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Notes of Jazz Musical Harmony
Notes of Jazz Musical Harmony
Franco Ivaldi
M ail: franco.ivaldi@gmail.com
Index:
1. Introduction
3) Improvisation in jazz, seen as an art form that interprets the world of the "phase"
5) Conclusions
6) Bibliography
7) Publication
1
1. Introduction
The art form of musical improvisat ion crosses t he hist ory of music of all t he most varied popular
t radit ions. Improvisat ion is a creat ive exercise for t hose w ho play and for t hose w ho list en, and
jazz belongs t o t his art form, w here it is import ant t o know t he rules, in order t o t hen be able t o
" escape" t hem w it h an improvisat ional t ast e. In this w ork some basic harmonic rules are exposed,
w hich can give good or bad result s; it all depends on t he sobriet y, t he int ent ion and t he t ast e w it h
w hich t hey are applied.
In t he past , music, physics and t he st udy of t he Universe w ere one, and t oget her t hey w ere
st udied, looking for t he connect ions, w here it is clear t hat from it s birt h t o it s final dest iny,
vibrat ions and resonances represent t he heart of t he physical st ruct ure. present from t he smallest
part icle, t o t he largest clust ers of galaxies.
The links bet w een music and science have at t ract ed excellent minds, from Pyt hagoras t o Kepler,
from New t on t o Einst ein, from Leibniz t o Goldbach, and have int erest ed musicians, such as:
A) The physicist and jazz musician St ephan Alexander, aut hor of t he book " The Jazz of Physics: The
Secret Link Bet w een M usic and t he St ruct ure of t he Universe" , connect s jazz w it h t he answ ers t o
t he " ult imat e quest ions" of modern and cont emporary physics about t he past and t he fut ure of
t he universe.
B) The great American saxophonist and composer John William Colt rane, had arranged t he musical
not es in a circle and had connect ed t hem w it h st raight lines forming a five-point ed st ar, w it h a
clear reference t o t he cycle of fift hs, (propert y of modular arit hmet ic in modulo 12), w hich
represent s t he relat ionships bet w een t he tw elve not es t hat make up t he chromat ic scale, w here a
" sharp" is added on t he sevent h degree in t he hourly circle referring t o t he ascending fift hs, w hile
in t he count erclockw ise circle referring t o t he descending fift hs, t o each passage adds a " flat " t o
t he fourt h degree.
M usic is an int egral part of t he Harmony of t hings in t he Universe, and t herefore finds
correspondences in t he Universal rules, such as t he one t hat regulat es t he evolut ion of t he
" Universal logarit hm ic - evolut ionary spiral" , w hich begins not from zero, but from + 0.5, and finds
it s explanat ion in t he evolut ion of prime numbers, let 's t ake for example t he pairs of prime
numbers:
- 5 / +7 = 12
-11 / +13 = 24
-17 / +19 = 36
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A) The mat hemat ical space bet w een a pair of prime numbers and t he ot her is alw ays represent ed
by t he number t w elve, w hich is a fundament al element in Universal evolut ion.
B) The mat hemat ical cent er bet w een pairs of prime numbers is not on zero, but on + 0.5.
In t his view of realit y, w here past , present and fut ure are t rapped inside each ot her, w e can
deduce t hat at any point in t he Universe, each part icle know s " alm ost simult aneously" w hat
anot her part icle is doing, w hich is t he concept on w hich Louis de Broglie and David Bohm w orked
t oget her, and w hich w e also find in ent anglement .
Engineer Francesco De Sant is ident ifies t his " universal realit y" t hrough a t heory according t o w hich
every ent it y of t he physical realit y of our Universe evolves over t ime according t o a mat hemat ical
procedure derived from t he " modus operandi" of Fibonacci's formal spat ialit y, see : De Sant is F
and Ivaldi F, 2021 ; and he also discovered t hat it is w rit t en bet w een t he folds of t he spiral shapes
of nat ure such as flow ers and plant s, w here t here is t he w ay in w hich a hidden dimension evolves
mat hemat ically, so t hat every event is made up of t he sum of t w o component s, of one of w hich is
inert ial plus a very small amount of t he fut ure, charact erized by having negat ive t ime w hile t he
past is posit ive: De Santis F, 2020.
