Jazz Chapter 3: Appreciating Jazz Improvisation

Front 1

Chapter 3

appreciating jazz improvisation

Outline

Back 1

1 Listening Techniques

2 Chord Progressions and the construction

3 blues chorus

4 a-a-b-a

5 trading fours, trading eights

6 absence of steady tempo

7 double-timing

8 half-timing

9 quadruple-timing

10 stop-timing

11 Beginning and ending a peice

12 exceptions to the rules

13skills possessed by the improviser

14 Instrument roles

15 bass

16 piano

17 drums

18 alternatives available to the improviser

19 chapter summary

Front 2

List of bold or italicized words

Back 2

1 this books works only if you combine your reading with a lot of jazz listening

2. you are not really learning until you actually hear what the book is talking about.

3. you need to hear a good example of the music in order for the text to mean anything.

4. [the following (4) items are listening techniques]

5. hearing the improvised lines of a jazz soloist as melodies in themselves should help you enjoy much jazz.

6. one way a lot of jazz fans listen is to imagine layers of sound, one on top of another, all moving forward in time.

7. some people hum the original tune to themselves while listening to the improvisations which are guided by its chord changes.

8. try listening to every notes in a soloist's improvisation.

9. most jazz is guided by musicians agreeing beforehand to maintain a given tempo, key, and progression of accompaniment chords. they then invent and play their own melees nd accompaniments in a way that is a compatible with those chords.

10. one complete twelve-bar progression of chords is called a blues chorus.

11. A-A-B-A

12. chorus

13. absence of steady tempo.

14. rubato.

15. only the density of musical activity is changing.

16. double-timing

17. in qudruple-time the beat is sounded in four equal parts (sixteenth notes).

18. stop-time solo break.

19. introduction

20. endings

21. jazz performers occasionally omit the melody statement.

22. during the 1960 and 70s, much jazz departed from the traditions of improvising within fixed chord progressions and preset chorus lengths.

23. near-effortless command of an instrument.

24. a jazz improviser must be well acquainted with harmony. most jazz soloists know the piano well.

25. an extremely quick and keen ear for pitch and rhythm.

26. most jazz musicians have remarkably good memories for sounds.

27. remember hundreds of tunes and chord progressions.

27. recognizing chord progressions.

28. the skills of reading and writing music

29. the ability to read music.

30. sight reading

31. the ability to make up an original tune and correctly notate it

32. the ability to listen to someone else's music and then correctly notate it.

33. nearly all jazz improvisers are also composers.

34. walking bass.

35, double-stop

36. arco.

37. pizzicato

38.comping

39. when taking his own solo, he uses his left hand to comp while his right hand plays melodic lines.

40. ride rhythms

41. the drummer acts a colorist in addition to acting as a time-keeper

42. kicks and prods the soloist

43. by his own playing, a drummer can control the loudness level, sound texture, and mood of a combo's performance.

44. a few things that improvising soloist tries to do

45. chapter summary

Front 3

Chapter summary

Back 3

1. unwritten rules are followed that enable jazz improvisers to piece together respectable performances without rehearsal

2. musicians know may of the same tunes, and they follow common practices when performing tunes having 23 bar blues and 32 bar A-A-B-A construction

3. jazz musicians play the melody before and after they play improvisations that are guided by a cycle of repetition of its accompaniment.

4. it sometimes sounds like the musicians are playing twice as fast (double-time) when they double the density of their activity or half as fast (half-time) when they halve the density of their activity, even though accompaniment chords change at the same rate throughout the performance of a given piece.

5. jazz musicians are thoroughly trained in methods of playing htoier instruments reading and writing music, and they know so many tunes and chord progressions that they can instantaneously respond to the notes each other plays when improvising .

6. walking bass style involves playing notes that serve to keep time for the band as well as outlying the chord progression being followed by the improvisers.

7. the jazz drummer uses snare, drum, bass, drum ride, cymbal, and high-hat cymbals to keep time for the band as well as contribute kicks and prods that communicate with the improvising soloist.

8. comping is the accompaniment style in which the pianist feeds chords to the improvising soloist in a flexible improvising soloist.

9. the improvising soloist keeps many considerations in mind while performing- chord progressions, logical and original construction of the solo, communication with accompanists, etc.

