The Woodshedding Source Review |
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At first glance this book might appear as though it were intended exclusively for jazz players because of its reference to chord changes or even because of its title. However, this comprehensive aid to practicing("woodshedding") would be just as useful for a growing musician at any level. Veteran saxophonist and author Emile De Cosmo is well known for his series of 19-volume Polytonal Rhythm Series. This book takes the next step from that series. It incorporates all of the basic chord and scale types in one book and links them with various rhythmic patterns through all keys in each chord type. The use of several different rhythmic patterns for the same exercise is an especially strong learning technique. The book is divided by scale or mode type. It begins with seven modes in order as they relate to the major scale(ionian or major scale, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, and locrian), with four or five pages of pitch patterns dedicated to each mode. An example: the first dorian mode study has eight pitches in each measure. Each of the corresponding twenty-two rhythmic patterns for this exercise are one-measure rhythms which use eight pitches: eight eighth notes, two quarter notes with two sets of triplets, etc. The player can then perform this first study twenty-two different ways, or combine the rhythms. This technique allows the ear to learn the sound of the study in different ways, improves sight-reading by forcing the player to see the notes in different groupings, and aids improvisers by adjusting and readjusting the flow of the notes in the scale/chord pattern in each measure. |
After this first modal section, this format is repeated based upon dominant chord cycle of fifths progression, as well as a diatonic cycle(moving through the diatonic chords of various major and minor scales by root movement of fifths), jazz related ii-V-I progressions, the melodic and harmonic minor scales, the augmented eleventh or lydian flat seventh scale, and several synthetic scales constructed outside the major-minor system, such as the diminished and blues scales, the Arabian scale(major scale with lowered fifth, sixth and seventh) and the Byzantine scale(major with lowered second and sixth, also sometimes called the double harmonic major). Without a doubt this book can provide a complete basis for anyone learning the jazz vocabulary. But, how is it equally valuable for musicians in other styles? The answer lies in the harmonic/melodic material used by De Cosmo and in the way that it aids music reading skills. This material is no different than the melodic building blocks used to compose any of the widely used "classical" tonal etude books such as the Melodious and Progressive Studies, studies based upon the Rose Clarinet Studies, or the Marcel Mule Series. De Cosmo's new book is a distilled basic musical vocabulary, made immediately accessible. Rather than being a replacement for these other important performance-style books, The Woodshedding Source Book makes a concentrated companion to these or any other study method. It should be a part of any musician's"woodshed"! |
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Published by Hal Leonard Reprinted courtesy of Saxophone Journal, November/December 1997. |
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