Implementing more improvisation
Winter is hopefully wrapping up, and we’ve just completed another fun and educational MENC Northwest Conference in Bellevue. With “jazz for everyone” in mind, I have renewed enthusiasm for implementing more improvisation into all of my ensemble rehearsals.
March is a good time to refocus on improvisation because by now your students have solidified some solid skills with scales and fundamental technique. The benefit of this is to help students be more creative and musical, not necessarily to produce more “jazz musicians.”
I was intrigued to read the last Voice article from our keynote speaker, John Feierabend, regarding nurturing musical intelligence. Of special interest to me was the idea that “once the pathways for understanding any phenomenon are established, it is difficult to reshape the mind to perceive that same phenomenon from a different perspective.” 1 This is definitely an important issue when learning to improvise. One application of that article would be for the reader to put this article away and go play or sing. In other words, reading about it probably won’t help nearly as much as DOING IT. But if you like to read on your practice breaks, consider this …
One of the frustrations of teaching improvisation in a large group is that the skill level can be quite diverse. There will be some students with a working knowledge of chords, able to refer to pitches as scale degrees and so on, whereas there are still students who aren’t able to keep a steady pulse without help. For this situation I like to hit on a couple of basics ideas that can be applied to various skill levels with equal enthusiasm and success. These ideas go right to the heart of “improvising now” and not just learning about “how to improvise.”
I have found that for every musician there is a personal approach to learning and making music. There is no “right” or “wrong” way. In my last article I discussed the transcription process. That whole assignment could be simplified into two words that are helpful for all musicians: Listen and imitate. I believe that reaches a certain type of musical intelligence that “scale-to-chord” theory does not reach.
Another maxim to consider when building improvisers is to ask them to imitate then innovate. This type of phrase can be liberating to a student who has been overwhelmed by the “scale-to-chord” theory of improvising. “Scale-to-chord” theory is a very necessary part of learning about how to find “right notes” and appeals to a certain learning style. However, it can also be a bit like painting by numbers and stifles the creative side of the brain. If I find that getting kids to think about scales or chords is getting them “turned off,” I will head toward these different activities to get them thinking about patterns and developing their melodic memory.
1) Sing!
Sing to your students often and have them sing, too. This is a basic idea, but it is often overlooked. The more your students sing, the easier it will be for them to create ideas without the hurdle of applying it to the mechanics of a musical instrument.
Exercise/Application: Get the group into a circular seating arrangement. The teacher sings a two-bar pattern that is repetitive, then has the group sing it back in a call-and-response fashion. Keeping a pulse while patting your lap or snapping fingers is also helpful. Stop and do it again with another pattern that will compliment the first. Stop, divide the group in two and have them take turns or go at the same time. Encourage them to listen carefully while they’re singing. Then create a third riff and add to the first two. You can use your fingers or voice to indicate group 1, group 2, etc., directing the groups; give them each a number, and have them start and stop at different logical spots. Soloists can then sing over the top of the groove. Using a mic is a handy way to get them heard. If you can create a “break” in the pattern, all the better. I like to have students sing 14 bars, and then they get a two-bar break to wrap it up. Pass the mic around the circle to be sure each musician gets a chance. This whole lesson can then be redone with instruments, but it will take some patience and doesn’t replace the singing activity.
Once singing becomes natural, the instrument should become a natural extension of the student’s musical ideas. The instrument is only an amplifier of the musician’s musical ideas, or as world-renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker said to my students recently in a workshop, “The instrument is a mirror of the mind.”
2) Develop your melodic memory through repetition
This activity liberates players from focusing on which scale to use and refocuses the ears to repeat what they’ve already played. This is not a new idea, but the process is explained in detail and very well in Randy Halberstadt’s book Metaphors for the Musician.
In essence, nearly all music is a series of repeated patterns. Nursery rhymes, country tunes, symphonies, rap and more are all very repetitive in nature. Often when musicians begin to improvise, they forget this and rather think it is about something else–range, speed, flash or volume. If you can get the player to keep it simple enough to repeat, it will yield an immediate resonance with the listeners (and other players) and become a type of puzzle for the ears.
Try this with your students:
1) Play a ii-V pattern over 4 bars in just one key. This could be played alone at the piano or guitar or with a live rhythm section, a play-a-long like Jamie Aebersold, Band-in-a-Box program, iRealbook application, SmartMusic or some other tool.
2) Play (or sing) a simple 2- or 3-note pattern. Leave some space. Then repeat the pattern again. In an ensemble rehearsal many students can do this at once or you can take volunteers or have them go in a prescribed order so no one gets left out, or you can choose two or three players at once. At first students will have a hard time keeping it simple. Make an effort to use jazz articulation and play with conviction and authority. Be critical and make the pattern sound exactly the same and as musical as possible.
3) Once the pattern is firmly memorized, experiment by “pitch shifting” to borrow the phrase from Mr. Halberstadt. This means to modulate the same shape of pattern to a new area of the scale. If your first pattern was 1-2-1-2-3 then the shift might be 5-6-5-6-7. Once again, it’s important to play with conviction and picture the notes on a staff while playing the pattern. If working on this in a group, it’s also key to listen to the other players while you’re playing and resting.
There’s more that can be done with this concept; for a thorough explanation and musical examples, check out Randy’s book.
In my next article, I hope to discuss some of my favorite tools for practicing jazz. Best wishes for a great spring. Enjoy the journey.
(Endnotes)
1 John Feierabend, Nurturing Music Intelligence, Voice of Washington Music Educators, January 2011, vol. LVI, No. 2, P. 27
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