This is a modified excerpt from my e-book, Essential Polymeter Studies in 4/4 for the Improvising Musician. In this etude I demonstrate a simple, but highly effective way to make variations on a  melodic pattern without altering pitches. If you look at the example above, you’ll see the original form of the melody (in the key of C major) stated in the first two measures. The melody is built on simple bebop melodic principles, such as chromatic passing and enclosure, and outlines/implies a C maj9 chord. (It most likely will have a familiar sounding “language” to you, if you’ve played or listened to even a cursory amount of bebop.)

In the third measure, I start the exact same melodic pattern on the upbeat of beat 4, displacing it by a half beat (by an eighth note). Then in the sixth measure, I transpose the original melody into F, again placing it on beat one of the measure. In measure eight of the example, the melody in the new key starts on beat three, diplacedt by one beat (by a quarter note). In the last two measures of the example, I transpose the melody into Bb and place it once again on beat one.

I go on to follow this pattern of transposition/displacement/return through all the keys, putting the newly transposed melody at different places within the measure. You most definitely should practice this with a metronome, in order to give you a feel for how the melody moves around the measure. You’ll also hear how the “character” of the melody changes depending on where it is placed in the measure. This simple device has been used by artists as diverse as Jelly Roll Morton, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Lennie Tristano, Joe Henderson, John Scofield and Mark Turner. If you’d like to explore rhythmic displacement and polymeter in a comprehensive and methodical way, please consider my e-book, and/or consider my educational service Rhythm Coach. Click below for a free, downloadable pdf of this etude:

Rhythmically Displaced Bebop Melody-pdf

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