This is a continuation of one part of a set of blogs about practicing jazz.  The first part has three hundred comments and was getting a little out of control so this continuation was started.

Below I present some ideas about what I’ve been practicing and in a companion blog What Are You Practicing? I invite you to share your thoughts.  Hopefully we can all learn from each other and grow in more interesting and beneficial ways.

When I was doing doctoral study at Indiana University in 1988 I took a class with David Baker. It was a history of Bebop class and half the time in class we played the elements of bebop; tunes, scale fragments, cadences, etc. There’s a specific set of language that identifies bebop as a specific improvisational dialect and David was trying to teach it to us.

One of his most frequently stressed maxims was that if you really wanted to play bebop, the best way to get the language was to play the bebop tunes. His point was that the language of bebop was codified and condensed into the compositions by the master musicians of the period, especially Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell.  So, to learn the language you should practice those compositions as etudes in all keys.  I knew he was right, but among the other things going on in my life and study I couldn’t commit the time.

However, in the fall of 2008 I decided to devote myself to this endeavor.  I wanted to try walking that disciplined path to not only engrain bebop language into my ears, mind, and body, but to develop a larger ability – to most accurately play what I was imagining.  I started by memorizing some bebop heads I didn’t have yet.  Pretty soon I discovered that I could memorize them quite rapidly and so I started to extend by initially memorizing them in all keys.  Later, I started going back through the list and playing in all keys some tunes I previously had in just one key.

Initially the tunes were all bebop heads because I was concentrating on that aspect of language acquisition.  But I have expanded the list to include some standards, and some tunes that extend from the bebop tradition but are more contemporary.  This gives me some flexibility in how I practice and what I concentrate on when I practice.  For example, when I play Cherokee in all keys, I’m don’t have to concern myself with the pitches very much so I focus on air stream and keeping my embouchure focused in all registers.  When I play standards like There Will Never Be Another You or contrafacts like Prince Albert (written on the changes to All The Things You Are) I sometimes follow a chorus of the melody with a chorus of improvisation on the changes.

So, here is the list.  It grows, some days by adding keys, some by adding tunes and I’ll update it as that happens.  I’ll also make comment on practicing, observing what effects it might have, challenges it might present (for instance I really have to work on playing Dexterity at all – the tune just doesn’t “ring” with me!).  Tunes that are followed by “(12)” are ones I play in all keys. I invite you to make suggestions, especially of bebop heads, in the comments.

The List

26-2

A Night In Tunisia

Afternoon In Paris

All Of Me (12)

All The Things You Are

Altoitis (12)

Anthropology (12)

Airegin

Au Privave (12)

Autumn Serenade (12)

Barbados (12)

Beatrice (12)

Beautiful Love

Bebop (12)

Bernie’s Tune (12)

Billie’s Bounce (12)

Bloomdido (12)

Blue Seven (12)

Blues for Alice (12)

Bluesette (12)

Body and Soul (12)

Bouncin’ With Bud (12)

Boplicity (12)

Broad Way Blues

Brownie Speaks (12)

Bud Powell (12)

But Not for Me

Butch and Butch (12)

Bye Bye Blackbird (12)

Celia (12)

C.T.A. (12)

Cantaloupe Island

Ceora

Cherokee (12)

Cheryl (12)

Chi-Chi (12)

Confirmation (12)

Corcovado

Cottontail

Countdown

Crazeology (12)

Daahoud (12)

Dance of the Infidels (12)

Desafinado

Dewey Square (12)

Dexterity

Dig

Donna Lee (12)

Embraceable You (12)

E.S.P.

Eternal Triangle (12)

Farmer’s Market (12)

Fifth House

Fingers (12)

Four (12)

Freedom Jazz Dance (12)

Freight Train (12)

Fried Bananas (12)

Giant Steps

Girl From Ipanema (12)

Good Bait (12)

Got A Match? (12)

Green Dolphin Street

Groovin’ High (12)

Half Nelson (12)

Hallucinations (12)

Have You Met Miss Jones

Hocus-Pocus (12)

Honeysuckle Rose (12)

Hot House (12)

I Got Rhythm (12)

I Hear A Rhapsody

I Love You

I Should Care (12)

I’ll Remember April (12)

In A Sentimental Mood (12)

