Monday, November 1st, 2010 4:18 PM
Jazz Improvision:
How to practice like the professionals The only reason to practice and study this music is because your inner soul compels you and leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and comfort.
"Equally and possibly more important than technique is the
ability to express emotion and personality"
* Practicing Jazz: What is your practice routine? Is practicing fun? Are you progressing? Are you self critical in a positive or negative way? There isn't one approach to learn how to improvise. Everyone understands the necessity of practicing but rarely how and what to practice. If you ask 100 great players how they developed, you would have 100 individual experiences with one core agreement: that it's essential to be fluent in the fundamentals of the language.
The overwhelming mass of information to which students are exposed, is daunting. It is important to learn how to practice correctly and use one's time efficiently. Bob discusses creating specific goals and not becoming overtaxed. The quality of practice is much more important than deciding what specific things to practice. A practice that's fun and interesting is a major component of achieving results.
What do great improvisers do? The self pursuit of jazz is stressed in his class including what that means. In an academic environment it is possible to lose touch with the essence of the music. Jazz can't be learned from a textbook or in a vacuum; it is interactive and organic in nature. The pedagogy that has been developing over the last 2O years is expansive and helpful. However, in his class he demonstrates some concepts that are innate to great players and how one discovers their individual path. The process has to be a joy. If the work is not fun, one is unlikely to succeed.
* Interpolating Intervals and Creating Shapes: This tedious sounding topic is actually great fun and is targeted towards medium to advanced players. Bob will demonstrate and discuss how one creates their own melodic shapes and becomes free on their instrument; the ultimate goal of every improviser. The ability to move intervals, patterns, and sequences all over your instrument in a melodic and rhythmic fashion is part of achieving this goal. He also discusses how to begin this process and how it will expand the student's technique in interesting ways, weaving these newly acquired shapes into the student's existing vocabulary.
* Pentatonics and Altered Pentatonics: Bob's approach to using pentatonics is discussed and demonstrated. It includes using basic minor pentatonics on modes, understanding how to alter pentatonics to highlight chord quality, creating "in and out" tensions, and how to apply these pentatonic shapes on standard tunes to move away from bebop type patterns.
"Equally and possibly more important than technique is the
ability to express emotion and personality"
* Practicing Jazz: What is your practice routine? Is practicing fun? Are you progressing? Are you self critical in a positive or negative way? There isn't one approach to learn how to improvise. Everyone understands the necessity of practicing but rarely how and what to practice. If you ask 100 great players how they developed, you would have 100 individual experiences with one core agreement: that it's essential to be fluent in the fundamentals of the language.
The overwhelming mass of information to which students are exposed, is daunting. It is important to learn how to practice correctly and use one's time efficiently. Bob discusses creating specific goals and not becoming overtaxed. The quality of practice is much more important than deciding what specific things to practice. A practice that's fun and interesting is a major component of achieving results.
What do great improvisers do? The self pursuit of jazz is stressed in his class including what that means. In an academic environment it is possible to lose touch with the essence of the music. Jazz can't be learned from a textbook or in a vacuum; it is interactive and organic in nature. The pedagogy that has been developing over the last 2O years is expansive and helpful. However, in his class he demonstrates some concepts that are innate to great players and how one discovers their individual path. The process has to be a joy. If the work is not fun, one is unlikely to succeed.
* Interpolating Intervals and Creating Shapes: This tedious sounding topic is actually great fun and is targeted towards medium to advanced players. Bob will demonstrate and discuss how one creates their own melodic shapes and becomes free on their instrument; the ultimate goal of every improviser. The ability to move intervals, patterns, and sequences all over your instrument in a melodic and rhythmic fashion is part of achieving this goal. He also discusses how to begin this process and how it will expand the student's technique in interesting ways, weaving these newly acquired shapes into the student's existing vocabulary.
* Pentatonics and Altered Pentatonics: Bob's approach to using pentatonics is discussed and demonstrated. It includes using basic minor pentatonics on modes, understanding how to alter pentatonics to highlight chord quality, creating "in and out" tensions, and how to apply these pentatonic shapes on standard tunes to move away from bebop type patterns.