Footprints

q = 120
(Creating Lines for Improvisation)
Lucien LaMotte

œ œ œ bœ œ ™ œ bœ ™ œ œ œ
Use the melody as a starting point to create improvised lines

bC€7 œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
bC€7
3 J J ˙ œ
&4
Main Notes of the Melody in Parenthesis as a guide tone Using The Upper Neighbor Tone idea from the Melody

™ j ™ j
Line for Embellishment Bb to C (The first three guide tones)

43
⁄
11 11 11 11 13 10 11 10 8 11 13 11 11 10 11 10 10 8 10 8 8
10 7 5

bC€7
œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ œ
& œ
bœ œ œ J ‰ J ‰ J œ œ œ œ
8

‰ ‰ J Œ
Using Lower Neighbor Tones to Embellish the

j
Main Notes of the Melody
j j j
‰ ‰ Œ ‰ ‰
⁄
11 10 11 10 11 10 13 11 10 8 6
7 8 5 5 10 7 5 5

bœ œ œ bœ ˙ ˙™
13 C€7
& bœ œ œ bœ ˙ œ œ œ œ b˙ ∑ œ œ œ

™
Using Rhythm from the Melody

∑
11 11 11 11 13 8

⁄
11 11 11 11 13 10 10 10 10 11 13 13 13

bC€7
œ œ œ bœ
‰ J ‰ J
22

& œ b˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ b˙ ˙™
j j
™
Intervals of 4ths

‰ ‰
11

⁄
13 11 10 10 10 10 8 6 6 6 6 4 3 11 11
10

Copyright MotLucMusic
 œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ b œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ
2

J J b œ œ œ œ œ
29 C€7
& ‰ ‰ ‰J œœ œ œ œ œ

j
4th up Inverts

j j
Quartal Arpeggios
to 5th down

‰ ‰ 11 ‰
13

⁄
13 13 11 8 11 11 11 11 13 13 11
12 10 8 7 5 5 10 10 10 12 12
10 10 10 12 12 10

7ths (Compound 4ths = A stack of two 4ths spans the interval of a 7th)

œb œ œ œ œ bœ bœ œ ˙ bC€7
œ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ œœ
You could start a line with 4ths and then stack two 4ths to introduce 7ths

œ
35

& œ ‰œ ‰ œJ œ ‰bœ œ
J J
j j j
‰ ‰ ‰ 10 8 8
⁄
11 11 10 8 11 11 11 13 11 11
10 10 8
10 8 10 10 12 10 10 8 7

Melodic Cells are used by a lot of Contemporary players

œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ
Typically 4 note cells seeing as most lines are in 8th notes

œ œ œ œ
Œ œbœ œbœ œbœ œ Œ
41 C€7 C€7
& Œ Œ
Cell 1 Cell 2 Cell 3 Cell 2 Cell 1 Cell 3 Cell 1 permutation
Combine the Melodic Cells to create a Line

Œ Œ Œ Œ
⁄
13 12 11 13 13 15 14 13 13 12 11 13 13 15 14 13
10 12 10 12 12
10 13 10 13 13 15
15

You can also use permutations of a cell,

mixing up the order of notes to create new cells

Practice creating lines based on these concepts. Play slowly and sing each line.
Start with only a couple notes of the line alternating playing and singing, and then add notes
gradually until you can sing the entire line. Transpose the lines to different keys and chords.

Copyright MotLucMusic