The Classroom Guide to Jazz Improvisation

by McNeil, John; Nielsen, Ryan

• ISBN13: 9780197614648
• ISBN10: 0197614647
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780197614662
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2024-02-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

You don't have to be a jazz expert to give your students a great introduction to improvisation.

The Classroom Guide to Jazz Improvisation provides what music educators have sought for decades: an easy, step-by-step guide to teaching jazz improvisation in the music classroom. Offering classroom-tested lesson plans, authors John McNeil and Ryan Nielsen draw on their combined 54 years of teaching experience and extensive work as professional jazz musicians to remove the guesswork and mystique from the teaching process.

Each lesson is founded in the authors' realization that the brain responds differently to improvisation than it does rote memory. The resulting lesson plans are flexible, easy to use, and equip students with a quick understanding of the simple choices they can make to create effective jazz lines. Lessons are designed for a range of settings, from ensemble rehearsal to private instruction. Music educators may find relief in the concrete, straightforward materials on rhythm section instruments like bass, drums, piano, and guitar. Beyond the nuts and bolts of improvisation, this book contains carefully curated listening lists, honest discussions about the meaning of the music, and talking points to advocate for jazz programs to administrators and parents.

With an inviting and conversational approach, The Classroom Guide to Jazz Improvisation is an essential resource for all music educators, from early career teachers to seasoned instructors.

Author Biography

John McNeil is a jazz trumpet player living in Brooklyn, New York. He has played with Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and many others. He is also an active writer/producer on the New York jazz scene and is the author of The Art of Jazz Trumpet and Flexus: Trumpet Calisthenics for the Modern Improvisor. John recently retired from the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he taught for nearly 40 years.

Ryan Nielsen is the trumpeter in the Kobie Watkins Grouptet. Their first album, Movement, was released to international critical acclaim and was named one of the ten best albums of 2018 by Howard Reich, former member of the Pulitzer Music Jury. Ryan has performed and/or recorded with Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Delfeayo Marsalis, and the Summit Brass. He is currently Associate Professor of Trumpet at Utah Valley University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Getting Started
Everyone Can Improvise
Training the Subconscious to Make Choices
Beyond Rote Memory
How to Use This Book
Tips for Getting Started
Reconsidering Beginning with the Blues

Chapter 2 Basic Concepts: The Root Triad and Jazz Rhythms
Chord Versus Scale
Reading Jazz Chord Symbols
Lesson Plan 1: Improvising on the Root Triad
Rhythm Section Tips
Lesson Plan 2: Adding Rhythm

Teacher's Notes
Why Start with the Root Triad?
Choosing Chords to Begin With
Adjusting Range
Designing Rhythm
Rhythm Section
General Tips
Piano: Basic Voicings
Guitar: Basic Voicings
Bass: Walking Bass Lines with Triad Pitches
Drums: Basic Ride Cymbal Technique, Hi-Hat Usage, and Kicks

Chapter 3 Adding the 2nd (1-2-3-5)
Lesson Plan 3: Adding the 2nd Degree
Lesson Plan 4: Building Longer 8th-Note Lines

Teachers' Notes
Other Possibilities on 1-2-3-5
Moving from Chord to Chord
The Metronome in Rehearsal
Tunes to Begin With
More Advanced Rhythms (3/4 + 2/4)

Chapter 4: Approaching Chord Tones from Below
Lesson Plan 5: Approach Tones (Half-Step-Below)

Teacher's Notes
Upbeats and Anticipation
Different Chord Qualities (Major)
Rhythm Section
Drums: Lightly Kicking the Upbeats
Piano/Guitar: Approaching 3, 5 | 7, 9 Voicings from Below

Chapter 5 Approaching Chord Tones from Above
Lesson Plan 6: Approaching Chord Tones from a Scale Step Above
Lesson Plan 7: 8th-Note Lines with Approach Tones

Teacher's Notes
Rhythm Section
Bass: Adding Approach Tones to Bass Lines

Chapter 6: Approaching Chord Tones by Two Notes
Lesson Plan 8: Two-Note Approach Tones (Above/Below)
Lesson Plan 9: Approaching Chord Tones from Two Notes Above or Two Notes Below

Chapter 7: Approaching Chord Tones by Three or More Notes
Lesson Plan 10: Approaching with Three Notes (Part 1)
Lesson Plan 11: Approaching with Three Notes (Part 2)
Lesson Plan 12: Approaching the 7th

