Cyclical Quadruplets

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:32.866)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. The end of the month is upon us, meaning this episode is either part of the lecture series or we welcome a guest. Now, I had every intention of welcoming a new guest to Jazz Piano Skills this week, but...

But after last week's improvisation episode focusing on the cyclical quadruplet and after our discussion in last week's master class, I can't help myself. We have to, we must devote this week to a more in-depth exploration of the cyclical quadruplet and how to use it for developing jazz language.

But before we turn our full undivided attention to the cyclical quadruplet, let's take a moment to review our accomplishments this month. Always a great thing to do. You know, we spent March exploring the great and timeless jazz standard. What a difference a day makes. Week one, as we always do, we discuss the tune to gain an understanding of the form, the unique chord changes found within the progression.

harmonic function, common harmonic movement, and of course the voicings, the left hand shell voicings as well as our two handed structures. Week two, again as we always do, we studied the tunes melody, fingerings, phrases, and various jazz treatments. And last week, week three, we used the chord progression of what a Difference of Day makes to develop our improvisation skills. Our approach is pretty thorough.

and it always uses a standard, a tune, to develop our jazz piano skills. I love it. We use a tune to illuminate essential jazz piano skills, and then we strategically discover, learn, and play those skills. We have a plan, and then we execute the plan every single month. So today,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (02:58.519)
today you will discover cyclical quadruplets and you will learn how to practice cyclical quadruplets and you will play cyclical quadruplets ascending and descending through a sound using arpeggio motion. So as I always like to say regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you consider yourself a seasoned

and experienced professional. You're going to find this Jazz Piano Skills podcast lesson exploring the essential jazz piano skill, the essential jazz skill, cyclical quadruplets to be very beneficial. But before we get started, I want to, as I always do, welcome first time listeners to Jazz Piano Skills. And if you are new to Jazz Piano Skills, you're a new listener to the Jazz Piano Skills podcast.

then welcome. I want to invite you to become a Jazz Piano Skills member. In your membership, right, your membership keeps Jazz Piano Skills keeps this podcast 100 % ad free, which has been my goal from day one, 100 % educational content, no ads. Additionally, your membership grants you many personal perks. For example, as a Jazz Piano Skills member,

you have access to premium podcast content. And what this means is that you get to listen to the entire episode, right? The first half of every podcast episode is free for everyone to enjoy. We deal with the question of the week, we lay out the educational agenda, and the lesson rationale. The second half of every podcast episode for members only deals with the lesson content, the demonstrations,

the exploration of the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play alongs or the backing tracks. And of course we have our weekly rhythm assignment that we deal with every week as well. You also as a Jazz Panel Skills member have access to the weekly podcast packets. These are educational materials that are designed and developed for every weekly podcast episode, the illustrations, the lead sheets and the

Dr. Bob Lawrence (05:23.469)
play alongs or the backing tracks. You should absolutely have this material in your hands when listening to each episode so that you get the most out of each episode. And you certainly should have these materials sitting on your piano when practicing as well. Also, as a Jazz Piano Skills member, you have access to the online courses. These are comprehensive courses. They're sound based, self paced and sequential, focusing on harmonic and melodic

in improvisation development. You also, as if that's not enough, there's more. You also as a Jazz Panel Skills member have a reserved seat in the weekly master classes that I host, right? Every single week, Thursday evenings at 8 p.m. Central Time. Now know that time is not beneficial for everyone, but the master classes are recorded. And as a member, you can watch and re-watch the video of the master classes as often as you wish.

You also as a Jazz Piano Skills member have access to the online private Jazz Piano Skills community, which hosts a variety of forums, episode specific forums, as well as general jazz forums. It's a great place to meet friends and receive member feedback and assistance and also give some feedback and assistance as well. And last but not least, as a Jazz Piano Skills member, you have unlimited

educational support, private, personal, and professional support whenever and as often as you need it. All of these amazing privileges are waiting to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano. So check it all out at jazzpanelskills.com and become a member to begin enjoying not only the premium podcast content, but all of the other privileges that I've mentioned as well.

course, if you have any questions, once you get to the site, you're poking around, you have some questions, do not hesitate to contact me. I'm happy to spend a little time with you answer any of your questions. And of course help you in any way that I can. So speaking of questions, this is usually the part of the podcast episode that I deal with the question of the week, right? Then I introduce a question and spend a little time answering that question. But today,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (07:43.063)
I'm going to skip the question of the week so that we can devote today's entire episode, because we have a ton to cover, I want to be able to devote today's entire episode to the cyclical quadruplet. So with that being said, let's jump in. Okay, so what is a cyclical quadruplet?

