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Playing Off The Melody Stella

Playing Off The Melody Stella

Status: In stock, Digital book is available for immediate access.

Melodic Rotations Learning to Improvise More Based on the Composition

Playing Off The Melody Stella is a course that teaches you how to bring more compositional elements into your improvisation; in other words, playing more off the melody of the song that you are improvising over. Improvisers frequently create these kinds of compositionally related melodies through permutation or rotation. There are three previously published books on permutating 2,3 and 4 note melodies in the Modal Sequencing series.

Permutation problems arise when you have a melody in which the main theme is more than four notes. In this situation the use of permutation gets out of hand pretty quickly. For instance, a six note melody has 720 permutations (or 8640 permutations if we consider octave transposition). In order to work with larger themes, rotations are used. For a six note melody there are only 6 rotations. This is a much more workable number for a musician to practice and gain fluidity with. Even with only six rotations the amount of exercises that can be derived is enormous. Exercises are given using treble and bass clef plus there are bass clef versions for 5 and 6 string bass. Factor in all 3 different types of exercises, and you get a whopping 8016 pages of exercises!

Melodic Rotations for Stella By Starlight Melody

This course works with the first six notes of the jazz standard Stella By Starlight. You will find from playing through the three different types of exercises found in this course that the melodies created are really useful and sound great! This course is comprised of three main exercises. First, the exercises concentrate on one rotation at a time and starting it on every eighth note of the measure. Second, you work with changing between the six rotations throughout the song, again on every eighth combination. Third, you change the rhythm and the rotation throughout the song. Working on these three levels will change your playing almost immediately. Playing the melody through minor 2nds, major 2nd, minor 3rds, major 3rds and augmented 4ths are also included. All exercises are presented in all 12 keys. This gives you the “old school” approach to learning a jazz standard. Learn it in all keys and then you REALLY know it.

Examples from the Playing Off The Melody Stella Course

All exercises found in the Playing Off The Melody Stella course have midi files. This will allow you to not only hear the melodies but also check accuracy as you practice. There are also MP3s with piano, bass and drums, at 3 different tempos, and in all keys, so that you can play the examples with real music. A PDF is included that talks about each exercise and how it is organized as well as practice tips and application ideas. Whether you dive head first into these exercises right away or not, it is important that you understand the power of rotations which this course will supply. You will be really surprised by how  just a couple of minutes a day reading through these examples will affect your playing. Seriously folks, rotations will change your playing dramatically and quickly. 

Here are a few examples from the course. A complete list of the different types of exercises can also be found below.

6 Rotations for Stella. Book contains these rotations in every key.
  • Playing-Off-The-Melody-Stella-Course-6_Rotations_of_Stella_Bb_
Exercise One: One Rotations moving through Stella Chord Progression with same rhythm.
  • Playing-Off-The-Melody-Stella_Constant_Rotations_Beat1_Bb_
Exercise Two: Random Rotations moving through Stella Chord Progression with same rhythm.
  • Playing-Off-The-Melody-Stella_Inconsistent_Rotations_Beat2and_Bb_
Exercise Three: Random Rotations moving through Stella Chord Progression with changing rhythm.
  • Playing-Off-The-Melody-Stella_Rhythm_Permutation_Bb_
Exercise Four: Rotations moving in Minor 3rds.
  • Playing-Off-The-Melody-Stella_Rotations_min3rds_Bb__Page_1

Exercises Found in the Playing Off The Melody Stella Course:

