In order to improve our musicianship it is critical to improve our technique on the saxophone. We begin with a C major scale exercise that you can download. As you work through the scale exercise be sure to use a metronome. Record your progress as you increase the speed of the metronome. Do not increase […]
Category Archives: Jazz Aids
Master saxophonist and educator Jacob Lampe provides the following comments on proper jazz articulation: “Tongue the upbeats and slur into the downbeats. The upbeats whether swing (uneven) or straight can be lightly accented / tongued and you slur into the beats for the jazz style. dat would be more of an ending note, or short […]
If you don’t practice for a day you know the difference, two days and your friends know the difference, three days and everyone knows the difference! While you are sleeping the competition is practicing! Set aside time each day with clearly defined objectives and protect the time slot. Make practice fun!
An important part of learning the jazz language is transcribing the music of those that have gone before us as well as those that are still with us. It is important to not only figure out the notes and rhythms but to also to figure out the articulations, pitch bends and other nuances. We happen […]
Wikopedia defines a contrafact as follows: “A contrafact is a new musical composition built out of an already existing one, most of a new melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure. As a compositional device, it was of particular importance in the 1930s/1940s development of bop, since it allowed jazz musicians to create new pieces […]