High+School+Jazz+Band+-+Beginning+Improvisation

Freshman jazz band – beginning improvisation

This lesson was designed to help young jazz players explore improvisation in a structured and welcoming environment so they are not afraid to try new things on their instrument, especially since many of them were new to their instruments. This helped students who had more anxiety about improvisation become more comfortable trying it and the more experienced players a chance to focus on the sounds they were creating as well as how to combine ideas and create different styles and moods. We used this as a warm up activity on some days in addition to using it for an entire class period. I also used this as an avenue to introduce 12 bar blues form and currently have them soloing in 12 bar blues form as well as introducing modes using the same key but starting on a different note in the scale.

Objective: Students will improvise in 2 to 4 bar sections over Bb chords using the Bb blues scale.

Lesson:

- Ask students to define “improvisation” in their own words. Connect with other familiar subjects (creative writing, synthesizing ideas, etc.) - Warm up on concert Bb and F blues scales separately (any scale works). Have students focus on creating a confident, solo sound - moving lots of air with a relaxed jaw. - Use a variety of articulations and tempi to keep them focused on the sound they are creating despite the demands of the music as well as to mix up the routine. - Write formal construction on board - length of solo, rhythm choices, scales being used, style, etc. - I started with 2 measure sections in the Bb blues scale using quarter, half, and eigth notes in the swing style. - Rhythm section keeps time for all soloists - focus on balance and comping for each soloist, but they will also receive an opportunity to improvise. - Each soloist will play the designated number of measures followed by a predetermined number of measures before the next student in the order. - Students are responsible for tracking the pulse of the music through these rests and it should be shortened and lengthened to help them adjust to counting. - Create variations for length, key, style, dynamics, etc. as students become more comfortable they will have an easier time adjusting to these

Assessment/follow-up: After students become more accustomed to this activity, have them draw different styles out of a hat ask them to do an informal presentation (I'd say within the next week or so) about the style including information about it's characteristics (rhythmic qualities, tonality, scales, instrumentation, etc.) famous artists and tracks and maybe a small amount of history (depends on how in depth you'd like to go) have them present this information to class sharing at least one example of a song in that style and then we'll use the same above structure to create an improvisation environment based in that style. I included a quiz later about several of the styles asking students to identify the style of listening examples and listing 3 of its prominent characteristics.