My friend Jerry, who for a white farmboy originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, bears quite a resemblance to Spike Lee, teaches music to high school kids in Nashville. Jerry is also a fantastic jazz drummer. Here’s his description of how improvisation begets learning…
You asked me to explain how teaching beginning jazz improvisation connects to teaching beginning spoken word improvisation.The above 8 measures are part of a 24 measure form or song I passed out the first day of class. Most of these kids had a good idea of how to play their respective instruments which to me means getting a full, round, in tune, sound. As I handed out this music I mentioned the “I” word (Improvisation). This sent shock waves throughout the room and you could feel it. I then explained all of the exits were locked and there was no way anyone could escape.
To settle things I begin my spiel:
The first five to seven minutes is me doing what I do to make students feel they are in a safe non-judgmental environment and that this is a place they can feel comfortable in. (If you need details I will be happy to explain all of this).
The act of improvising — creating and editing simultaneously — comes from doing. In the beginning, if you are truly creating, there is no time for judging. I assure these kids this will come quite easily down the road. For now the doing is the most important thing.
I then continue with:
Looking at the musical example at the top we see eight measures and eight whole notes. All eight of these notes in any order and any rhythm will sound good over the Fm7 chord. (Lines 2 and 3 are simply a voicing for piano along with some rhythmic ideas on the Fm7 chord.) I will explain the “why” later. The freedom of expression and enjoyment that comes from improvisation is more important than the “why” at this point. DO NOT THINK just have fun; listen to how each note relates emotionally to the underlying Fm7 chord. Do some notes create tension? Do some notes give a sense of home (release)?
We then add the complete rhythm section, bass, guitar, and drums and play a medium tempo bossa nova (Latin) feel and begin grooving on the Fm7 chord. I first instruct everyone to play only the written whole notes. We then play the entire 24 measure tune or form which looks like the following:
When this becomes comfortable (which doesn’t take long) we then play half notes, then quarter notes and finally eighth notes. We also play the notes in order and even though I have told the kids to play exactly what I have asked them to do I can hear people beginning to experiment. The kids are growing bored and because the tools needed to begin exploring this 24-bar tune are in their hands and minds and most importantly their EARS, the magic and wonder of improvising has a grip on them, a grip so strong this new independence can not be stopped. They begin BEGGING me to allow them to experiment!
One of the most important fundamentals of improvisation is creating tension and release or question and answer or hot and cold or out of the box and in the box or soft and loud and so on. Create tension and leave it out there and when you’re ready, release it (let it go). The most famous example would be DUT DA DA DUT DUT…(beat)..DUT DUT. (’Shave and a haircut, two bits’). The release or answer is what non-improvisers lack.
The reason you are onto something with GameChangers, is that games create tools that give business answers. Business craves left side of the brain employees. These folks are analytical, smart, and get things done. If you can introduce these leftsiders’ minds to even a thimble full of right side stimulus you get analytical, smart, free thinking, creative, out of the box thinkers who get things done.
Any mind that expands to accept a new idea never returns to its original size.
Jerry Steinhilber
Percussion Performance, Composition, Education
drumstein@comcast.net
January 27, 2008
Tags: Creating, Editing, Education, High School, Improvisation, Jerry Steinhilber, Music, Nashville, Percussion, Release, Teaching, Tension