Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept Pdf May 2026

Harris outlined specific ways to practice this. You can start these today on your instrument:

Exercise 1: The "Skips" Approach Take a standard scale (like C Major: C-D-E-F-G-A-B). Instead of playing it in order, play it using specific intervals:

Exercise 2: Random Interval Jumping Pick a starting note. Without thinking about a key, force yourself to jump a specific interval away.

Exercise 3: Chord Tone Interpolation Instead of running scales over a chord, Harris recommended outlining chords using wide intervals. Over a Cmaj7 chord, instead of playing C-D-E-F-G, play the chord tones (C, E, G, B) but connect them with wide intervals. For example: C (jump up a major 7th to) B (jump down a minor 6th to) E (jump up a perfect 4th to) G.

As of 2025, no legal, high-quality PDF of the original Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept book exists for free. The jazz community holds its breath for a reprint or a digital release by Hal Leonard. Until then, the search for the "eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf" remains a digital ghost hunt.

But perhaps this is fitting. Eddie Harris was an inventor who believed music lived in the mind and the fingers, not just the page. While you search for the file, build your own intervals. Cycle your own thirds. You might just discover that the PDF you were looking for was the pattern of intervals you generated yourself.

Action Step for the Musician: Don't let the lack of a PDF stop you. Take a C Major scale. Remove the 4th and 7th. Play in leaps of 4ths only. Chromatically alter one note per bar. Congratulations—you have just entered the Intervallistic Universe. Eddie would approve.

The Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept is a comprehensive, three-volume pedagogical method designed to break musicians free from traditional scale-based improvisation. Originally published in 1971, this 321-page work is considered a "thorough and creative workout" for instrumentalists seeking to master non-linear, interval-centric melodic language. Core Philosophy: The "Eddieisms"

Harris’s method is grounded in a liberating musical philosophy often expressed through "Eddieisms" included in the text: "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession." "There are no wrong notes, only wrong connections."

"Musical sounds are the language of the world; only when [they] are analyzed and categorized is when man fails to realize that a musical sound is the beauty of life itself." Content Breakdown by Volume

The complete edition is typically structured into three distinct phases of learning: Focus Area Key Topics Covered Vol I Foundations eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf

Intervallic patterns, scales, basic chord substitutions, and foundational theory. Vol II Advanced Techniques

Superimposing intervals, polytonality, and asymmetrical meters. Vol III Application & Styles

Applying intervals to blues, Latin, and funk; rhythmic variations; and melodic development. Key Educational Features

Broad Instrumentation: While Harris was a saxophonist, the book is designed for all single-line wind instruments (saxophone, trumpet, flute, clarinet) and is applicable to piano, guitar, and violin.

Technical Rigor: Includes extensive studies in altissimo playing, syncopation, polychords, and modulations.

Improvisational Freedom: The method emphasizes "skips" and large intervals to help players avoid the habit of simply running up and down scales. Availability & Purchase Options

The book is available in both physical and digital formats. While some online archives may host older scans, official copies can be found through several retailers: Go to product viewer dialog for this item.

The Eddie Harris Interverlistic Concept for All Single Line Wind Instruments

Eddie Harris's "Intervallistic Concept" is a comprehensive instructional method for wind instruments that moves beyond traditional scales to focus on interval-based improvisation and composition. The 321-page text features extensive exercises on large interval skips, advanced harmony, and "Eddieisms" designed to enhance a musician's harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary. For more details, visit Official Eddie Harris Website Jamey Aebersold Jazz

Intervallistic Concept By Eddie Harris - Jamey Aebersold Jazz Harris outlined specific ways to practice this

While I cannot directly send or download a PDF file to you, I can point you exactly to where you can find it and provide a comprehensive breakdown of the "Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept" so you can start using it right away.

Eddie Harris was not just a legendary jazz saxophonist (famous for Exodus and his electric Varitone sax), but also a brilliant musical theorist. He disliked the rigid, academic way scales and modes were being taught, so he developed the Intervallistic Concept to focus on the space between notes rather than the notes themselves.

Here is how you can find the PDF, followed by a summary of how the concept works.

Author: Eddie Harris (1934–1996) Genre: Jazz Pedagogy / Music Theory / Saxophone Method Core Subject: A systematic approach to mastering the saxophone fingerboard and expanding improvisational vocabulary through intervallic relationships rather than scalar patterns.

Before diving into the PDF hunt, one must understand the man. Eddie Harris (1934–1996) was a genius of pragmatic innovation. He wasn't interested in playing "licks" he had heard on a Charlie Parker record. He was interested in generating new music mathematically.

In the 1970s, frustrated by the limitations of diatonic (seven-note) scale theory, Harris wrote a book. It wasn't a songbook; it was a philosophy. He posited that most improvising musicians are trapped inside "the box"—the major scale and its modes. The Intervallistic Concept was his explosive escape hatch.

The core premise is deceptively simple: Abandon the scale as the primary unit of melody. Replace it with the interval.

Harris argued that if you can measure the distance between any two notes (an interval) and apply that pattern cyclically across the chromatic scale (all 12 tones), you will eventually hit every note in Western music. This creates a "non-tonal" or "pan-tonal" line that sounds incredibly complex but is generated by a simple, child-like arithmetic formula.

Core Idea:
Instead of thinking in scales or chords, the improviser builds melodies and lines using intervals (the distance between two notes) as the primary building blocks. This frees the player from predictable scale patterns.

Key Principles:

If you cannot find the original PDF (a notorious rarity), the theory can be summarized by its central mechanism: Cycle Patterns.

A standard scale has a specific order of whole-steps and half-steps (W-W-H-W-W-W-H). Harris throws that away. Instead, he would take a specific interval—say, a Major 3rd (4 semitones).

The Exercise: Start on a note (C). Ascend by a Major 3rd (to E). Ascend by a Major 3rd from E (to G#/Ab). Ascend by a Major 3rd from Ab (to C). You have landed back on C after 3 leaps. That is a closed cycle.

But what if you use a descending minor 2nd (1 semitone) followed by an ascending Major 3rd?

The Harris Formula: Harris would map these patterns onto a chromatic circle. The "Intervallistic Concept" PDF is rumored to contain hundreds of these "line generators." By following the sequence of intervals strictly, you produce a melody that has no tonal center. It sounds "outside," modern, and deeply intellectual, yet it is purely mechanical.

Eddie Harris (1934–1996) was a legendary jazz saxophonist known for his electric saxophone, slap-tonguing, and deep harmonic innovation. Beyond his popular hits like Freedom Jazz Dance, he developed a unique theoretical system called the “Intervallistic Concept.” Exercise 2: Random Interval Jumping Pick a starting note

In essence, this concept moves away from traditional chord-scale theory (thinking in modes and chord tones) and instead treats intervals as the primary building blocks of melody and improvisation.

Core Ideas of the Concept: