[Harp-L] circling your fifths

[JON KIP <jon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Sure, knowing the circle of fifths is not, in and of itself, a musical thing, in that simply knowing it won't make you play better, and may, in fact, fill up a space in your brain that might contain more urgent information, ...... I see it more of an organizational thing. (however, the "V, 1, in the "ii, V, 1" event IS something useful to be aware of, as you know.)

 Practically speaking, Lots of leaders just mumble  the tune name, and then hold up fingers to indicate the key they're going to  play in. SO it might be good to know the key signatures, and how they progress from C to the other keys. Playing in "four fingers up", for instance, uses more sharps than playing in "one finger up".

The idea is that you want to have the licks under your fingers/brain, in ANY order, without reference to, or hints from, the key you were just in. SO, after those circles, you also do the licks chromatically, in a circle of minor thirds (dim) and EVERY order you can think of, and gradually you can go from any key to any key instantly. 

If you can play your favorite phrases, in any order, without regard to what came just before, you'll have a good shot at something, usually totally unrelated to income, but that may have a passing relationship with free food, in lieu of the income that would have helped.

ain't jazz cool?

jk


On Dec 17, 2013, at 3:18 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I think I understand music theory, at least from the perspective of jazz
> improvisation, rather well yet I have never found a use for the circle of
> fifths. I would really like to know how others are actually using it.

jon kip
http://jonkip.com

player of music, mostly written by dead people and played on a toy that everybody's Uncle except my nephew's has the good sense to keep safely out of sight in a drawer.