my ukulele progress

I needed a change from what I was doing. It has been progressing well, but I just wanted something else for a change. So I thought I would play some Bird Changes or Bird Blues or whatever you want to call them.

I remember when I first learned about these changes. It was presented as a bunch of II-V's that had been altered by means of tritone substitutions, V of V's, sub-chords, etc. It was certainly a case of misplaced ingenuity because it took more grey cells to remember all the transmogrifications than to just memorize the formula.

It will take me a bit of time to get back into the swing of things with this music. Some of the challenges for the ukulele is giving yourself enough room because one of the characteristics of these changes is the way it ascends or descends...if you play it straight. But one of the fun things to do is to switch voicings thereby disrupting the flow and taking it in places it wasn't intended. Probably some people would cringe because I'm not playing it like it is supposed to be played but on the other hand, what could be more in keeping with the tradition than to break the tradition.

In the past I played a lot of mixolydians and dorians over these chords.

Interlude. I need to write some notes down on the first 5 epistles in the book of Epistles of Horatius lest I lose them.

archaeology of the first 5 epistles.

1.1 establishes a patron/client relationship but client adroitly side-steps with recusatio. H. says he has given up poetry in favor of philosophy but 'tis a philosophy that varies.
H. is impatient to undertake a project which will benefit all. It is implied that it will be philosophical. However since H. is the author it will be applied philosophy and it will be poetry. In fact this collection of epistles is the result.
H. says he isn't the best but he makes the most of it and he does it with virtue. First step of virtue is shunning vice. And vice is pursuing what is unattainable. Virtue is attainable.
If you retain your virtue you are self-sufficient, a Stoic king. However if you pursue unattainables such as money, power, etc then you will get hoisted on your own petards, will offend your betters, and will die. H. says that for all his faults Maecenas (and Augustus) esteems him. That is tacit proof that H. has virtue. And this serves as an advert: if you want to be like Horace, read on.

1.2: H immediately rejects the philosophy of 1.1 for HOmeros. 1.2 is addressed to an aspiring orator. It is a boost to his ethos that he's advising a rich, lawyer. The actual lessons from Homeros: know your king; you are punished for their afflictions. Odysseus is the paragon for modulating his desires. And we are the suitors unless we curb our desires.
That transitions to the importance of discipline. Train your mind. A sick mind will never be happy regardless of the situation.
You need to use discipline to control passions. On a practical level, passions will lead you to be tempted by largess from your betters and once that happens, you aren't your own man anymore. 1.2 illustrates the isolation of poetry. The virtuous, disciplined king is self-sufficient. That's one way to do it, but a virtuous person has to interact with the greater world.
1.3 illustrates the poet (identified as virtuous) in a larger world. Iulius Florus, the correspondent, is in Asia--a member of Tiberius' retinue on his eastern campaign. Supposedly they are serving some higher political purpose. And H addressing him avuncularly displays himself as a member of this political group. In short, 1.2 shows a sage solitary and cultivating his discipline. 1.3 displays virtuous poets contributing and influencing public policy with H. connected to these poets and thereby also engaging in the public sphere.
1.4 is a contrast to 1.3. Tibullus is a lesson. He is too virtuous. He is very introverted and isolated. For H, the point of having something is in using it. What's the point of being virtuous if you never use your virtue to brighten the day of others. Cf. money shouldn't be saved for heirs to spend; spend it yourself.
1.5 will be a couter-argument to 1.4. In 1.4 Tibullus virtuous all by himself in Pedum. In 1.5 Horace shows how to live virtuously by entertaining his busy friend.

I made a quick meal of shrimp and corn, a layer of millet and egg, spices, cabbage. I stir fried the strata together.

Then I thought about my Bird Changes,

I fell asleep writing the previous entry and that's why there is no entry. This is going to be non-theory and kind of clunky, but I wanted to write down how I approach Bird Changes for my own benefit.

