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Leaps on the “and” in swing
From the tonic, a leap of a major third, a major sixth and a minor seventh – each time the top note comes in on the short eighth before the beat and carries over. A typical jazz push.
This exercise puts three leaps from the tonic into a jazz rhythm: a major third, a major sixth and a minor seventh, with the root between them. The top note doesn't land on the beat. It enters on the short off-beat eighth, the “and”, and is held across the next beat. That small push is typical of jazz phrasing, and it forces you to know the interval before you sing it. “Bah” gives a clean start without a slide.
How to do it
- After the two count-in clicks, listen: the piano plays the whole pattern, then you sing it back alone.
- Sing the root on the beat. Bring the top note in on the “and”, just before the next beat.
- Keep the top note going across the beat, then step back down to the root.
- Check the entry on the roll: a block that starts green, not a slide up from below.
- End on the long root. Each repetition then moves a semitone along the ladder.
Coach's tip: Hear the top note before you sing it – in swing there’s no time to search. Light entry, no scoop from below.
What to watch out for
Early entries scare singers into waiting for the beat, so the note lands late. Others scoop up from below to reach the leap. Both show on the roll as a block that starts late or slopes upward. Hear the top note in your head before you sing it. The major sixth and the minor seventh are the wider leaps and can come out flat, so aim slightly brighter. Keep the entry light, and stop if your throat tightens.
Who it's for
Suits level 2 singers who already know Interval: major sixth and want to use leaps in a real rhythm. Use it in the main block after an easy warm-up. Syncopated groove is a good follow-up, since it also lets notes arrive between the beats. No program lists it, but the Jazz style puts it in your daily training.
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Related exercises
- Interval: perfect fifth You sing a note, leap 7 semitones up and come back.
- Interval: major sixth You sing a note, leap 9 semitones up and come back.
- Intervals from the tonic, no piano The piano gives only the first note. From the tonic you sing a second, third, fourth and fifth on your own, returning to the tonic each time – like in solfège.
- Harmony a third above First the piano plays your line, then it plays the melody while you sing a second voice over it – a third higher, step for step. That’s the high harmony of folk and country.
- Scat warm-up in swing Root, second, third, fifth and back down – lightly, on “doo-bee”. Swing rhythm: the first note of each pair is longer, the second short, as in jazz.
- Major pentatonic Five notes that almost all pop runs are built from.