Singers! Have you ever wanted to feel more equipped to nail every scale and chord shape on call? See a set of chord changes and quickly recognize by sight and by ear what scales to use to help you improvise more freely, deeply and confidently? Here's a method that will provide you with a set of skills and resource tools to assist in hearing and pitching across a myriad of harmony allowing you greater freedom to improvise accurately. This work can increase your knowledge of theory exponentially, enhance your composing and reading skills and most importantly empower you to become more complete and independent vocal musicians.
Introduction
Discovering the "Tetrachord" has had a significant impact on my learning and teaching as a vocal jazz educator. In fact I've found it to be one of the simplest, most direct and effective tools to address all three components of study -- theory, ear training and improvisation. This book explores its uses in hearing and integrating scales along with the chords that source to them in much of what we know as "jazz harmony." By working through these exercises, students and professionals will gain a more thorough understanding of the interconnectedness between scales and chords, while helping identify both visually and aurally by sight and by ear how to improvise with more confidence and accuracy. I have also included a number of Appendix documents which I encourage readers to utilize throughout this work and hopefully beyond.
While the main focus of the book is to expand your hearing and understanding of jazz harmony, the work also provides a more complete theoretical template to develop your compositional and arranging skills. While some of you may have substantial theory under your belt others will not. In order to have complete mastery as an improvisor one must be able to integrate both the aural and visual landscape. These are our road maps for navigating our way through harmony. Wherever possible I've created exercises in all 12 keys. I encourage working in as many keys as possible and making friends with the piano.
Author Biography:
Australian-American jazz vocalist-composer, Chris McNulty moved to the United States in 1988 and has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene for almost three decades. Her seven album releases in the USA have received wide critical acclaim including her latest album, Eternal, a chamber ensemble and jazz quintet collaboration with orchestrator, Steve Newcomb and pianist-arranger, John Di Martino which placed #11 on the 80th DownBeat Readers Poll in 2015 for Album of the Year. McNulty has performed throughout Russia, the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, Central America and Lebanon including festival appearances at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Kilkenny Arts Fest (Ireland), Breckon Jazz Fest (Wales), Kharkov Jazz Fest (Ukraine), White Nights Jazz Fest, St Petersburg (Russia) and Petrozavodsk Jazz Fest (Russia) as well as the Perth, Wangaratta and Melbourne International Jazz Festivals in Australia. Among the jazz greats she has performed and recorded with are the late pianists Mulgrew Miller and John Hicks, saxophonists Gary Bartz, Gary Thomas, David Pietro, Frank Wess, Tineke Postma and Joel Frahm, drummers Billy Hart, Matt Wilson, Tony Reedus, Montez Coleman and Marcus Gilmore, Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and her long time colleagues, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and guitarist Paul Bollenback. The American magazine Jazz Times has described her vocalizing as "fearless" and her composing as "peerless." Britain's Jazz Wise magazine describes her as possessing "a voice of serene beauty, striking veracity and compelling emotional fervency.'' In 2013 Chris was the recipient of the Australian Jazz Bell award for the Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album for her album The Song That Sings You Here. Since relocating back to Melbourne in early 2016 she has performed at the Perth International Jazz Festival, Stonnington Jazz Festival and the Wangaratta International Festival of Jazz and Blues and most recently at the invitation of the National Gallery of Victoria and MIJF for their MoMA jazz series. McNulty is currently based in Melbourne and increasingly augments her touring and performance work with teaching and presentations of her VCM workshops and clinics. Vocalist As Complete Musician is McNulty's first educational publication. She continues to tour internationally.
