ABSTRACT
In our post-harmonic world, making pitch choices is a fraught task for young improvisers. There are other pitch systems that have found their way into contemporary music pedagogy, notably the modes, including ragas and the blues scale, although these are principally situated in specific genre practices. Students of jazz develop highly fluent modal thinking, although this form of musical knowledge generally requires situated practices and specialist teaching to develop. This chapter describes a project that ensure that a focus on affect is supported by careful management of pitch rather than juxtaposed against it; this resonates with Peter Wiegold’s expression of a ‘kind of learning that focuses on both grammar and imaginative exploration’, thus serving to reduce the space between content and pedagogy. The solo piece will last exactly one minute, and can involve only three pitch classes.
