As a creative educator in improvisor, I often enjoy working on Cycle 4 and Cycle 5 melodies. This Etude is a vertical melody over the Giant Steps progression (John Coltrane). Each melody starts on the root of the chord and cycles in diatonic 5ths for 6 notes. The Major chords include a lydian (Major 7 #11) sound when they last for a full bar. The dominant and minor cycle 5 melodies use Mixolydian and Dorian chord scales although the Etude although the 11s or 4 degrees are not included in this specific melody.
Playing and singing the etude slowly with the mp3s below will help you internalize the melody. Eventually you’ll want to break free of the etude and introduce an element of improvisation. Often using space, phrasing and varying the rhythm is all you’ll need in order to expand upon the etude and turn it into something creative and fun to improvise with.
~Enjoy!
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Here’s an mp3 to sing along with (40 bpm and 120 bpm)
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Here’s another etude lesson on Giant Steps https://mattotto.org/lesson-56-giant-steps-etude/ This uses the classical augmented scale.