This vision of t he universal reality described above, represent s t he lifeblood of every form of art ,
w here in subst ance t he creat ive art ist is in " Resonance in real t ime" w it h t he great universal mind:
Lee J, 2017. The connect ions bet w een music and physics can also be deduced from :
A) St ring t heory, w hich sees t he vibrat ion t hat const it ut es t he st ring it self, as a pure self-referent ial
movement ; w hich finds reference w it h t he Vedic cult ure, w here t he vibrat ion t hat produces
sound, and t herefore also t he w ord, are considered t he root of creat ion and t he sust enance of t he
universe.
B) A group of researchers, belonging t o t he Universit ies of: Helmholt z-Zent rum Berlin, Oxford,
Brist ol and t he Rut herford Applet on Laborat ory, show ed a hidden symmet ry t hat governs t he
behavior of mat t er: W heeler E, Tennant A, 2010. The researchers focused on a part icular
magnet ic mat erial, cobalt niobat e, in w hich t he at oms form a chain t hat behaves like a magnet ic
rod w it h a t hickness of only one at om. By applying an appropriat e magnet ic field t o t he aligned
spins, t he magnet ic chain passes int o a part icular crit ical st at e, t he syst em reaches a quant um
uncert aint y, a st at e of superposit ion, like t hat of Schrödinger's cat .
By carefully adjust ing t he syst em, t he researchers observed t hat t he chain of at oms behaves like a
guit ar st ring, w here t he t ension derives from t he int eract ion bet w een spin t hat is placed t here t o
resonat e magnet ically. In t hese int eract ions t hey found a scale of resonant not es, of w hich t he
first t w o show a relat ionship t hat leads us t ow ards t he Golden Rat io 1.618, w hich represent s t he
focal cent er of t he golden t uning, w it h t he A at 432 HZ reaching a C of 256Hz, w hich represent s t he
planet ary arrangement of our solar syst em. M any are t he support ing art ist s of t he so-called golden
t uning, see: M ozart , Pink Floyd, M ick Jagger, Ananda Bosman, Flavia Vallega, Andrea Doria,
Riccardo Trist ano, Verdi, Pavarot t i and Placido Domingo.
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3) Improvisation in jazz, seen as an art form that interprets the world of the "phase"
The art form of musical improvisat ion crosses t he hist ory of music of all t he most varied popular
t radit ions, ranging from India, flamenco, baroque, organ m usic, rock, jazz et c. Improvisat ion in
music is a creat ive exercise, w hich t hrough an acoust ic universe, represent s a new vision of t he
aest het ic, et hical and polit ical organizat ion of our lives, and as such it represents a philosophical
pract ice in all respect s, since for t hose w ho play and for t he list ener, it is a t ransformat ion of the
w orld, and of ourselves: Cobussen M , Frisk HA, Weijland B, 2009.
Jazz belongs t o t his art form, w here it is import ant t o know t he rules, in order t o t hen be able t o
" escape" t hem w it h an improvisat ional t ast e. The mind of a jazz player int erpret s emot ions in real
t ime in a very precise met ric, w it h a pulsat ion t hat brings us back t o t he concept of cent ral
oscillat or. In w hich, in his oscillat ion in t he form of an exponent ial spiral present in t he w orld of
t he " phase" , t he art ist ident ifies himself, w ho t ends t o put different charact erist ics of realit y
beforehand, and synt hesizes t hem so t hat at t he end t he w hole w ork is great er t han t he sum of it s
part s, see: Palmer CM , 2013.
C = Do / D = Re / E = M i / F = Fa / G = Sol / A = La / B = Si
Thus could begin t he st ory of t he hist ory of Jazz, w here t he Blues represent ed t he popular music
of t he black slaves of America, w ho sang songs similar t o lament s, accompanied only by some lut e
or guit ar, in t he era bet w een t he 19t h and t he 19t h cent ury. 900. The Blues t hrough it s gradual
harmonic development came t o influence and inspire great musicians such as: Amst rong,
Gershw in, Parker, Colt rane et c. There is also a theory t hat claims t hat t he Blues arrived in t he
sout hern part of t he Unit ed St at es, coming from India, aft er having crossed Europe, Africa and t he
Arab w orld.
In pract ice, t he Blues w ould be t he musical soul, w hich represent s t he sufferings and vicissit udes
of peoples from all over t he w orld. The original American Black Blues w as much sim pler t han t he
current harmonic form reached from t he 1940s onw ards. Blues at t he beginning of t he cent ury
w as also ident ified as " out of t une music" , due t o it s " Blue Not e" , charact erized at t he beginning,
by t he int ervals of t he t hird and minor sevent h, w hich over t ime t hen expanded t o t he int ervals of
t he fift h. and nint h m inor.
