ArpeggioExercises Dr.

MarkWatkins,BYUIdaho
Thefollowingexercisesrepresentonlyasmallsamplingofthepossibilitiesfordevelopingfluency witharpeggios.Manyoftheexamplesbelowcanbeappliedtootherarpeggioqualities.Students shouldusetheirowninitiativeandinventivenesstogobeyondwhatisincludedhere. TriadLadders Startonthelowesttriadnotepossible.Playasbelowtothetopofthehornandbackdown.Each patternstartsonthenextchordtoneupwhenascendinganddownwhendescending.Resolveto theroot. Major Example:AMajor(startsonthe3rd)

Example:BflatMajor(startsontheroot)

Minor Example:AMinor(parallelminortoAMajorabove;startsonthe3rd)

Example:EflatMinor(startsonthe5th)

(ifnoGflat)

TriadStiles Startontheroot.Playchordtonesupanddownthenproceedtothenextchordtoneascending. Continueinthesamemannerdescendingtothebottomofthehornandreturntotheroot.

 Example:AflatMajor

Dothesameexercisewithdescendingtriads.

ChordToneSkips Startontheroot,skipatoneascending,playskippedtone,skipatoneascending,playskipped tone,etc.Proceedtothetopofthehorn,reverseandplaytothebottomofthehornandbackto tonic. Major ExamplesfollowinBflat,Eflat,Fsharp,andG.

(ifnoFsharp)

 Minor ExamplesfollowinBflat,C,E,andFsharp.

(ifnoFsharp)

DiminishedandAugmentedTriads Theaboveexercisesshouldberepeatedwithdiminishedandaugmentedtriads. Diminishedtriadsconsistoftwominorthirds.Onecanfindthecorrectpitchesbytakingaminor triadandloweringthe5th. Example:CMinortoCDiminished

Augmentedtriadsconsistoftwomajorthirds.Onecanfindthecorrectpitchesbytakingamajor triadandraisingthe5th.

Example:CMajortoCAugmented

TriadScales AscendingArpeggio

DescendingArpeggio

AscendingArpeggio,AscendingScale/DescendingArpeggio,DescendingScale

DescendingArpeggio,AscendingScale/AscendingArpeggio,DescendingScale

Arpeggiatedscalepatternscanbeappliedtodiminishedandwholetonescales. Diminishedscalesareoflimitedtransposition;meaning,applyingthetriadscalepatterntoeachof thefollowingscaleswillcoverdiminishedin12keys.

Wholetone(foraugmentedtriads)scalesarealsooflimitedtransposition.Applyingthetriad scalepatterntoeachofthesescaleswillcoverwholetonein12keys.

Thetriadscalepatternwillcreateasequenceofdiminishedtriadswhenappliedtothediminished scale. Example:Ddiminished(ascendingtriads)

Thetriadscalepatternwillcreateasequenceofaugmentedtriadswhenappliedtothewholetone scale. Example:DWholetone(ascendingtriads,ascendingscale/descendingtriads,descendingscale)

Triadscalesmayhaveseveraldifferentmeanstoturnaroundattopandbottom.Studentsshould usetheirowncreativity.Triadscalescanstartonthelowestnoteofthesaxophoneorthehighest regardlessofperceivedroot.Studentsshouldpracticetriadscalesstartingondifferentnotesasin 12keys. Additive7thChordsAscending Thefollowingexamplesare7thchordswiththerootofE.Eachnewchordchangesonlyonenote fromthepreviouschord(MM,Mm,mm,,o).Thesamesequenceshouldbeappliedtoallkeys. AdditionalarpeggiosmaybepracticedincludingmM,M7+(MMwithaugmented5th),andV7+(Mm withaugmented5th).

EMajor

EDominant(keyofAMajor)

EMinor(asiiinDMajor)

EHalfDiminished(asiiinDMinor)

EDiminished(asviioinFMajor)

Additional7thChords EMinorTonic(mM)

EMajor7Augmented

EDominant7Augmented

Additive7thChordsDescending Alloftheabovechordqualitiesshouldbepracticeddescending. Example:EMajor7

7thChordSequence StartontherootandproceedwithoutstoppingthroughMM,Mm,mm,,andochordsascending tothehighestnotepossiblewithintheselected7thchordthendowntothelowestnoteandbackto therootsequencingthroughthechordqualities. Example:GRoot

LadderandChordToneSkipsfor7thChords TheaboveTriadLadderandChordToneSkipconceptscanbeappliedto7thschords. Example:7thChordLadderinBflat

Example:7thChordToneSkipinF

7thChordInversions Startonthelowest7thchordNote.Repeatuntilcomfortable.Startonnextchordtoneup,etc. Ascending/Descending Example:AMajor

Descending/Ascending