In this etude I use the chord changes of the jazz standard Some Day My Prince Will Come to compose an etude that is built primarily on wide intervals. There are three main techniques for constructing melodic lines with wide intervals: chord inversion (arpeggios), octave displacement on scale patterns (or other linear melodic patterns), or simply organize a melody that is built upon larger intervals (4ths, 5ths, 7ths, etc.) Take a look at the example below and you can see that I use a bit of each of these three techniques:

Though I originally composed this for saxophone, it can be play by any instrument with a three-octave range (and of course you can displace the octave of notes to fit the range of your instrument). Working with wide intervals will help you find new ways of organizing melodic vocabulary, as well as helping you develop a larger, more resonant sound (on virtually any instrument!)

If you want to delve deeper into wide-interval patterns for playing over ii-V-I progressions, please take a look at my ebook, Dominant Chord Five-Note Melodic Shapes. If you’re interested in finding a comprehensive method for working on wide intervals, please take a look at my ebook The Vertical Saxophone: A Methodical Approach to Wide Intervals. Click below to download a free pdf of this etude for you to practice.