Mediterranea Suite

Development of a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic process.

By

Marco Ronca
Piano & Keyboards Player/Composer/Arranger/Educator

Marco Ronca

Table of Contents
1. Introduction

2. Analysis

2.1. - OVERTURE -

2.2. - TRAVELS -

11

2.3. - TRINACRIA -

13

2.4. - ROOTS -

17

2.5. - REPRISE -

19

3. Conclusions

25

Mediterranea Suite
Development of a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic process

1. Introduction
Every long path always begins with a little step and so it was when I started composing the
work I am going to talk about. Sometimes there are periods when you think you have not got
enough inspiration or will to practice, composing or just playing. Thats why having a goal is
important to overcome this phase, because it makes you think concrete and in short terms.
I had the feeling I should have moved forward by composing something new, something
fresh and actual, with not too much thinking involved. Stepping out from my previous
conception and knowledge about music was probably the best way of doing it. This gave me
the energy to do something positive even for myself. It all came to my mind during one day,
so easily, that I was surprised. Everything was so incredibly clear in my head that I just
wanted to sketch it out as soon as possible in order to practice it.
At the beginning I was undecided because of many reasons: first of all I already had many
tunes composed, second of all the lack of time didnt maybe allow me to finish writing
something totally new. But all the most beautiful things come unexpected and probably the
true challenge was about taking the risk of composing again with a specific goal. That
convinced me to write something really meaningful, structured like a story, telling something
about me and my roots.
One of the most difficult tasks was choosing then the people to make music with, and to
bring all the charts to life. I always figured out throughout my experience that this is not
about having around the best musicians, but the ones who fit you more, so the people you
feel more connection with, especially from a human view point. I always believed that to be
the most powerful thing in a band, beyond the acknowledgement and skill of every single
player.
So I started looking back to my experience to choose the right people and this proved my
thesis: I automatically chose the closer people to me in everyday life so that we could also
work together deeply and with a kind of a homey feel. The other thing is that all these
people appear to have same or closer idea as mine. We listen to similar kind of music, we
have similar taste in performance and the most important is that we have got the quite
same view for music.
Even though it was not that easy to set up a band, I finally came up with the idea of a core
plus some guests, like in a rendezvous amongst friends during an evening jam session. I
started from the idea of a main piano trio rhythm section, going ahead adding some

instrument like colours to the main painting. The soprano sax, sharing the themes with the
vibraphone, gives a unique taste to the tunes. The percussions add an ethnic flavour to them
and voice vocalizing the main refrains is the cherry on top of the cake. The music is really
complex, defined by a strong structure within which everybody can be free to express
himself. Almost everything is written down and this makes it closer to classical music in a
way, but on the other side the rhythmic development suggests a work in progress towards a
Fusion concept. All improvised solos are simply a natural extension of what the composer
already says with his music and are still part of a bigger portrait.

2. Analysis
2.1. - OVERTURE The Overture is the opening movement of the suite.
The key is C- and I chose it because gives better the idea of seriousness and aggressiveness
but not sadness. The C-ish could be considered a kind of tonal centre for the whole suite,
in which all the other keys refer to.
It starts with a 12/8 piano riff shared between the two hands. This was actually the first idea
that came into my mind when I sat at the piano. The rhythm is in fact Afro-Cuban, kind of
Bemb, built on a 3-2 clave going through the all piece with some dynamics and polyrhythm.
The harmony of the intro is based on a C Aeolian mode (C-7, G-7, Abmaj7 #11, Bb7sus).

The melody of the theme has got a classical flow.

The A part is built up partly on a riff going on underneath and partly on a horizontal phrase
going through each chord in and out of the main mode.
Especially in the second house it develops up and down without breaks, like a Bach
invention.

In the B part we have got 8 bars of a unison percussive line with no chords, but according to
the notes: C-/Bb7/Abmaj7/Gbmaj7, leading into a flamenco guitar-based interlude played
just by the rhythm section, in which the piano shares between the two hands this typical
Spanish arpeggio style.
The left hand is playing a unison kind of melody along with the bass and right hand is filling
up the empty spaces with some chord voicing.
Everything happens at the middle register of the instrument and this gives a breath to the
tune and creates tension leading into the main refrain, the C part.

The C part can be considered as the main refrain of the tune with a lyrical, almost
celebrating choral theme.
The harmony is quite tonal, mostly II-Vs.
This can be considered the highest energy point so far, leading then to the open piano solo
at letter D, based on one chord.
The piano solo is then modal, based on the C Aeolian mode, but open to any kind of
harmonic and rhythmic direction. It can be considered the check point of the tune, the
middle goal. This makes the difference against the rest of the busy tune.

