Rules Rock!

"This is the fun class!", my classical flutist friend divulged upon entering the "Beginning Improvisation" classroom, finding that I had joined their ranks. 

Gilad Atzmon

As classical musicians, many of us see jazz as a land of the free, and home of the brave. Where else can one dress like it is casual Friday, make up a bunch of notes off of the top of his head, "jam" to the music while tapping his toe, and have a round of applause directly after his solo while the piece is still playing? In classical music we do not even receive clapping after a movement is over, let alone an awesome part we have worked hard on and play in the middle of a piece. Just the look of jazz players makes them seem fashionably impressive. They are relaxed, suave, aloof, and often times partially inebriated, like they haven't had the luxury of recovering 
from last night's party gig.

Nat King Cole

?

Freddie Hubbard

Paul Morley

      

You catch my drift.

I have often heard these quotes and felt empowered by the idea of Jazz:

"Play a wrong note once, it's a mistake, play it twice and it's jazz." (a popular phrase)

"Wrong is right." (Thelonious Monk)

"Don't fear mistakes, there are none." (Miles Davis)

In fact, I used the first quote in my improvisation class while I was attempting to boost the confidence of a girl who said she "freaked out" when it was her turn to improvise. Her response was, "If you play a wrong note twice, I guess that is the case, but if you play all wrong notes . . . well, then it's just wrong". I had not thought of that, but it was just the lesson that fate had destined me to learn this week.

Through this first week of learning to improvise, I have come to realize that jazz improvisation is much more structured than what I originally thought. Yes, jazz musicians are cool, laid back and sly, but their mystery is depleting as I learn the tricks of their trade which take lots of practice. During my exercises, when I gave myself guidelines to follow, my improvisation was much more successful than when I let my fingers take over. Perhaps if I was a professional jazz musician and I let my fingers take over, they would remember all of these awesome possibilities that I had previously practiced and played, but I am not yet to that point . . . I am in the beginning.

The Beginning

I made a video before my books had arrived, with only one improvisation class under way and I did not yet have any of the play-along recordings for the class. 

Before filming, I used these warm up drills (scales/arpeggios in Dorian modes - Dmin7, Cmin7, Ebmin7 and Fmin7) provided by my improvisation teacher:

Count Basie
"Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good,
play the same damn note every night!"

I turned my metronome on to make sure I was counting an appropriate number of beats and measures (4) before I moved on to the next chord change. For a while, i improvised and sounded bad, really bad. I should have had the camera on at this point to show you the real starting point of my blues journey. I did not think to do that, but rest contented it would have aroused kicks, giggles, and earplugs. There were wrong notes because I was not comfortable with the scales yet, and I would lose track of the beat because I was trying things that were too complex. Then I remembered a friend from the class telling me to start with just the beginning three notes of each scale. I tried that and it sounded better, but I felt it was so boring with only those three notes. 

Rhythms that Equal a Quarter Note

Soon, I realized that it was not the three notes that were a snooze, but me. After all, I have heard some players play just one pitch in an interesting way. With only three notes to choose from, the creative part would have to be the rhythm that I played the notes in. I then played through the chord sequence several times in different rhythmic combinations. Each time, I attempted to include one rhythm from a chart I knew well -- Rhythms that Equal a Quarter Note --  something I had to memorize in my undergraduate Eurhythmics training at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

This is what resulted:

Not terrible. Granted, I had not thought to swing all of the rhythmic possibilities yet. Perimeters and structure are the key for beginning to make good choices in improvisation.

Here are some other organized practices and conclusions that have further helped me this week:

Sing before playing: Jamey Aebersold writes that singing is "the real you". Usually one can more easily sing what he hears in his mind than play it on his instrument; plus, the inflections and mood are more ingrained in the voice. Sing something neat, then learn to play it.

Play On or Off of a Pre-Selected Beat: Challenge yourself to start a phrase on the "and" of beat 1 after each chord change. Then see if you can begin the phrase each time on beat 2. Make different rules for yourself and find out if you are aware and adept enough to follow them.

Video Yourself: Watch yourself and see what worked and what did not.

Keep Track of the Beat: Togetherness and good rhythm is essential for successful music making. If you are attempting something so complicated that it is not with the beat or your cannot keep track of it, then you should simplify what you improvise until you are with the band/play-along/metronome.

Play with Confidence: Nothing is worse than a wrong note played without confidence. Try to convince everyone that you meant to play what you did.