Foundations: Towards a New Chromatic Theory

Volume 0 — Introduction and Overview­

by
Dr. Thomas Echols

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 Foundations 0
Welcome to the Labyrinth

We’ve all heard that foundations are important.

After almost 4 years of the Labyrinth of Limitations project, I’ve decided it’s Cº

time to revisit these foundations. This new series is where I will share a cohe- F7
sive, well-organized approach to daily practice that will guide you from the D7 Ab7
beginning stages to improvisational fluency using Barry Harris’s concepts. B7

Just after completing my Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of

Southern California in 2010, I discovered Barry Harris’s wonderful teachings, DMaj6
D7b5 B7b5
BMaj6 AbMaj6
and this has taken me on an incredibly rewarding journey that, I assume, will FMaj6

continue for the rest of my life. My ongoing collaboration with Chris Parks
(of Things I Learned from Barry Harris) has been one of the most rewarding Bmin6
Dmin6 Abmin6
of my musical life, having regularly met with him to explore these ideas to- Fmin6
gether over the past four years since we became friends. All of this is to say
that there is a lot of thought and care that has gone into this Foundations Bº

project, and hope that you will find it as rewarding as I have.

E7

Db7 G7
Below, you will find a few sample pages from Foundations I: Polyphony. There Bb7
is also a page about the Labyrinth App. Foundations I-VII will essentially be a
version of the textbook that I have had in mind for many years, and the App Db7b5 Bb7b5
DbMaj6
will be an important part of this, with lesson files provided that will allow you EMaj6
BbMaj6 GMaj6

to interact with many of the materials being discussed; changing static scores
and chord diagrams into something more organic and exploratory. Bbmin6
Dbmin6 Gmin6
Emin6
If you’ve purchased my PDFs before, I hope that you will find these new
documents to be of a much higher quality. In order to effectively share the Bbº
fundamental ideas on which the curriculum of the Labyrinth of Limitations
is built, I’ve developed a lot of graphics and charts that, I hope, you will find Eb7

helpful. C7 Gb7
A7

On the next page, you will find the Structure of the Curriculum. It will be C7b5 A7b5
most effective to take this as we go, explaining and demonstrating the mean- EbMaj6
CMaj6 AMaj6 GbMaj6

ing of each part as it comes up in the Foundations series.

Amin6

I’ve developed a 7-part practice routine for Polyphony and for Monophony, Cmin6 Gbmin6
Ebmin6
which will be discussed in Foundations I and II respectively. Foundations
III-VI will dive into the Four Aº

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Important Questions and how we can apply them in our practice. Foundations VII will discuss methods of
“interpreting” immediately, in a musically expressive way, the music that we improvise (so that it “speaks”).

The 5 Aspects of practice will be discussed throughout this curriculum. They are principles that can help us to
further focus our creativity and have productive practice.

The 3 Phases of practice represent the progression from curiosity to mastery. These phases will be discussed
throughout the curriculum as well.

What we want to achieve is Linguistic Muscle Memory. This means that we don’t want to just have a series of pretty
phrases and “licks” that we can switch between. Rather, we want to be able to intermingle cellular ideas freely, cre-
ating endless sonic fabrics, gestures, polyphonic improvisations and beautiful lines. Fortunately, Barry Harris gave
us the materials that we need in order to acquire LMM.

It’s all about the small things, and I believe I have developed a clear method for you to join me in exploring these
little things in a methodical way, allowing you to experience continual growth. I hope that this will be a grounding
experience that provides a renewed sense of direction to your practice.

About my Approach

There are some things that you will find new and unusual within the Labyrinth of Limitaitons course of study. Most
notably, I use musical geometric concepts taken from the work of Dmitri Tymoczko to clarify relationships among
the various chords we use for polyphonic improvisation. I have also employed new terminology and
theoretical frameworks that I have independently developed, being careful not to “reinvent the wheel” but,
rather, to only do this when there isn’t a readily-available, succinct term for any given structure or concept. I
mention Barry Harris throughout the Labyrinth of Limitations, because it is often the case that there is only one
source of a particular theoretical formulation —the frameworks that he taught to his students through informal
group classes. I like to think of myself as a post-Harrisian scholar and musican, and citing Barry’s important and
necessary body of work is a way of acknowledging this.

For more information about Barry Harris, including a biography and discography:
https://www.barryharris.com

For the Foundations 0 YouTube episode, click here

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 Structure of the Curriculum
The Chromatic Scale Runs

Transformation Transformation

Substitution Linear Chords

Relative Motion Important Arpeggios

Borrowing The Chromatic Scale

Summoning Objects Half-Step Rules

Finding Paths The ABC’s

Polyphonic Practice Intertwining Monophonic Practice

Interpretation: Making it Speak

Envisioning: Possibilities of Movement 4. Which [z] movements are within a given tune?

Mastery (Musical Applications within a Tune) Recognition: Seeing What is Present 3. What contexts contain [z] movements?

Embodied Knowledge (Building Technique) Summoning: Bringing Forth a Structure 2. Where can I summon [y] object?

Discovery (Finding Real Questions) Finding Paths: Measuring Distance Within Structures 1. What can I do to [x] pitch?”

3 Phases of Practice 5 Aspects of Practice 4 Questions

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©Thomas Echols
 Foundations Series Overview

Foundations 0: Introduction and Overview

Foundations I: Polyphonic Improvisation

Foundations II: Monophonic Improvisation

Foundations III: What can I do with [x] pitch?

