Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin — 5 Pentatonic Harmony Concepts for Improvisation
Analysis and practical exercises showing how Debussy’s pentatonic-based harmony can inform improvisation and voicings.
Lesson Guide
Overview
Claude Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin has a primary tonal center of Gb major / Eb minor, while its basic sound is pentatonic. The lesson treats the pentatonic as the source rather than deriving it from a major scale, allowing tonal and modal implications to emerge through added colors. It examines the dual identity of Eb minor and Gb major pentatonic, the use of added notes as pentatonic superstructures, and the removal of notes to create tetratonic substructures. It also addresses modulation by major or minor third through the chromatic-mediant concept and connects Gb7 lydian b7 with Ab7 as parallel dominants derived from the same pentatonic source. Practical work includes walking tetratonic voicings up and down and using a minor pentatonic as the source for improvisation or writing.
What You'll Learn
- Explain how the black-key collection produces both Eb minor pentatonic and Gb major pentatonic.
- Use added notes to create tonal or modal implications from a pentatonic source.
- Describe how removing Ab from the Eb minor pentatonic creates the tetratonic source used in a passage.
- Identify the modulation from Gb major to Eb major as an example of the chromatic-mediant concept presented in the lesson.
- Relate Gb7 lydian b7 and Ab7 to the same Eb minor pentatonic source.
- Practice walking a tetratonic voicing up and down and writing or improvising from a minor pentatonic source.
Key Concepts
Concept No.1: the minor/major pentatonic duality
Playing all the black keys produces both Eb minor pentatonic and Gb major pentatonic. The lesson views the former as Ebm7add11 and the latter as Gb6add9, and Debussy begins the piece by almost literally outlining those two chords. The pentatonic scale has no tritones or half steps inside and is therefore described in the lesson as unable to create dissonance. The difference between the Gb major pentatonic and the Gb major scale is supplied by F and B, or Cb in this key.
Concept No.2: Tonicizing and Modalizing with Pentatonic Superstructures
Pentatonic superstructures are additions that expand a pentatonic structure. Adding F and B, or Cb, to the Gb major pentatonic creates tonal implications. Adding those notes to the Eb minor pentatonic produces an Eb Aeolian sound. In another demonstration, adding F and C natural to the Eb minor pentatonic turns it into Eb Dorian. Using that same superstructure with Ab in the bass produces Ab mixolydian. A separate change to F and Bb returns the example to Gb major. The demonstrated strategy voices every chord with the Eb minor pentatonic, so tonality surfaces from that common source.
Concept No.3: Pentatonic Substructures
A pentatonic substructure is created by taking notes away from a scale. In the discussed run, Debussy omits Ab from the Eb minor pentatonic, producing a four-note source described as a tetratonic scale. The passage uses tetratonic voicings, with each voice walking the same tetratonic. A recommended exercise is to choose any initial tetratonic voicing and walk it up and down.
Concept No.4: The Chromatic Mediant
The chromatic-mediant concept is presented as modulation up or down a major or minor third. From Gb major, D major and Bb major are given as possible teaching examples. In the piece, Debussy modulates from Gb major to Eb major. The lesson also states that Bb major to Eb major creates a V to I cadence and that both Bb major and Eb major are chromatic mediants of Gb.
Concept No.5: Lydian b7 Parallel Dominants
The discussed passage contains Gb7 lydian b7. Looking at the upper structure on the major II chord produces another dominant chord, Ab7. Moving between these two dominant chords can produce a common sound because both are superstructures of the same Eb minor pentatonic. The lesson describes this as a technique Debussy uses constantly.
Musical Examples
Opening pentatonic outlines
Debussy begins La fille aux cheveux de lin by almost literally outlining Ebm7add9 and Gb6add9, reflecting the piece’s simultaneous Gb major and Eb minor identity.
Added notes and plagal implication
Debussy adds the tritone-forming notes to imply tonality like a IV to I plagal cadence.
Tonicization of the original sound
With F included, the passage contains a Db major triad and a Bb minor triad. The progression is identified as V II VI I, but also as a tonicization of the original sound.
Tetratonic run
In the discussed run, Debussy omits Ab from the Eb minor pentatonic. The resulting four-note source supports tetratonic voicings in which each voice walks the same tetratonic.
Modulation to Eb major
Debussy modulates from Gb major to Eb major as the piece example associated with the chromatic-mediant concept.
Parallel dominant superstructures
Gb7 lydian b7 and Ab7 are presented as two dominant chords that can produce a common sound because both are superstructures of the same Eb minor pentatonic.
Also in This Lesson
Continue Learning
Pentatonic Voicings Vol.1 directly complements the lesson’s focus on pentatonic sources, expanded voicings, and practical harmonic applications. Its interactive PDF format includes step-by-step video lessons, targeted exercises, and backing or play-along tracks for intermediate to advanced jazz pianists and keyboardists.
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