As I said earlier the traditional explanation of this being a bunch of II-V's with substitutions didn't help me as a musician. Let's just say it is me and I'm being dense. So here's how I think of it (and I just made it up, so if it is stupid there is no one, no book to blame)

For me, some bars provide the structure and some the content. Bars one and two are the intro, bar five is a little rest stop, nine and ten articulates the ii-V (it is kind of like the marquee), and bars 11 and 12 is the turnaround ending in the ii-V again.

Bars 3,4, 6, 7, and 8 are the content that are supported by the structure.

That's the big picture, but what are we doing in the content bars? In the first half of the bars we are descending in m7's and in the second half we are descending in dom7's. The m7's are C#, B, A, G#, G and the dom7's are F#, E, D, C#, C.

For the ukulele the trick is to pick which shape you want for the m7 and the dom7. You could pick more than two but that kind of disrupts the flow of the descending roots. And here's where there's a bit of fun to be had. For the m7's you could pick the C# on the 13th fret and descend from there. Now for the F# to start off the dom7 run, you could pick the one on the 14th fret. Or you could pick the one on the 9th or even the 6th fret. Each of those choices has some results as they and their pitches alter the song in a way.

That's it. I mean that's it for how I approach it. Obviously there is more to talk about, such as how the chords of the content bars are derived from the circle of 5ths.

ripock said:

I fell asleep writing the previous entry and that's why there is no entry. This is going to be non-theory and kind of clunky, but I wanted to write down how I approach Bird Changes for my own benefit.

As I said earlier the traditional explanation of this being a bunch of II-V's with substitutions didn't help me as a musician. Let's just say it is me and I'm being dense. So here's how I think of it (and I just made it up, so if it is stupid there is no one, no book to blame)

For me, some bars provide the structure and some the content. Bars one and two are the intro, bar five is a little rest stop, nine and ten articulates the ii-V (it is kind of like the marquee), and bars 11 and 12 is the turnaround ending in the ii-V again.

Bars 3,4, 6, 7, and 8 are the content that are supported by the structure.

That's the big picture, but what are we doing in the content bars? In the first half of the bars we are descending in m7's and in the second half we are descending in dom7's. The m7's are C#, B, A, G#, G and the dom7's are F#, E, D, C#, C.

For the ukulele the trick is to pick which shape you want for the m7 and the dom7. You could pick more than two but that kind of disrupts the flow of the descending roots. And here's where there's a bit of fun to be had. For the m7's you could pick the C# on the 13th fret and descend from there. Now for the F# to start off the dom7 run, you could pick the one on the 14th fret. Or you could pick the one on the 9th or even the 6th fret. Each of those choices has some results as they and their pitches alter the song in a way.

That's it. I mean that's it for how I approach it. Obviously there is more to talk about, such as how the chords of the content bars are derived from the circle of 5ths.

Click to expand...

It would be nice to hear some of your playing. Do you record yourself? I like Bird changes - Confirmation, Blues For Alice, all that stuff.

I think of them as harmonic innovations that follow the melodic language of bebop, altered scales in particular. I think melodies and solos became so studded with extensions (flat 9s, 13s, sharp 11s etc) that Parker started to harmonically represent this in his tunes. It is far less about functional harmony than about creating the harmonic context for a certain sound to really shine.

Hey Ducky,
It is good to meet you. There is no change of me recording. I don't have a cell phone and this old computer I'm using is so backward that there are some websites that I cannot even access.

I do agree with your assessment. I don't know much about the technicalities of the music, but I do use flat 9's and 13's in playing this. However for me it wasn't so much a matter of systematically pushing the envelope as it was just seeking for variety and a certain sound.

I has been a busy morning...at least, for me. I drank a bit too much whisky and fell asleep in my rocking chair. I woke up at 4 a.m. and then just diddled around 'til sunrise.

Then I went shopping at the market. Now I'm prepping a bunch of food for the week.

