Jazz Theory and Practice Introductory Module: Introduction, program structure, and prerequisites

Transcription

1 IntroductionA Jazz Theory and Practice Introductory Module: Introduction, program structure, and prerequisites A. Introduction to the student A number of jazz theory textbooks have been written, and much of the material in this program has been drawn from them. A survey of these sources reveals two things in particular: every one of them draws on the performing experience of the author, and secondly, no two books are similar in almost any way. This is not true with traditional classical theory (harmony and counterpoint) textbooks, which come from hundreds of years of pedagogical tradition, and, significantly, come from composition, not performance. Models for traditional theory vocal polyphony from the Renaissance, the Chorales and Fugues of J.S. Bach really have no parallel in the jazz repertoire. In many cases the notated score, so important in the study of traditional theory, is not important at all in jazz theory, especially since many jazz musicians hardly use notated music at all. Many jazz theory textbooks assume that the student has little or no knowledge of written music, so a portion of the textbook is dedicated to music rudiments. There are countless ways and means to learn music rudiments (see list at the end of section C), so there is no need to include that material in this program. There is a rudiments test at the end of this module that will indicate whether you are really ready to pursue the material in the jazz theory program, or not. The idea for this program began as a supplementary study for students pursuing the Contemporary Idioms syllabus offered by Conservatory Canada. Contemporary Idioms, as well as jazz, includes a broad sampling of blues, rock, musical theatre, and other music where performance usually involves a loose interpretation of a printed score: reading from chord symbols as Copyright 2012 Peter J. Clements 1

2 well as standard notation, improvisation, providing a bass line, etc. The development of these skills is an important feature of the Contemporary Idioms Syllabus. Pursuing the Contemporary Idioms Syllabus is not a prerequisite for this jazz theory program. Others who might find the program beneficial could well include: (a) Music teachers who want to expand their background in this area. (b) Students who are studying traditional theory, and wish to find out more about jazz theory (c) Anyone interested in jazz who wishes to expand their musical background. B. What s the focus of the program? A subtitle for the program could be The Harmonic Language of Jazz : this course really is about harmony! Not just textbook harmony, but harmony under the fingers as well, which is why some basic keyboard background is essential as well as the rudiments background. Jazz really is a performer s art, which is why the Practice must run in parallel with the Theory every step of the way. Learning the harmonic language of jazz really is an exciting voyage of discovery, and hearing and feeling those chords under the hand is part of the voyage. Thousands of aspiring jazz musicians, especially keyboard and guitar players, have learned the language by listening and imitating ( by ear in other words), often simply by performing with other musicians ( jamming ). Although this is a truly exciting activity it is also very time-consuming; for most musicians it takes years to gain a comprehensive knowledge of jazz harmony doing it only this way. This knowledge will likely reside mostly in aural memory, which means that writing it down, or communicating harmonic ideas to other musicians is difficult at best. In the end, the well-rounded musician needs to have an earful of jazz harmony, but should be also able to read and interpret the chord symbols, and understand common relationships among them. This is what this program is about. 2

3 C. Structure of the program The program is divided into a number of modules, and it is assumed that the student will begin with the first module and follow the order in which the materials are presented, although a student with some jazz background could easily move freely among the various modules. The modules are as follows: Introductory Module: self-administered rudiments test PART A: Module 1: The basic melodic resources: scales(modes), tetrachords, melodic patterns. 1a 1b 1c Tetrachords; trichords The Major Scale Family The Minor Scale Family Module 2: The basic harmonic resources: added 6 th and 7 th chords, and the common harmonic pattern: II V I 2a 2b 2c Chord Labelling; the Dominant-7 th Chord Added-6 th and Minor-7 th Chords Major-7 th, Half-diminished-7 th chords; II V I Module 3: Review, practice test and term test. PART B: Module 4: Building a repertoire of essential harmonic patterns. 4a The turnaround 4b Circles of 5ths 4c The basic blues Module 5: Expanding the harmonic resources 5a 5b 5c Dim 7 th, 9 th chords, some new scales Extensions: 11 th and 13 th chords Other harmonic structures 3

