DRAFT: Sample chapter from Jazz Improvisation for Strings

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Chapter One: How and What to Practice

Which would you like first the good news or the bad news? Heres the good news: most of what youll hear any jazz musician do is something he or she has played before, heard before, and practiced before. So its entirely attainable by anyone willing to do the necessary work: you CAN, and if you practice properly and diligently you WILL play convincing jazz solos. But heres the bad news theres no magic formula that will allow you to bypass the work and the experience that it takes to become fluent in the language of jazz. However, what you practice, and especially how you practice, will make an enormous difference to the degree of fluency you eventually develop and the rate at which you develop it. Jazz is a musical language, with its own vocabulary and grammar. And just as with learning any other language, it takes time, exposure and experience. In a way, this book is but an extended answer to the question What should I practice? with special attention to the needs of string players. But before I get into the meat and potatoes of it all, Im going to start by talking about the how of practicing, introducing some practice principles that, taken to heart, will help you build musical vocabulary, creativity, and the hallmark of great improvising musicians, the ability to exist wholly in the musical moment.

Ten Practice Principles

1. A life in music is a marathon, not a sprint. Theres no magic formula here: the way to get better in music is with consistent effort over time. Just as you cant expect to see lasting results from a crash diet, there are no shortcuts to learning a musical language. It bears repeating: it takes consistent practice over time. Continuing with the marathon metaphor: if youd never run a marathon before, it would be impossible to finish one. But given a sound body, a sensible, disciplined training plan executed over enough time, a marathon is entirely possible. 2. Let go of your ego. Theres not enough room for your ego and the music in the practice room (or, for that matter, on stage). Practice should ideally present a time of focused selflessness, a wellspring of connection to music that can energize you, invigorate you and sustain you all your life. Looking at it that way, it makes no difference whether youre playing as well as the next girl, or as well as you think you should be, or better than you ever have before. Part of the job of practice is to connect you with the process of being a musician and in that sense, practice is both a complete musical expression in and of itself, and a never-ending quest. Bearing these two principles in mind, lets move on to a more practical set of considerations about practicing jazz and improvisation. 3. Always practice everything with a metronome.

2004 Tanya Kalmanovitch tanya@tanyakalmanovitch.com

DRAFT: Sample chapter from Jazz Improvisation for Strings

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Always practice with a metronome. Set the metronome so that the clicks fall on the 2 and 4 of every bar in 4/4 time. An emphasis on 2 and 4 is the pulse of jazz music, and a vital component of that set of rhythmic elements that make up swing (other Western musics more typically make use of an emphasis on 1 and 3). However, if 2 and 4 is too unfamiliar at first, by all means start with the metronome on 1 and 3, and work up to 2 and 4 over time. Whether its 1 and 3 or 2 and 4, consistent practice with a metronome will go a long way towards improving your ability to relate to a pulse without direction and strengthening your internal time. Over time, this will impart the rhythmic security that is essential to jazz improvisation the internal pulse that will allow you to play phrases that swing instead of stumble. 4. Always practice everything in all twelve keys. String players tend to have difficulties playing in any key in which the tonic, third or dominant cannot be expressed as an open string. So-called easy keys G, D, C, A, F, E, Bb, Eb are where most string players spend most of their time. In jazz, however, its important to be prepared to play any note at any time. Even though a given standard composition might be in the key of G, the harmonic changes might require you to play through any number of other key centres in the course of a solo. And thats not to speak of other improvisational parametres, such as chromatically-based soloing! Ill explain further about how and why to practice in all 12 keys in Chapters Three and Five. But for now, suffice it to say that the ultimate goal in jazz is to make the concept of key transparent. There should be no difference between the easy and hard keys. In jazz there are only two notes you need to worry about: the note you are playing and the note you are about to play. 5. Use your ear, not your eye. Jazz is ear music. Improvisation depends on your ability to realize the notes suggested by your inner ear, which in turn is responding to the musicians around you and the larger musical conversation (everything youve ever heard, musicians from other times and places, everything youve heard in records, everything youve been taught, etc.) Our goal in all this practice is simple, and consistently just beyond our grasp to develop the relationship between hand and ear so fully that to hear is quite simply to play. Because the Western classical tradition that most string players begin in relies exclusively on written music, most string players starting in jazz have a difficult time learning things away from the printed page. This will pass with time and practice, but in the meanwhile its critical that you rely as little as possible on the printed page. Reading notes from a printed page bears as much resemblance to the act of improvisation as an actor reading a speech from a teleprompter, and does little to prepare you for jazz improvisation. Similarly, when you transcribe a solo you should always learn it from memory, by ear, before writing it down. (More on this in Chapter Six). 6. Less is more.

