1. SylabUZ
2. Faculty of Arts
3. winter term 2018/2019
4. WA - oferta ERASMUS / Humanities and Arts, Music - Second-cycle Erasmus programme
5. Improvisation (jazz)

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Improvisation (jazz) - course description

Aim of the course

Becoming familiar with the problem of improvisation in jazz and popular music and presentation of techniques to expand the skills and the consciousness of students which are necessary to perform jazz music, in particular:
[1] Learning the basis abilities connected with jazz improvisation.

[2] Becoming familiar with the harmonic structure of jazz standards.
[3] Development (learning and practical use through playing the instrument in a group) of improvisation elements concerning the following aspects: melody, harmony and rhythm under consideration of the musical language of jazz.

Prerequisites

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Receiving all the required credits for the first year of studies.

Scope

Problems discussed in class:
- playing solo
- playing solo with the rhythm section
- cooperation within the rhythm section
- shaping the sound of an instrumental ensemble
- the use of appropriate improvisation techniques for the particular jazz style
- melody, rhythm, phrasing and harmony in jazz

The discussed problems are being practiced within an instrumental group.

 

Class subjects:

1. Swing and characteristic elements of rhythm, sound and melody

2. Riff and its meaning for creating a phrase and a form

3. The meaning of the rhythm section in a jazz ensemble

4. The cooperation of a soloist and the rhythm section in a jazz ensemble

5. Polyrhythm and its use during improvisation

6. Polymeter during the improvisation in an ensemble

7. Playing “in time” and “out of time” during a solo improvisation

8. Adjusting registers of the accompanying and the solo instruments during the improvisation in an

   ensemble

9. The technique of phrasing “between the bars”

10. „Passing notes” and their use in scales

11. Substitute chords: minor third and tritone substitutions

12. Evolution of the blues harmony

13. Expression in the improvisation

14. Modal improvisation

15. Melody of the Bebop

Teaching methods

Practical exercises in a group of instrumentalists

Learning outcomes and methods of theirs verification

Outcome description	Outcome symbols	Methods of verification	The class form

Assignment conditions

Grade on a basis of a presentation of recorded improvisation of every student.

Recommended reading

J. la Porta: Jazz Articulation
M. Levine: The Jazz Theory
A. Laverne: Tones of runes P. Deneff: Jazz Hanon
W. Weiskopf & R. Ricker: Augmented scales in jazz
R. Ricker: Patterns of four
The New Real Book vol. 1, 2, 3

Further reading

Notes

Modified by mgr Żaneta Kicińska (last modification: 07-05-2018 12:07)