Jazz Education (Private)コミュのTeaching Feel (Scrap Book)

One of the biggest problems that many students have when trying to learn Jazz is learning to play with feel.
The big problem is that there is a common belief that feel is something that is acquired, it can't be taught. I disagree with this. First, feel is the most important thing in any type of music because that's what music is about - - expressing feelings and emotions. Second, the "feel" of a tune or style of music epitomizes what the music is about. Finally, it was once said that Jazz can't be taught - - either you are born with it, or you are not. Admittedly, for many years most of the Jazz instructional materials available on the market were very bad - -usually sheet music so strange that even if you played properly note for note wouldn't be Jazz, and had little to do with improvisation. In my collection, for example I have a piece of "Sheet Music" to Jimmy Smith's ORGAN GRINDER SWING. But it is not written in the style that Jimmy Smith would play on the organ, but rather using classic "theatre organ" type registrations and notations with an "oom pa pa" type roller skating rink rhythm (the style of organ playing that was popular at the time.) If you went out and wanted to learn Jazz and woundu p with this piece of sheet music either you'd be very bad, or very disappointed.

For many years it was argued that since there were no good Jazz books, the best way to learn is by studying records - - even transcribing solos. There was a lot of truth to this, but I remember when I was first learning Jazz and people began saying, "Oh, just transcribe the music, that's all you have to do!" - - My answer: If my playing and ear were so good that I could simply copy and transcribe from an album, why would I be looking for a teacher ? What comes before that ?

Then came the era of the professional Jazz clinician and the Dennis Sandoles, David Bakers, Jamey Aebersolds, John Meghan and numerous other teachers and writers. They successfully demonstrated that Jazz can be taught, and by the 70's Jazz was gaining enough respect to be taught in colleges - - the catch is that while enormous strides have been made in teaching Jazz theory, students who weren't lucky enough to have very good and skillful mentors like myself (or live in a world where they were surround by a lot of musicians and practical advice) are often left out of the picture. So the question remains, how can students be taught feel ?

I think the answer is simple... It all begins by teaching rhythm alongside all the other theory. Feel has a lot to do with how you interpret the rhythm of a song, and most students who are having trouble with it, simply don't understand some basic rhythmic concepts that make Jazz Jazz. - - I remember in particular when I would ask a teacher to show me something. He or she would often play the lick and show me the notes to play, but then when I would go to play it it would sound entirely different. Likewise, even stuff in books with play-a-longs didn't sound the same when I'd play it. I didn't understand why, for example my teacher could play the same scale I just played and when he played it, it would sound like Jazz, and when I played it, it wouldn't.

Many years have passed for me. To an extent I am lucky because I began listening to Jazz at a young age. It surrounded me... and I listened so much I was making up music in my head long before I could really play. I was also lucky that I became interested in SCAT at a very young age. Although it is true that I could never sing, even trying to scat reminds you that anyone has the power to adlib and create melodies. - - The truth is that one reason that it is so difficult for most of us to adlib is because we are not at one with our musical instrument. The first step is hearing sounds in our head... the second is getting them out. if you haven't spent enough time listening to Jazz, the sounds simply aren't in your head, so there's nothing to get out, but if the sounds are already in your head, then learning to play an instrument has meaning. And it is here where I can point out the first concept of teaching Jazz - - The student needs to do a lot of listening. The music needs to be put into them, then the job of the teacher is to help the student pull it out.

This is where we get into the issue of ear training...
There are many musicians (including myself) who do not have a particularly strong ear. - - When I first started to learn Jazz this intimidated me very much - - remember, I couldn't play whatever I heard on a record and transcribe it. So I asked Shirley Scott if I'd ever be able to become a good Jazz musician since I didn't have perfect pitch. Much to my surprize she told me that she didn't either, and she always said that she was glad she didn't. She said that if she had perfect pitch, then there wouldn't be any need for her to be creative... she would just copy whatever she could... but since she didn't have that ability, she had to think about the music and play it in her own voice(!) Although it is true there are many great musicians with perfect pitch - - there are many without, but whether a musician has it or not, they need to have enough of an ear to learn how to play the sounds that are in their own head. To this extent, the way Jazz is taught is by teaching the meaning of those sounds. Students who can't play with feel usually have one of two problems - - 1. The music isn't really in their head. or 2. It is but they don't really understand it. Ultimately the problem can be remedied in a very simple manner...

First, it must be impressed upon the student that if he/she wants to play Jazz he/she has to listen to it first.
Jazz is about interpreting music. How can you interpret something you've never even heard? Usually when I teach, although I push my students towards certain repoitoire, I try to let them pick tunes they like. I will let them copy the lead sheet, but the first homework assignment will be to listen to several different versions of the tune and to come in and talk about it at the last lesson - - in particular how they are different, and what they like (or don't like about each version.) This leads to a discussion on how the feels of the different versions are different and we explore the rhythmic concepts together.

From the get go however students need to learn how to toe tap, feel the up beat, basic counts - - and as part of their training get used to counting song form along with recordings - - as well as different types of counts.