trpt2345

I'd echo what others have said about playing blues scales. But for those audiences a little more advanced I recommend quarter notes on chord tones. If someone can play quarter notes on chord tones consistently through chorus after chorus they really do know the changes. Then if they can play eighth notes, just add the non-harmonic tones (passing tones, neighbor tones, etc.) and voila, you have a solo on the changes.

Michael McLaughlin

There on my computer are the two buttons representing the things I can never have: Control and Escape.
Garrison Keillor

rowuk

The first step is to remove the fear of playing without sheet music in front of you. When improvising, knowing the changes gives you your notes - so in that hour everybody needs to know the basic changes and what notes sound good - success generates further interest - your ultimate goal! The rest you learn in the second hour.............................

gridjam

All great replies,I am stealing what Ken said! That's so great.My most successful (and only!) clinic with a room of 250 twitching 3rd graders passed by rather quickly when I had them sing back what I played. The scary and humorous part was when they immediately mastered my cacked phrases,singing them back to me better than I had slopply played them!

fleebat

Great thoughts from Ken - and what a treat to check out the forum & find that Ms. Jensen is contributing!

In clinics with younger people, those just trying to find a foothold with improv (high-schoolish), I always worried that there would be someone who was way beyond what I'd focus on, and someone who'd be so new to the subject that they'd be lost. Never figured out how to be all things to all of 'em.

What seemed to be helpful on several occasions was to expose them to the concept of tonalities. They've usually heard "this scale with that chord" 'til they're blue in the face, and for many of them it still seems random. Hard for them to connect thoughts that way (especially in the beginning). They understand keys at this age, though. So I like to take them through a tune like "All The Things," or another that moves through different temporary "keys" (tonalities). Show them how different chords from the "parent" key move the harmony within that tonal framework. You can usually get them playing viable melodies in that short timeframe (an hour or so), and understanding how to land on chord tones, move between them with scalar notes.

If they're a little farther ahead than that, you can expose them to secondary dominants (V of V stuff... iii/VI7/ii/V7 is good for that), or start into passing/altered notes on 7th chords (with the parent key/tonality as a foundation). It's very gratifying when they seem to really take something useful away from the clinic.

Good luck!

Rusty Russell

Dave

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trumpetnick

Ingrid,
How do you manage the other way around? YouTube - Classic Sesame Street - Hoots the Owl and Wynton Marsalis I think that this is hilarious . Is it random that the owl is a sax player (remember my post about cornets )