BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
5564 / 18210 · Workshop 38 — “Cantaloupe Island”: Funk Vamp, Sixteenth-Note Groove, Ghosted Attacks, and Improvising Over One Chord Without Sounding Empty← prev⊞ allnext →

38.93Mini-composition exercise

Write a 16-bar funk piece.

Rules:

  • one minor vamp
  • no more than two harmonic roots
  • one two-bar bass ostinato
  • one one-bar riff
  • one ghost-note pattern
  • one rhythmic displacement
  • one bar of stop-time
  • one Dorian 6
  • one blues ♭5
  • no ii–V–I

The piece must still have a clear beginning, climax, and ending.