1. I bought a big piece of ginger solely because it was in the shape of the Orans figure that I've seen in some mediaeval manuscripts. I grated that for future use in stir fries or wherever inspiration strikes.
2. I peeled and sliced three cucumbers. Peeling cucumbers isn't as annoying as peeling grapes. Nonetheless it is a testament to my love for my wife that I am peeling cucumbers (or kiwis) or her at all.
3. I made hummus, spiced with a black and red pepper mixture, and I added a lot of pitted kalamata olives to the mix.
4. I bought some garlic bread at the store to use with the hummus.
5. I am currently pressure cooking about 1.5 cups of beans fresh from Estancia. I am going to add them to a butternut squash to make a soup.
6. I bought some elk meat, which has a tender place in my heart. My grandpa used to make salami from elk. As a child I would cut two pieces of red onion in lieu of bread and put some elk salami in between.

I think that's it and definitely that's enough.

There hasn't been much for me to do socially around here lately. The recent topics have left me cold. A big topic is correlating wood pattern to sound quality. I'll just briefly notate that I think it is B.S., and then move on to await better conversations.

I am still gearing up for my foray into Bird Changes.

The chords are no problem...except for picking the voicings.

The opportunity for improvement comes in what I play over the chords. The last time I played these changes, I essentially used the Dorian and the Mixolydian...can you think of anything more boring!

However, too much variety will make it seem random and haphazard. The structure bars of Bird Changes I already have figured out. It is the content measures that need some help.

For the Minor 7 content I can play Dorian, Aiolian (and I assume melodic minor), and the minor pentatonic. The dom7 content has a lot more possibilities: major pentatonic, mixolydian, lydian dominant, phrygian dominant, diminished, whole tone, super lokrian.

As an addendum, I just want to mention I just saw several Moore Bettah sales. for the life of me, I don't get it. They cost about twice what my custom ukes cost and they are nothing special.

What the F? Missing that one letter F really alters my sentence, doesn't it?

ripock said:

What the F? Missing that one letter F really alters my sentence, doesn't it?

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Sorry ripock it was meant as well-meaning friendly silliness. Absolutely no intent on my part to offend or correct. I really enjoy reading your posts. I just found it an inadvertently funny sentence.

I'll delete it.

I was joking about leaving the "F" off "for"; it is no big deal. Dude, humor is rough in its written format.

ripock said:

I was joking about leaving the "F" off "for"; it is no big deal. Dude, humor is rough in its written format.

Click to expand...

Oh I see! "What the F!!" - I can't believe I missed that. It's very good though.

I'm going to have to up my game I see. Thanks for the reassurance.

Here's what I have been doing with the Bird Changes:

Introduction
bar 01: Em6 or Melodic Minor
bar 02a: D#ø or Lokrian 13
bar 02b: G#7b9 or Dominant Diminished

The first chord is supposed to be an EΔ7 but I always use a m6. I just like the sound better

Content 'til the rest stop
bar 03a: C#m11
bar o3b: F#7#9
bar 04a: Bm11
bar 04b: E7#9

Rest stop
bar 05: A7

Content after rest stop
bar 06a: Am11
bar 06b: D7#9
bar 07a: G#m11
bar 07b: C#7#9
bar 08a: Gm11
bar 08b: C7#9

If I play over any of the content bars I use Aiolian or minor pentatonic for the minor chords and for the major chords either the super Lokrian, whole tone, dominant diminished, Phrygian Dominant or Lydian Dominant

faux end
bar 09: F#m7 or Dorian
bar 10: B7 or Phrygian Dominant

Hiccup
bar 11a: G#m7 or Dorian
bar 11b: C#13 or Lydian Dominant

true end
bar 12a: F#m7
bar 12b: B7

I fell down a rabbit hole for an hour. The big dyad in Bird Changes is the m11/7#9 (at least those are the chord qualities I'm using this time around). For some reason I just gravitated to the 3rd fret and played A#m11 and D#7#9. That alone has a swampy, moody feel to it. Once the groove is in the heart I would play over it with either the D# dominant diminished scale or the D# dim7 arpeggio or the A Dorian. Some of the notes in the diminishes scale were clunkers, but all-in-all it sounded fairly good.

