Jazz Improvisation
- Dr. Bob Lawrence
- Jul 31
- 7 min read
Congrats, You're Improvising
Greetings Jazzers! I just released this week's podcast episode titled "Congrats, You're Improvising." Here is a transcript clip that I know you'll enjoy.
Check out the Podcast Episode at JazzPianoSkillsPodcast.com
Warm Regards, Dr. Bob Lawrence
Jazz Piano Skills
EXCERPT FROM EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Now, it's time for us to talk improvisation. Okay, so to begin, I think it is important that we define that we take the time to define improvisation. It's important for us to understand what improvisation is and what it is not. Because the reality is this. If you ask 10 jazz musicians to define improvisation, I promise you, you're going to receive 10 different answers.
Now, some of the answers would contain some of the same academic jargon, while other answers would be very vague or leave you wondering, what the heck did they just say? So, you know, see, I don't know about you, but I think this is a huge problem. It's a huge problem in jazz education. You know, know, when I want to learn something, when I want to learn a discipline, and there is not an agreement amongst the experts within the discipline as to what it is. I become concerned very quickly because I simply, I think to myself, wait a minute, I want to learn this discipline and the so-called experts in the discipline can't agree with regards as to what it is and how you should do it. Dang, I think I'm in trouble. Right? And that's, unfortunately, that's how it is with improvisation. You all want to learn how to improvise, but yet not certain as to exactly what it means to improvise. And the so-called experts in the field give you a wide range of answers. In fact, most of the answers are how I like to describe them as being very wide and very shallow. In other words, the answers try to cover a lot of ground in order to play safe while at the same time, be void of real substance that you can actually sink into conceptually and physically to ensure your success. Here's a sample of what I mean. I did a Google search before starting this episode. And Google search was simply this. What does it mean to improvise? Here are some of the answers. Are you ready?
Number one, create and perform music spontaneously or without preparation. Whoa. Perform without preparation. Spontaneously, without preparation, I'm out. Okay, I'm out.
Number two, to make something up on the spot, or figure it out as you go. What kind of advice is that? Hey, man, just figure it out as you go. Whoa. All right.
How about this one?
The spontaneous again, here we go with spontaneous, the spontaneous creation of musical ideas while performing. Whoa, wait a minute, I have to perform. And while I'm performing, I have to have the spontaneous creation of musical ideas. I don't think so.
Here's another one. spontaneous invention, again, spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts, any performance. Wow. So you have to invent spontaneously invent while performing.
Here's another one. Start by building a foundation in music theory, practice ear training, develop your own musical your own develop your own musical vocabulary through listening and mimicking. Okay. How do I do that? You know, and finally, here's something that is actually getting very close to the truth. Okay. Listen to this one. This is this is pretty good.
When soloing a performer, instrumentalist or singer creates a new melodic, a new melodic line to fit a song's chord progression. Now we're getting closer.
But you see what I mean? Wide and shallow answers as to the all important question, what does it mean to improvise? What is improvisation? You know, another thing that I find very troubling in jazz conversations, you often hear of, you often hear on one hand, jazz referred to as being a language. But yet on the other hand, It is the spontaneous, As we just heard, it is the spontaneous creation of musical ideas while performing. What language do you know that is spontaneously created? I'm waiting. I'll wait. You can email.
What language do you know that is spontaneously created? I do not know of any such language. So if jazz is a language, then it too must be bound by the limitations of language. And language is not spontaneously created. It's not. The bottom line, we jazz musicians can't have it both ways. We cannot claim that jazz is a language on one hand and then claim that it is spontaneously created. They don't add up - just doesn't match.
So the truth is this jazz is a language. And like language, it is not spontaneously created. Truth. Now this should be very liberating for everyone listening. We all know that we can learn languages if we put our minds to it, right? We can learn how to speak French. We can learn how to speak German. We can learn how to speak Italian, and yes, we can learn how to speak jazz. We just can't learn how to speak these languages spontaneously without preparation. It's impossible. So the answer that I gave earlier that I credited with getting closer to remind you was when soloing a performer, an instrumentalist or singer creates a new melodic line to fit a song's chord progression. This is 100 % correct. Jazz improvisation is about creating melodic lines to fit the song's chord progression. Melody flows from harmony. I have said this a million times, if not more. What is even more impressive about this answer is what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that the new melodic lines are created spontaneously.