  • How to Use This Course
  • 6 Rotations of Six Note “Stella By Starlight” Melody in Bb
  • 6 Rotations of Six Note “Stella By Starlight” Melody in Bb Bass Clef
  • Rotations Starting on Every Eighth Note
  • Further Application of Consistent Rotations
  • Rotations Starting on Every Eighth Note Example
  • Rotations That Vary Throughout Each Exercise
  • Further Application of Inconsistent Rotations
  • Inconsistent Rotation Example
  • Varying Rotations and Rhythm Throughout Each Exercise
  • Further Application of Varying Rotations and Rhythm
  • Example of of Varying Rotations and Rhythm
  • Rotations through Cycles
  • Rotations Moving in Minor 2nd Ascending and Descending
  • Stella Rotations in Minor 2nds
  • Rotations Moving in Major 2nds
  • Rotations Moving in Minor 2nd Ascending and Descending
  • Stella Rotations in Major 2nd
  • Rotations Moving in Minor 3rds
  • Rotations Moving in Minor 3rds Ascending and Descending
  • Stella Rotations in Minor 3rds
  • Rotations Moving in Major 3rds
  • Rotations Moving in Major 3rds Ascending and Descending
  • Stella Rotations in Major 3rds
  • Rotations Moving in Augmented 4ths
  • Rotations Moving in Augmented 4ths Ascending and Descending
  • 6 Rotations in Augmented 4ths in Stella Melody
  • Alternate Melody Using Same Six Notes
  • Other Melodic Combination Using Same Six Notes
  • Other Note Choices for Rotations
  • Major Chord Rotation Choices
  • Minor Chord Rotation Choices
  • Dominant Chord Rotation Choices
  • Dominant 7sus4 Chord Rotation Choices
  • Minor 7b5 Chord Rotation Choices
  • Conclusion

Get Playing Off The Melody Stella Today!

Status: In stock, Digital book is available for immediate access.

Additional Information for Melodic Rotations 012345:

  • Digital Edition 978-1-59489-330-8
  • One 26 page PDF explaining exercises, 10 different types of exercises, 8016 pages of exercises in PDF format
  • Midi files for all exercises.
  • 36 MP3s backing tracks for Stella By Starlight in all keys. Piano, Bass and Drums.
  • List of 180 possible melodic combinations of the Stella 6 note melody.
  • List of other melodic combinations for each chord for the Stella 6 note melody.

What people are saying:

Man Bruce this is Dope! I never knew what rotations were before this course and now I see that they are the key to the kind of playing that I’ve always striven towards. These exercises are like perfect solos. By just improvising a few more notes in the rests I have a great solo that is so closely related to the song. Y. Songland

I’ve been searching for a course like this my whole life. I hope Bruce puts out courses like this for many jazz standards! G. Idi

Not only is this a great idea for melodies but my phrasing has changed within days. R. Bellham

I’m a 5 and 6 string bass player and also have the Melodic Rotation 012345 book which I’m enjoying quite a bit. This Playing Off The Melody Stella book takes things in an entirely new direction. It makes me realize many new things that I can do with the Melodic Rotation 012345 book but also is really helping me to get the basics of soloing over jazz standards together. A. Newton

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About Muse Eek

Muse-Eek Publishing Company is a publishing house with a broad focus on music education. Muse-Eek also publishes fine art and poetry books, and has its own record label, Muse-Eek Records. Our online presence, Muse-Eek.com specializes in the publication of music workbooks, video courses and sound and video recordings that teach the foundation of good musicianship through groundbreaking and innovative methods along with traditional methods that have been taught for centuries. These historic methods date back through centuries of great musicians and educators. To see these interesting relationship please see Bruce Arnold's Music Education Genealogy Chart which tells you a lot about the where many of his educational ideas took root and some of the educational pillars that are evident throughout the books you find on this website. The Muse-Eek Records catalogue contains a diverse selection of music much of it by Bruce Arnold in collaboration with some of today's best players in classical, jazz, rock and avant-garde music. These are available in CD, DVD and mp3 formats. We believe in a working relationship with our music education customers; they are free to interact with the author after purchasing a book to help them through any material they don’t understand or which they need further clarification. We also have a member's area which contains a wealth of free information to help a student understand music at a deeper level and access additional files for our books. Many of our books offer cutting edge ideas regarding ear training, guitar technique, rhythm and time. These methods have a proven track record. Our main author Bruce Arnold has taught at some of the most prestigious music schools in the world, including Princeton, Dartmouth, Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, The New School and NYU. Along with Mr. Arnold's publications on the Muse-eek.com website he has also written books and appeared in educational DVDs for MelBay and Truefire. Over the years Mr Arnold has used his experiences with his students to develop a program that can elevate a musician's ability to world class caliber. If you have questions about any of our books or recordings please send us an email. Along with general questions about either our record label or our publishing company we also welcome questions to help a student choose the proper materials to reach their goals. We have over 300 products to help you learn any style of music and to develop your musicianship to its peak. We also make recommendations for practice schedules for students who use our methods to get the most out of their study time. This, along with personal interaction with Bruce through email, nurtures the student's ability through a closely monitored situation, ensuring there is no wasted time or misunderstanding.