Front 4

Bold words in groups of three (3)

jazz listening

Back 4

1. this books works only if you combine your reading with a lot of jazz listening.

2. you are not really learning until you actually hear what the book is talking about.

3. you need to hear a good example of the music in order for ht text to mean anything.

Hint 4

What do you think is crucial from the student OF music to do in order to immerse one in the subject?

Front 5

Bold words in group of (4)

listening techniques

Back 5

1. hearing the improvised lines of a jazz soloist as melodies in themselves should help you enjoy much jazz.

2. one way a lot of jazz fans listen is to imagine layers of sound, one on top of another, all moving forward in time.

3. some people hum the original tune to themselves while listening to the improvisations which are guided by its chord changes.

4. try listening to every note in a soloist's improvisation.

Hint 5

consider what the difference between hearing/listening is:

1. melodies

2. layered sound

3. hum

4. every note

Front 6

bolds words (1)

chord progressions and tune construction

Back 6

most jazz is guided by musicians agreeing beforehand to maintain a given tempo, key and progression of accompaniment chords. they then invent and play their own melodies and accompaniments in a way that is compatible with those chords.

Hint 6

Imagine how Uncle Dave and his colleagues prepare for a gig:

1. plan

2. change

3. compatibility

Front 7

bold words (3)

Blues chorus and music measures

Back 7

1. one complete twelve-bar progression of chords is called a blues chorus.

2. A-A-B-A this sequence is the most common arrangement for such pieces of two sections of music. one sectarian is called the a section. the other is called the b section, bridge, release, inside, second strain, or channel.

3. chorus is one playing through a chord progression.

Hint 7

1. Blues chorus has to deal with [blank] bar progressions of [something]

2. this 4 letter sequence represent the most common arrangement of "measure/bar"

3. Chorus involves a type [blank] progression (imagine a harpist)

Front 8

Bold words (3)

Absence of Steady Temp

Back 8

1.absence of steady tempo

2. rubato- to indicate such absence of steadiness in temp

3. only the density of musical activity is changing.

Hint 8

What is happening on an old electric piano when you modify the tempo to go fast or slow? does it change the way the "demo" sounds evolve musically?

Front 9

Bold words

double-timing

Back 9

Double-timing: when a member of a band starts playing as though the tempo were double its original rate

Hint 9

double time!

Front 10

half-timing

Back 10

the opposite of double-timing. in half-timing we halve the number of notes that are played without halving the rate at which the chords change. the tempo remains the same.

Hint 10

opposite of double time, comeon

Front 11

stop-timing

Back 11

stop-time solo break is another manipulation that often leads the listener to believe mistakenly that the tempo has changed. its name "stop-time" implies that the tempo stops when all group member except the soloist stop playing.

Front 12

Introdcution

Back 12

beginging structure

1. use the final four or eight measures of the tune, and let the rhythm section rework and play it without the horns.

2. have the rhythm section play a common four-or eight measure chord progression and improvise a line compatible with it

3. use an introduction that the entire group knowns thus including the horns in addition to the rhythm section

4. let the rhythm section play a one-, two-, or four-bar figure called a vamp over and over until the horn men feel like starting the tune.

Front 13

ending

Back 13

1. end immediately at the end of the melody itself, with no extra notes,

2. improvise a ritard for the last three or four bars and then sustain the final chord.

3. rest or sustain a chord while a soloist takes a cadenza

4. repeat the last four bars of the tune, thus creating a tag and then sustain tune's final chord.

5. use a well-known ending

6. let the rhythm section play a vamp followed by a final chord.

7. have the rhythm section improvise some common progression and end with it.

Front 14

bold words (3)

exception to the rules

Back 14

1. jazz performers occasionally omit the melody statement.

2. during the 19602 and 70s much jazz departed from the tradition of improvising within fixed chord progressions and preset chorus lengths.

3. john coltran and his disciples records pieces whose melodies had chord progressions.

Front 15

bold words (5) 1/2

skills possessed by the improviser

Back 15

1. near-effortless command of an instrument

2. a jazz improviser must be well acquainted with harmony. most jazz soloists know the piano well.

3. an extremely quick and keen ear for pitch and rhythm.

