Reharmonize a Tonal Jazz Song as a Modal Jazz Song

This Jazz Piano Tutorial is about reharmonizing a Tonal Jazz Song into a Modal Jazz Song.

First let’s start by outlining the main characteristics of Tonality and Modality:

Tonality has the following features:
- It uses Major and minor keys
- It uses a Functional Harmony
- It has a Tonal Centre (i.e. root note)
- Tertian Harmony
- Chord Progressions – Cycle of Fifths

Modality has the following features:
- It uses all modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.)
- It does NOT use a Functional Harmony
- It has a Tonal Centre (i.e. root note)
- Quartal Harmony
- Chord Progression – Stepwise movements
- Repetition – through things like Pedal points, Ostinatos, Drones, - Vamps.
- Slow-moving harmonic rhythm – very few chord changes and chords last for a long time

So really, reharmonising a Tonal Jazz song into a Modal Jazz song is actually pretty easy. You get rid of the entire existing chord progression and just play a couple of chords in its place.

While you can change any song into a Modal Jazz song, it helps if:
- The melody is largely all in one key (Modal songs do not change chords often and therefore do not change keys often)
- The melody moves by step and doesn’t outline the chord progression

Another thing modal songs do is use ostinatos or vamps on a single chord for a long periods of time.

So you can create your own vamp over a particular tonal song and make it ‘modal’. Or you can just steal a well-known vamp from an existing modal song and use it over a tonal melody and see how it sounds.

And so, it’s actually really easy to reharmonize a Tonal Jazz song into a Modal Jazz song. Just completely disregard the original chord progression and replace it with a single chord. Easy.

If you enjoyed this Jazz Piano Tutorial on how to reharmonize a Tonal Jazz Song into a Modal Jazz Song, please subscribe.

[romangastelummusic]

Don’t forget about mixing modal elements with tonal elements, which is used used quite frequently! A lot of Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter tunes are a good example of this! For example “Serenity” and “Shade of Jade” and “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” or “JuJu” have quick modal changes mixed with quick “functional” changes. Modal doesn’t necessarily only mean using less chords and with ostinato type grooves. That kind of approach is a specific type of modal thinking, which is the purely vertical application of modal progressions - for example tunes like “So What” or “Little Sunflower” with their slow harmonic rhythm, and the shifting of stable, but “non-functional” major and minor tonic stations.

[HarmoniqMusiq]

I absolutely found this channel AMAZING. Happy New Year, Walk That Bass.

[edskodevries]

Great video, loved the version of "what is this thing called love"!

[胡逸顺]

Hi！thx for your Course. You say if I wont to convert a tonal song into modal song, it needs a long area melody, 《fly me to the moon》has a melody long note G#（A harmony minor note），why can this bar change into the all white key modal？like D dorian，Flydian？ thank you a lot ！

[donngoodside]

Considering that 'Modes, are both in, 'Series, and Parelell, can you 'Reharmonize in, Bb Mixolydian, or are you restricted to playing Bb Locrian / G' Mikxolydian?

[Herold_sc]

This distinction doesn't quite work. Major and minor are modes just as the other five ones and modal jazz is not atonal.