1.S spieau tiiau + u
2. Biminisheu
S. Counteipoint
S.1 Compounu melouy
S.2 0ctave uisplacement
III. Bach to }azz
Ex. Scoie & Auuio #1 All the things you aie
Iv. Conclusion
Ex. Scoies BWv 1uu2 with choius anu scale-tone numbeis


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EF(&0+,'@$0.,&
#F GC "#$58+,@&'
I was boin in 0saka 198S anu liveu theie until I was 2S yeais olu.
I staiteu playing anu stuuying music by myself, when I enteieu the
0saka City 0niveisity in 2uu2. In the univeisity, my majoi uepaitment
was the science of physics, not music. Thiough stuuying physics, I
have leaineu the thought which is how to leain the new things. It
means that how it is helpful foi knowing new things to unueistanu the
theoiy of the new woilu which you have not known. In music, the
theoiy is the summeiy of the music fiom the people who have
exploieu anu been uiscoveieu in the musical languages. Theoiy is a
heiitage fiom them anu it is also so helpful to unueistanu foi playing
music as well as listening to music.
I knew that I uiu not have goou eais to tiansciibe music so I coulu not
play music well. But I was not so uiscouiageu because I knew that I
was a beginnei so it coulu happen, anu I also knew how useful it was
to unueistanu music theoiy.
I believe in the helpfulness of theoiy, having my expeiience with same
situation in physics.
As time went by I staiteu to play bettei anu bettei anu felt closei to
music by ieauing anu playing the music in theoiy books.





6

4F :%3/./ H,#7/
I woulu like to examine how the compositions of }ohannes Sebastian
Bach aie useful foi impioviseu music, especially }azz music.
The ieason why I leain fiom Bach not fiom jazz is that I was tiieu of
listening to }azz music in 0saka. In my town 0saka, most jazz musician
play the music fiom 4u's to Su's fiom the 0SA. It is calleu Bebop
1
.
Please imagine that eveiyone plays the same phiases anu the same
swing ihythms. It was too boiing foi me, so I lost my eneigy to leain
anu play bebop jazz music. At the same time, I staiteu to play moie
open anu fiee impioviseu music which is typical music fiom ECN
2
.
That leu me to Sweuen.
Since I came heie, I've hau many expeiiences to play impioviseu
music with many stuuents anu teacheis. But why have I felt that the
music we play is so openeu anu fiee impioviseu music. I was thinking
about it, anu I iealizeu that it is two uiffeient ways to play impioviseu
music between my town 0saka anu heie uothenbuig.

1
Bebop: is a style of jazz chaiacteiizeu by fast tempo, instiumental viituosity anu impiovisation
baseu on the combination of haimonic stiuctuie anu melouy.
2
ECN (Euition of Contempoiaiy Nusic): is a iecoiu label founueu in Nunich, ueimany, in 1969
by Nanfieu Eichei. While ECN is best known foi jazz music, the label has ieleaseu a wiue vaiiety
of iecoiuings, anu ECN's aitists often iefuse to acknowleuge bounuaiies between genies. ECN's
motto is "the Nost Beautiful Sounu Next to Silence,"


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In my town 0saka, jazz musicians ielieu on licks that they've imitateu
fiom jazz giants. But heie in uothenbuig musicians iely on theii own
eais, when they impiovise the music.
I staiteu to think about what was the attiaction of Bebop. I was
listening anu playing open-impioviseu music in uothenbuig, I think it
was the stiength of the single line. I felt the stiength of the single line
in Bach's compositions foi the violin as well. Thus, I focus on one
composition !"#$$%&'%! )$#* +,$'-', . /0 1#2,&& 3%/,4'-,& 5,62
578 .99: anu pick out the phiases with some concepts.

!!F I&#7CJ3 "#$%
Bach is a pioneei as a composei who expiesses haimonic melouies
with a single note. Be has composeu a single melouy without haimony.
But when people heai the melouy, they can heai the haimony fiom
his single note melouy.
This is my hypothesis anu it is also what I want to leain fiom Bach. Be
coulu uesciibe the haimonic movement by using the single note
without the haimony anu choius.
It's obvious to see his composition foi a solo instiument.
In the piece "KL EMMN, Bach uses a lot of tiiaus in seveial ways anu
vaiiations.
Let's stait analyzing BWv 1uu2.





8
Fiist of all, I put two extia things on his music. 0ne is the choiu-name
above the notes. Anothei thing is the scale-numbeis
S
* unuei the notes.
It helps to unueistanu visually that which note he uses ovei the
choius.



EF :+.#'/
EFE O7,/3' :+.#'/
Tiiaus consist of a ioot, a thiiu anu a fifth note ovei a choiu.
We aie useu to play a tiiau at the same time as a haimony. It also has
a possibility to be playeu each note sepaiately as single notes.
Be uses tiiau notes as single notes on this composition.
In bais S anu S he uses Bm anu B tiiau notes anu he goes up in oiuei
fiom ioot.



3
scale-tone numbeis



9
In bai 11 up waius in oiuei fiom minoiSiu


In bai 17 he uses B tiiau uown waius in oiuei fiom the ioot note.


Be uses tiiau with mixing both uiiections up anu uown, bais A1S, BS,
B18.



Be uses the octave inteivals with ioot notes.