4 Module 6: Putting it all together; adding the bass line. 6a 6b 6c Beyond basic blues Counterpoint in jazz The bass line Module 7: Review, practice test, and final test Within each module there are a number of topics; topics are assembled under three headings (like chapters), each starting with an exposition of the material, a recommended listening list (all found on YouTube), followed by a PLAY/SING and WRITE sections that both require the student to use a music editor. (see D. required software below). Modules typically use the following plan: Module 2: The Basic Harmonic Resources Module 2a The Dominant-7 th chord Section (1) Section (2) Last Section Listening list Module 2a PLAY/SING Exercise (1) Exercise (2) Exercise(n) Module 2b WRITE Exercise (1) Exercise (2) Exercise(n) Module 2b: Added 6 th and Minor 7 th chords etc. 4 The PLAY/SING section is most important; jazz, above all, is a performing art, and studying a topic on the printed page must only be part of a learning process that includes hearing, playing, writing, and understanding. The student might assess his/her own progress in the PLAY/SING section, or work through it with a teacher. Often there will be duets that can be performed with computer backup or with another performer, and some exercises have both easier and harder versions. As well as being a performing art, jazz is also mostly ensemble performance, and the ensemble experience, even with just two people playing

5 together, is essential to develop good rhythmic playing and improvisation skills. Registration in the program provides the student with feedback for all WRITE components. After the WRITE assignment is complete and has been submitted online, an expert assessor will go over the assignment, provide comments and return the results to the student. D. Required Software All the PLAY/SING and WRITE components of the course are all contained in MUS (Music notation) files, so that music examples can be played back, edited, and created. There are countless opportunities to play along with the MUS files, so playing back the files with a keyboard close by is a big advantage. Most computers (especially laptops) have very small speakers, so a plugin sound system with larger speakers is highly desirable. There are lots of good low-cost plugin speaker systems. The software required for the course is FINALE Songwriter, 2010 version or later, which is available for US$ There are several FINALE products available; look for a review of the products with a link elsewhere in the Introduction Module. If you have never used FINALE software, don t be intimidated! A page of printed music is a complex document, and a really well-designed music editor requires hundreds of commands, but we won t be using most of them! Embedded in the PLAY/SING and WRITE pages are step-by-step instructions for using the FINALE editor, with new concepts introduced as they are needed for making music. By the time you finish the course you will have a good working knowledge of FINALE, so that you can create quality printed music of all kinds. You will also be able to grow into the larger more complex versions of the software. 5

6 E. Recommended prerequisites 1. Keyboard: This is not only a program for keyboard players, but some basic keyboard skills really are essential for the PLAY/SING exercises. As a minimum the student should be able to read and play two-handed chords at some steady tempo (any tempo can be set for the PLAY/SING exercises). 2. Rudiments: Many existing jazz theory textbooks assume that the student is starting with virtually no prior knowledge of written music, and a portion of the book is spent on music rudiments. This program assumes that the student comes to the course with a thorough grounding in music rudiments, therefore rudiments is not part of the course. A thorough grounding means that this body of musical knowledge must be as familiar to the student as his/her native spoken language. This knowledge is, in fact, the basic vocabulary and syntax of the musical language; the language of jazz, classical music, and much other music. MUSIC RUDIMENTS 1. Pitch identification, and fluent reading in at least two clefs (treble and bass clefs) 2. Common time signatures, including compound time, and an understanding of rhythmic note values. 3. Key signatures for all major and minor keys; relative minor and tonic minor; the circle of fifths. 4. Structures (whole step/half step) of major and minor scales, and the seven diatonic modes. 5. Musical interval identification, inversion, compound intervals. 6. Basic triad identification: major, minor, diminished, augmented, with inversions. 7. Transposition 8. Basic chord movement; cadences. Elsewhere in the program you will find a link to a music rudiments test. Before you decide to pursue and pay for the jazz theory program, and if your knowledge of music rudiments is limited, it is essential that you try this test. Record the time it takes you to complete each page, and check your answers with the solution pages given at the end of the test. If you don t score 75% or more you are not ready to do the jazz theory program. 6

7 If you are below the mark, the following resources are recommended for further preparation: a. Conservatory Canada: Theory 1 through Theory 4 b. Royal Conservatory of Music: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Rudiments (formerly Preliminary Rudiments +Theory 1 & 2). Text: Mark Sarnecki: The Complete Elementary Music Rudiments. (Frederick Harris, 2010) c. Self-instruction textbooks: here is a sampling: John Clough, Joyce Conley, and Claire Boge. Scales, Intervals, Keys, Triads, Rhythm and Meter, a programmed text. 3rd Ed. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1999). Paul O. Harder and Greg A. Steinke. Harmonic Materials in Tonal Music; A Programed Course. Part I. 8th Edition. (Toronto: Allyn and Bacon, 1994). Robert Ottman and Frank Mainous. Programmed Rudiments of Music. (Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995). d. Internet resources. Not sure about how much you know? Return to the Intro menu, and try the rudiments test it s free! 7