Professional Documents
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Imrpovisation Through
Imrpovisation Through
THROUGH
GUIDED
SELF-STU
Teachingimprovisationsoundslike a hugeundertaking.RobertE. Henry
detailsan approachto teachingimprovisationwhile learningyourself
W ow!Whata terrificjazz
X tion from one particularpoint of view.
X n ensemble!The entire
X In learning to improvise,however,one
group swung like you must take a balanced approach that
wouldn't believe! I includes technical study along with
mean, they were real- jamming. All of the materialssuggest-
ly tight-the precision,the balanceand
Improvisationcanbe ed in this articleare published and eas-
intonation, the consistent styling, ily accessible.
phrasings,and articulations-I'm really taughtto anyone Each practice session should com-
impressed!You know, though, it's too prise five component parts:scales, pat-
bad that all that excitementjust seemed -there isplentyof terns, theory, improvising, and listen-
to disappearduringthe solos."
How often has that last statement
timeto teachit. ing. The inclusionof each of thesecom-
ponents within a programof study will
about improvised solos been heard? providea balancedapproachand, at the
Countless times to be sure. Granted, same time, keep a student fresh by not
there are many factors that impinge doing one thing overand over.
upon learning to improvise. What are
some of the problems associated with Scales
learning to improvise?Some accounts Scale and patternpracticecan often
include "I'm just too busy to teach become a very tedious and boring
improvisation-there's not enough task-in order to keep it from becom-
time in the day";"Improvisationcan't This approachhas been used quite ing too much of a chore, students
really be taught-it's something you successfullyfrom both a teacher'sand should always practice with a record-
either have or don't have"; and "I a student'sperspective.The student in ing. Other reasons for using a record-
never learnedto improvise,so how can this approach takes the responsibility ing are that it allows the student to
I teach it?" of going through a structuredpractice hear how each note of the scale or pat-
Improvisationcan be taught to any- routine, yet can enjoy immediate suc- tern fits within the underlying har-
one-there is plenty of time to teach it. cess and gratificationby being able to monic structure;it forces the student
You can teach improvisation to your jam from the beginning. The teacher's to play in all keys; and it forces the
studentsat the same time you arelearn- role is dictated by how well he or she student to keep on playing without
ing to improvise. Many teachers who organizes the routine and materials stopping and get past the "clams,"or
have neverimprovisedbeforehave tried used by the student and how much mistakes. Scales can be practiced in
the approachoutlined in this articleand time he or she wishes to spend with whole notes, half notes, quarternotes,
havebecome quite good at improvising. the student. eighth notes, or sixteenth notes. The
There are a number of fine student's level of capabilitywill deter-
E.Henry
Robert is associate of music
professor resources available, both published mine how he or she is to proceed. The
andassociate
education oftheSchoolof
director and unpublished, that address impro- goal is to work up to eighth and six-
MusicatTexasTechUniversity, Texas.
Lubbock, visation. Many approach improvisa- teenth notes. When playing in eighth
APRIL 1993 33
Downloaded from mej.sagepub.com at Bobst Library, New York University on July 4, 2015
Figure1
Major
Basic blues
FP L w b-. . b
Dorian frl*ant-A
k~I-Klu Lt
rt-u r
Il
?
I
..--..... UJuIl
e-- s m k- .-
e~~~~ ~~~~ ?w a___e
~
[IL _L.._.I,.I
_ _1,I[ [ l III
notes, it is imperative that they are starts one step higher (see figure 1). It In other words, certainscales are more
done in a way that is stylisticallycor- is very important, however, that the appropriatefor deriving and develop-
rect: if the recorded track is in swing ears become attuned to the Dorian as ing improvisedmelodic lines over spe-
style, swing the eighths; if the track is having a minor flavor to it ratherthan cific underlying chord types such as
Latin, straight eighth notes are appro- a major. The best way to accomplish major,minor, and dominant.