The solo goes on cue one more time to the refrain, working as a background underneath the
solo.

The E part is the place for the open drums solo based on the intro riff and this gives the idea
of a recalling hooking point in the middle of the tune.

The F part is again the theme, the head out, skipping this time the first house, going instead
straight to the second house and then to the outro at the G part, featured by polyrhythm (3
over 4) and constant structure harmony.
The last phrase of the tune is characterized by an upward and then downward phrase built
on the augmenting scale of two parallel chords (Amaj7 #5 and Bmaj7 #5), ending up on a
couple of rhythmic displaced kicks over the root C.

2.2. - TRAVELS The second movement is a ballad.

Its called Travels and its inspired by the typical summer mood created by travelling with a
car along Sicilys northern coast watching the agaves and the seaside.
The key is major for the A parts (Ab) and mostly tonal. This can be considered a bVI degree
compared to the first movement, but it is actually not.
The melody is really simple and is based on the Ab major scale most of the time.
The harmony is leading from the tonal centre to its fourth degree on the third bar, then to
the minor second degree on the fifth bar, passing through a temporary different key (B) and
then back to Ab.

The second A has got a different ending at the last bar: I, II-7, bIIIdim7, III-7.

The B part goes to the IV minor degree and has got a pedal point creating a moment of
tension and mystery.
This could be considered the modal part of the tune with shifting chords over a constant
bass note.

The rhythm opens up and the tune breathes more.

Here we can notice the use of the parallel minor, in fact the first three bars are always
switching between Ab-7 and Abmaj7.
At the fifth bar we have got the relative minor (F-7) and the II-V leading into the bIImaj7
(Amaj7) and afterwards to the bVIImaj7 (Gbmaj7). There is actually a quite wide use of
S.D.M. (sub-dominant minors) during this tune and generally throughout the whole suite.

The groove is something in between a Swing feel and a Straight ballad feel and this gives the
flow to the pulse.
The drums is constantly dialoguing with the bass, so that the groove is not that steady but
instead floating in the air.

2.3. - TRINACRIA The third movement is called Trinacria. It is the ancient name of Sicily and in Greek
language it means three mountains.
This is the Latin facet of the Suite. The tempo is 3/4 and this makes a symbolic connection to
the title too.
The general key is A-, the C relative minor.
The groove is a Partido Alto for the A parts and Samba for the B part. Its an experiment,
since all this Latin grooves are played in 4/4 .The tune opens up with a riff vamp created by
the right hand of the piano and some kick as a pick up to the theme.

The all A parts are based on the key of C and created by the alternate use of its relative and
parallel minor keys.
In the first four bars we have got A-7, D-7, so I-7 /IV-7, but at the fourth bar the D-7 becomes
the second degree of the II-V leading to the C-7 temporary key (D-7/G7).
In the second four bars the harmonic movement is the same, just transposed one step and a
half up.
At the eight bar another II V occurs, but this time doesnt lead to a different key, instead
goes back to the A-7, becoming this way a sub II V.
In the second house there is a II V leading to the minor fourth degree in the B part.

The B part is more lyrical and less busy, it opens up to a Samba groove, still in 3/4.
The melody is simpler and sweeter and the harmony goes temporary to the Cmaj7 chord at
the seventh bar.
This section is longer than the A parts and gives a feeling of distension to the tune.

The concept of the last A is similar to first A but the harmonic movement is more developed
with a chromatic descending bass line. The first four bars still in an A minor-ish key going to
the next four bars in a C minor-ish key, except for the last two bars in which we have got the
D-7 and in the last bar the same kicks as the pick-up to the theme.

After the whole theme there is a short rhythmic interlude based on the Surdo concept,
accenting the second beat of every bar. It serves to launch and end the solo form. Its mainly
based on a progression built up on a circle of fifths, starting from the IV degree dominant:
D7, G7, C7, F7, Bmin7b5, E7.

The solos are on the form (AABA) and start keeping the same development. Just after couple
of choruses it gets straight to Samba.
After the solos we go back to the interlude and then to the head out till the coda sign.
The Coda is made of some Drums and percussion trading over an ostinato line played by the
piano and the bass. On cue a unison line is played, leading straight to the last phrase of the
Coda with some kicks ending on the A minor.

2.4. - ROOTS The fourth movement is called Roots and reflects both my life and musical ones. The key is
Db and is a total change of mood compared to the rest of the Suite, tonality-wise and
harmony-wise. This is the only straight-ahead tune in the Suite that marks the real
connection to Jazz music by having a medium-fast Swing in 4/4. The tune starts with an intro
made of a sequence of four major 7th chords leading into a vamp over a Db pedal.

