Free Jazz Piano Lesson
Improvisation on Bach, part 2

Continuation on our study of Bach, "Minuet in G".
This time there is more on the study of the scale and naming the chords.
Can you find where Bach used 7 chords?
The next lesson we are going to study motivic development. Motivic development is a study of patterns in music. Our end result will be to use this song and develop our own patterns. This study is a path to composing and jazz improvisation.
You can see that Bach used a very simple structure of chords but yet the music he developed is very complex. The more you understand composition; the path to composing and developing your own arranging and improvisation will be greatly enhanced.
Bach was known as a great improviser, he was able to compose a short theme and develop the theme as he played. Motivic development is a study that is used in composing music, arranging and improvising. The best way to learn is to study from the "greats" and Bach is an excellent example to teach motivic development.
This lesson is the study of the chord structure. The chord structure has to be analyzed first, then we can add color tones, chord extentions, and improv.

                                           Instructions:
1. Mark each chord as to its' place on the scale, using Roman numerals.
                  (I, IIm, IIIm, IV, V, Vim, VII dim).
2. Next mark the 7 chords. Notice how Bach uses 7's in this work.
3. Find the measures that have the root of the chord in left hand and mark them.
I want you to notice that Bach did not always use the root of the chord in the left hand. We will analyze the left hand at a later time.