Cont emporary jazz players, w hen t hey t hink of t he Blues, immerse t hemselves in a part icular
at mosphere, w hich lives w it hin a basic scheme formed by t he fam ous " Tw elve bars" , in w hich
anyt hing can happen
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The import ant t hing is t hat t he musicians are " t uned" t o t he same " Blues environment " . Let 's see
t he not es t hat can be used in a Blues scale, w hich as already ment ioned above is charact erized by
t he “ Blue Not es” ; and t hen t aking a scale of C, it follow s t hat t he fundament al not es on w hich t he
modern Blues is based are: C, E b, F, F #, G, Bb, C.
From t his basic scale scheme, all t he support s can be considered valid w it h t he insert ion of t he
passage not es such as t he Db nint h flat , t he D nint h nat ural, t he E, F, G, and t he sensit ive B nat ural,
not diminished. The result is t hat a chromat ic scale comes out ; t he import ant t hing is t o dw ell in
heavy t imes on t he " Blue Not es" , w hich w ill be t hose not es t hat charact erize all t he phrasing. On
t his t heme, w e see t hat t he " Blue not es" are oft en associat ed w it h t he int erval of t he excess
fourt h; for example in t he melodic minor scale (oft en used in jazz), t he fourth degree is raised, for
example: in melodic C minor, t he F # becomes our not e. This int erval made up of t hree exact t ones
is foreign t o t he human ear, as it does not exist in our nat ural major and minor mode scales.
Precisely for t his reason, of harmonic openness, in cont emporary Jazz, Blues is considered as a
" modal" t ype of music, int ended as a simplificat ion of Harmonies t o t he essent ial.
Example of a simple Blues Harmonic t urn in Bb, applied in t he famous Blues " Blue M onk" by
pianist Thelonius M onk of t he Bop era.
Example of a more complex Blues Harm onic Turn in F, int roduced by Charlie Parker in t he 40s in
t he era of " bop" , in his Blues as " Now 's t he t ime" .
Wit h t he t erm harmonizat ion, w e mean a sequence of chords t hat develops for t he ent ire durat ion
of t he piece. An easy w ay t o harmonize is t o combine t he not e of t he melody w it h ot her not es t hat
enrich t he melody, alw ays keeping t he melody as t he highest not e.
Not es: C, D, E, F, G, A, B
C, E, G, B = Chord of C M an 7
D, F, A, C = Chord of D m in 7
E, G, B, D = Chord of E min 7
F, A, C, E = Chord of F M aj 7
G, B, D, F = Chord of G 7 of Dominant , or Harmonic resolver
A, C, E, G = Chord of A min 7
B, D, F, A = B m in 7 / b5 chord, also called semi-diminished
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4-not e harmonic C m in scale harmonizat ion example:
The " Dominant Sevent h" chords, also called " Resolvent s" , represent t he sonorit y w hich at t he end
of any harmonic round alw ays ret urns t o t he basic " Tonic" chord. Somet imes in our West ern
music, in some pieces of music t here are isolat ed “ Dominant Sevent h” chords here and t here, or in
sequence w it h each ot her, not belonging t o t he basic t onic scale of t he piece. These chords are
commonly defined w it h t he t erm " Secondary Dominant s" . A t ypical example can be seen in t he
harmonic cycle called “ Anat ole” , invent ed by t he great musician and composer Gorge Gershw in. In
your musical piece " I Got Rhyt hm" , in t he key of Bb in t he first part , t he harm onic sequence is
experiment ed on a major scale of t he degrees: I, VI, II, V, I (Bb M aj 7, Gm7, Cm7, F7, Bb). In t he
second part , inst ead, a series of " Secondary Dominant s" are experiment ed: D7, G7, C7. The
" Secondary Dominant s" t herefore represent a w ay t o creat e point s of " Harm onic Tension" ,
out side t he basic Key. On such " Secondary Dom inant s" it is good t o improvise using t he harm onic
minor scale referred t o it s t onic, for example on a " Secondary Dominant " of E7, you can use t he
harmonic A m in scale.
A) Harmonic t urns: II-VI, Anat ole, Blues et c., w here everyt hing is cent ered on t he " Tonal cent er" ,
represent ed by t he chord built on t he 1st degree of t he scale in quest ion, also called t he " Tonic"
chord; w hich has t he funct ion of a magnet , w hich at t ract s t o it self t he ot her Chords built on t he
ot her degrees of t he musical scale t aken int o considerat ion, w it h t w o different sit uat ions t hat can
be defined as follow s: in a sit uat ion of " Relaxat ion" , w here t he chords relat ed t o t he t onal cent er,
and in a sit uat ion of " Tension" , w here t he ot her chords t hat creat e t ension w it h respect t o t he
" Tonal Cent er" coexist .