It's a big word, right? It's a big word that sounds very, very fancy and makes you sound incredibly smart when saying it, right? Incredibly smart. Cyclical quadruplet. You know, it ranks up there with other fancy schmancy phrases in jazz, like the tritone substitution or the fully altered chords or poly chords, or how about this, the lydian chromatic concept.

I'm telling you right now, if you ever find yourself at a jazz gathering, a jazz party, you start throwing around those phrases, throw those phrases around and you will immediately be shown the secret handshake and accepted into the club. There's no doubt about it. Right. But seriously, right. The cyclical quadruplet is it's an essential jazz skill that if understood and practiced correctly,

the key, right? To understand it and practice it correctly, the cyclical quadruplet provides huge dividends when it comes to the development of your jazz vocabulary, of your improvisation skills. So let's take a second and talk about the characteristics of this cyclical quadruplet. First of all, it's a four note motif that

begins and ends with the same note. So if your cyclical quadruplet begins with the note C, you're going to end with the note C. If it starts with the note F, you're going to end with the note F. If start with the note B flat, you're going to end with the note B flat and so on. Okay, so it is a four note motif that begins and ends with the same note. Now, another important characteristic or aspect of the cyclical quadruplet is that

Dr. Bob Lawrence (10:05.055)
It contains, and this is really important, it contains both arpeggio and scale motion within the four notes of the motif. That's pretty amazing when you think about it, right? Four notes containing both arpeggio and scale movement. And finally, the cyclical quadruplet is played as a major or minor third. And one last little tidbit.

there are four permutations of each cyclical quadruplet. So there you have it. The four marks of a cyclical quadruplet. They are as follows. One, four note motif beginning and ending on the same note. Two, it contains both arpeggio and scale motion. Three, it is played as a major or minor third. And four,

there are four permutations of each cyclical quadruplet. Each one of these characteristics will become apparently obvious as we work through today's lesson. so no need to try to memorize that list right now. By the end of today's lesson, you'll have it memorized. Now, last month, I did a podcast episode called

Jazz Improvisation's Little Secret. And if you've listened to that episode, you discovered the secret to learning how to improvise is mastering the major and minor third, which contains everything. And I mean everything you need to improvise to create great melodies. All right. The third major or minor third within that third, you can create arpeggio motion. You can create scale motion.

and can add tension. That's the magic formula. Arpeggio, motion, scale, motion, and tension. The cyclical quadruplet contains two out of the three essential ingredients. The only thing the cyclical quadruplet does not embody is tension. Unless, of course, you play a cyclical quadruplet constructed from an altered scale, which we won't be doing today, but there would...

Dr. Bob Lawrence (12:32.169)
obviously there would be attention involved in doing so. Now, however, after today's episode lesson, you certainly will be able to do just that if you wish to do so. You'll be able to create cyclical quadruplets constructed from any scale, major scales, dominant scales, altered dominant scales, minor scales, and so on. Okay, so now that we know what a cyclical quadruplet is, we must ask the question,

Why are they so important? What's the big deal? Well, I'll tell you why they're a big deal. I have mentioned this many, many times over the past six years and in many, many podcast episodes.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (13:21.793)
Jazz is the study of sounds and shapes. I'm going to say that again. I've said it many times. What the heck? You might as well say it again. Jazz is the study of sounds and shapes, shapes that are harmonic and shapes that are melodic. Right? No sounds, no sounds. Major dominant minor half diminished, diminished.

no shapes harmonic or melodic, no improvisation, no jazz. It's that easy. It's that that's the brutal facts. No sounds, no shapes, no improvisation, no jazz. So why are cyclical quadruplets important? Because they are idiomatic, melodic jazz shapes used by jazz musicians when

These idiomatic melodic jazz shapes, cyclical quadruplets, are used for developing jazz language. They're used for developing your jazz language. And these idiomatic melodic jazz shapes, cyclical quadruplets, can be applied to any sound, major, dominant, minor, half diminished, or diminished. Now,

In order to begin incorporating cyclical quadruplets into your playing, in order to begin using cyclical quadruplets to begin developing your jazz language, you have to know, and I mean you really have to know, your arpeggios and scales. In fact, today you will discover just how well you know

your arpeggios and scales. When we begin playing the exercises we are about to tackle here shortly, right? It's going to be very telling. When you start practicing cyclical quadruplets, they illuminate, and I mean in a big way, they illuminate any arpeggio and scale blind spots that you have. Heck, blind spots that you don't even know you have. I got to be honest, I love it. All right, anything

Dr. Bob Lawrence (15:49.569)
that exposes arpeggio and scale weaknesses is a friend. Anything that exposes arpeggio and scale weaknesses should be embraced. And anything that exposes arpeggio and scale weaknesses honestly should be welcomed with open arms because the truth is weak arpeggios, weak scales equals very weak jazz improvisation. That's 100 % pure honesty.