priate;and so forth. this is to continue practicing with a At this point in the study of scales
Because most players are initially recording.Track 18 of Aebersold'svol- and their relationship to chords, one
more familiar with major scales, fur- ume 21 is very good for this, and later should have sufficient basis for impro-
ther development of the technical use tracks 19-24 as well. vising over easy blues changes, over
capacity to play major scale patterns The next thing to be added to the major chords, over minor chords
well is the starting point. For practic- scale component of the practice rou- (tonic or supertonic function-using
ing major scales with a recording, try tine is the Mixolydian mode in all the Dorian mode), and over dominant
tracksone and two from JameyAeber- keys. It can be conceived of in two chords (using the Mixolydian mode).
sold's volume 21, Gettin'It Together.1 ways: it is relatedto the major key but Additionally, players will begin to be
Once better technical facility has been begins on the fifth note, or it is a able to play over ii-V7 and ii-V7-I
attained, students can practice major major scale with a lowered seventh progressionsin major keys as the actu-
scales over tracks three through eight note. As in the case of the Dorian al notes being played are all the same
as well. Blues scales should also be mode, it is best that the functional for each of the different chords in
introduced in various keys while sound of the Mixolydian be under- these progressions according to their
working on the major scales.They will stood in terms of its harmonic rela- function.
provide the basis for some of the early tionship to a progressionby practicing As the harmonic complexity of the
improvisationexperiences. with a recording. Track 13 of Aeber- tunes one is playingincreases,the study
Once the major scales become sold's volume 21 is good for this, later of additional scales and modes will
more comfortable, the Dorian mode moving on to include tracks 15-17. become necessary. A resource that is
in all keys should be added to the scale It is important to understand that excellentfor scale study and determin-
component of the practice session. It the practice of scales is done not only ing scale choices for particularchords
is very easy to relate the Dorian mode for developing technical proficiency, and functions is Scalesfor Jazz Improvi-
to the major scale as it uses exactly the but also to come to the awarenessthat sation, by Dan Haerle. In addition to
same notes as the major scale but there is a scale to chord relationship. Aebersold's volume 21 for recorded
Patterns
It is importantto Other patterns can be adapted to fit
the root movements of the individual
The second component part of understandthat the tracks.
every practice session is the inclusion Patternsthat can be played over ii-
of patterns. Patternsare short melodic practiceofscalesis done V7 and ii-V7-I progressions are also
segments, or motifs, derived from not onlyfor developing contained in the Patterns book and
scales appropriate to certain chord can be played with certain tracksfrom
types. Pattern practice not only pro- technicalproficiency, Aebersold'svolume 1, A New Approach
vides for additional technical facility to Jazz Improvisation,volume 3, The
development but also provides "seeds"
but also to cometo the ii-V7-I Progression,and volume 16,
of melodic ideas for improvising solo awarenessthat there Turnarounds, Cyclesand ii-V7's (see
lines. For initial pattern practice,Jerry figure 4 on page 37).4
Coker's Patterns for Jazz contains a is a scaleto chord
wealth of material.3 Learningthe Theory
As in scale practice, patternsshould relationship. A third component part of learning
be practiced over recordings. The to improvise is the study of theory.
same tracks used for scale practice, While niany students may argueabout
from Aebersold'svolume 21, are good studying theory at first, experiencehas
for pattern practice correlated to the proven that they soon come to realize
scales and modes the patternsare built the true importanceof this aspect and,
on. For track one alone, at least eigh- in fact, work even harder once the
teen patternsfit the root movement of applicationsbecome more apparentin
the recording.Since track one stays in this would be to playthe previousexam- their playing. A resource that can be
one key for four measures, some pat- ples in the order 13-1-21 (for musicali- used by students as self-study or with
terns may need to be played more ty). In effect, this createsone four-mea- minimal teacher help is TheJazz Lan-
than once or shortened to fit the six- surepattern.Other patternscan certain- guage, by Dan Haerle.5 It presents the
teen availablebeats for each key area. ly be combined-plus you can come up materialin a logical orderaccordingto
For example, pattern 1 would have to with originalpatternson your own. Pat- complexity and need. At the end of
be played four times before changing tern practice develops more technical each chapterare study questions, writ-
keys, pattern 13 twice, and pattern 21 facilityin a more melodic mannerthan ten exercises, and keyboard and ear-
four times (see figure 2). scale practicealone would produceand training exercises. A student can set
Some patterns can be combined to providesmany good ideasfor more fully the pace and go through the text only
make longer patterns. An example of developedsoloing. as fast as he or she is capableof going.
