Some Slonimsky Patterns and Variations
I've been doing a lot of theoretical work recently on Slonimsky's famous Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. I'll have more to say about the book's contents in some upcoming posts, but here are some phrases derived from this material that I was playing around with today.
We start with an actual Slonimsky pattern, composed of a series of perfect fourths embellished with tritones:
T------------------------------10----------------------13------------11------------------------ |-----------------------10--9------------------13--12---------11-10---------------------------- A-----------------9--8-----------------12--11--------------9----------------------------------- |-----------9--8-------------------11---------------------------------------------------------- B-----9--8------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |--8-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T------------9-----------7-----------5--------------------------------------------------------- |------9--8--------7--6--------5--4------------------------------------------------------------ A---7-----------5-----------3------------------------------------------------------------------ |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I then take the pattern that emerges at the end and use it as the basis of a new pattern, this one based on a progression of whole tones:
T--------------6--------------9----------------11-----------------13--------------------------- |--------6--5-----------9--8-----------11--10-------------13--12------------------------------- A--3-/5-----------5-/7-----------7-/9--------------9-/11--------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next I switch to another Slonimsky progression, this time based on augmented triads but again moving in fourths:
T--12--8--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------9--12--8----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A-------------------8--11--7------------------------------------------------------------------- |-----------------------------8--11--7--------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------8--11--7----------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...and then another, this time using fourths for embellishment but actually moving in perfect sixths:
T-----------------------7--8--7---------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------7-----------7------------------------------------------------------------- A--------------7--8-----------------8--7------------------------------------------------------- |-----------7-----------------------------7---------------------------------------------------- B-----8--9-----------------------------------9--8---------------------------------------------- |--8-----------------------------------------------8-------------------------------------------
I now play a very similar set of ideas but using some tapping -- first ascending with tritones:
T-------------------------------------9--15--12------------------------------------------------ |------------------------------9--15----------------------------------------------------------- A-----------------------8--14------------------------------------------------------------------ |----------------8--14------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------8--14-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |--8--14---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...and then descending with augmented triads (note that I cheat on the 3rd string by raising one of the notes -- can you tell which one, and can you hear that it's out of place?):
T--12--8--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |--------h9--t15--12--8------------------------------------------------------------------------ A------------------------h9--h14--11--7-------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------8--h14--11--7----------------------------------------- B-------------------------------------------------------8--h14--11--7-------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------8-----------------------
This is an easy pattern that speeds us up into triplets:
T---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------------------------------------------t14--8--9--t14--9--8----- |-----------------------------------------------t14--8--9--t14--9--8--------------------------- B-------------------------t14--8--9--t14--9--8------------------------------------------------- |---t14--8--9--t14--9--8-----------------------------------------------------------------------
T--------------t15--9--10---------------------------------------------------------------------- |--t15--9--10---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's another Slonimsky-derived pattern moving in fourths:
T---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A--------------------------------------------8-----8--9---------------------------------------- |--------------------------8-----8--9--8--9-----9---------------------------------------------- B--------8-----8--9--8--9-----9---------------------------------------------------------------- |--8--9-----9----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I use some big slides here to create a bit more movement:
T---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A--/14--15--14--\8--9--8----------------------------------------------------------------------- |-------------------------9--8--9---/14--15--14--\8--9--8-------------------------------------- B----------------------------------------------------------9--8--9--/14--15--14--\8--9--8------ |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9---
We then go up the augmented triad sequence that we previously descended:
T---------------------------------------------8--12-------------------------------------------- |-----------------------------------8--12--9--------------------------------------------------- A-------------------------7--11--8------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------7--11--8----------------------------------------------------------------------- B-----7--11--8--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |--8-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally we come down the pattern almost the same way we went up it in the very first phrase:
T--8------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |-----9--10------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A------------8--9------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |------------------8--9------------------------------------------------------------------------ B------------------------8--9------------------------------------------------------------------ |------------------------------8---------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not claiming this is exciting music in itself -- it's more like a compilation of different licks and ideas, all based around similar intervals. I hope you can hear two things here: the coherence it has because of the similarities in the material across different ideas and also the differences when, for instance, we move from semitone-based embellishments to augmented triads and back again.
As I said, there'll be more on Slonimsky in future posts.