10
EFN :+.#' P Q
0%
&,03
When he auus the 7
th
note to tiiau, he uses the 7
th
note as the last note
foi leauing to the next choiu. This 7
th
note is useu to iesolve the choiu
to the neaiest choiu tone in the next choiu.
Be uses just a half step oi a whole step between the 7
th
note anu the
next note.
In bai A2S-26 anu B2u-21

EFR D*+3#' 0+.#' P S
So fai I have consiueieu tiiaus without big steps, now I stietch my
vision to see the new siue of tiiaus which is calleu D*+3#' 0+.#'
T
.

4
D*+3#' 0+.#'
It means that you spieau out the miuule note of the tiiau one octave
highei.

It has two inveisions as the following.



11

When he uses spieau tiiau, he plays some of those extia notes aftei
the spieau tiiau. I woulu like to talk about some othei extia notes.
If the note follows uownwaius, he uses these two types of thiee notes,
7
th
1S
th
S
th
oi 9
th
Root7
th
, aftei the spieau tiiau.

;0<%=.> ?
'2
.@
'2
A
'2

In bais A2,4,6


;0<%=:>B
'2
C##'?
'2

In bais A1u,27, B22






12
If the note goes upwaius, he uses close tiiau aftei the spieau tiiau
notes. In bais A12, BS:


This is the altenative foi spieau tiiau, he uses the 7
th
note insteau of
ioot note, bai A16 anu B17.



NF U.).&./%3'
So fai I'm not conceineu with uiminisheu phiases, he useu Baimonic
minoi scale foi Biminisheu phiases.



Foi exampel, he useu F# haimonic minoi scale ovei F uiminish choiu
in bai A21.




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I woulu like to auu extia iule foi uiminisheu phiase in the following.
0n the spieau tiiaus + u Type(1), it shoulu be conceineu with
D
'2
/.@
'2
/A
'2
,bais A19 anu B12




Let us see moie examples of using uiminisheu phiases.
In bais A2S,anu B8.



RFO,@&03+*,.&0
I woulu like to wiite about the phiases which is baseu on
counteipoint. Counteipoint means the composition methou baseu on
two oi moie lines that aie inuepenuent in contoui, ihythm anu
haimony. 0n this composition, Bach shows some examples of using
simple counteipoints. Be uses two types of techniques which aie "high
anu low" anu "changing the iange".




14
RFE 0C*3VEWO,)*,@&' G37,'C

In the bais B9, it's obvious that he just split the phiase in compounu
melouy.


In bai B9, the high note phiase move uown S
th
to minoiSiu in oiuei,
anu the low phiase follow the movement minoiSiu to a ioot note.
The fiist note which is the minoiSiu note is the same as the last note
of the phiase, but the last one is one octave highei than the fiist one.

Let's see one moie example in bai B11.



In the high pait, it staits with minoiSiu anu enus with a ioot note. The
lowei one moves uown ioot to S
th
note. As same as bai 9,the phiase
staits with a ioot note anu enus with one octave highei ioot note.





15
RFN :C*3VNWX$0#-3 './*7#$3)3&0
See bai A7

In this case, it's not immeuiately obvious what kinu of technique he
uses. With changing the two notes one octave lowei, it's easiei to see
the oiiginal line. See in the following scoie:

The shape is almost stiaight, with the exception between the fiist note
b9th anu the seconu note 7th. Seeing the last note, we can finu the last
piece ioot note on this phiase. Anu the last ioot note woiks as the leau
note to the next phiase.

Noie Example: In bai BSS to S6, he appiopiiates the same technique
on each bais.







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With changing these notes the same as I uiu, these lines shape
stiaighteu uescent lines anu the last note woiks to iesolve the choiu
to the neaiest choiu tone in the next choiu.

In both type(1) anu type(2), these lines follow the uescent uiiection.

(((F "#$% 0, Y#JJ
In this chaptei, I compose solo lines using these iueas that I have
wiitten about in the last chaptei. The song which I choose is the }azz
stanuaiu tune "All the things you aie". This song has oiiginally 44
swing, but I compose the solo lines foi S4 swing waltz to make it
easiei to use these iueas fiom Bach's Paitita which I was woiking
with.
Beie is the example to show how useful these iueas aie.


17



18

O,&$7@/.,&
The puipose of this thesis was to finu out if it was possible to use
Bachs single lines foi impiovising music. I founu out that it was
possible to impiovise using his single lines. The fiist time I listeneu to
Bach's compositions, I was exciteu foi some ieasons. I felt like a light
went on in my heau anu I coulu unueistanu the seciet of the single
stiong melouy.
While I was wiiting this thesis, I coulu get my iueas ueepei when I was
impiovising with single notes.
Foi example on "All the things you aie":In bais 1 anu 2, I useu the
iueas of tiiau that I was wiiting about chaptei 1.1 Closeu Tiiau anu 1.S
Spieau Tiiau.
In bai 47, I useu the uiminisheu phiases that I was wiiting about
chaptei 2.
In bais 19 anu 2u, I useu the technique of counteipoint that I was
wiiting about chaptei S.1 type(1) high anu low.
When I composeu single lines on "All the things you aie", it was haiu
to know which of the Bach lines I shoulu use anu also how they shoulu
be aiiangeu. It was also haiu to figuie out if they shoulu ascenu oi
uescenu in oiuei to balance the song.
It takes time to make full use of these iueas foi using to impiovising
music. But it is also my pleasuie to leain anu piactice them moie
thiough my life as an impiovising musician. I will analyze the othei
compositions of Bach to get familiai with his sophisticateu musicality.


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