We want the material operating on a much deeper level than simple memorization. That’s pretty much the exact opposite of what we’re aiming for. In jazz, we are not looking to use the kind of memory that you used in high school biology: study for a test the night before, memorize everything you need for the test, regurgitate it on the test the next day, and then forget it. How will I remember the line I’m working on once I go to the next line? Well, you won’t remember it permanently if you write it down. The number one way to do this is transcribe without a pencil and paper in hand. Increasing ear retentionĭeveloping your ability to retain larger and larger chunks of musical information in your mind will greatly raise your musicianship. The beauty is, you have complete freedom over what things sound like in your mind. You may have the sound in your head at a particular level because it never occurred to you that you could change the level. Besides trying that visualization, simply try raising the volume of the sound. This exercise seems a bit out there, but try it. The idea is to try to emulate what it would look and sound like to have sound vibrating throughout your entire skull! See the light clearly in your mind while you listen to the sound. Now, close your eyes if it helps you, and picture that sound as a light inside the center of your mind. Hear a note or a line from a solo or tune you are working on in your mind. This may sound odd, but I’ve found the following exercise to help me visualize the sound in my mind expanding and becoming louder. Raising the volume of the musical radio in our head takes time. Do you hear lines loudly, or at a faint whisper? Our mind does not have these limitations, yet we artificially impose these restrictions on it. We are limited by our voice, both in volume, range, and tonal color. When an interviewer asked Dizzy Gillespie what it sounded like in his head while he played, Dizzy sang a bebop line, but very loudly. It’s a combination of hearing/singing/internalizing the melodic and harmonic elements of the music (also the rhythmic but I’ll have to devote an entire article to just that to give it its fair treatment), and being able to manipulate that information in various creative ways in your mind. We need to spend just as much time developing our internal instrument.Īs you can see from the list above, good jazz ears are a lot more than simply being able to recognize intervals and chord qualities, although that is a small piece of the puzzle. We spend so much time learning to play our instrument. Think of your instrument as an amplifier for your aural imagination. Developing your ear is equally gratifying to playing your instrument. Seems a bit more exhaustive than your typical classical ear training class, doesn’t it? Yes, there is a lot of ear stuff to master, but not to worry. Hear and change volume at will in our mindĪnd the list goes on.Hear subtleties in the many voicings of chords.Hear the qualities of chords and pick out chord tones.Hear a line from a recording and retain it.Hear and sing the roots of a progression.Hear and sing specific chord tones while a chord plays in the background.However, many traits of great ears can easily be identified. But what does it even mean to have great ears and a vivid aural imagination? They are something that are consciously developed over years and years of practice. The problem: great ears don’t just happen. The way we hear is the most neglected aspect of practicing improvisation. Want to change the way you sound? Change the way you hear. The stuff, though, that actually emerges during improvisation is the stuff that we can really hear. This well is filled with things we’ve practiced, listened to, or studied theoretically. When we go to improvise, we draw from a well of knowledge. You’ll have to go to the other 98% of the internet for that. If there were a secret to improvising, developing your aural imagination would be it. Nothing has such an impact on your playing than your aural imagination. The extent to which your aural imagination is developed, largely determines: the quality of lines you play, how you play those lines (articulation, swing feel, inflection), and the sound you play with.
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