Teaching Jazz Improvisation for the First Time: Six Ear- Based Strategies for Finding the “Right Notes”


Let’s face it. Many students freeze when asked to improvise. The fear of playing the “wrong notes” can be paralyzing for the student, and the prospect of teaching improvisation may seem daunting at best. But don’t despair! The first steps towards learning to improvise and teach- ing this skill to your students are not compli- cated.


The greatest asset young improvisers have are their ears. Through the practice of discovery through listening, students gain confidence as they acquire new information aurally. Six strate- gies are described here to systematically enable students to taste success with improvisation by using their ears to surmount musical challenges.


The following exercises can be customized as needed, but should always be presented in an encouraging and low-risk environment. All strategies are appropriate for middle and high school students and can be used in private les- sons or group settings. Be prepared to demon- strate with your instrument or voice, although supplemental visual aids may be used. Once your students hear the “right notes” coming out of their instruments, see how the reluctance to improvise melts away.


A Note On Listening


The most important step towards improvising in the jazz tradition is to listen actively to the pri- mary source, the great improvisers of the past 100 years. Encourage your students to check out jazz albums, watch concerts on YouTube, and attend live performances. This aural immersion is necessary to acculturate the rhythms, time feel, ensemble interaction, personalized tone, characteristic


articulation, and melodic and harmonic choices of the improviser. Learning 29


by ear can be slow, but it allows for superior internalization of concepts needed to improvise freely and intuitively.


Strategy 1 – Learn Melodies by Ear


In one sense, improvisation could be described as the process of spontaneously creating melo- dy. Picking up a simple tune by ear and commit- ting it to memory is a great exercise and helps to internalize concepts such as phrase length, melodic contour, and tension and release. Even- tually, these skills will help students to impro- vise strong melodies of their own over a given harmonic progression.


A good place to start is with melodies that are already familiar to the student. Pop music, folk tunes, hymns, and children’s songs are great sources for beginners. Empower the student to hear the music they already have in their memory, to sing these melodies (accurately and in tune), and to produce them with their instru- ments.


It is essential to study tunes commonly used by jazz musicians, especially “jazz standards” and repertoire from the Great American Songbook. A few jazz standards that can be taught to be- ginners by ear are “Bag’s Groove”, “Cantaloupe Island”, “St. Thomas”, and “Sonnymoon For Two”. Have students sing along with a quality recording before attempting to play unfamiliar melodies. With a big band, choose a standard from your repertoire and teach the tune by ear before passing out the written arrangement.


Strategy 2: Embellish The Melody


Once a tune is memorized, a safe way to be- gin improvising is to embellish the melody.


Jon Ailabouni


Jazz


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