Foundations IV: Where can I summon [y] object?

Foundations V: What contexts contain [z] movements?

Foundations VI: Which [z] movements are in a given tune?

Foundations VII: Interpretation - Making it Speak

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 The Labyrinth of Limitations App

I designed and developed the Labyrinth of Limitations App to help people learn the fundamentals of Barry Harris’s har-
monic concepts. When you subscribe to the app, you can import playlists of songs and lesson files that will help you to free-
ly explore the material shared in Foundations I: Polyphony. There is a download link for the lesson file in the Foundations
I pdf, which you can then import through the Repertoire Menu in the app.

Future iterations will include monophonic, single line soloing in addition to even more options on the polyphonic side of
things.

At this time, the App is only available for Mac and Windows computers.

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©Thomas Echols
A Sample from Foundations I: Polyphony

The following is an excerpt taken from Foundation I. We work through the material in a step-by-step manner;
keeping things simple and making beautiful music as we go. This is the end of one such sequence, working out
some concepts over a jazz standard.

vi ii m7b5

I V7/V
Minor 6
V7
ugliest duckling iv
ii7 V7 I (ii-V7) V7 V7
Abmin6=Tritone’s Minor Abmin6=Tritone’s Minor

tritone’s minor minor 6 on the 5

Here is our complete phrase for the first 8 bars of Take the “A” Train. Keep in mind that we’re intentionally trying to
isolate the Substitution aspect of things while still practicing and developing intelligent muscle memory of the concepts.
Our progress will be clear if we can continue to separate things (and then put them together). First, we’ll play the
phrase starting from a root position C6 chord.

C6 Am6 Cdim7

F6 A m6 C6 A m6

Substitution Ex. 4. Playing the Tritone’s Minor.

On the next two pages, you will find diagrams that help to illustrate the narrative of Foundations I. This is from
the Theory section (the work is divided in two parts: theory and practice). I hope that these samples serve to pique
your interest about what’s to come! You can purchase Foundations I: Polyphony here.

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©Thomas Echols
A Family of Major 6 Chords
From Two Diminished Chords C#º

F#7

Eb7 A7
C7

C C
B C#/Db B C#/Db F#Maj6
EbMaj6 CMaj6 AMaj6

A#/Bb D A#/Bb D

A
2 D#/Eb A
2 D#/Eb

G#/Ab E G#/Ab E

G F G F
F#/Gb F#/Gb

Primary Parent Secondary Parent

C C C C
B C#/Db B C#/Db B C#/Db B C#/Db

A#/Bb D A#/Bb D A#/Bb D A#/Bb D

A D#/Eb A D#/Eb A D#/Eb A D#/Eb

G#/Ab E G#/Ab E G#/Ab E G#/Ab E

G F G F G F G F
F#/Gb F#/Gb F#/Gb F#/Gb

C Major 6 A Major 6 F# Major 6 Eb Major 6

Figure 2. Lower (or raise) two adjacent notes from a diminished chord to create a Major 6 chord.

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©Thomas Echols
The Major 6
Diminished Scale
Primary Parent Secondary Parent

C C
B C#/Db B C#/Db

A#/Bb D A#/Bb D

A
2 D#/Eb A

G#/Ab
2 D#/Eb

G#/Ab E E

G F G F
F#/Gb F#/Gb

C Major 6 The Unrelated Diminished Chord

C
C B C#/Db
B C#/Db
A#/Bb D
A#/Bb D

A D#/Eb
A D#/Eb

G#/Ab E
G#/Ab E
G F
G F F#/Gb
F#/Gb

Figure 3. C Major 6 is interleaved with the unrelated diminished chord (AKA the “off” chord) to create the C Major 6 Diminished Scale

C
B C#/Db

A#/Bb D

A D#/Eb

G#/Ab E

G F
F#/Gb



While the C Major 6 Diminished scale has special properties, it is still a scale and should be treated as such. Start by
practicing it note by note. 9
©Thomas Echols
A Sample from Foundations II: Monophony
Here is the table of contents for Foundations II, followed by an excerpt showing part of the “inner game” of this improvisational practice. You can
purchase Foundations II: Monophony here.

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©Thomas Echols
 [exerpt from Foundations II: Monophony]
Summoning
This diagram depicts the internal process of summoning. The Labyrinth curriculum has layers of frameworks that
we learn in order to gain improvisational fluency, but the deepest concept, the thing that gives the real cohesion
behind everything, is that summoning and pathfinding are the fundamental background activities. These aspects
of our work are always present.

Pathfinding is the question, “Where is the next scale degree?”

Summoning is the questions, “What can I do to that scale degree?”

For example, I could use my pathfinding to move from the 7th to the 3rd of the G7 scale. . .




Then I could summon from an array of modules that I have at my command. Here are some possible choices.
Up a third
3r
d
an
d

rd
ha

ho
lf-

ac
st
ep

Up
ru
le

Half Step, Down a chord Chromatic

Do
Half Step Rule

w
n
t
vo

ac
Pi

ho
rd

Theory Example 24: A few of the choices we can summon for the 3rd degree of the G Dominant 7 scale. These modules are fully ex-
plained in the practice section of this document.

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©Thomas Echols