Category Archives: Practicing Improvisation

Ask Yourself “This Question” Instead Of “That Question” For Optimal Satisfaction

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“A man’s a genius just for looking like himself.”

-Thelonious Monk

When I first fell in love with the idea of playing music, it was because I wanted to play jazz. And the thing that impressed me the most about my favorite jazz musicians was how authentically they expressed themselves. It was like you could “see” who they were as human beings simply by listening to the sounds they were making. Often you knew just by they way they played a single note.

I wanted that magic more than anything I’d ever wanted before in my young life. I wanted to be able to let something deep inside me come out to show the world who I was, the way my jazz heroes did.

So I began serious study of the flute and the saxophone. I practiced diligently and thoughtfully, really putting in the time and effort.

But it wasn’t long into my studies when my motivation began to transform. It shifted from the idealized notion of “what I wanted to do”, to whether or not what I was doing was “good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”, etc.

Of course this is normal, and it made sense at the time. I really wanted to learn to express myself, and there must be a single, correct way to do so (or so my young mind thought).

The up side of this shift was that I became aware of all the things I had to address in order to be able to develop the skills I needed to express myself.

But as the years passed, some unintended consequences came along with this emphasis on looking for what was good or bad, or right or wrong, in my playing. In short, I’d lost touch with that original, beautiful motivation for why I wanted to play in the first place.

I’d lost touch with the magic.

There was not a single thing that I did as musician that felt exclusive (or deeply connected) to me. My sound was pleasant and full, my technique solid, I could improvise reasonably skillfully in a variety of styles.

But there was nothing in what I played that felt like it was that same “me” that wanted to play music in the first place those years before.

It was a strangely unsatisfying feeling. On the one hand I was playing “pretty well”, getting gigs and playing in a variety of ensembles. On the other hand, I didn’t really like (or dislike, for that matter) much of what I played.

Then something shifted in my attitude. It began as I pondered a rather odd, hypothetical question that came to mind one rainy afternoon as I sat in my practice room:

“How would my playing change from this point onward if I knew nobody but ‘me’ would ever hear ‘me’ again?”

I spent a long time with this question, meditating on it daily for many weeks. I began to journal quite meticulously about my thoughts. Great details began to emerge in my journaling about my conception of sound, about aesthetics in improvisation (especially phrasing, and silence), about expanded sonic possibilities and techniques on saxophone, and more.

My imagination came to life! I became excited about how I was pondering this question, and was greatly inspired to practice in a completely new way.

To this day, I’m profoundly grateful for asking that question. Because that is the question I needed to ask in order to bring myself back to my original motivation to play music, those years ago. To bring myself back to the magic.

And it has been that “original motivation” that keeps me so endlessly engaged in my process as a musician, and in my growth as a human being.

In essence, what happened was a change in a basic question about assessing myself and my needs as a musician.

Instead of asking myself the question,

“Is this good?” (or “bad”, as the case may be), about anything that had to do with my playing, musical conception, etc.,

I began to ask myself instead,

“Is this what I want?”

Now, you might be thinking that these are the same thing. But the difference in how you might proceed, depending on which of these questions you ask yourself, can be huge.

And for sure there is overlap. A rich, flexible and resonant sound is a “good” thing, and it can also be “something I want”.

But when I go to “what I want” as a guideline, I turn to an intrinsic set of values to guide me toward a rich, flexible and resonant sound. I start thinking and imagining things more specifically, with great attention to detail.

A “rich, flexible and resonant” sound manifests itself in an enormous variety of colors and voices. And when it is my voice, my imagination…well, it just becomes clear and deeply satisfying to experience and to express.

You see, one of the potential drawbacks of the “good/bad” question is that it too typically comes from an extrinsic set of values, from things outside of the imagination and desire of the artist.

In my experience teaching the Alexander Technique to young, emerging performing artists (of a variety of disciplines), this assessment of “good” can sometimes come with a lack of clarity and details.

“I just recognize ‘good’ when I hear it”, is not a particularly constructive conception. Aimless and meandering, at best.

And the assessment of “bad” with these same artists is also too often lacking in useful information and details.

When I can help them to change the inquiry from “good/bad” to “want/don’t want”, they are able to seamlessly merge good technical qualities with authentic self expression. It’s win/win.

So give yourself a chance to think about these two questions. Explore them in the practice room with love and genuine curiosity. Keep them in mind when you’re listening to music you really love, too.

