Around the Horn: Book

This isn't a scale book that asks students to memorize patterns in isolation. Weiskopf grounds every scale and arpeggio in the modal systems that actually generate jazz vocabulary, then backs it up with etudes that train the ear to recognize and navigate these sounds in real musical contexts. The 204-page depth means you're getting a resource that grows with your students from intermediate work through advanced improvisation.

Methodical and grounded. This book trusts that understanding how modes work is more valuable than memorizing fingering patterns, so it builds logically from foundational concepts through increasingly sophisticated applications. The accompanying etudes have the character of real jazz language rather than mechanical exercises.

Intermediate and advanced jazz instrumentalists ready to move beyond pentatonic thinking into the harmonic systems that underpin modern jazz language. This works for any instrument; the exercises translate directly to saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, guitar, and bass.

• Start with the Major mode scales before moving into Melodic and Harmonic Minor variations; this scaffolds the modal relationships and makes the more complex material stick faster.
• Work the etudes slowly enough that you can hear the modal color you're creating, not just finger the mechanics. Weiskopf designed them to open ears, so rush them at your peril.
• Use the patterns across multiple registers and keys rather than mastering one key area before moving on; this builds genuine transposition facility instead of mechanical repetition.

Assign chapters alongside your jazz ensemble repertoire; when your band is working a chart in Dorian or Harmonic Minor, students dig into the relevant section to understand the system underneath. It also functions as a year-long or multi-year independent study text for students serious about jazz improvisation.

• Recognition and ear training across all seven Major mode sounds
• Facility with Melodic and Harmonic Minor modal systems and their applications
• Modal improvisation using scalar and arpeggiated material
• Transposition across all 12 keys
• Understanding the harmonic function of each mode in jazz contexts
• Sight-reading and execution of complex jazz etudes