The A parts are made of a descending harmonic sequence shifting amongst 4 tonal centre.
The melody is motif-based. The harmony is kind of four-tonic system. The first one is
Dbmaj7, connected to the second tonal centre, Amaj7, by its relative II degree (B-7), skipping
the V degree (E7). Then it goes down to the third tonal centre (Gb) passing by the Ab-7. The
last tonal centre is the Dmaj7 preceded by the E-7. We finally go back to the Db tonal centre
thank to the V7 chord (Ab7) leading into the #IV degree (G-7b5), having this way a deceptive
cadence.

The B part is longer than the A parts and is a post-bop line over the relative minor key (Bb). It
starts in Bb, then a descending chromatic harmonic movement: sub V/V (Gb7), V7 (F7) going
to Emaj7, Eb7 going to Dmaj7 and Ab7 back to B-. From here on, the movement goes
upwards still chromatically: B-, Bmaj7 and then a sub II-V (C-7/F7) of sub II-V (E-7/A7) and
finally II-V to Db.

The interlude is always played to end the themes and the solos. At the end some drums fills
occur as well.

2.5. - REPRISE The fifth, and actually last movement of the Suite, is called Reprise. It is basically almost
the same as the first movement. This gives the feeling of the circle and flow in the music and
makes the listener think of something. The groove is still Afro-Cuban (Bemb) but the
difference is in the harmony, in major, thus much brighter than the Opening. Melody-wise
is always classical.
The piece opens up still with a 12/8 piano riff, shared between the two hands, but this time
with a definitely sharper colour made of upper structure chords.

In the first eight bars of the A part, the theme is based on the C minor pentatonic scale
according to a displace phase built in fourths.

The first house is basically a chromatic descending harmonic progression in a constant

structure way, most of the time sub-dominant going to major, in which the melody plays a
second role, built still built almost around the C minor pentatonic with some grace notes.

The second house is already a passage point toward the new tonal centre Eb. The first four
bars is an accurate example of constant structure, both for melody and harmony. It starts
with the IV-7 (F-7), then the V7 (G7), then it goes on already within the new tonal centre Eb
with the IV-7 (Ab-7), V7 (Bb7) and finally with 2 S.D.M. chords (sub-dominant minor): the bVI
major (Bmaj7) and the bVII7sus (Db7sus).

At the B part, an Eb pedal occurs. We could look at this progression in two ways: the first
way is the way it is written. The second one is the following: C-7/Eb - F7 b9, #11, 13/Eb
(D/Eb) Bb-7/Eb (Db/Eb) Eb7 b9, #11, 13 (C/Eb).

Then we have got a flamenco guitar-based interlude played just by the rhythm section, in
which the piano shares between the two hands this typical Spanish arpeggio style.

The C part can be considered as the main refrain of the tune with a lyrical, almost
celebrating choral theme. This can be considered the highest energy point so far leading
then to the open piano solo based on one chord. This makes the difference against the rest
of the busy tune. The solo goes on cue again to the refrain working as a background
underneath the solo.

Piano solo happens at letter D. Its a sequence of chords exclusively based on the C pedal
point. We could look at it, actually, as a progression of slash chords, or rather like triads
upper-structure.

The solo goes on even with the main refrain being played underneath as a background, till
the E part where there is a congas solo over a steady and groovy riff played by the whole
rhythm section.

The F part is again the theme, the head out, where we have in the first four bars again the C
minor pentatonic motif with the intro riff underneath, but then kind of condensed first and
second house in just four bars with some variations in the melody. Here the rhythmic role is
relevant, based on the triplet feel but the accents move, grouping the notes in different
ways
.

The G part is the climax, the highest point of the tune. Still features some polyrhythmic
figures, based on the triplet feel but grouped in quintuplets. This leads to the next four bars
based on the main refrain of the first movement of the suite, Overture, modulating in
fifths.

The last phrase of tune is a C minor pentatonic sixteen-note pattern ending up on couple of
rhythmic displaced kicks.

3. Conclusions
I guess the idea of a suite was the perfect blending to put all my needs together and showing
all the facets a music work can have. In my case it was the necessity of showing the music
with no limits, unifying the classical form of a suite with a jazz language, a fusion conception
of writing and an ethnic flavour. It seemed to me logic to write music that way because
every movement sounds already like a tune by itself but is still part of a bigger view with a
circular motion flowing continuously.
This work could also go through some changes: on the other hand, in life as much as in
music, sometimes the unexpected things are the most beautiful ones.

Marco Ronca

Marco Ronca