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Jazz Music Composition

Posted by admin2 on August 16th, 2010 Comments Off



Jazz music composition is the work of expert musicians with the ability to write, and create about the most memorable subject matter. What is more, Jazz music Composition is a course included in colleges and universities who deem it a valued subject to study. Composing Jazz music requires the theory of constructing chords that’re altered or substitute that would fit within the rules of thumb of composition.

Meaning, experimentation is fine given that you know how to actually be fitted into the musical shocks in the piece in a way to not disrupt the flow. It is mandatory to look after the essence of Jazz music a component of you when creating, and keep all considerations to restrict creative imagination out of your head. The purpose of Jazz music composition is to create what you feel about any subject into the reasonable of your musical work. To find your way into the making of Jazz music composition you should observe the ability of basic theory in ear training, notes on various instruments, key signatures, scales, chords, intervals, counterpoint, harmony, melody, music terminology, clefs, meters and time signatures, transposing of various instruments, and music reading.

Being attentive to Jazz music from various artists will present you with a feel for the sort of composition you will need to create. You can begin with music arranging which is recreating an old song with new ideas. For example, it has been done over and over by professional musicians to use a public domain song, or ask permission to use a particular song. One example is Chaka Khan’s ” The End Of A Love Affair” written for Billie Holiday by Edward C. Redding in an arrangement that fit Chaka Khan. There are many versions of Jazz standards like “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”, “Misty”, and “Stormy Weather” by different people who desired to either keep the elementary structure or interpret the song in their own personal special way. The basic rules to composing a Jazz Composition is to make a subject matter and plan the music around it.

Meaning, as in basic songwriting structure you will require a beginning, middle, bridge, and ending. The order is invariably up to the person(s )creating the music. You can start with the themes most frequent in notated Jazz and Blues sheet music or fake book forms. In addition, use the standard theory structure you find on sheet music as a format, but use your own personal ideas. In arranging, you can examine the standard format, and embellish on areas you think needs it. The direction one can go in music arrangement is infinite in keeping with the history of how each style of jazz music was created.

When making Jazz music composition one must continue to remember the essential element present in all true Jazz music which is improvisation. Jazz Improvisation is not notated in any shape, way, or form. As a matter of fact, the improvisation in Jazz composition is invented by pure emotion of the musician moved by the accompaniment. Improvisation in Jazz composition can be in the beginning, the bridge and also at the end of the piece. Most frequently there is embellishment in the heart of the piece, but it all depends on the mood of the creator of the music.

Once you learn the theory behind Jazz music composition, you can discover the shortcuts on creating. For example, lead sheets ordinarily have the Jazz chord symbol above the melody underneath it as an elementary structure to follow. When all is said and done, you will have made your own personal masterpiece as a gift to the world from your heart.

By: Norbert Elliott

Posted in Jazz Festivals

How to Play Jazz Guitar

Posted by admin on November 13th, 2009 No Comments

There are many ways of starting to investigate how to play jazz guitar. Some guitar players see jazz as a way to learn improvisation. Others see jazz guitar as an instrument that accompanies a certain repertoire of songs. But once you start to actually study jazz you are confronted with a head-spinning array of odd looking chord shapes and endless discussion of modes and scales.

Just what is your average beginner guitar player supposed to think when all he wants to do is learn how to play jazz guitar? Well, jazz kind of grew like Topsy from its beginning as part of Black American culture in the early twentieth century. The rest of America and the rest of the world started adding their own interpretations of jazz music.

So now under the heading of jazz guitar we have widely diverse styles as those of Wes Montgomery, Lenny Breau, Joe Pass, Charlie Byrd, John McLaughlin, Herb Ellis, Pat Metheny and Charlie Christian. This list is just off the top of my head and these guys’ playing styles are as different from each other as cheese is from Shinola.

So where is the starting point for anybody who wants to learn how to play jazz guitar? I would have to say the repertoire. There is a body of songs and instrumental pieces that are called jazz standards. There is a website called Jazz Standards dot com that has twenty pages listing one thousand jazz standards.

