none really capture the true essence of a swing feel. In order for an ensemble to emulate this feeling it is essential that everyone sub-divide with the same internal pulse, not much different in concept than when working on a traditional march with a concert band. The internal pulse drives the inertia of the piece and keeps everyone on the same metronomic page. The shuffle feel is fundamental to all swing and must be felt by everyone. This is not the sole responsibility of the drummer and rhythm section. Everyone must subscribe to the same sub-divided shuffle feel.
Although this concept does help approach a more consistent and authentic performance, simply explaining this to an ensemble does not assure the proper feel. An issue that may arise when a group is executing this shuffle sub-division is that everyone is not consistent with the placement of the second eighth note. So, how do we teach this so the sub-division is consistent? I am not sure how I was first introduced to the following concept, but I found that when introduced in this manner, the success rate was more immediate: I call it The Swing Clock.
Let’s first use the analogy of a second hand revolving around a clock’s face in tempo (one beat is equal to one revolution around the clock). Secondly, we then place two eighth notes equally within that one revolution. In this case two eighth notes would be placed at exactly 12:00 and 6:00. This is how we would interpret two eighth notes in traditional music notation. (Figure 5)
Traditional Interpretation
Swing Clock, this can be easily demonstrated. (Figure 6) Swing Interpretation
Figure 6
Variations in swing feel occur at different tempos. Although the shuffle feel is most obvious at a slow tempo, it becomes less apparent at a medium tempo and will disappear for all practical purposes at a very fast tempo (Dunscomb & Hill, 2002). This was very evident to me when I worked with the jazz ensemble from China. Many of the players sounded closer to an authentic feel at faster tempi than slower (many of the players were quite comfortable playing be-bop tunes as opposed to slow swing tunes).
Proper articulations/inflections through phonetics
The second area that can immediately improve a performance of a swing piece is by agreeing on and using the proper articulation and phonetics. Jazz is an aural tradition, and jazz syllables (or scat syllables) refer to phonetic sounds that imitate those made by wind players in the jazz idiom (Dunscomb & Hill, 2002). As with any piece we decide to rehearse, we always consider articulation to be an essential element. However, when it comes to a swing piece, it can be difficult for many to grasp the phonetic differences required to make a tune swing.
Figure 5 When considering the beat in swing, the beat is not divided equally in half (as Figures 1 and 2 above attempt to indicate). Although the figures above approach the feel of swing, they do not necessarily represent the adjustment of the swing feel as dictated by tempo. In swing time, the feel of the underlying shuffle groove must be dictated by the tempo of the piece. As the tempo decreases, the second eighth notes moves closer to 9:00 and conversely as the tempo increases, the second eighth-note moves closer to 6:00 (becoming more in line with traditional interpretation). By using the
Fall 2013
Although many people will try to imitate singers, this at times does not always translate to playing a wind instrument. Singers have an array of vocabulary at their disposal and can easily use numerous combinations of jazz syllables. When working with wind players, I feel it necessary to use syllables that will transfer to how brass players articulate. One example: since the syllable “ba” does not work well on a brass instrument, a string of eighth-notes should not be sung as “doo-ba-doo- ba-doo” but “doo-da-doo-da-doo.” I have also heard
variations using “rum-pa-tum-pa” or “zoo-bee-do-be- do” that do not translate well to wind playing. Most important is to agree on the syllables used for individual
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