In fact, I'll even lay on, I'll even lay on some more honesty. Any cool thing that you see any jazz pianist, any jazz musician discussing or modeling for you in a YouTube video, Instagram, real Twitter acts, I guess now or tick tock, right? Any cool thing that you see a musician playing is only made possible through

arpeggio and scale practice. But arpeggio and scale practice is typically downplayed because it's not very exciting. At least that's what we think, right? It's thought of as being boring. And of course boring does not impress. And of course boring certainly does not sell, which is typically the purpose behind the YouTube videos, Instagram, rails, Twitter, and Tik Tok post. That's another episode altogether. So

It is important to mention that when I speak of arpeggio on scale practice, I am not, I am not talking about the mindless routine of practicing arpeggios and scales independently going up and down, which is how most of us are taught to play arpeggios and scales. Always starting and ending on the same notes.

why we think about various things we have to get done throughout the day, such as laundry, groceries, yard work, and so on. Sound familiar? Of course it does, right? We've all done it. But that is not the arpeggio and scale practice that I speak of. The arpeggio and scale practice that I am constantly referring to is the arpeggio and scale practice that explores the entire sound.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (18:18.263)
from the root to the 13th of a major sound or a dominant sound, minor, half diminished or diminished sounds, and helps you begin to see and hear various fragments of the sound, like from the root to the seventh or the third to the ninth, the fifth to the 11th, the seventh to the 13th. Right? The arpeggio and scale practice that I'm constantly referring to is shape and pattern based that ultimately

Check this out that ultimately fuses both types of motion, arpeggio and scale together. And what do you think a cyclical quadruplet does? It does exactly that. It fuses together arpeggio and scale motion. Again, every cyclical quadruplet establishes a balance, a balance.

between arpeggio and scale motion. And just a side note, when you study any transcribed solo, what do think you're going to find? Now I'll tell you, you're going to find an amazing balance between ascending and descending arpeggio and scale motion. Is it starting to make sense? Once we understand that great melodies

Regardless of how they're created, whether they're composed or improvised makes no difference. Every great melody always contains a balance of arpeggio and scale motion, ascending and descending. Once we understand this, once we recognize this musical fact, right? Then we begin to search for ways to help us develop a muscle memory

way of creating a balance between arpeggio and scale motion in our own plane. Guess what cyclical quadruplets do for us? They do exactly that. They help us develop a muscle memory way of developing a balance of arpeggio and scale motion in our melody creation process called improvisation.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (20:43.053)
How cool is that? And that is why I'm devoting this entire episode to the understanding and practicing of the cyclical quadruplet. It's that important. It's that valuable. It pays big dividends. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, you are going to discover the cyclical quadruplet

it's four permutations. Number two, you are going to learn how to apply cyclical quadruplets to arpeggio motion. And number three, you are going to play, check this out, you're going to play 32, 32, 32 exercises, melodic lines,

using cyclical quadruplets for developing jazz improvisation vocabulary. Now, typically, I do not develop and publish podcast packets for a lecture series episode, but today is different. And the cyclical quadruplet is so important that I thought, you know what, I want

put together some packets to help you discover, learn and play this very essential jazz skill. So with that being said, if you are a Jazz Piano Skills member, I want you to hit the pause button right now. So you can take the time to access and download your podcast packets. Of course, you have access to these packets because you're member. Now, these are the illustrations.

the lead sheets and the play alongs with the backing tracks. And once you have your podcast packets in your hands, I want to quickly go over them. All right. So let's look at the illustrations. The illustrations provide you with a fantastic worksheet for mapping out for mapping out the cyclical quadruplets for any sound.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (23:03.929)
major dominant minor half-diminished and diminished that you are isolating for practicing cyclical quadruplets. So again, the illustrations, these worksheets, perfect paper practice. Paper practice helps you digest concepts conceptually so that it expedites the process of you being able to execute the concepts physically, right? Paper practice first, always. It's a huge

time saver and it expedites the learning process. Now, the lead sheets present, as I've already mentioned, 32 exercises that we're going to go over today designed to help you become familiar with how to successfully practice cyclical quadruplets. So those are the lead sheets and we'll come back to them in here shortly. The play alongs, backing tracks,

provide various backing tracks with various tempos for you to use when practicing the 32 exercises found in your lead sheets, right? So there are some tempos on the slower side, there's some tempos on the faster side, just depends upon where you are and how comfortable you are with your skills. Okay. So needless to say, as always, right, we have a ton to do

So we need to get busy. So let's discover, learn and play jazz piano. Let's discover, learn and play cyclical quadruplets. All right. So grab your lead sheets and let's take a look at lead sheet one.

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