Jazz Improvisation: The Jazz Etude

If you have been following this blog for the past month or two you know that I have been posting about various jazz improvisation methods along with their strengths and weaknesses.  Today I would like to continue this by talking about jazz etudes.

More and more jazz etudes are becoming a popular way to learn jazz improvisation.  There are many books on the market.  Some of the most popular being Greg Fishman's Books.  The question that comes up is why would jazz etudes be so beneficial, and why are they becoming popular?  Jazz improvisation is supposed to be made in the moment right, so why write out a solo?  All of these are legitimate questions.  Which I hope to answer.

First, "Why are jazz etudes becoming more and more popular."  The simple answer is for most people, especially beginners, jazz etudes seem to provide the easiest way to learn jazz improvisation.  No longer does the beginning player have to trudge through tons of jazz theory, nor do they have to master all their scales, or even transcribe like crazy.  All they have to do is read something off a page and then try to digest it's ideas.  In short a jazz etude allows a player to feel like they are playing something jazzy with out having to go through a ton of work.  Now what I just said really over simplifies things and makes jazz etudes sound like a cop out.  Really they aren't if you use them the right way.  In fact may professional players will write out their own jazz etudes to develop their skills and ideas.  More on this later.

As for the benefits there are many.  The first being it's simplicity.  Jazz etudes are typically straightforward.  You know what they are trying to focus on, and you know that the licks and lines in them will fit the cord changes, unless of course the etude is made to help you learn about playing outside the chord changes.  Another benefit of jazz etudes is it allows you to see how certain concepts work in a solo and how you can go about using those same concepts.  People almost always like visuals and jazz etudes do this.  A lot of the time it is easier for someone to understand a concept when they see it in action instead of just hearing it or trying to intellectualize from some theory book.  The finial benefit I want to mention is jazz etudes typically will only focus on one or two different ideas at a time.  This helps beginning improvisers to digest the concepts much more quickly then they may otherwise learn them.

Now for the final question "Why write out a solo when jazz is supposed to be improvised in the moment?"  I really hope the above paragraph on the benefits of jazz etudes answers this question for you, but if not here is what I have to say about it.  Writing out possible solos can be a great learning experience.  When you write out a potential solo or jazz etude of your own you strengthen your knowledge of jazz theory, you can test out different ideas in a safe environment,  and you can write out things that you can hear in your head but doesn't always come out.  Then as was stated in the above paragraph you can focus on a specific concept or idea that you want to evolve into you playing.  I will say this however,  while I feel that playing and writing out jazz etudes is beneficial.  They should never be used as a solo in a live performance.  This is a pet peeve of mine but I always hate it when I attend a jazz performance and the soloist plays a written out solo.  Use such things as learning tools, but when it come to soloing do your own thing and express yourself in that moment.  If you used your jazz etudes effectively and truly studied what they were trying to teach you then it will show up in your playing in an organic, free, expressive manner.

Well that's all I have to say today.  Until next time.

Caruso