In Your Own Sweet Way

Invitation

It Could Happen To You (12)

It’s You Or No One (12)

Jeru (12)

Jordu (12)

Joy Spring (12)

Just Friends

Like Someone In Love (12)

Little Willie Leaps (12)

Lush Life (12)

Mahjong

Maiden Voyage

Marmaduke (12)

Mayreh (12)

Milestones (old) (12)

Minority

Mohawk (12)

Moments Notice (12)

Moose The Mooche

My Funny Valentine (12)

My One And Only Love (12)

My Romance (12)

Nica’s Dream

Oleo

Omicron (12)

Opus De Funk

Ornithology

Parisian Thoroughfare

Perhaps (12)

Prelude To A Kiss

Prince Albert (12)

Quicksilver

Ray’s Idea (12)

Recordame

Relaxin’ at Camarillo (12)

Room 608 (12)

Sandu (12)

Satellite

Scrapple from the Apple (12)

Segment

Serenade To A Bus Seat (12)

Serpent’s Tooth (12)

Shaw ‘Nuff

Speak No Evil

Split Kick (12)

Solar

Some Other Blues

Someday My Prince Will Come (12)

Sub-Conscious Lee

Stablemates

Steeplechase (12)

Stella By Starlight

Swedish Schnaps (12)

Tempus Fugue-It (12)

The Days of Wine and Roses

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (12)

There Is No Greater Love (12)

There Will Never Be Another You (12)

Things To Come

Visa (12)

Walkin’

Wave

Webb City (12)

Wee (12)

Wee-Dot (12)

Witch Hunt

Without A Song

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Woody’n You

Yardbird Suite (12)

Yesterdays (12)

You Are Too Beautiful (12)

You Stepped Out Of A Dream (12)

What do you think?

Introduction

Recently, I’ve been studying some of Steve Coleman’s thoughts about music.  I’ve been aware of his ideas for years, but never looked into the concepts in detail.  Now, I’m spending some time with them and find some interesting.  I haven’t halted my exploration of his ideas, but have decided to spend some time with one of them while I check out others (and continue with my own work in various other areas – please see my practice blog).

The idea I’m working on is Coleman’s concept of Spiral Interval structures.  Essentially, I’m trying to follow Coleman’s own progression of understanding and skill development regarding working with intervals.  He explains in his essay on symmetry that his first step along this path was to write and practice etudes to develop knowledge (aural and tactile/kinetic) of various intervals.  So, I’ve tried to recreate his etudes based on concepts in his essay.  Please visit the Steve Coleman’s original article to read his description and more detail about his concepts of Symmetry

As I’ve been blogging about the work I’m doing, several musicians have asked me about the Symmetrical Interval Spiral Etudes I’ve been playing.  Originally, I was only working on them with C-based pivot tones.  But since there has been interest, and I wanted to expand to other pivot tones anyway, I’ve created additional etudes based on the other eleven chromatic pitches.

The Etudes

Here are links to the etudes I’ve created.  They are all adjusted for saxophone range and you can expand them to the range which your instrument plays. Each one will open to a separate comment and from there, a link will recur that allows you to see the pdf.  (If any of you have suggestions about how to more elegantly handle this in wordpress please let me know and I’ll edit the post!).  Have fun working on these ideas and please let me know what your experience is with them.

C – Coleman Symmetry Exe

F – Coleman Symmetry Exe

Bb – Coleman Symmetry Exe

Eb – Coleman Symmetry Exe

Ab – Coleman Symmetry Exe

Db – Coleman Symmetry Exe

F# – Steve Coleman Symmetry Exe

B – Coleman Symmetry Exe

E – Coleman Symmetry Exe

A – Coleman Symmetry Exe

D – Coleman Symmetry Exe

G – Coleman Symmetry Exe

Many times, students will ignore practicing their ensemble music and instead practice their lesson music (etudes, or concert pieces). While I’m in favor of practicing lesson music, to miss the opportunity to improve through working on ensemble music is just being stupid.

Here’s the situation: if you are playing music in an ensemble that you can already play – that you can sight read – don’t practice it, practice your lesson music instead.

However, if you have ensemble music that you can’t play it’s because you don’t play your instrument well enough. Hmmm, what do you do when you can’t play your instrument well enough – doh!, you practice.