What's the deal with ukulele players and volume? So often in these discussions people are praising an instrument's volume. Don't they realize that's not praiseworthy with a tinny, trebly instrument. It is like that 14 year old boy who always has the Gain on his amp turned to 10. I suppose it is the chihuahua-esque syndrome of the little guy making a lot of noise as some sort of compensatory gesture. The notable exceptions are Sam Muir and Daniel Ward who stress subtle playing. I do try to minimize my ukulele's obnoxiousness by using warm strings and constructing my ukes of hardwoods. Even so, my wife will rebuke me for waking her up by playing. After all, ukuleles are percussive instruments.

Speaking of uxorial rebukings, I am blessed because my wife fell, hit her head, and lost her sense of smell. That's good because I bought some bread and reminded myself why I don't eat pastries for over 10 years now. I used some bread with my hummus and I've been farting up a storm. I've reinforced my knowledge. I'll be going back to using bell pepper wedges. The flatulence isn't worth it.

I will be pulling out the kamaka today because it is about time to get it out to refill the humidifier. So I'll be playing some 3-string scales tonight. For no particular reason I have latched onto the idea of the Lydian Dominant with my dom7#9's. It should be instructive.

Dynamic Range makes me think of juggling. When I started juggling five balls it was necessary to be very fast and quickness is connected to power. However if you use power then all the balls fly away. You have to be fast without exerting power.

And my wife is fine. Her fall, although technically it was brain damage, happened over a decade ago. She's okay...only she cannot smell. Of course that impacts her palate...but we've overcome that. It is interesting she can sense raw garlic or onion but to her it is painful. She cannot smell garlic but she can feel its presence. I think it is an overly intense tingling. I think it is the acid. The acid stimulates her but she cannot really smell it. And cooked garlic is okay. I frequently add it to our food and she doesn't even know. However she cannot drink wine. To her brain, wine tastes like vinegar.

Yet another tone wood thread making its rounds. This is one of those topics that mean nothing to me. I guess fundamentally I am a player so things that do not affect my playing are nugatory. I care about having a long enough fretboard and having a cutaway and having a low G string because the lack of those things impacts my arpeggios and scales. However a cedar sound board doesn't play things that a spruce sound board can't.

I'm not saying that timber doesn't have timbre. I can hear the meager difference but that nuance means nothing to my musical life.

When I pick tone woods it is more of a philosophical issue. The one exception to this is my Kamaka. I bought it to be my mainstream uke. I bought it with a spruce sound board to be bright--everything I am not...because I wanted to keep some balance. But with the ukuleles that are closer to my heart I pick tone wood based on looks and based on how it reflects my personality, self-perception, and self-love. In short, I think I'm a great person, so I want a great tone wood. For that reason I would never pick a cedar and spruce sound board...because that is so predictable and hoi polloi. I want something unique. I understand the appeal. Cedar is the CPA of the ukulele world. It is consistent and reliable and trustworthy. But that isn't what I'm shooting for. I want something a little more quirky...realizing of course that means nothing in the ukulele world. After all, it is such a subtle difference.

I thought it was high time to pull out the Kamaka to refill the humidifers, if nothing else. It was not a good day for the Kamaka.

As I said my kamaka has a spruce top and I cannot see any grain patterns. It is just spruce yellow. I bring this up because recently there was a discussion of grain patterns which somehow equated certain cuts of wood with certain sonic qualities--almost as if the striations of grains were meridians of tastiness. Anyway in the evening lighting I could not perceive any grain pattern in my spruce. Be that as it may...

