The technical approach of jazz improvisation is something we are all familiar with. You've see the guy. He steps up to the band stand and just starts blazing away. His technique is phenomenal. He is all over his horn and can't seem to do wrong. Lick after lick you come to realize this guy has really spent time shedding. He's got monster chops. Wow, how did he get so good? Being in aw you decide to ask him afterwords. What does he tell you? Practice your scales, learn lots of licks and get some patterns under your fingers. Basically he tells you to master your horn through technical means.We have all had this experience at least once in our musical career. Usually while we are young. Of course by now you probably have come to realize it nearly isn't as simple has he makes it seem.
The technical approach of learning jazz improvisation is one filled with lots of work, practice and tons of shedding, yet in the end it is worth it. You come out a better player and technique to be marveled at. So what is the technical approach to jazz improvisation. It is an approach of jazz improvisation where a player values technical ability over everything else. Scales, licks, patterns, and lots of notieness are the love of a technical player.
To become a technical player you have to master your horn. It is plain and simple the masters had complete control of their instruments. If you want to be like them you have to have the same kind of control. The first step to learning jazz improvisation through the technical approach is mastering all your scales. This mean throughout the full range of your instrument and in all keys and not just in major and minor. Jazz is complicated and filled with a variety of sounds and musical colors. The greats didn't just use major and minor scales and chords they also had diminished, whole tone, and augmented. This means that you need to learn all these varieties. You have to master your major and minor scales along with there different modes such as dorian, mixalydian, lydian and so forth. To top it off you then have to master the augmented scales the whole tone scales and diminished scales. Once you have this you are just getting started. Scales up and down in a solo can get boring really fast so you have to mix it up. One of the ways that the great jazzers made their phrases and melodies more interesting was through sequenced patterns. For technical players this is a big part of their practice. In the technical approach to jazz improvisation a player extends their scales usefulness by learning sequenced patterns. For those who don't know, patterns are simple melodic ideas that a player repeatedly plays up or done like a scale. Patterns are typically played in a diatonic or chromatic manner. Now, if you think that scales and patterns are all you need to learn your wrong. Even if you have all your scales done and some patterns under your fingers it doesn't mean your going to sound jazzy. You still have to learn the jazz language. Players do this by learning the licks of their favorite players. Scales and patterns are like the alphabet. Where licks are words. You combine both to make sentences.
So in summary the formula for learning jazz improvisation through the technical approach is master your scales, learn patterns, and get jazz licks from the greats.
Caruso
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Diffrent Methods of Jazz Improvisation: Intro
Something that has been on my mind a lot lately are the various ways that one can learn jazz improvisation. If you look online for any amount of time you find a vast majority of resources, all claiming to teach you how to be a great jazz improviser. Yet the question of "What is the best way to learn to improvise?," still sits in the back of your mind. Everyone wants to know the secret and become an amazing improviser overnight, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, this is not the case. I say fortunately because if it were easy to become a great jazz improviser then the solos we love really wouldn't be as meaningful. Jazz wouldn't move us as much, but fortunately for us it takes hard work, dedication and some creativity to become a great jazz improviser. So why do I tell you this? I do it to let you know that there is no easy way to become great, so stop looking for that magic pill. I will say this though, there are methods out there that will make you an accomplished jazz improviser with some time and effort. What I would like to do is introduce you to some of these methods so that you can decide which one will fit you the best. There are four main categories that I'm going to discuss in my next few posts about different methods to learn jazz improvisation. They are the following: The Technical Approach, The Traditional Approach, The Theoretical Approach, and the Etude Based Approach. All of these methods of learning to improvise jazz are viable, but each has its strengths and weakness. What you will want to do after reading about each approach is decide which one fits your goals, desires, and personality and use that method as your main means to learning jazz improvisation. When you do this with plenty of dedication you will start seeing the results you desire in learning to improvise jazz. That's all for today, but I can't wait till next time.Until then
Caruso
Caruso
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Saxophone Tip #2: Listen to tons of music.
Listen, Listen, Listen, how many times have you heard this? A lot? I know I have. If you want to reach your highest potential musically you need to listen to tons of music. As much as people want to believe it, music just can't be taught from a book or in a vacuum. Music is a hearing art meaning you need to learn to hear to master music. It doesn't matter if your a jazz saxophonist, a classical saxophonist, or something else altogether you need to listen to music daily. Don't get me wrong books are important and can be helpful, but to sound authentic and real you need to listen to lots and lots of music.
