Session Musician • Bassist • Educator

Spain - Chick Corea: An exercise in improvising 'Connection'

Posted on 30th December, 2020

This article's purpose is mainly for my own accountability and practice development, however, I do hope anyone reading this might gain some ideas to try - or not to try! - in order to further their own practice.

I was recently asked to perform for a friends undergraduate recital, a request I hadn't received for some time, and one that becomes more common the further from graduation one gets. The challenge for  undergraduate musics students in the current climate of lockdowns, tier systems, social distance and general Coronavirus anxiety is a difficult one to make music in, especially for the final of an undergraduate degree. the remit was this: pieces performed must be to filmed and recorded separately and remotely, preferably with a single take, i.e. without drop ins; and then edited together for submission. In this case the tune was Chick Corea's Spain. A solid, staple choice of repertoire for university music students, with a fun melody to play, irregular form, and a lovely chord progression to improvise over.

Here is a live version of the piece by Chick Corea himself live at Montreux Jazz festival 2004

I won't go into the efficacy of whether I believe this is an effective representation for final recital undergraduate submission, I will however, discuss how I approached using this opportunity to practice some of the insights I have recently learned about within my own practice.

One of the insights is that of connection in improvisation.  Meaning, the congruence between what the musical and creative ear wants to hear/play and what the fingers actually do. Many people I'm sure can relate to this phenomenon akin to auto-pilot improvisation that leads to meaningless lines and soulless music. The basic distinction for me is whether what I play comes from my ear first and is represented by my hands; or whether my hands just play and my ears listen. The former is always far more rewarding but more difficult to achieve than the latter.

I'll discuss and define this idea further in a subsequent article for fear of distracting from today's topic.

The goal was this: Record a regular accompanying part part as required with a bass solo twice around the regular 12 bar solo form before the final tune rendition returns.

From this I immediately had a couple of ideas I wanted to incorporate into the solo:

  1. The end of my solo to blend into the beginning of the first phrase of the melody
  2. To be a melodic solo and not 'choppy'.

To do this I knew I would need to compose a solo and not improvise a number of takes until I found one I liked as this would go against this idea of developing a connection to authentic improvisation. Here is how I approached it.

I played through the chord sequence a few times, bass in hand but just listening to the track, eyes closed and waiting to 'hear' the idea that came to me. It took a few renditions doing this, and I often found that the first idea would be similar to what my hands would naturally want to play themselves which would usually be something 'choppy'. On letting the first few ideas pass, I began hearing more melodic ideas. I would sing all of these ideas before playing them, as much as I could! None of the following solo was created in a conscious manner. It was created purely by attempting to 'listen' to what my ear wanted to hear next. To paraphrase Pat Metheny in regards to improvisation- I just tried to play what I would want to hear.

Here is the video:

See the PDF transcription here - Spain Bass Solo Transcription

I will refer to bar numbers from this PDF

Reflective Analysis

The following is reflective thought and quick analysis of the result.

The first phrase that 'felt authentic' to my ear, was what I played in the recording (bars 2-3). Although this idea was not the first to arise in beginning this exercise. I first had to 'purge' everything my hands naturally gravitated towards. Once I had the kernel of what turned out to be the first natural sounding phrase, I practiced the idea a few times to explore the phrasing options a little and to memorise it, and only then moved on to the next fragment. One mistake I have previously made in exercises such as this is to attempt to sing and memorise a whole solo, or chunks too large to be practical at achieving the aims. This time I would work, methodically and in fragments. one note at a time if needed, which sometimes was. The only prerequisite decision was desiring the final phrase lead into the main melody and back to the groove.

Once I had a fragment as accurately represented as possible, I moved on to the next. Sometimes this was mid-phrase and not a complete phrase. I relied on intuition as much as possible, not thinking too much about note choice or chord/scale relationships or other theory, and to know when I was falling back into hand-dictation choices rather than ear-led choices.

I would then repeat the process, singing or playing the line up to where I felt it was still authentic, then stopping my hands and waiting to hear the next fragment. I would then practice and memorise that until and then move onto the next.

Interestingly, on reflecting generally on the final result, the improvisation has a very clear progression of melodic phrases (usually in pairs) in the first 12 bar section that do not crossover into the repeat. There is similarity in that the final phrase of the first 12 bars (bar 12) and the first phrase of the second 12 bars (bar 13) both utilise short descending chromatic lines within a minor 3rd of the chord, although at differing rhythmic subdivisions (0:19). Otherwise the first 12 bars are rather defined and distinct from the second, which suggests working on some across-the-bar, and longer phrasing options would be beneficial. The pairings of phrases suggest working on expanding ideas further for greater mileage.


Bar 6 (0:09) is especially interesting to me. The melody pulls away from the stricter timing of the phrases before and after. I had particularly difficulty notating this, if you have any better suggestions how to notate the phrasing of this rhythms please get in touch. This phrase was interesting to me. Usually I would want to play 'fast', even though, fast and virtuosic playing is by no means my forte, one can't help but want to do it either through gluttonous self-indulgence or in an attempt to compete the competitive sport of instrumental social media clips as click bait and a reward of 'attention'. Neither have substance. It was a pleasant but not surprising realisation that a 'slow' solo, was far more natural, authentic, and rewarding.

Other instances of pulling the timing are hinted at by using eighth-note triplets, such as at bars 17 - 19.

Bar 13 and 14 have the exact same phrase transposed a 4th down, the first resolving to the major 7th and the following resolving to the #11.


Some interesting note choices came out on the second time around the changes, 17th and 18th bar note choices came out; such as b7 (D) over the Emin7 on the downbeat but the D# on 1+ emphasised more so;, and b13 (F) over the A7. This note was quite prominent in the backing track synth accompaniment which I would have heard a number of times , which could account for wanting to play that particular note.

There are a number of times I resolve to the root of the chord. (This is where I hear resolutions, not necessarily just the ends of phrases). Bar 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 (as a double stop with the 3rd), 12 (also with a double stop with the 3rd), 15, and bar 23. Over all, in phrase resolution I resolve to the root 9 times out of 15. This obviously suggests I should work on finishing phrases on other chord tones! In my defence, I use the 3rd, the b7, ^7 and #11, a couple of times.....

Bar 16...

and bar 22...

...are similar in the use of a diminished quickly moving to a chromatic ascending run, both over the F#7 chord.

The only distinguishable pattern that appeared was in the final group of phrases at bar 21 (0:37). Descending triad arpeggios a tri-tone apart between C# and G. This I easily recognise as a typical pattern I use automatically as a ''fall-back' option when unsure what to play, like the chromatic run. It is a hexatonic pattern idea that works particularly well over dominant chord types. This to me suggests I was actually running out of ideas by this point and perhaps was looking to complete the exercise quickly.

The very final phrase segment that leads back into the tune utilises the same descending chromatic run that is used at the beginning on the second time around as mentioned earlier at the end of bar 13. This shows there is use of previous ideas coming through creating some degree of coherence in the entire solo.

Overall this exercise has been insightful. I have come to see quite clearly how my trouble prolonging 'connection' within improvisation partly stems from allowing ingrained patterns and 'licks' to take over really listening to what my ear dictates should occur. But when spending time cultivating that connection and allowing that slow process to occur, the result is a solo that to my ears sounds more like 'me', a sound I am endeavouring to get closer to and embody more. It is there, it just requires being able to create on this level moment by moment, which to me is true improvisation. the first step in solving a problem is becoming aware of it as an obstacle, that and some modesty in realising there is still a lot of work to do!

Recap on areas for development and main points

Back to the shed.

Nick

Posted In: Reflections on Practice


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