Page 12 - Bandworld Magazine 2015

Improvisation 101
by Greg Yasinitsky
It was my great pleasure to team-teach the jazz session at the 2015 American Band College with David Caffey from the University of Northern Colorado. One of the topics I covered was teaching improvisation to developing musicians. There are many, fine improvisation methods for intermediate and advanced improvisers, but materials for beginning improvisers are woefully scarce.
Minor Keys
Find tunes in minor keys with which your students are familiar. D minor is a good choice. One effective way to im- provise in D minor is to use the notes from the D natural-minor scale. This is approachable by developing students because the D natural-minor scale shares the same notes with the F major scale and students are likely to be familiar with the F major scale. When improvis- ing using the notes from the D natural- minor scale, it is not necessary to start on D. Students may start on any note they want and play in any register they want. They are not limited to one octave. Students should think of the notes in the D natural-minor scale as a collection of pitches which they may use in any or- der with any rhythms. When students feel comfortable improvising with the D natural-minor scale, you may encourage them to try the D harmonic-minor scale. They are likely to be less familiar with D harmonic-minor; however, there is only one note different between the D natural and harmonic-minor scales. There is a C# in the D harmonic-minor scale and a C-natural in the D natural-minor scale. Your students will find that the notes in both of these scales sound good. En- courage your students to improvise with confidence.
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“ABC is a brilliant, visionary program and I am proud to have been a part of it.”
Greg Yasinitsky ABC 2015
Over the course of thirty years, I have developed a method which works right away for developing improvisers. It is based on using notes from key centers. In other words, if the music is in the key of Bb major, notes from the Bb major scale may be used for improvising. If the mu- sic in G minor, notes from G minor scale may be used. If the music has blues har- mony, blues scales may be used. When improvisers use notes derived from these key centers, the notes “fit” and sound con- sonant and pleasing to the ear. Because the notes sound consonant, confidence is boosted and students are then encouraged to go further with improvisation.
Most musicians—including those with limited experience playing jazz—are able to incorporate this key-center-based approach right away. It does not have a steep learning curve, A focus on key centers is particularly effective with de- veloping improvisers.
To utilize this method with your stu- dents, you need to identify tunes which are predominantly (even exclusively) in one key. You will want to use tunes which are in major keys, minor keys and tunes which use blues harmony.
Major Keys
So that students may build skills impro- vising in major keys, you should find a tune in a major key with which they are familiar: Bb major is a good choice.
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When improvising using the notes from the Bb major scale, it is not necessary to start on Bb. Students may start on any note they want and play in any register they want. They are not limited to one octave. Students should think of the notes in the Bb major scale as a collec- tion of pitches which they may use in any order and with any rhythms. En- courage your students to improvise with confidence.