Debussy it? Steal that classical lick!

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

My wife is learning the Debussy piano piece :"Arabesque #1", which has several phrases of triplets against (straight) eight notes:




(It ends on a B in the next measure.)

I'm stealing that!

What makes it cool:

1. the four triplets start on beat 2, so not "square to the bar"
2. That line is doing a two note "stair step" which further plays with the 3-against-2 rhythm. To me it sounds like water splashing in a brook
3. The triplets are playing a E major pentatonic line ...
4. that lands on D#!
5. The LH is simple, to not distract from the RH

Okay, have you stolen licks (or ideas) from classical music? Let's see them.

[RJVB]

I'm stealing that!
....
Okay, have you stolen licks (or ideas) from classical music? Let's see them.

Assuming you're stealing that for your jazzguitar I'd say you first, let's hear it (and don't cheat with a looper)

[mr. beaumont]

Ah! Debussy!

I love Arabesque #1. Probably because of warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings about the synth version by Isao Tomita, used as the theme to Jack Horkheimer's "Star Hustler."

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Ah! Debussy!

What? No Kodály?

[Liarspoker]

I'm listening to Ravel's solo piano pieces on an almost daily basis at the moment.

Haven't copped any licks from it but did buy a Ravel piano book to steal chords from last summer. Sadly I haven't applied any of the chords that I found interesting.

[RJVB]

Coming full circle ... the French composers from that time were quite interesting in and inspired by the "new musics" (as we call it here) from across the Atlantic!

Debussy & Ravel almost certainly played on French pianos built by Erard, which have a characteristic sound due to not having their "wires crossed" that's very suitable for the harmonically complex French music. E.g. Just a moment...

[Liarspoker]

Assuming you're stealing that for your jazzguitar I'd say you first, let's hear it (and don't cheat with a looper)

Just looked at it. I can play it slowly in time, around 60bpm and tried to record it but there was a noise from the guitar on the recording which after googling appears to be that the phone was too near the guitars pick ups.

I also tried a phone recording with a physical metronome but the guitar sound was not great ( to put it mildly).

Will try again tomorrow.

Also I could get faster with practise but don't think that I'll practise it although it's an ideal passage for an hour of meditation.

[Liarspoker]

Actually I did something similar here. Listen with headphones for best effect.