About the process
During the development of "Chords, Melody and Improvisation" my aim for the product changed...
Initially I wanted to create "a more harmonically oriented methodology for guitarists", i.e. a technically oriented collection of material, a la "chord chemistry" by Ted Green, or "harmonic mechanisms for guitar" by George van Eps - during my time as an educator at MGK - div. talent-lines & DNA of Music, there has been a great demand for this from the students.
Fortunately, the project evolved to become more teaching-oriented, partly through invaluable sparring with Jesper Nordal - music teacher at Frederiksberg Music School & Copenhagen Music School.
Achieving the harmonic overview, both in terms of chords and improvisation, became the new aim (see project preface).
In this connection, I interviewed Uffe Steen Jensen and Jørgen Ehlers, as they are both known for great harmonic overview, and neither of them is so rooted in a specific genre that an answer to how to achieve this would sound: "This is how you do it within the tradition..." Jørgen and Uffe have both taken a pedagogical approach to the subject, in the form of programmes, and very articulate teaching (I was taught by both during my training at the DNA of Music).
To one of the questions: How did you learn to play over/through chords and how did you practice it?both answered that the awareness and technical skills came as a result of a need to be able to play over complicated harmonics in specific contexts. Neither of them have received actual guitar lessons. The interesting thing in relation to my project was to what extent the professionalism - the harmonic overview - came from a desire to imitate originals, to learn by listening, and then piece together a "musical reality" themselves.
I also interviewed David Efraim Poulsen (Guitarbogen 1, 2 and 3) to get an insight into classical guitar methodology. Here there is a technical clarity that builds on several hundred years of tradition, where improvisation and intuitive playing are also included as part of beginner lessons.
The content of my material had to be based on concrete examples that could be immediately translated into music. All academic material had to result in concrete lessons that incorporated the "new professionalism" at beginner level - advanced beginner - competent performer and skilled performer, to the extent that it was realistic to implement. Here, sparring with colleagues from music schools, etc. was extremely rewarding.
In terms of rights, however, it was FAR too expensive to make fine arrangements with e.g. quarter stacked chords, etc. over Beatles / Rolling Stones or Rasmus Seebach, and therefore most examples were based on free improvisations, royalty-free songs or blues.
The realization of my pedagogical ideas and the graphic presentation were inextricably linked: Precise wording, with edited sheet music, tablature, etc. was a VERY big part of the work.
The vast majority of peers I know are not particularly interested in reading - neither sheet music nor text - therefore the function of the films is first and foremost that the user can "surf" through the material and choose what he/she wants to immerse themselves in.
It was very rewarding to see the ideas put into practice - especially at beginner level / advanced beginner - in connection with the "rabbit teaching" at DNA of Music (see the project section with reflections).
I would like to thank Mads Jørgensen from DNA of Music Esbjerg for the loan of the "rabbit educator".
One of my good colleagues told me during a long car ride that he had come to the realization that good teaching today is mostly about "why" and not so much "how". Another colleague of mine said: "Self-taught is well learned, then you have ownership of what you have learned".
The big challenge with my project was to create sufficient motivation for self-study of my chapters so that the "why" and "self-taught" came into focus.
I have tried to let freedom reign in terms of the application of my technical instructions.
The written improvisations at the end of "chord & melody #...should inspire you to play something that is easy to make sound good and easy to develop further. If it doesn't work as intended, working with the improvisations is not that time-consuming.
The exercises in the chapters should not be big projects that need to be practiced in 12 keys, etc. but constructive challenges / motivating ideas that create creative spaces that you can be in for as long as you want.
Morten Nordal 13/09 2021