As I aforementioned, the Kamaka was not fitting my intentions very well today. Its chord voicings did not sound good with the Bird changes that I was attempting. And of course the finger picking is always a little problematic on re-entrant. But I gravitated toward 3-stringed Phrygian Dominant, minor pentatonic, and the Hungarian Minor. I was able to get some good melodies although I was constantly biting my lip mentally because I couldn't use my G string.

But I've done my duty and made my obeisance to the tinny tradition of the ukulele. Now I can thank the powers that be for evolution and the movement from sopranos to an instrument with some range

Someone was asking me some questions as if I were an authority on theory, but I only know what I know. I have never approached music theory systematically. There are most definitely some very, very fundamental elements that I have no idea about because that knowledge hasn't been necessary in my musical life.

The only thing I have going on for me is curiosity. Even as a kid I remember being given some sheet music. I think it was "Greensleaves." I noticed in the key signature that E's and B's were flat but in the song all the B's were natural. I asked my teacher and got an earful about keys. That's all I do. Slake my curiosity with scattershot doses of answers.

In my musical life, some question will arise and I'll google and browse some piano and guitar site that addresses my question. Of course I always "read around my topic" as I was instructed to do by an old history professor. So as I research my topic I look around at peripheral topics and then try to remember it.

I bring this up because I often run across people who are intimidated by musical theory. Actually there is nothing to be daunted about. As I have shown, you just take it little by little, as you need it, and amass a mound of information over time. Or don't. If you're content with strumming first position chords and singing, that's another path.

Obviously that isn't my path. I traveling in a different direction. I will be playing a little bit later, but for now I just want to write down a little progression that I ran across. I think I've run across it before because it is familiar. It is that sound which is the penultimate sound in an 8 bar blues or something in the Piedmont or Ragtime traditions. Here it is:

I
I7
IV
I°7

You will recognize it once you hear it. Sometimes it is even the turnaround. Now that I think of it, I think I also remember playing something very similar in Rhythm Changes: EΔ7 (I), E7 (I7), AΔ7 (IV), A°7 (IV°7). That is pretty much the same instead you end on the subdominant instead of the tonic.

I'm trying to branch out a little. So I am starting to lay the foundation for a systematic study of the melodic minor and its modes to complement my harmonic minor studies. At this point I have just started, but from what I can see, the melodic minor is more spready in the layout of its notes and it doesn't really have a convenient arpeggio. Of course further investigation is warranted, but that's my first impression.

I finished up my Melodic Minor chart and on one hand it isn't all that groundbreaking because the difference a harmonic minor and a melodic minor is just the raised sixth. But on the other hand is significant because it has forced me to re-think my mode shapes. So, in a way, it is the same thing but played in a different way, and that's always salubrious for the brain.

I did make one innovation in terms of the overlapping/embedding/imbricating or whatever you call it.

For clarification: if you are blessed with a uke in linear tuning you can play a mode on your G, C, and E strings. However if you play the C string, E string, and add the A string, you have a different mode in re-entrant tuning. [And that's one of the main reasons I prefer linear tunings; it yields 14 modes versus the 7 of re-entrant]

What I did for my Harmonic Minor chart is just list the modes 1 thru 7 for the linear tuning and for the re-entrant tuning, and you just had to know the relationships. For example, you had to know the the linear third mode, G Ionian #5 shares space C Lydian #2, the re-entrant 6th mode.

What I have done for my Melodic Minor is simplifited the relationship between embedded partners by putting them on the same lines of the page. For instance, the linear 4th mode, the A Lydian Dominant is put next to the re-entrant 6th mode, the c# Aiolian b5.

That's my big innovation and contribution of my self-pedagogy.

Less satisfying are the arpgeggios of these modes. There isn't one universal arpeggio that can be used anywhere, such as the dim7 of the harmonic minor. With the Melodic Minor you have to look at the specific area of the fret board you're in and create something like a m6 arpeggio.