Allow yourself, as Thelonious Monk said, to “look like yourself”. This beautiful world we live in needs your voice.

New Jazz Etude-The Coltrane Matrix: Ascending 1-3-7 Shapes

Here’s another way to explore and hear harmonic relationships over the shifting tonalities of the Coltrane Matrix. Take a look at the example below:

The main element of this melodic line is the 1-3-7 shape. To be clear, when I refer to “1-3-7” in this etude, I’m talking about the implied melodic shape itself, not the shape with respect to the actual notes of the chord symbols.

So in the first measure the line starts with a 1-3-7 shape that implies a B minor tonality. (In fact, by adding a fourth note to that shape in that measure, an F#, it spells out a B-7 chord.) The F# makes a chromatic connection to the F natural to spell out a Bb- (maj7) chord, which fits very nicely over the Eb7. The A natural then connects chromatically to the Ab in the second measure, then continues with a similar shape (1-3-7), but in a new key (Ab major). The fourth note added to that shape (D natural, which is the +11 of Abmaj7) then connects chromatically to the D# (the 3rd of the B7 chord). The rest of the notes over the B7 can be thought of as a fragment of the diminished scale, with the D natural functioning as the +9, and the C natural functioning as the -9.

The line continues in the 3rd measure with a 1-3-7- shape similar to the original one in the first measure, but with obvious alterations (specifically D# and A#), and the fourth note is a G#. The A# and G# imply a strong Lydian sound over the Emaj7 chord. The last four notes of the third. measure are also organized in a 1-3-7 shape, but again, with obvious pitch changes. The last two notes of the third measure (A# and G#) function as a +9 and-9 over the G7 chord, which then resolves to the 5th (G) of the Cmaj7 chord.

As you play through this, you’ll hear a kind of “descending chromatic” quality implied by the movement of the entire line. This is largely due to the similarities and slight variations between the 1-3-7 shapes. I strongly recommend practicing this etude with a backing track, so that you can hear the “surprises” as the 1-3-7 shapes unfold over the actual harmony. If you’d like to explore and learn more about the harmonic relationships, substitutions and novel ways of constructing melodic lines over dominant to tonic chord movement, please take a look to my e-book, The Coltrane Matrix: 40 Unique Melodic Ideas in All 12 keys.

Click on the link at the bottom to download a free pdf of this etude.

New Jazz Etude: Two Melodic Minor Scales Organized Into 4ths

Here’s an easy way to use the rich contour of the melodic minor scale to organize melodic material into 4ths moving from dominant to tonic. Take a look at the example above.

In the first measure I create two four-note shapes based upon the diatonic 4ths found in both a C major scale, and in a D melodic minor scale. You’ll notice there is no C# in this measure (the 7th degree of the D melodic minor scale, which is a strongly “defining” note). But the first note in the 2nd measure is a Db, which both sonically and functionally implies the D melodic minor. It also is the first note of a new scale, Ab melodic minor. (So the Db functions as a common “pivot” tone between both scales.)

Of course it is the Ab melodic minor that is rich in altered harmonic tensions over the G7 chord (specifically, -5/#11, +9, -13, -9). Yet this scale is organized into 4ths, as well, in order to continue the general shape and direction of the melodic line. Again, there is a common “pivot” note in measure 3 (the B natural, which also functions enharmonically as Cb, the third of the Ab melodic minor scale).

In the 3rd measure the shape changes slightly, with a descending version of the C maj7 chord. Then the 4ths emerge again (with a little variation between the F# and G) until the end. The general color of the line is a bit on the “modern” side because of the 4ths, but has enough familiar harmonic elements in it so that it can function quite well in a bebop or post bop context.

If you’d like to explore the vast array of harmonic possibilities by applying melodic minor scales combinations over ii-V7-I, please consider my e-book, Melodic Minor Scale Jazz Studies: Tonal Organizations and Applications Over Dominant 7th Chords. Click the link below for a free, downloadable pdf of this etude:

New Jazz Etude: Phrasing Study Based On “Out Of Nowhere”

One of my favorite harmonic forms to improvise over (as well as to hear other musicians improvise over) is the well-worn jazz standard, “Out of Nowhere”. It just seems to be one of those songs that inspires creatively melodic improvisation. It has a beautifully symmetrical form, and the sharp harmonic/tonal contrasts emphasize this symmetry. It is for this reason that I decided to use this form to compose a solo that is purposefully “non-symmetrical”, yet still captures the essence of the time/harmonic form.

