A lot of musicians in jazz and/or rock use MODAL scales to inform their soloing. If this interests you, the following project might be something you want to try.
Visit the Introduction to Scales and Modes Website. Here you'll find info about the different modes/scales and how they related to the major scales we have studied. Listen to the modes and the example pieces and find one you like.
Next, start a new piece in Garage Band. Play yourself 8 bars of a simple 1-3-5 chord beat (every 2 beats say) based on the first note of your mode. See "doriansample" in the AMM folder for an example of this. So for Dorian mode, your chord is D-F-A, for Phrygian it's E-G-B etc.
Then, play an eight-bar improvisation over these chords. Use the full range of the keyboard (or other instrument sound if you like). Start simple and get more intricate - just Eddie Van Halen would do!
If you think you've done a good job, tell Ms. Simmons and then drop it in the 1013- Drop-Off-OSX folder and make sure Ms. Simmons gets it. You can get up to 10 Bonus Marks which means 1 bonus mark on your final mark for this project.
For an additional 5 bonus marks (or 0.5 on your final), email Ms. Simmons the name of a popular piece of music that uses modes.
Happy modal explorations!
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