Course Description
Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, published in 1947, has been a source of inspiration for musicians as diverse as John Coltrane, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. The book offers an overwhelming amount of melodic vocabulary and patterns for improvisation and composition mostly based on octave division. Many musicians own a copy but because of the amount of information, not everyone is using it to maximum advantage.

The lessons consist of weekly sessions, in which we create and play each other's exercises and work systematically through the Thesaurus. Compositions based on material of the Thesaurus will be presented at a final concert of the workshop.