This page is a collection of tools designed to aid in the development of improvisation skills.
Impressions-So What Primer.pdf
This document details basics for grooving and improvising in a simple traditional jazz setting. It supports the beginning improvisation lecture held in July 2007 at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, AK.
An explanation of how the improvisation documents on this webpage can be put to good use.
First Timers Start Here. Five Notes Will Do.pdf
Ideally, one has a teacher to help guide progress through these materials. Acquiring a sense of accomplishment and "correctness" is a common desire for those of us devoting time to this elusive task of spontaneous composition. This document is among several that are designed to focus one's efforts and yield relatively obvious results. Did it work?Another direction to consider early on.
Another direction to consider early on. There is no one path to improvisation fluency. Any number of skills can be employed or ignored, as your taste dictates. Most well-known creatives are such because they deviated from the norm and made a new creation.
These
are the same voicings played on Squashua. Play along with this mp3 by ear. Notice the consonance and
dissonance felt with each note chosen.
Tim Miller on Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony
Memorize and play along with Tim's lines (the guitar solo) as he improvises over this sequence of fourteen chords. How clearly are the chords reflected in Tim's pitch choices? Does he clearly and completely outline each harmony?I vi ii V, triads, mm=78, Reggae.mp3
This play-along features diatonic triads in various inversions and root position.
Repeated using the same C major four note motif of your creation, listen to tendencies of motion over each of the four harmonies. Play several repetitions before changing the four note motif.
Susquehanna University Improvisation Class
Select Sample Assignments
Assignment C: Letting Go
G major/E minor mp3 play along
a. Play. Just let go. Play whatever. Be in the key. Be out. Explore freely. How interested are you? How interesting are you? Can you let go and not worry about it?
b. Explore fundamentals with the play along: Play G major/E minor scale and arpeggio exercises. Play fragments of scale and arpeggio exercises. Don't worry about aligning your phrases with meter. Match the pulse as best you can (be in time) but place your phrases freely.
c. Combine a and b. Using the structure of b and the freedom of a, can you find a balance that feels musical?
The key is changed but key elements of the accompanying groove remain the same as the G major/E minor play along. How similar do you sound from one key to the next? To what degree do technical requirements of your instrument dictate musical choices?
Assignment D: Begin Ear Work
While this is a progression of several different chords, it is possible to play one scale over the entire phrase. Search for that one scale by playing along with this mp3 by ear. Notice the consonance and dissonance felt with each note chosen. These are the same voicings that Vardan plays on Squashua.
Tim Miller on Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony
Memorize and play along with Tim's lines (the guitar solo) as he improvises over this sequence of fourteen chords. How clearly are the chords reflected in Tim's pitch choices? Does he clearly and completely outline each harmony? Do you consider it to be a musical solo?
Assignment E: Transcription
This is a recording of a phrase that is discussed in four of the pdf pages at the top of this webpage. Vardan Ovsepian, Take Toriyama, and I recorded this in 1999. Learn this fragment of music by ear. Memorize it.
AllofMephr2.mp3
Vardan Ovsepian, Take Toriyama, and I
Vardan Ovsepian, Take Toriyama, and I
Olive Me, slower.mp3
Play along with this two-harmony vamp of Gma7 and B7. Which of the mp3 fragments above fits over this play along?
Olive Me, faster.mp3
Play along with this two-harmony vamp of Gma7 and B7.
Louis Armstrong on Hotter Than That
Sing along with the scat solo on this recording, from memory. Do not notate this music. Can you identify the segment of dotted-quarters that obscures the barline?
Assignment G: Freddie Hubbard on Maiden Voyage
This piece is on Herbie Hancock's album called Maiden Voyage. Be able to sing Freddie's part from 2:50 - 3:07. Choose any fragment (3-10 notes) and learn it well enough to play it with the record. Prepare mixolydian scales in D, F, Eb, and Db. Prepare dorian scales in D, F, Eb, and Db. Dorian is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. F dorian is F G Ab Bb C D Eb for example.
Assignment H: Miles Davis on So What
Learn the first 16 bars of Miles' solo.
Sing.
Sing along with the recording.
Advance Singing: With the cut playing, be able to sing his pitches slightly before he plays them.
Play:
a. Be able to play along with Miles.
b. Using pitches of your choosing, not Miles', be able to play along with his rhythm, matches when you play precisely with Miles' articulations.
Assignment I: Mike Stern on Jones Street
Be prepared to discuss the phrasing of 1:57 to 2:21. Where do his phrases begin and end? Consider how you might finish each phrase, assuming you began each phrase as Mike did.
Assignment J: Clark Terry on Clark's Expedition
Clark's solo begins at 0:47. Transcribe any four bar phrase. Using the changes provided, analyze the pitch content as it relates to the harmony.
Assignment K: Wayne Krantz
Listen to Wayne Krantz Radio at http://waynekrantz.com/index_new.html.
Prepare to discuss Wayne's phrasing and meter. How does it differ from yours?
Assignment L: Students’ Choice of Improvisation Topics
Identify an improvisation skill that you would like to acquire. Limit the complexity such that you are able to make distinguishable progress in one week of practice. Be prepared to demonstrate how you will practice to acquire this skill.