Mostly, this is a study in polymeter. There are numerous instances of 3/4 over 4/4. For example, take a look at the last two beats of measure 12 in the example above. This four-note eighth note pattern gets slightly altered tonally, then displaced by a quarter rest going into measures 13 and 14, creating a phrase sequence that implies this 3/4 over 4/4 polymetric tension.

There are other polymetric events throughout this etude, as well (including 5/4 over 4/4), for you to experience and analyze. Also, I occasionally use both suspension and/or anticipation of harmonic cadences to support the polymetric assymetry, creating lots of “over-the-bar” phrases.

And there is a nice rhythmic surprise (an implied metric/tempo modulation, via eighth-note triplets) in measures 45 through 48:

I’ve suggested a tempo for this particular etude (quarter note equals 132) mostly because I thought the contrasts between the eighth notes and triplets work optimally around that tempo, more or less. I suggest you practice this with the metronome in two ways: First with the click only on the first beat of each measure. Next, with the the click only on the second beat (back beat) of each measure. Both ways will give you a clearer feeling of the metric and rhythmic dissonance. Also, playing this over a backing track could really help you internalize the asymmetrical phrasing qualities as you hear them over the chord changes.

If you’d like to explore this concept further, please consider taking a look at my e-books, Essential Polymeter Studies in 4/4 for the Improvising Musician, and Rhythmic Dissonance. For a free, downloadable pdf of this etude, click the link below:

Practicing Music: Why Uncertainty Isn’t Necessarily A Bad Thing

PrescienceThe fact of knowing something before it takes place.

-Oxford English Dictionary

As a species, we human beings crave predictability in perhaps the most elegantly complex ways. And indeed, some of our most remarkable achievements reflect the ability to predict and manage our futures.

This is a mostly a good thing, of course.

But if you’re pursuing artistic skill and development, this need for predictability can be a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, being able to control the medium that you work with is essential for your artistic expression (and satisfaction!) And knowing you can control this medium is a form of predictability that is often the aim of your long hours of practice.

On the other hand, I think it’s important to keep in mind that as long as you continue to grow as a performing artist (and as a human being, for that matter), you must step into the unknown.

You have to let go of predictability.

This is something you do whether you are willing to or not, or whether you are conscious of it or not. It’s a fundamental truth about how things work in the world.

It’s impossible to always know.

You must constantly edify your ideas of what is “right”, and what works or doesn’t.

If you reflect upon it long enough, you’ll realize that what was “right” at some point in your musical development (whether technical, mechanical, or aesthetic) isn’t “right” anymore.

It is this continuous edification that you gain from study, practice, reflection, performance (and sometimes even frustration/dissatisfaction) that is part and parcel to your path to greater realization of your expressive potential.

Nobody likes feeling uncertain as they pursue work. We all like to feel that we are unfailingly on the right path, never wasting an ounce of effort in our pursuit. The picture of efficiency.

This of course is simply not true.

Your progress as a musician is most definitely not a straight in the conventional sense. Rather, it’s a line that moves up and down, up and down…But as you stand back and take a look at the entire pattern over time, it has an upward tendency.

That’s how growth works.

So I think it’s important to realize in this process of growth that you might not always feel certain about what to do. This might be with respect to pedagogy, mechanical/equipment issues, aesthetic principles or even specific skills.

I’m more than okay with that, and I encourage you to be, as well.

As long as you can keep your curiosity and passion lively, trust that you can dwell in uncertainty until you eventually move closer toward your goals. It’s largely a matter of observing your efforts and thoughts in simple, methodical and discerning way:

“Am I clear (or could I be clearer) about what I want?”

“Am I actually getting what I want?”

“If I’m not, then what’s keeping me from getting what I want?”

“What am I actually doing with myself as I pursue what I want?”

(These last two question are emphatically explored in the Alexander Technique)

So I invite you to embrace uncertainty when it arises in your musical development. Sit with it for awhile. Let it marinate. Let yourself not know. Let yourself even be wrong, for that matter.

Above all, know that the uncertainty is not an obstacle, by ultimately, might be just what you needed. Trust that the mistakes you make when you are uncertain might not be mistakes at all, but stepping stones into a beautiful new world.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite musicians, Thelonious Monk, overheard when he was trying to help one of the musicians in his band who himself was stuck in his progress:

You’re making the wrong mistakes.

When you allow yourself to step into the unknown, you also allow yourself to make the “right mistakes”. The ones that will lead you to what you want.