Balance

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

Perhaps the most fundamental principle to understand in creating music, or any other kind of art, is that of balance. The balance between dissonance and consonance, between surprise and the expected, between motion and rest, between form and space, between light and dark, and between any other two extremes you can imagine, is part of how we view the world. The possible applications to music are endless, and are often expressed in terms of tension and release.

In tonal music, one of the primary sources of tension is the use of dissonance. A note that is dissonant against prevailing harmony creates tension that can be released by resolving the dissonance to consonance:

[EXAMPLE]

There are other sources of tension. For example, an extremely fast, techinically involved passage creates tension that can be resolved by a slower, more lyrical passage:

[EXAMPLE]

A complex rhythm such as one that contains much syncopation or one that is at odds with the basic pulse of the piece creates tension that is resolved through by a simpler rhythm:

[EXAMPLE]

Notes at the extreme ends of the range of an instrument can also create tension that is released by a return to the midrange:

[EXAMPLE]

An extremely loud passage creates tension that is released by coming down in volume:

[EXAMPLE]

Repetition can be a source of tension as well. If a motif is repeated often enough, it creates an environment in which the ear begins to anticipate when and how the repetition will be broken:

[EXAMPLE]

Not all balances in music can be thought of as tension and release. For example, an interesting melodic line will generally contain a balance of small and large intervals:

[EXAMPLE]

Yet neither the small intervals nor the large intervals are necessarily tense in themselves. Similarly, a solo should contain a balance of notes and rests:

[EXAMPLE]

Yet neither a note nor a rest is tense in itself.

One should also be aware of the balance between himself and the rest of the ensemble. For example, if the accompaniment is playing mostly long notes, then the solo can balance this by providing more motion:

[EXAMPLE]

The concept of balance plays a large role in the orchestration of accompaniment, which is discussed in another chapter.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Balance