Stealing Chords for a Good Cause (Swallows Part III)

The swallow saga continues...

Jacob D., a professional ornithologist and subscriber of these musical truth nuggets, has weighed in on my feathery situation.

Apparently, the swallows nesting on my house are barn swallows (not tree swallows) and will not use a nest box. I've already told Charlie-the-nest-box-builder to save his nails.

The good news is that because there are houses everywhere, barn swallows have a unique opportunity to nest wherever they want.

So, according to Jacob the ornithologist, if I take down the nest after breeding, the swallows will figure out something else at minimal expense.

On a somewhat related note, did you know that the Charlie Parker tune "Ornithology" uses the same chord changes as the jazz standard "How High the Moon."

It's a contrafact – a musical composition that uses the chord progression of a pre-existing song but with a new melody and arrangement.

My favorite Bird tune (no pun intended), “Confirmation,” is based on the changes to "Twilight Time" by The Three Suns.

And about fifteen years later, John Coltrane wrote "Satellite," which is based on Parker's "Confirmation."

I know, we're getting super meta with these contrafacts of contrafacts.

But if you've never tried to write a contrafact yourself, I highly recommend it for improving your soloing and composition skills, especially if you give yourself some parameters to write within.

That's what I did when I composed the etudes for Chord Tone Magic, my jazz standards collection of chord tone solos (I limited myself to use only roots, thirds, fifths, and sevenths).

Click here to check out the one I wrote over the changes to "There Will Never Be Another You." I've also included a walkthrough analysis of my composition strategy.

And if you want to get all the solos and walkthrough videos included in Chord Tone Magic, CLICK HERE.

Happy shedding,

Jeff