Hello I'm Lisa May the professor of music education and director of undergraduate studies at Indiana
University Jacobs School of music. I'm going to talk to you today about finding
the groove; rhythmic feel and style in jazz ensemble. One of the most important aspects of
a successful jazz performance, rhythmic feel or groove, can be one of the most difficult things to teach.
Listening to live ad professional jazz performances is the very best way to learn to understand
rhythm, jazz feel, and styles. However I would like to talk about two things that will also help
your students understand and preform with better groove and style. The concept of subdivision
is an important tool for al musicians, but it's especially important in establishing
solid rhythmic foundations when playing jazz. Various jazz styles are based on specific subdivisions.
And it is essential that everyone in the jazz ensemble hear and lock into the correct subdivision.
It's the drummers responsibility to lay down the subdivisions usually on the ride symbol; however, everyone
must also attend to and internalize the subdivided time. Each jazz style has
a specific subdivision as its foundation. Rock tunes are based on the 8th notes, while 16th
notes are the underlying subdivision of funk tunes. Most latin tunes form both the Brazilian
and Afrocuban traditions are 8th note based. Swing, perhaps the most unfamiliar style for students,
is triplet based. Hearing and internalizing the underlying triplet feel in swing tunes is critical
to stylistic accurate performances that really swing. This can be especially challenging
because in notation often doesn't reflect the triplet rhythm. Since swing is often
the most difficult style for students to preform, I'd like to share some thoughts with you about how to teach it efficiently and effectively.
First, it's important to understand and apply a systematic approach to
breaking down rhythms at the subdivision level. The application of accounting system includes
subdivisions such as, one and two and three and four and can be very helpful; however, I've found that using
scat syllables in combination with systematic counting methods to teach swing rhythms can greatly improve
style, time feel and precision. Scat syllables help students internalize rhythmic patterns
while addressing note length and weight, two important components of jazz style.
There is no one best way to translate notation into scat syllables; however, I've developed a system that I believe
works very well. Quarter notes are typically played narcoto in swing style, so a quarter note
with an accent or a sticato marking would be reformed gaut, as shown in examples 1 and 2 in the slide.
You see quarter note with the accent and the one with the sticato marking both are guat.
Sometimes a quarter notes may have both an accent and a snoodo marking.
And this should preformed dot, longer, but still with a space before the next note as
shown in example 3. I like classical articulations, short notes in jazz
should end with a tongue. Don't be concerned that students will begin stopping notes with tongue when preforming classical music
just be very clear that jazz is a different dialect and different performance practices apply.
A quarter note that is marked with a tenuto or a note value longer than a quarter note
should be preformed gahhh, as shown in example 4. Single
8th notes are preformed short, dit, whether marked with an accent, sticato, or unmarked.
This is shown in example 5 and 6, dit. Strings of eight notes should be
swung. I like to use the syllables "doova doova doova doo" to really de-emphasize
the tongue. You may hear others use "bah" or
the tongue. You may hear others use "bah" or "baa" instead of "va" but
ultimate goal is very legato 8th notes with very little to no tongue. The last 8th notes
in a series should be tongued and it should be preformed short as shown in example 7 and 8.
Unless it leads directly to another notes, then it should be legato as shown in example 9, and I'll demonstrate
both of those. Example 7: "doova
doova dit." Example 8: "vadoova doova do
and example 9: "doova doova dot dot."
Before we look at some examples of rhythms from swing chats, here are some things to remember; first,
and less otherwise marked a quarter note is interpreted short or dot.
The last 8th notes in a series should be tongued, accented and short, and finally
two 8th notes tied over a bar line should be interpreted just as you would interpret a quarter note.
Short or dot. This can be very hard for students to do since they're used to thinking of a tied note as
a long note. I am going to embottle these example at a slow tempo about quarter note
equal 100 to emphasis the underlying triplet subdivision. Here is example 1:
*singing*
Now lets try it together. *sings*
Great. Here's example 2:
*singing*
and lets try it together,
*singing*
and finally
example number 3:
*singing* and try that one together,
*sings*
Great. These simple scat syllables will help you address almost any
rhythm. The next step is to apply the scat syllables you learned to the examples on the worksheet
that accompanies this lesson for scatting and then playing the examples on your instrument.
Now you can continue your practice of scat syllables with jazz ensemble charts. You are
ready to start swinging.