Theory Question
 

So last March I auditioned for Berklee College of Music. For those of you unfamiliar with their audition process, it consists of a prepared piece, a few sighting reading exercises, call-and-response exercises, and a bit of improvisation.

For the improvisation portion, one of the judges sat at the piano, and asked me to choose a key. For simplicity's sake, I chose the key of C. He then said that he would play I (1) minor and IV (4) minor. That threw me off, and I didn't do so well on that, and ended up not getting in.

I'm re-auditioning this year, and I'd like to be better prepared for the improvisation section this time. So my question is, how exactly would I solo over that? In the key of C, I is C (obviously) and IV is F. Being that both of them were minor, would I just use the corresponding minor arpeggios? Or the natural minor scale? Someone please clarify.

Thanks in advance!

Wow you missed that? That was a slow pitch question, in my opinion.

Yeah it was Cm and Fm. You didn't have to do anything more than improvise in C minor, and maybe accent the chord tones on the change.

C D Eb F G Ab Bb

If you look at the F triad, the Ab is the b3 of F F Ab C - F minor - It falls naturally within the C minor scale.

Start writing and practicing harmonized minor scales to the 7ths. And, for good measure Harmonic minor where the V is a Dominant 7.

Best,

Sean