B) M odal: In t his part icular t ype of harmony, launched by t he great M iles Davis, each chord has t he
funct ion of " t onal cent er" , and t herefore in t his case t here are no sit uat ions of " Relaxat ion" and
" Tension" . Generally t he “ M odal” t ype Jazz pieces are built on very few chords: see for example
“ So What ” by M iles Davis, all based on t he D m Doric, underst ood as t he second degree of t he C
major scale, and t he Eb m Doric.
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C) Harmonies w it h fourt hs int ervals: From Jazz " bop" onw ards, w it h t he great pianist Teolonius
M onk as head of t he school, t he harmonies w it h fourt hs int ervals w as developed. For example, on
t he C M aj scale, a chord w it h fourt hs int ervals, built on t he degrees of " dist ension" (first , t hird,
sixt h), it could be t he sixt h / nint h chord of E, t he result is an agreement w it h: E, A, D, G. In t he C
M aj scale, a chord w it h int ervals of fourt h built on t he degrees of t ension (second, fourt h, fift h and
sevent h), it could be an agreement w it h: D, G, C, F. It follow s t hat t he harmonic environment t hat
is creat ed t hrough t he use of harmonies w it h Fourt h int ervals, it no longer has w it hin it t he play of
sounds t ypical in t he sit uat ions of " relaxat ion" and " t ension" described above. The art ist t herefore
ent ers a complet ely different harmonic expressive sit uat ion.
6 °) A m in 7 = A, C, E, G (Chord of A m sevent h)
The degrees of t he scale in a " Tension" sit uat ion, w hich can also be replaced w it h each ot her, are:
2nd, 4t h, 5t h, 7t h, w hich harmonizing t hem w it h 4-not e chords become:
1) When you im provise in a sit uat ion of " Relaxat ion" , for example on t he C M aj scale; on t he first ,
t hird and sixt h posit ions (C M , E m, A m ), you can use all t he not es of t he major scale except t he F;
if ever you can use 11+, w hich is t he F #, w hich creat es no t ension.
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2) When you improvise in a sit uat ion of " Tension" , for example on t he C M aj scale; on t he second,
fourt h, fift h and sevent h posit ions (D m, FM , G 7, B semi-dim inished), you can use all t he not es of
t he major scale, t rying t o emphasize t he st rong t empos, t he not es t hat creat e t ension: D, F, G, B.
To creat e even more t ension, you can ent er t he flat fift h and sharp, and t he flat nint h and sharp. A
good scale w here all t hese dissonances are present is t he " Superlocria Scale" . Example: playing in
C M aj, w hen you are in a t ense sit uat ion, for example on t he G7; if you w ant t o hear t he fift h and
nint h sharps and flat s, you can use t he Superlocrian scale of G; w hich corresponds t o t he melodic
minor scale built half a t one above, t hat is t he melodic Ab minor; w here you find t he not es: G
(t onic of t he Superlocrian scale of G), Ab (diminished nint h), A# (exceeding nint h), B (major t hird),
Db (diminished fift h), D# (exceeding fift h), F (sevent h), G (oct ave). Wit h t he sequence of t he
int ervals in t ones of: 1/ 2, 1, 1/ 2, 1, 1, 1, 1.
3) Of fundament al im port ance are t he " dynamics" , w hich you use t o express yourself. Where, for
example, t he good use of " musical breaks" are useful in order t o give " breat h" t o your solo. Just as
t he " Plans" and t he " Fort s" are import ant , w hich give " Color" t o your musical expressive form. To
express yourself, you could even use a chromat ic scale; w hat mat t ers are t he not es t hat you w ant
t o highlight on t he " st rong t empos" , w hich are t he foundat ions of your solo. Not es w it h a Tempo
value from 1/ 8 dow n are never considered as Fundament al Charact erist ic Not es of a Harmonic
sit uat ion, more t han anyt hing else t hey are considered as support or passage Not es.
4) Anot her import ant rule are " Subst it ut ions" . In Jazz t o have more sonorit y available, any chord
can be replaced, w it h anot her chord placed on t he upper fift h flat . How ever, t his rule applies
especially in " Tension" sit uat ions, such as playing in C M aj, t he G 7 you can replace it w it h a Db 7,
et c.