Teacher's Notes
Approaching with Four or Five Notes
Simplifying Three Note Approaches for Less Experienced Students

Chapter 8: Improvising on the Entire Chord/Scale (Part 1)
Lesson Plan 13: Diatonic Thirds

Teacher's Notes
Singing Tetrachords
Adding Syncopation to Diatonic Thirds
More Advanced Use of Thirds
Descending Lines
Rhythm Section
Bass: Using Diatonic Thirds in Bass Lines
Piano: Using Diatonic Thirds in Comping

Chapter 9 Improvising on the Entire Chord/Scale (Part 2): Longer Lines and Harmonic Changes
Lesson Plan 14: Creating Longer Lines with Thirds
Lesson Plan 15: Moving from One Chord/Scale to Another

Chapter 10 General Scale Skills: Triads, 7th Chords, and Other Intervals
Lesson Plan 16: Triads and Other Structures
Lesson Plan 17: Mixing It Up

Teacher's Notes
Organizing Other Structures in the Chord/Scale (7th-Chords, Intervals)
Combining Lessons

Chapter 11: Understanding Chord Symbols and Respelling Chords
First, Chord Symbols
What Is Respelling?
How to Respell
Examples of Respelling
Extra Credit: Parallel Structures

Teacher's Notes
Respelling the Dominant
Respelling the Altered Dominant
Respelling the Half-Diminished Chord
Respelling Lydian
Rhythm Section
Bass: Only Respell When Soloing
Piano/Guitar: Voicing the Altered Dominant, When to Respell

Chapter 12: The II-7 | V7 | Id7 (Part 1) - Using #b7 to 3 to Move from Chord to Chord
Lesson Plan 18: Hearing #b7 to 3 on the II-7 | V7 | Id7
Lesson Plan 19: Using #b7 to 3 to Improvise on a II-7 | V7
Lesson Plan 20: Using #b7 to 3 to Improvise on a V7 | Id7
Lesson Plan 21: Using #b7 to 3 to Improvise on a II-7 | V7 | Id7

Teacher's Notes
Singing Backgrounds
Tips for Building 8th-Note Lines
Rhythm Section
Piano/Guitar: Using Stepwise Motion

Chapter 13 II-7 | V7 | I (Part 2): Melodic Arpeggios and Dominant Cycles
Lesson Plan 22: Towards Improvising on a II-7 | V7 | Id7
Lesson Plan 23: Introducing ##9 and #b9 on the V7 Chord
Lesson Plan 24: Dominant Cycles (Part 1) - 1-2-3-5 and 1-5-3-5
Lesson Plan 25: Dominant Cycles (Part 2) - 3-5-7-9 Arpeggios
Lesson Plan 26: Dominant Cycles (Part 3) - Adding and Dropping Beats
Lesson Plan 27: 3-5-7-9 + Approach Tones - Dropping and Adding Beats
on a II-7 | V7 | Id7

Chapter 14: Playing the Blues (Part 1)
Why We Didn't Start with the Blues
What the Blues Means to Us
Lesson Plan 28: Using Approach Tones to Hear the Harmonic Form of the Blues (Less Advanced)
Lesson Plan 29: 1-2-3-5 on the Blues (Less Advanced)

Teacher's Notes
Harmonic Options on the Blues
The Turnaround
Rhythm Section
Piano: An Example of Comping on the Blues

Chapter 15: The Vocal Form of the Blues
Lesson Plan 30: Introducing the Vocal Form of the Blues (Less Advanced)
Lesson Plan 31: Instrumental Blues (Part 1 - Less Advanced)
Lesson Plan 32: Instrumental Blues (Part 2 - Less Advanced)
Lesson Plan 33: Instrumental Blues (Part 3 - More Advanced)
List of Blues Tunes

Teacher's Notes
Rhythm Section
Recommended Blues Tracks for Piano

Chapter 16: A Guide to Transcribing (Learning by Ear)
Getting Started
Make It Their Own
A Few Examples of Creative Practice Inspired by Transcribing

Chapter 17: The Benefits of Play - Why We Teach Jazz
A Word About a Word: Play
The Effects of Jazz: Talking Points for Admin and Parents

Appendix: Chord Symbols
Index