Instead of asking a student to calculate "Lydian Dominant" or "Super Locrian" in real-time, Harris focused on the intervallic relationships within the melody itself. He argued that if a musician masters the intervals—the distance between notes—they can navigate any harmonic situation without being tethered to a specific scale name.
Begin with the small skips before tackling the wide, angular leaps.
Harris invented the "reed trumpet" and often applied trumpet-like, wide-interval phrasing to the saxophone. How to Practice Intervallic Concepts eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf patched
Unlike typical method books that emphasize standard major and minor scales, The Intervallistic Concept completely reimagines the fingerboard and keyboard layout for single-line wind instruments. The complete manual comprises over 300 pages packed with advanced technical blueprints:
While mainstream 1960s and 70s jazz relied heavily on step-wise bebop lines and modal scales, Harris was fascinated by wide geometric leaps. "Freedom Jazz Dance" famously highlights his obsession with consecutive perfect fourths (P4)—a sound that fundamentally changed how contemporaries like Miles Davis approached modern composition. Inside The Intervallistic Concept Instead of asking a student to calculate "Lydian
While I couldn't access a specific PDF document on this topic, I hope this report provides a helpful overview of Eddie Harris's intervallic concept and its ongoing influence on jazz music.
Published by Charles Colin in 1984, The Intervallistic Concept is a three-volume edition packed with hundreds of studies. The entire book spans 192 pages and is designed for saxophone, though its principles can apply to any single-line wind instrument. Harris invented the "reed trumpet" and often applied
If your solos sound like exercises, this concept forces you to break scale-based playing.
The result was angular, surprising, and utterly outside traditional chord-scale theory.
Moving specific intervals (e.g., a perfect fourth) up or down chromatically, regardless of the key signature.
