tonal convergence chart realizations

As the term tonal convergence implies in this text, here we realize the many types of scales into musical sounds, creating lines of a resolving tendency towards a tonic. And as so often happens in creating the American sounds, the group of pitches with which we create our melodic ideas are oftentimes enhanced to create the harmony we often find them. So in many of the examples which follow, we simply apply the melodic pitches to conventional American harmony, attempting to capture as much of the sound and character of the various melodic groups as possible. Click jazz lines for a more complex realization of the convergence possibilities. Click each melodic entry to explore the theory of that group of pitches. Click the description of each entry to explore a broader discussion of the melodic color. Remember that each of the glossary entries each contain four links to it's use in the text. All of the ideas which follow "make the changes."

A kind of joyous, American folk sound eh?

Using any kind of blues anywhere in American music is rarely if ever out of place, if it is tastefully placed that is.

Isn't that the leading tone in bar 6? Tis is indeed.

Is any kind of blues idea placed anywhere in American music ever out of place? Well ...

So, how many cool and important Euro Amer melodies are created from this group of pitches?

Cool color here in that we pick up the augmented triad. So, just the 3rd degree is altered between melodic and major? Yep.

Using the augmented 4th in the Two chord creates the old time Five of Five motion ( based on chord type ), while adding the Lydian color enhances the tonic to polytonal effect.

Here a bit of the whole tone color emerges with the lowering of the 7th scale degree by half step to the blue 7th.

Not all that common, using the common tone diminished simply delays the resolution and is a is mostly a jazz thing.

Anything from anywhere? The chromatic scale has it all. Here we simply chromatically enhance the arpeggiation of the pitches of each chord.

Moving by half step into the tonic.

Moving "slightly outside", perhaps the most popular of the dominant chord substitutions.

Using the softened Lydian color over the diminished containing dominant 7th b9 chord.

Using Two / Five from Gb to slide into the minor tonality.

Simply using the whole tone scale to converge to the tonic pitch C by half step.

A nice and gentle motion so character of the pentatonic colors, note the 4 / 3 suspension in the line in bars 59 and 60, creating that heartfelt longing sensation that the poets term epic.

Simply thinking diatonically.

Using the blue 7th to color the line.

Using the Phrygian color simply rearranges the half steps which brings forth the blue 3rd and 7th.

Same group into the minor tonality. Note the "darker" C minor 6th chord in bar 76?

Basically C minor / Eb major into C major? Hip to Cole Porter's "Night and Day?"

Same idea into the minor tonality.

Simply focusing in on the half steps between 5 and b6 and major 7 / tonic of the harmonic minor color. Adds a bit of the exotic to the line eh?

Using the minor / major 7th arpeggio to the b5 of the dominant chord.

Using the diminished color into the minor tonality.

Know any other cliche chromatic lines?

Simply approaching the tonic from below by whole step.

Subbing in the diatonic Two chord of Eb major.

Permutating the Phrygian mode in thirds.

Getting out there a bit, heading toward the world of polytonality.

Subbing in the Two chord normally associated with E dominant 7th chords, we simply use the dominant 9th arpeggio in bar 122 to create a need to converge. Wow, does the b5 of bar 123 disguise the sense of tonic or what?

Simply arpeggiating the F Lydian color to the max.

Using the interval of perfect fourths to launch the line, the Eb helps to set up the motion to the minor tonality.

Keying in on the Ab, we simply run the melodic minor color in a descending fashion to create the tension.

Adding the Db is tricky, as it is a half step from the tonic. Here the line is simply scalar in form.

Very vanilla diminished idea into triadic resolution.

Simply using the parent scale of the tritone sub to create the half step coolness.

Pairing up the tritone sub with it's diatonic Two chord and converging from the polar end of the cycle of 5th's.

By simply removing the tritone, so much of the tension goes away.

Back to our musical roots with the ancient minor pentatonic color.

Simply up then down the scale.

Starting the line with the tension and resolving.

Slipping in the non diatonic blue note b2 ( C# ) of the tonic key into the minor pentatonic color.

Using the augmented color to launch into the polytonal # 11 environment, delaying the resolution a wee bit. Is a part of an advancing players art in simply finding ways to delay the obvious resolutions? To create surprises and curiosity? Look for cool ways to avoid becoming a bit too much of a "master of the obvious" in their expressions? Do we find this in other art forms as well?

Is there a easier way to obscure tonal direction and intent than with the chromatic color? And why would we want to do this? Obscure tonal direction and defy the laws of tonal gravity?

The b9 to 5 in bars 185 and 186 is a cool and common jazz players way of doing things.

Simply creating a more diatonic Two / Five cell for the Bb dominant chord.

Using a scalar approach to clarify the melodic minor color.

Setting up the minor tonality then simply not going there. Where is the diminished color diatonically derived from?

Such a light, non obtrusive sound is the pentatonic grouping n'est pas?

Relative minor / relative major? Simply creating a four note sequence with the pitches.

A nice surprise eh? Even with just a scalar idea of the converging color.

Simply subbing in the diatonic Two chord commonly paired with E 7 / A major.

Simply running the whole tone scale in two parts.

Taking advantage of the half step to highlight the leading tone major 7th of our tonic chord.

B Lydian = Cb Lydian, a mode of F# / Gb major.

Simply subbing in for Two and extending the tonic arpeggio. Does taking the Lydian path from a half step below to converge help prepare the polytonal tonic color?

Simply using the diatonic pitches and focusing in on the half step between the 7th degree B and our tonic C.

Straight ahead ascending diminished color with a leap down setting up the resolution.

Using an octave leap to help jump start the line, straight ahead descending whole tone scale to One.

So, after exploring a bit of these ideas, is it now more true that "anything can go anywhere"? Maybe head to jazz lines for a more artistic realization of the above convergence pathways?

"Silence is a great help to a seeker after truth" Gandhi