Now if you practice the ensemble music you can’t play until you can play it you’ve accomplished two goals: you can play your ensemble music, and – by definition – you can play better (thus satisfying goal of practicing your lesson music).

Musicians, get smart – practice your ensemble music for ALL of the right reasons.

These are three excerpts of an interview I held with Dr. Billy Taylor in April, 1987 at Carleton College when Dr. Taylor was the Ward Lucas Lecturer.  The video was originally produced by Northfield Public Access Television.

The first video focuses on Dr. Taylor speaking about the place of Jazz in culture and society and touches on the development of jazz.

The next video focuses on Jazz Language, Grammar, and Syntax.

The final video excerpt is concerned with Jazz Melody and Harmony.

I’m starting a competition to see who can create the best re-mix of some of the tunes from Azure Intention, my recent CD on OA2 recordings.

The grand prize of the contest is to have your re-mix premiered on the Jazz Odyssey show hosted by Stan Astrovsky on the great jazz station, KUVO 89.30 FM, kuvo.org online.

Here’s how it works:

1) Get your free mp3 of Color Line

2) Create your re-mix

3) Post your re-mix in a comment to this post

4) Vote in the user poll by December 1 on this blog to determine the winner

Spread the word to your creative friends.  I look forward to hearing the results!

Today I read a facebook update that was bemoaning the lack of “good” tunes being played at jazz gigs in the Denver area.  It was followed by many replies that echoed and extended the complaint.  However, there were very few specific suggestions of tune titles.

So, for all of you who want to hear different, great, jazz tunes when you go out to support the local scene – here’s your chance.  Please make a list and refer this to your friends.  Lets make a new list of “standard” repertoire that won’t bore everyone to death.

Your turn…

Recently a facebook friend, Curtis Gurule, asked a question on his status update about who and when should those who book gigs take a percentage of the fee for their troubles.  It prompted me to write a reply and I thought an interesting enough question to pose it here along with my response to Curtis’ status.

Here’s what I wrote to Curtis:

1. If it’s a pick-up band that’s playing for guaranteed $ the leader should take a fee if he/she wants and offer a specific amount to each player to take or leave. On those gigs the sidemen shouldn’t even ask what the total fee was or who got how much $.
2. If it’s a regular band there should be some agreement among the band members about how those things are handled. You’re right – you need to talk about it and come to an agreement that is totally in the open.
3. If it’s a gig playing for the door it is going to depend on a bunch of other items such as; a) is there a leader or is it a standing group, b) how much promo was put into the gig and who put it in, c) are there any extra possibilities of income such as merchandise or CDs, etc.

In the end, there is no one correct answer but a little conversation will almost always take care of business and let the music-making proceed without the money vibe getting in the way.

What do you think?  How do you handle these situations or how do you like them to be handled?  Can you think of other mitigating factors?

This is one of a set of blogs about practicing jazz.  Below I present some ideas about what I’ve been practicing and in a companion blog What Are You Practicing? I invite you to share your thoughts.  Hopefully we can all learn from each other and grow in more interesting and beneficial ways.

When I was doing doctoral study at Indiana University in 1988 I took a class with David Baker. It was a history of Bebop class and half the time in class we played the elements of bebop; tunes, scale fragments, cadences, etc. There’s a specific set of language that identifies bebop as a specific improvisational dialect and David was trying to teach it to us.

One of his most frequently stressed maxims was that if you really wanted to play bebop, the best way to get the language was to play the bebop tunes. His point was that the language of bebop was codified and condensed into the compositions by the master musicians of the period, especially Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell.  So, to learn the language you should practice those compositions as etudes in all keys.  I knew he was right, but among the other things going on in my life and study I couldn’t commit the time.

However, in the fall of 2008 I decided to devote myself to this endeavor.  I wanted to try walking that disciplined path to not only engrain bebop language into my ears, mind, and body, but to develop a larger ability – to most accurately play what I was imagining.  I started by memorizing some bebop heads I didn’t have yet.  Pretty soon I discovered that I could memorize them quite rapidly and so I started to extend by initially memorizing them in all keys.  Later, I started going back through the list and playing in all keys some tunes I previously had in just one key.

