Mixed harmony

For students who want to deepen their understanding of harmony and improve their improvisation skills

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€ 95 One-off payment

Improvise effortlessly over the rich chords of jazz standards

Learn to improvise melodically over the chords you hear in jazz, soul, fusion, pop and classical music. You deepen your harmonic understanding in a clear and practical way: you won’t need to memorise more, but you will understand more. You discover how chord combinations work, how they give music a particular feeling, and how you can respond to them melodically.

  • Do you want to solo with more confidence in your band or ensemble?
  • Do you dream of jamming effortlessly with other musicians?
  • Would you like to play more music from memory?
  • Would you love to recognise chords by ear and expand your awareness of new harmonic colours?
  • And do you want to move beyond stringing together scales during a solo?

 

It is not as difficult as it may seem to weave melodies through the chord changes of a jazz standard. When you begin to recognise common chord combinations, harmony becomes logical rather than overwhelming. With the right understanding and a clear practice strategy, you learn to connect directly with your musical imagination.

In the Mixed Harmony course you learn to recognise, understand and use common chord combinations. You develop your musical imagination and learn how to hear and play richer harmony by ear.

Let go of inhibitions to create original melodies

What I most value from your classes were learning how to let go of inhibitions to create original melodies, and a practical method to analyse chord progressions in tunes. I realize I'm still a beginner at this, but recognize it's a lifelong journey that I intend to continue for as long as I can.
John White
cornet, United States

Not a single standard is difficult!

I have gone back to looking at jazz standards, especially the ones I thought were difficult, like 'What is This Thing Called Love' and 'Beautiful Love'. Not a single one of them is difficult!! I am so excited that I suddenly seem to understand the progressions and I can noodle quite fluently on a few of them without having to look up the scales for each chord like I used to do. Thank you!
Julia Farrants
cello, United Kingdom

Discover the simplicity of harmony. Play your own music.

Immediate benefits for your playing include:

  • You discover endless possibilities for playing melodies over chords through ornamentation and rhythm.
  • You learn to refine and colour Pure Harmony chord combinations with greater precision.
  • You begin to truly understand much more of the music you hear, and to recognise these chord movements by ear in jazz, blues, Latin, pop and classical styles.
  • Through practical chord analysis exercises, you learn to translate IFR chords into standard chord symbols.
  • You improvise over your first jazz standards.
  • You develop your authentic musical voice, gain confidence and genuinely enjoy your practice time.
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€ 95 One-off payment

Inside this course

Video tutorials with clear instructions

16 video lessons of approx. 15 minutes each with very clear homework assignments, which tell you exactly what to practice. You can watch each video as many times as you like at your own convenience. There are mastery level exercises for more experienced improvisers. 

Interactive practice videos

With additional videos, including those from the Improvise with Jelske series, you can actively practise the assignments with me. This makes studying playful, interactive and musical, as if we were working together.

High quality jam tracks in popular styles

You’ll get access to IFR Jam Tracks level 3 and 4 and to the collection of Jelske’s Mixed Harmony jam tracks. The jam tracks are very enjoyable to study with and provide an organized, progressive practice path for your harmonic studies. All jam tracks are (downloadable) mp3 files. 

(sample excerpts)

Loads of repertoire examples

Every time you learn a new chord, you will be shown a lot of well-known repertoire examples in which you can hear these sounds. Your new strategies will help you play along with your favorite songs.

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€ 95 One-off payment

More confidence, progress and lots of fun

I have gained a lot of self-confidence and generally just had a lot of fun practising and being in contact with the group. I have many music projects and it is very nice to notice how my playing has improved because of this deepening course. I am always trying to find my own authentic voice and Jelske is a master in guiding me in the development of this.
Richard Weis
harmonica, Australia

The least difficult method

I have been trying to learn improvising earlier. I have been taught that I should study all kinds of scales (dorian, mixolydian etc) and to use a different scale for each different chord in a tune. There is no way that I could learn all these scales (in all keys) and use them along the chord progressions. This method outlines different melodies throughout the whole piece. This is definitely the easiest way I've seen so far.
Esko Teerilahti
tenor saxophone, Finland

A word about you

You have completed the Introduction to Melodic Improvising. You now understand the approach of the method, feel reasonably comfortable improvising with the tonal map and playing by ear.

Not sure if you are ready? Feel free to get in touch.

This programme is less suitable if you are mainly looking for fast tricks, quick licks or ready-made solos to copy. It is also less suitable if you do not have the time or space to practise regularly.

Any questions?

You have followed the Introduction to Melodic Improvising. You understand the IFR tonal approach, feel comfortable improvising over Pure Harmony chord combinations and playing melodies by ear. When you’re in doubt if the program is suitable for you, please contact me for advise.

You need time to repeat the exercises. Ideally every day, but at least 3 times a week (approx. 1 hour). This will enable you to build momentum.

No! If you prefer classical music or pop for example, you can join too! The chords that you learn are used in all genres, and a wide variety of repertoire examples are provided.

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€ 95 One-off payment

A natural next step

Discover the simplicity within harmony, develop your imagination and build a creative practice routine that helps you understand music from the inside.

With greater clarity and overview, you play with confidence alongside others, memorise more music with ease and improvise melodically over jazz standards and richer chord progressions.

You know what you are playing. You hear what is happening. And you can respond musically in the moment.

Ready for more depth, colour and freedom in your playing? Mixed Harmony is the natural next step.

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