Think of it this way. How did you learn to speak? You listened to a model usually your parents. Keyword there being listened. You didn't learn your native language from a book. Music is the same way, it is a language. The best way to learn a language is by hearing it. Think of music like a foreign language. If you want to learn to speak the language you have to hear it. If you just learn the language form a book and never hear anyone speak it you might understand the grammar and structure, but you won't have the proper inflections, articulations and so forth.
I know I'm making a big deal about listening to music, and I know it seems obvious that a musician should take time to listen to lots of music, but guess what, a lot of musicians just don't do it enough especially beginners. With that being said I guess I should tell you about some of the benefits of listening to tons of music.
For beginners listening to great musicians is key because it gives them a model of how to sound good. As a saxophonist you should listen to other saxophonist. What this will do is teach you what kind of sound you should strive for. It will teach you different ways to approach playing the saxophone, how to phrase and accent musical passages, and it will give you an idea of what you will need to learn if you want to be a successful saxophonist.
For the intermediate to advanced saxophonist listening to tons of music helps you in different ways from that of a beginner. It can give you ideas that you can later implement into your playing. You can start to recognize how music theory relates to real music, and you can better understand the different nuances available to you as a musician. At this point if your an intermediate or advanced player you should feel fairly comfortable on your saxophone, because of this your focus should lend more and more to stylistic things instead of technique. This is especially true if you have decided to focus on a specific genre. As your listening to music really focus on the little things that the performer does that makes the music come to life. Then try and implement those sorts of things into your playing. This is especially important in learning to improvise jazz or any other style of music that has improvisation such as rock and roll. Two people can play the same exact thing, but one person will sound great and the other sounds bad. Why, the one pays attention to detail and accents and executes the lick in a manner that is stylistically correct were the other just plays the notes but is missing the inflections, articulations and accents needed to sound authentic. You see this sort of thing all the time when a beginning jazz student tries to play a tune out of a fake book. They play the tune, but it doesn't sound like jazz. You just have to remember music is more than notes. Listening to tons of music is the only way to learn about the nuances that really bring it to life.
So as a refresher listen to tons of music. This will give you a model of how to play, it will fill you up with ideas, and it will teach you how to bring the music you play to life. Until next time.
Caruso
Think of it this way. How did you learn to speak? You listened to a model usually your parents. Keyword there being listened. You didn't learn your native language from a book. Music is the same way, it is a language. The best way to learn a language is by hearing it. Think of music like a foreign language. If you want to learn to speak the language you have to hear it. If you just learn the language form a book and never hear anyone speak it you might understand the grammar and structure, but you won't have the proper inflections, articulations and so forth.
I know I'm making a big deal about listening to music, and I know it seems obvious that a musician should take time to listen to lots of music, but guess what, a lot of musicians just don't do it enough especially beginners. With that being said I guess I should tell you about some of the benefits of listening to tons of music.
For beginners listening to great musicians is key because it gives them a model of how to sound good. As a saxophonist you should listen to other saxophonist. What this will do is teach you what kind of sound you should strive for. It will teach you different ways to approach playing the saxophone, how to phrase and accent musical passages, and it will give you an idea of what you will need to learn if you want to be a successful saxophonist.
For the intermediate to advanced saxophonist listening to tons of music helps you in different ways from that of a beginner. It can give you ideas that you can later implement into your playing. You can start to recognize how music theory relates to real music, and you can better understand the different nuances available to you as a musician. At this point if your an intermediate or advanced player you should feel fairly comfortable on your saxophone, because of this your focus should lend more and more to stylistic things instead of technique. This is especially true if you have decided to focus on a specific genre. As your listening to music really focus on the little things that the performer does that makes the music come to life. Then try and implement those sorts of things into your playing. This is especially important in learning to improvise jazz or any other style of music that has improvisation such as rock and roll. Two people can play the same exact thing, but one person will sound great and the other sounds bad. Why, the one pays attention to detail and accents and executes the lick in a manner that is stylistically correct were the other just plays the notes but is missing the inflections, articulations and accents needed to sound authentic. You see this sort of thing all the time when a beginning jazz student tries to play a tune out of a fake book. They play the tune, but it doesn't sound like jazz. You just have to remember music is more than notes. Listening to tons of music is the only way to learn about the nuances that really bring it to life.
So as a refresher listen to tons of music. This will give you a model of how to play, it will fill you up with ideas, and it will teach you how to bring the music you play to life. Until next time.
Caruso
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