Initially the tunes were all bebop heads because I was concentrating on that aspect of language acquisition.  But I have expanded the list to include some standards, and some tunes that extend from the bebop tradition but are more contemporary.  This gives me some flexibility in how I practice and what I concentrate on when I practice.  For example, when I play Cherokee in all keys, I’m don’t have to concern myself with the pitches very much so I focus on air stream and keeping my embouchure focused in all registers.  When I play standards like There Will Never Be Another You or contrafacts like Prince Albert (written on the changes to All The Things You Are) I sometimes follow a chorus of the melody with a chorus of improvisation on the changes.

So, here is the list.  It grows, some days by adding keys, some by adding tunes and I’ll update it as that happens.  I’ll also make comment on practicing, observing what effects it might have, challenges it might present (for instance I really have to work on playing Dexterity at all – the tune just doesn’t “ring” with me!).  Tunes that are followed by “(12)” are one I play in all keys. I invite you to make suggestions, especially of bebop heads, in the comments.

The List

26-2

A Night In Tunisia

Afternoon In Paris

All The Things You Are

Altoitis (12)

Anthropology (12)

Airegin

Au Privave (12)

Autumn Serenade (12)

Barbados (12)

Bebop (12)

Billie’s Bounce (12)

Bloomdido (12)

Blue Seven (12)

Blues for Alice (12)

Bluesette (12)

Body and Soul (12)

Bouncin’ With Bud (12)

Boplicity (12)

Broad Way Blues

Brownie Speaks (12)

Bud Powell (12)

But Not for Me

Butch and Butch (12)

Bye Bye Blackbird (12)

Celia (12)

C.T.A. (12)

Cantaloupe Island

Ceora

Cherokee (12)

Cheryl (12)

Chi-Chi (12)

Confirmation (12)

Corcovado

Cottontail

Countdown

Crazeology (12)

Daahoud (12)

Desafinado

Dewey Square (12)

Dexterity

Dig

Donna Lee (12)

E.S.P.

Eternal Triangle (12)

Farmer’s Market (12)

Fifth House

Fingers (12)

Four (12)

Freedom Jazz Dance (12)

Freight Train (12)

Fried Bananas (12)

Giant Steps

Girl From Ipanema

Good Bait (12)

Got A Match? (12)

Green Dolphin Street

Groovin’ High (12)

Half Nelson (12)

Hallucinations (12)

Have You Met Miss Jones

Hocus-Pocus (12)

Honeysuckle Rose (12)

Hot House (12)

I Got Rhythm (12)

I Hear A Rhapsody

I Love You

I Should Care (12)

I’ll Remember April (12)

In Your Own Sweet Way

In A Sentimental Mood (12)

Invitation

It Could Happen To You (12)

It’s You Or No One (12)

Joy Spring (12)

Jordu (12)

Just Friends

Little Willie Leaps (12)

Lush Life (12)

Mahjong

Maiden Voyage

Mayreh (12)

Milestones (old) (12)

Minority

Mohawk (12)

Moments Notice (12)

Moose The Mooche

My One And Only Love (12)

My Romance (12)

Nica’s Dream

Oleo

Omicron (12)

Opus De Funk

Ornithology

Parisian Thoroughfare

Perhaps (12)

Prince Albert (12)

Quicksilver

Ray’s Idea (12)

Recordame

Relaxin’ at Camarillo (12)

Room 608 (12)

Sandu (12)

Satellite

Scrapple from the Apple (12)

Segment

Serpent’s Tooth (12)

Shaw ‘Nuff

Speak No Evil

Split Kick (12)

Solar

Some Other Blues

Sub-Conscious Lee

Stablemates

Steeplechase (12)

Stella By Starlight

Swedish Schnaps (12)

Tempus Fugue-It (12)

The Days of Wine and Roses

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (12)

There Is No Greater Love (12)

There Will Never Be Another You (12)

Things To Come

Visa (12)

Walkin’

Wave

Webb City (12)

Wee (12)

Wee-Dot (12)

Witch Hunt

Without A Song

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Woody’n You

Yardbird Suite (12)

You Are Too Beautiful (12)

You Stepped Out Of A Dream (12)

This is the companion blog to What I’m Practicing.  The purpose of this blog is to invite you to share what you’re practicing, specifically what are you practicing in regards to jazz.  My hope is that by sharing our insights and comments we can all grow.

Thanks for sharing.

Lynn