Figure2
C 3 D
3Db
33 3
1
21
^j^^j j< j ^
APRIL 1993 35
Improvising
The next component part of each
Figure3 practicesession is the one that is really
the reason for studying improvisa-
MAJOR (side 1, tracks 1-9) tion-the chance to create original
Track 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 solos over some tunes. This is the
1 1 40 2 3 4 5 8 aspect that can be the most rewarding
or could turn out to be the most dis-
13 5 41 15 14 16 6 44
couraging. The key is to provide for
21 6 42 19 31 32 48 successful experiences from the start.
29 7 43 26 35 36 50 Certainlyone of the easiestand quick-
est things to do is to improvise over
38 11 60 28 47 45 51 blues changes, developing melodic
39
I 12 61 30 49 52 lines derived from the blues scale. Too
40 vV 13 62 34 53 54 many people find themselves trapped
0
into thinking that success in playing
41 S 21 63 44 55 56 over the blues is only as far as one
0
42 0 22 64 48 57 must go in learning to improvise,
V which results in all of their solos
43 23 65 50 58
sounding like the blues whether it is
59 V-
29 66 51 appropriateor not.
V
60 V1 33 67 52 To avoid this trap,one should begin
61
v,
37 79 54 working on improvisingover recorded
tracks that correlate to the scales or
62 40 80 56 DOMINANT (Mixolydian) modes that are being studied and prac-
63 41 81 (sides 2 & 3, tracks 13-17) ticed. Forinstance,when learningDori-
an modes, workingon improvisedsolos
64 42 82 Track 13 14 15 16 17 with Rich Matteson and Jack Petersen's
65 43 83 volume I of TheArt of Improvisation is
89 87 87 88 87
66 44 84 recommended.6 All of the tunes are
97 88 88 93 based on the Dorian mode-the D
67 45 85
95 94 Dorian is first introduced, then the F
79 46 86 Dorian, and then the two combined so
99 98 that changes are actuallybeing played.
80 59
60 99 Next, the G Dorian and C Dorian
81
scalesare presentedseparatelyand then
82 61 combined. Finally, several tunes are
83 62 included that mix the various Dorians
84 63 MINOR (Dorian) - (side 3, tracks 18-24) togetherinto differentconfigurations.
Becausethe exerciseportions of the
85 64
Track 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 album have such simple melodies, stu-
86 65 dents can transcribe (on their instru-
102 101 101 103 121 102
66 ments) the given melody lines before
104 106 106 115 104 they ever see them. This is great ear
67 training. It is also the beginning of
105 111 111 105
79 learning to transcribe not only other
113 114 114 113 melodies and solos, but also their own
80
melodic thoughts. When working on
81 116
Mixolydian modes in scale practice,
82 117 the jam portion can include the exer-
cises and tunes from volume 2 of The
83 118 Art of Improvisation.7
84
122
85 SoloingonStandards
86 Easy standards that contain many
of the chords and progressionscorre-
Cross-referencechart: Numbered patternsfrom Patternsfor Jazz, for use with recorded lating to the level of technical study
tracksfrom volume 21 of A New ApproachtoJazz Improvisation. can be added to the improvisatoryseg-
-
rii ii r ii /l l HIIH IllH [i I II rl ment, eventually increasing in com-
APRIL 1993 37