Sonic Resource Guide

Sonic Resource Guide is a reference book for the application of set theory principles to jazz improvisation. It is meant for the musician who wants to explore new sounds for improvisation or composition. The aim of Sonic Resource Guide is to bridge the gap between highly mathematical pitch class theory books and the often limited scope of jazz improvisation methods by demonstrating various musical relationships that an improviser can use to create fresh sounding musical content.

The book reduces note relationships down to two hundred and twenty prime forms. Endless combinations of notes can be derived from these prime forms which are commonly referred to as pitch class sets.

The various melodic and harmonic relationships of these pitch class sets are listed to help a musician locate and utilize these relationships within their own playing. Along with each pitch class set is a listing of possible related jazz chords.

Where appropriate a listing of all three and four note chords can be found to aid in creating varied and unique harmonic pallettes, as well as three, four, six and eight note subset relationships to help in exploring subset based musical ideas.

Jazz musicians will find this book user friendly because all relationships are listed as both pitch names and scale degrees. Set theory students will find each pitch class set is also expressed in its prime form.

An index containing a simplified set list is also included to help in locating a prime form's scales from any note combination. There is also a brief theory section exploring some of the uses of the information presented. Further books will explore these theoretical relationships in depth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background information
Prime form and Integer Notation
Prime for example
Integer notation example
220 Prime forms
Melodic and Harmonic possibilities for the 220 prime forms
Background information on Chord/Scale relationships
Chord Tones, Tensions and Avoid Notes
Example of Chord Tone, Tensions and Avoid Notes
Chord Tone, Tension and Avoid notes for:

Major Chord
Minor Chord
Dominant Chord
Dominant 7th Sus4 Chord
Minor 7th Flat 5 Chord
Diminished Chord
Minor Major 7 Chord
Major 7th Sharp 5 Chord

Explanation of scale application to typical chord types in all keys

Symmetrical Difference

Lists and Groupings application

Ditonic or Diad Scales (2 Note)
Tritonic or Trichord Scales (3 Note)
Tetratonic or Tetrachord Scales (4 Note)
Pentatonic Scales (5 Note)
Hexatonic Scales (6 Note)
Heptatonic Scales (7 Note)
Octatonic Scales (8 Note )
Nonatonic Scales (9 Note)
Decatonic Scales (10 Note)
Hendecatonic Scales (11 Note)
Dodecatonic Scales (12 Notes)

Two Note Scales
Three Note Scales
Four Note Scales
Five Note Scales
Six Note Scales
Seven Note Scales
Eight Note Scales
Nine Note Scales
Ten Note Scales
Eleven Note Scales

3 Note Indexes 012 Hexatonic Combinations
013 Hexatonic Combinations
014 Hexatonic Combinations
015 Hexatonic Combinations
016 Hexatonic Combinations
024 Hexatonic Combinations
025 Hexatonic Combinations
026 Hexatonic Combinations
027 Hexatonic Combinations
036 Hexatonic Combinations
037 Hexatonic Combinations
048 Hexatonic Combinations

4 Note Indexes
Two Tetrad Combinations

8 Note Indexes
Two Tetrad Combinations
Three Tetrad Combinations

Set List Directions
Set List table for finding prime form