4. most jazz musicians have remarkably good memories for sounds.

5. remember hundreds of tunes and chord progressions.

Front 16

bold words (6 )2/2

skills possessed by the improviser

Back 16

1. recognizing chord progressions

2. the skills of reading and writing music

3. ability to read music

4. "sight reading"

5. the ability to make up an original tune and correctly notate it.

6. Nearly all jazz improvisers are also composers.

Front 17

Bold words

Back 17

Walking bass.

time keeping style.

good walking bass lines make musical sense by themselves.

Front 18

bold words

double-step

Back 18

some bassists employ a variety of techniques in their works occasionally a bssists will pluck two strings as though a guitar.

Hint 18

think of playing a guitar

Front 19

bold words (instruments)

comping

ride rhthms

Back 19

1. comping

the piano improvises chords in a syncopated fashion to provide harmonies and rhythm for complementing and supporting the soloist. these chords are usually played in the middle of the piano keyboard, creating notes in a pitch range that is easy to hear.

2. when taking his own solo, he uses his left hand to comp while his right hand plays melodic lines.

3. such a cymbal (drummer) comes to occupy the role of ride cymbal if it is capable of producing a certain quality of "ping" and its sound sustain properly. the timekeeping rhythms played on it are called ride rhythms

Hint 19

how a piano plays with a jazz group

Front 20

Bold words

drum phrasing

Back 20

1. the drummer acts as a colorist in addition to acting as a time-keeper.

2. kicks and prods the soloist.

3. by his own playing, a drummer, can control the loudness level, sound texture, and mood of a combo's performance.

Front 21

Bold word soloist

improving soloist

Back 21

Here are a few things tha improving solo tries to do:

1. remember the chord changes common to the tune he is playing.

2. create phrases compatible with the chord changes.

3. edit his work so that each improvisation represents a clear musical statements.

4. think ahead so that the phrases will fit together well

5. remember what he has played so that self-duplication does not occur.

6. swing the tempo of the piece.

7. respond to the rhythmic figures of his accompanists so that a creative interaction will occur instead of a monologue.

8. keep loudness at a level which will project beyond the sound of the band and not to the audience.

play in tune and with the desired tone quality.

10. remember how long he has been soloing so that he can stop before he uses the time left for other soloists.

11. play in the mood of the place.

create something personal and original.

Front 22

Chapter summary parts

(unwritten rules) 1

Back 22

unwritten rules are followed that enable jazz improvisers to piece tougher respectable performances without rehearsal.

Front 23

ch summary parts

(tunes having 12-bar blues) 2

Back 23

musicians known many of the same tunes, and they follow common practices when performing tune having 12-bar blues and 32-bar A-A-B-A construction

Front 24

ch summary parts

(guiding element for improvisation) 3

Back 24

jazz musicians play there melody before and after the play improvisation that are guided by a cycle of repetition of its accompaniment.

Front 25

Ch summary parts

(playing twice as fast or half as slow) 4

Back 25

it sometimes sounds like the musicians are playing twice as fast (double-time) when they double the density of their activity or half as fast (half-time)when they halve the density of their activity, even though accompaniment chords change at the same rate throughout the performance of a given piece.

Front 26

ch summary part 5

(skills a musician ought have)

Back 26

Jazz musicians are thoroughly trained in methods of playing their instrument reading and writing music, and they know so many tune and chord progressions that they can instantaneously respond to the notes each other plays when improvising.

Front 27

ch summary part 6

(ways a walking bass can help during a gig)

Back 27

walking bass style involves playing notes that serve to keep time for the band as well as outlining the chord progression being followed by the improvisers.

Front 28

ch summary part 7

jazz drummer

Back 28

the jazz drummer uses snare drum bass drum ride cymbal and high-hat cymbals to keep time for the band as well as contribute kicks and prods that communicate with the improvising soloist.

Front 29

ch summary part 8

jazz pianist

Back 29

comping is the accompaniment style in which the pianist feeds chords to the improvising soloist in a flexible and syncopated way.

Front 30

ch summary part 9

consideration of an improvising soloist

Back 30

the improvising soloist keep many considerations in mind while performing chord profession logical and original construction of the solo, communication with accompaniments.