Savor the beautiful Augmented Scale !!!

AUGMENTED SCALE STUDY & EXERCISES

“The augmented scale, also known in jazz theory as the symmetrical augmented scale, is so called because it can be thought of as an interlocking combination of two augmented triads an augmented second or minor third apart: C E G♯ and E♭ G B. It may also be called the "minor-third half-step scale" due to the series of intervals produced.  It made one of its most celebrated early appearances in Franz Liszt's Faust Symphony (Eine Faust Symphonie).  It is also prevalent in 20th century compositions by Alberto Ginastera,[2] Almeida Prado,[3] Béla Bartók, Milton Babbitt, and Arnold Schoenberg, by saxophonists John Coltrane and Oliver Nelson in the late 50s and early 60s, and bandleader Michael Brecker.[1] Alternating E major and C minor triads form the augmented scale in the opening bars of the Finale in Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio.^” 

The above is a quote from Wikipedia, giving an excellent intro to my study and etude blog.

1. A little known, beautiful use of the Augmented Scale is the basis of Ravel’s 2^nd  movement (assez lent) to his Valses Nobles & Sentimentales for piano (1911).  Another is the 3^rd movement (Elegia) of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, written in 1945.  Michael Brecker made great use of this scale, as Bob Mintzer is also using this scale often in his improvisations and compositions, such as Aha. Another famous use of the augmented scale (in jazz) is in Oliver Nelson's solo on "Stolen Moments".

There are only 4 augmented scales; then                                                                  they  repeat on different ‘tonic’ notes.  Each can be used on 3 different dominant 7^th chords and 3 different

Maj 7^th(+5) chords (i.e. C7; Cmaj7+5). When playing over the dominant 7^th, use the 7^th as the ‘tonic’ of the augmented scale; when playing over the Maj7(+5), use the tonic of the chord as the tonic of the scale.

These are the basic 4 scales:

Here is an etude I've composed, using only materials found in the augmented scale, organically developing the motif with patterns heard in all the sources I’ve previously listed.

Augmented Scale Etude

Composed by Errol Weiss Schlabach

I hope you find my information useful and my etude interesting, ----even helpful!

Please comment and give me feedback.

Sincerely,

Errol Weiss Schlabach