This is excellent, because new melodic lines are not created spontaneously. They are practiced. Remember the quote I mentioned last week from the Jerry Coker's 1980 book, Complete Method for Improvisation, page 23? I have it memorized, right? But if you don't remember, let me, let me quote it again. Jerry Coker says patterns and themselves are not very creative though they often serve as springboards for creative melodies. Yet a casual glance, again, a casual glance at any transcribed improvised solo will quickly reveal a notable presence of patterns and other common cliches that were acquired by the improviser in practice, rather than performance. That is to say the pattern was practiced apart from any specific song in preparation for improvisation and repeated a sufficient number of times in practice, so that the pattern becomes a habitual oral memory and physical experience that carries over into performance naturally, and not as contrived practice. I've often said that is the greatest paragraph ever written in any jazz education book, because it gets right to the heart of it all. It speaks
100 % truth.
So, yep, patterns, melodic ideas are practiced. Again, how liberating is this? Now, I remember reading this paragraph from this book, this Jerry Coker book for the very first time I was I was so excited. I jumped out of my chair, I ran to my piano, sat down, place my hands on the keys, and then I froze and with my brow furrowed, I said to myself, wait a minute. What patterns? Mr. Coker, what patterns? Where are the patterns? Where's the beef?
I ran back the book and I looked for the patterns. The patterns that showed melodic lines fitting to a chord progression. I frantically thumbed through the entire book saying, are the patterns? Where's the beef? And again, for those of you old enough to remember the 80s, you remember that Wendy's commercial that little lady shouting, Where's the beef? That's what I was doing. I was like, Where are the patterns? You know, last week, I referenced the Reese's commercial this week, Wendy's next week, who knows? I'll come up with something. I'll figure it out. So back to the patterns. Where are they?
Well, they're not there. So after much searching and coming up empty, I realize that maybe, just maybe, I need to come up with the patterns. Maybe my search should be about discovering the patterns that appeal to me, patterns that speak to me, patterns that resonate with me, patterns that I could use to begin building my melodic vocabulary that I could then use for improvising.
You know, and it was at that moment I realized the importance of knowing chord tones. It was at that moment I realized the importance of seeing my block chords in not only root position, but in inversions as well. And it was at that moment that I began to understand the importance of having a multi-dimensional understanding of chords, arpeggios, and that a one-dimensional approach would not be sufficient. So soon after I realized that there must be a way to shuffle the notes of a harmonic shape. There must be a way to do this, to shuffle the notes of a harmonic shape, a chord, to shuffle those that shape around those notes around to create various melodic motifs. And this is precisely what I've been presenting in the last two podcast episodes, how to use a formulaic approach to shuffle the notes of harmonic shapes, chords and root position for second and third inversions to create melodic motifs patterns that can be practiced to develop improvisation vocabulary.
Once I understood this process, I could begin to isolate sound, major, dominant, minor, half-diminished, and diminished to practice my newly discovered patterns, my newly discovered patterns, my patterns. Again, as I mentioned last week, not to memorize them, right? I don't practice them to memorize them, but to simply experience them so that I one day could recall them. Again, you can never recall what you've never experienced. So my goal was to experience these patterns, create these patterns, then experience these patterns so that I could recall them practice them so that I can recall them when playing. And again, another way saying that right, I've said this a million times as well, your hands and ears can never go where they've never been. So after practicing my patterns, using isolated sound, it was time to begin connecting various chords within the sound. Now, the first time I did that, wow. The first time when I created a melodic line that went through two different chords, one melodic line that went through two different chords, I remember being overwhelmed with joy because I just discovered how to improve.
And that is exactly what we are going to do today. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we are going to tap into the 32 melodic motifs, the patterns that we created last week for all 12 major chords to begin improvising. Number two, we will establish a control pattern and an experiment pattern to help us maintain a logical and simplistic approach to improvisation development. And number three, we will play our new melodic lines through an entire measure, right, entire measure covering two chords to count one of the next measure. So important to count one of the next measure listening for and playing to count one is very important for improvisation development.
So, how fun is this going to be?
Check out the Podcast Episode at JazzPianoSkillsPodcast.com
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