Here is a list of familiar titles from the top one hundred jazz standards: Body and Soul, All the Things You Are, Summertime, ‘Round Midnight, My Funny Valentine, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Yesterdays, Stella By Starlight, Autumn Leaves, Star Dust, Willow Weep for Me, Honeysuckle Rose, Sweet Georgia Brown, Caravan, The Man I Love, St Louis Blues, How High the Moon, Oh, Lady Be Good!, Take the “A” Train, Embraceable You, On Green Dolphin Street, These Foolish Things, Sophisticated Lady, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Night and Day, Georgia on My Mind and Satin Doll.

So the jazz repertoire seems to be the one common thing amongst the diversity of styles of playing and levels of innovation. Of course you need to get into subjects like what jazz chords are and why they have evolved and the various movements in jazz music but in order to keep it simple start with a list of your favorite songs. Once you have a list of maybe twenty or so songs from the repertoire of jazz standards you can listen to how jazz guitar players have interpreted the songs on your list. From listening to interpretations you can go to learning the chords that you need to play your songs and start practicing them.

As for improvisation, many people feel that in order to learn jazz guitar improvisation you need to learn to play a multitude of exotic scales and modes. A much more enjoyable alternative is to simply play along with your favorite songs. Learn licks from other jazz guitarists. You can always put what you have learned into the theoretical framework later if you feel that you need to. As a general rule, while you are learning, stick to the major scale all over the fretboard.

So, as with any style of music, if you want to learn how to play jazz guitar the jumping off point is the jazz standards and how you want to interpret your favorite pieces.



By: Gyorgy Huba

Posted in Jazz Festivals

Practice Jazz Using Space Age Online Tools

Posted by admin on November 5th, 2009 No Comments

 

It is not unusual for young men and women who are full of God given talent and music enthusiasm to want to dive right in and begin sitting in with musicians who have been around for many years and know how to capture an audience with their playing. To the young “want-to-bees” they just can’t wait for their chance to show what they can do. But for many of these young musicians, their first sit-in with experienced musicians did not yield a happy ending.

One of the problems young musicians have with trying to break into the jazz scene, accord to many seasoned jazz musicians, is they don’t know the tunes. It just stands to reason, “How can young musicians play with seasoned jazz musicians if they don’t know the tunes?” The only way for up and coming musicians to learn and memorize a large number of jazz tunes are through hard work and many hours of practice. Practice, practice, and more practice is the key to becoming an exceptional jazz musician who will eventually be able to play with the best, anywhere at anytime. Getting to that point is not an impossible feat, but it takes a level head and strong determination to achieve. But first, above all you must learn the correct changes for every song you play. This is key!!

In the old days, there was no internet, nor sophisticate music software applications, nor notation software that could bring the music to you in a laid out form. Musicians of old had to spend the time necessary to figure out chord changes, melodic patterns and solo arrangements. Many musicians put an album on the turntable and turned the speed back in order to “cop” the runs and solo changes played by Oscar Peterson and many other great jazz pioneers.

Today it’s a different story. If you want to learn the tunes- which basically mean the jazz Standards- and play them well, there are a number of internet based sites available to get you there. An internet site that is very visual and jazz education based is the site sponsored by Doug McKenzie at http://www.bushgrafts.com/jazz/home.htm. Doug McKenzie also has great educational videos on YouTube for jazz pianists. It’s a great online tool for all jazz instrumentalists.

A great new online jazz practice tool is provided at www.studiobypass.com. StudioBypass allows you to select from over 400 jazz and Latin tunes, listen to and manipulate the song of your choice, edit the final output, then download it onto your computer for future practice sessions. It is a fantastic practice tool for new up-and-coming jazz musicians, and also for seasoned jazz professionals. It’s a new day for jazz musicians, and space age tools are available to help you to become better-than-average jazz musicians.



By: Akhila Choudhary

Posted in Jazz Festivals
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