2004 Tanya Kalmanovitch tanya@tanyakalmanovitch.com

DRAFT: Sample chapter from Jazz Improvisation for Strings

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Speed comes from accuracy, not from speed. In order to practice accuracy, you need to slow down. And just as its always preferable to be able to execute musical passage perfectly at a slower speed, rather than mangling it in a high-speed crash, its infinitely better to have perfected a smaller musical passage then to have attempted and failed a larger amount of material. Practice small, manageable passages of music rather than running through entire pieces. When youve mastered the smaller pieces, the whole will come easily. To master a passage, first find the fastest tempo where you can play the passage accurately (every note is in tune, cleanly articulated, and correctly bowed), then find the speed where your accuracy begins to beak down. This is what I call the just-playable threshold: set this metronome marking as your current goal tempo. Start your practice with the metronome set to HALF the justplayable threshold speed, and start practicing the passage. When you can play it perfectly, increase the metronome speed by one click and play it again. As you progress in your practice, you'll find that you can play the scales at faster speeds with greater accuracy. 7. Five times perfectly. In general, you can consider that youve learned a given passage or exercise (at least in a given key, at a given tempo) when you can play it five times in a row perfectly without error. This is something of a clich in musical education, and I heard it from my teachers when I was a classical music student, and Indian musicians I know who were brought up in the traditional pedagogy of Hindustani and Carnatic music (North and South Indian classical music) have told me that their teachers taught them this way as well. The number of times tends to vary but the principle remains the same. When you think youve really nailed that pattern, try to play it five times perfectly. When you make a mistake, its back to square one. This can be a really great tool to help you assess your progress as well as a fun, if at times infuriating, practice game. 8. Practice in blocks of time. Assign each of your practice areas a 30-minute block, in which you will practice for 25 minutes and stretch, rest, or make a cup of tea for 5. Buy an inexpensive digital timer for this, or set an alarm clock anything so you dont have to keep watching the clock. Dont skip the breaks, but also be careful not to go over 5 minutes in each break. If youre seriously interested in developing as a jazz performer, you should be allotting at least three hours a day, every day, for your jazz practice alone. As an aspiring jazz musician, youll be responsible for covering a lot of material in your practice sessions, much of it will be challenging. Many string players are tempted to master a single exercise each day, which leads to hours-long sessions on one element with little visible progress. This is frustrating, and not all that productive. In accordance with the less is more and consistent effort over time principles, youll fare much better with a practice regimen that allows you to cover a small amount of several areas. This also has the benefit of alleviating boredom and frustration! 9. Practice every day, at the same time.

2004 Tanya Kalmanovitch tanya@tanyakalmanovitch.com

DRAFT: Sample chapter from Jazz Improvisation for Strings

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This is not stuff you can grasp by working on it once in a while mastery comes from consistent daily engagement with the musical materials, and this is the single area where a lot of inconsistencies in ability, starting age, talent, etc. are evened out. Be prepared to practice jazz materials every day in a disciplined and focused manner. Practicing in the morning makes it easier to get it all over with, makes it more likely that youll get your practicing done. Breaking your practice into 30-minute intervals, as suggested in Principle Number Eight, allows you to split up your practice into morning and evening sessions, if need be. Whatever time you decide will be your practice time, make it inviolable. Tell your friends, roommates or family that you will not be available during that time. Make a practice space where all your practice materials are stored, close the door, switch off the phones, and work. 10. Practice with a plan. You should always have a practice plan. Ive included one here (Appendix A) for beginning jazz string players, and this should be enough to see you trough the first year of your studies. But as you develop and refine a sense of your musical priorities, youll need to revamp your plan. Think carefully and critically about your areas of strength and weakness and develop plans to work on your deficiencies. Keep a practice log. Be as specific as possible in your plans. Know exactly what youre going to practice in every session, and know how this fits into your short, medium and long-term goals. For example, an initial one-year plan might be to learn all the modes of the major and melodic minor scales in all 12 keys. Decide that you want to focus on the major modes for the first three months. You might further decide to omit the major scales from your practice since you know them very well already. At first you will need to develop these plans in consultation with a jazz teacher its really going to save you a lot of work in the long run to be able to study with someone who can guide you, inspire you, and refine your plan as you progress.

Practice Materials
Metronome Music stand Timer or alarm clock Manuals, charts, fakebooks Manuscript paper and notebook for practice log Pencil and eraser Playalong recordings Drum machine, rhythm playalongs or sequencer Drone CD or sequencer CD player with speakers or good closed-ear headphones Transcription CDs

Sample Three-Month Practice Plan

2004 Tanya Kalmanovitch tanya@tanyakalmanovitch.com

DRAFT: Sample chapter from Jazz Improvisation for Strings

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Scales Improvisation II-V and ii-V-I Rhythm practice Standard repertoire Transcription

Modes of the major scales in 12 keys, 2 octaves Improvising over a single scale Triad patterns over the cycle of fifths: major, minor diminished, augmented. Sightreading, singing and clapping, playing Autumn Leaves: Learn changes, develop melodic lines, apply IIV-I progressions from transcription Singing, playing, analysis

2004 Tanya Kalmanovitch tanya@tanyakalmanovitch.com