(TSCR) Jazz Improvisation Skills (experienced beginners)

About this course

Learners study common jazz chord symbols, scales, musical structures and notation while working on well-known mainstream jazz tunes. Practical exercises develop improvisation, playing by ear, memorisation and aural awareness. Rhythm-section instrumentalists explore comping in swing and Latin grooves, while singers work on lyric articulation and may develop instrumental-style improvisation. Drummers also practise fills and extended solos related to a tune. The course includes individual and ensemble performance, with an optional end-of-term concert, and introduces jazz eras, styles and sub-genres.

What you'll learn

• Recognise and use common four-note jazz chord symbols and relevant tonal and atonal scales.
• Improvise over mainstream jazz tunes using their melodies and harmonic structures.
• Memorise common jazz tunes and apply playing-by-ear techniques.
• Accompany other musicians using swing and Latin grooves in 4/4 and 3/4 time.
• Develop aural awareness through ear-training exercises and apply common musical structures in practice.
• Create drum fills and longer solos that relate to a tune.

Is this course right for you?

The course is intended for instrumentalists and singers who have basic fluency with their instrument or voice. Participants should already be able to perform some tunes from memory, read simple music where relevant and play or sing a scale in several keys. Learners perform individually and with others in each lesson.

• Singers do not need to be able to sight-sing.
• Drummers should already be able to play a swing jazz cymbal beat with sticks in 4/4 and 3/4 at moderate tempos.
• An end-of-term concert is available as an optional performance opportunity.