Introduction
In this lesson we will cover how to turn a Tonal Jazz song into a Modal Jazz song. We haven’t learned about Modal Jazz yet (this will be covered in a future lesson), so I will quickly summarise Modal Jazz for you here, but I will not go into too much detail. It might be worth returning to this lesson after you have read the lesson on Modal Jazz, as this lesson will essentially just be applying into practice the ideas covered in the Modal Jazz lesson.
Tonal vs Modal Summary
First, let’s start by outlining the main characteristics of Tonality and Modality:
- Tonality has the following features:
- It uses Major and minor keys
- It uses Functional Harmony
- It has a Tonal Centre (i.e. root note)
- It uses Tertian Harmony
- The typical Chord Progression moves through the Circle of Fifths
- Modality has the following features:
- It uses all the modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.)
- It does NOT use Functional Harmony
- It has a Tonal Centre (i.e. root note)
- It uses Quartal Harmony
- The typical Chord Progression uses stepwise movements
- There is lots of repetition – through things like Pedal points, Ostinatos, Drones, and Vamps.
- It has a slow-moving harmonic rhythm (i.e. very few chord changes and chords last for a long time)
So really, reharmonizing a Tonal Jazz song into a Modal Jazz song is actually pretty easy. You simply ignore the entire pre-existing chord progression and just play one or two chords in its place.
Reharmonizing a Tonal Jazz Song into a Modal Jazz Song
While you can change any song into a Modal Jazz song, it helps if:
- The melody is largely all in one key (Modal songs do not change chords often and therefore do not change keys often)
- The melody moves by step and doesn’t outline the chord progression (by using arpeggios, for example)
Another thing modal songs do is use ostinatos or vamps on a single chord for long periods of time. You can create your own vamp over a particular tonal melody to make it ‘modal’. Or you can just steal a well-known vamp from an existing modal song, use it over a tonal melody and see how it sounds.
And so, it’s actually really easy to reharmonize a Tonal Jazz song into a Modal Jazz song. Just completely disregard the original chord progression and replace it with a single chord. Easy.
Have a listen to the below video where I give a few examples of turning tonal songs into modal songs.
Have a Listen to
- Tonal Songs reharmonized as Modal Songs:
- My Favourite Things ~ John Coltrane
- Chim Chim Cheree ~ John Coltrane
- Well-know Modal Vamps:
- Maiden Voyage ~ Herbie Hancock
- Footprints ~ Wayne Shorter
- So What ~ Miles Davis
- Cantaloupe Island ~ Herbie Hancock