5) To obt ain good art ist ically expressive result s, it is import ant t o know how t o divide t he st udy
t ime, w here w e use t he rat ional right part of our brain, w it h t he t ime in w hich w e play, w here t he
irrat ional left part of our brain must t ranslat e t he our em ot ions, making use of t he rat ional t ools,
w hich are locat ed in t he right side of our brain. Finally, t he harmonic rules, from t he simplest t o
t he most complex, can give good or bad result s; it all depends on t he sobriet y, t he int ent ion and
t he t ast e w it h w hich t hey are applied.
3) The comm on sense of t hings, t he w orld of " force" and t he w orld of t he " phase" , im provisat ion
in jazz seen as an art form t hat int erpret s t he w orld of t he " phase" : Ivaldi F, 2022.
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5) Conclusions
The connect ions bet w een music and science, t hroughout hist ory have at t ract ed t he int erest of
sublime minds, such as: Pyt hagoras, Kepler, New t on, Einst ein, Leibniz and Goldbach. The links
bet w een music and science have also involved great jazz musicians, such as St ephan Alexander
and John Colt rane, see " M an, sound and music" : Bertirotti A, 2003.
In t he hist ory of music in t he West ern w orld, w e see t hat t he first st udies t ook place at t he
Pyt hagorean school, w here sound sensat ions w ere linked t o rat ional numbers, so much so t hat
Pyt hagoras defined t he geomet ric forms of nat ure as " forms of cryst allized music" , see: Camiz P,
2008.
The w orld of t he " phase" represent s t he " evolut ionary arrow " inherent in Universal harmony,
w hich manifest s it self for example in Life, w hich evolves t hrough an algorit hm, also present in all
forms of art such as musical improvisat ion.
Jazz music is cert ainly one of t he most sublime art forms, as it uses musical language t o express
emot ions in real t ime, w here t he " final result " is w hat mat t ers. To obt ain it , t he art ist oft en put s
feat ures t hat are different from rat ional realit y, synt hesizes t hem, so t hat at t he end t he " final
result " is great er t han t he sum of it s part s.
6) Bibliography
Camiz P, 2008. Fisica e M usica: ht t p:/ / w w w .saveriocant one.net / ssis/ ssis3s/ seminari/ pist oia.pdf
De Santis F and Ivaldi F, 2021. A Tribut e t o t he publicat ion of Fibonacci's Liber Abaci 820 years
ago. The Fibonacci-Lucas Sequence of Sequences and t he formula of it s generic t erm S m ,n
ht t ps:/ / w w w .researchgat e.net / publicat ion/ 355773488_A_Tribut e_t o_t he_publicat ion_of_Fibonac
ci's_Liber_Abaci_820_years_ago_The_Fibonacci-
Lucas_Sequence_of_Sequences_and_t he_formula_of_it s_generic_t erm_S_mn
Galper H, 2003. Forw ard M ot ion: ht t ps:/ / w w w .academia.edu/ 36597447/ Forw ard_M ot ion_pdf
Lee J, 2017. Quant um fields as deep learning: ht t ps:/ / arxiv.org/ pdf/ 1708.07408.pdf
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Ivaldi F, 2022. The common sense of t hings, t he w orld of " force" and t he w orld of t he " phase" ,
improvisat ion in jazz seen as an art form t hat int erpret s t he w orld of t he " phase" :
ht t ps:/ / w w w .researchgat e.net / publicat ion/ 358590432_The_common_sense_of_t hings_t he_w orl
d_of_force_and_t he_w orld_of_t he_phase_improvisat ion_in_jazz_seen_as_an_art _form_t hat _int
erpret s_t he_w orld_of_t he_phase
Levine M , 1995. Jazz Theory Book: ht t ps:/ / en.w ikipedia.org/ w iki/ The_Jazz_Theory_Book
Palmer C M , 2013 . An Analysis of Inst rument al Jazz Improvisat ion Development Among High
School and College M usicians:
ht t ps:/ / deepblue.lib.umich.edu/ bit st ream/ handle/ 2027.42/ 102395/ cmpalm_1.pdf
W heeler E, Tennant A, 2010 . Golden rat io discovered in a quant um w orld Hidden Symmet ry
observed for t he first t ime in solid st at e mat t er:
ht t ps:/ / w w w .helmholt z-berlin.de/ pubbin/ new s_dat ei?did=4061
7) Publication
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