Pitch and ear · Intermediate · Jazz
Chord-tone ladder
Michele Weir's improvisation method: sing the root, then root and 3rd, then the triad, then the seventh chord, then the whole scale. Each step adds one colour to the ear.
How to do it
- Root only, then root and 3rd…
- Hear each new note against the chord.
- Use the same steps on any chord of a song.
Remember One new colour each time.
| Numbers | 1 1 3 1 3 5 1 3 5 7 1′ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1′ |
|---|---|
| Sargam | S S G S G P S G P N Ṡ S R G M P D N Ṡ |
| Solfa | do do mi do mi sol do mi sol ti do do re mi fa sol la ti do |
| Notes | G G B G B D G B D F♯ G G A B C D E F♯ G |
| Sung on | doo doo – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – |
Where it comes from
More pitch and ear
Every interval from 1
Every interval of the major scale, measured from the tonic: a second, a third, all the way to the octave.
Echo: hear it, sing it back
The guide sings a short phrase, then stops, and you sing it back from memory.
Echo: leaps
The same echo game with jumps instead of steps.
Chord tones over ii–V–I
Singing the notes of each chord as the harmony moves (ii, then V, then I) is how jazz singers learn to improvise: the line follows the chords..