tasteebro mike

Im in tenth grade, so i still have much more to learn about improvising. Right now i have a book/cd ... Approaching The Standards, by Dr. Willie L. Hill, Jr. vol. 1 and so far reading through it on my on without an instructor, its increased my improvising skills greatly.
So, what i wanted to know is, is there any other books and or cds you would recomend, and make sure there the difficulty level of a really awsome tenth grader , and make sure they are easy to find... and high notes are my favorite, so if there is any upper range books you would like to suggest i would be happy to look into getting it.

trumpet blower88

In my opinion, improviseing is just like composition, or painting a masterpiece. It's 100% your own creativity, and creativity can't be taught. Books can teach you some differant techniques, or some generic ways to do it, but I think it's really something a person has to learn themselves and learn how to use their creativity.
I took composition lessons for about 3 months. But it soon got to a point where I wasn't learning anything outside of just music theory and whatnot, but the lessons wern't helping me at all when it came time to sit down at the piano and start composeing. I think improviseing is the same way, you can read books explaining how others do it, but then are you really improviseing, or are you just doing what whoever wrote that book does? You have to use your own creativity, and no one can teach you how to be creative.
I think the best way is to just sit down and think and practice doing it yourself. Some other people may think that this is the compleatly wrong way to go and that reading books is everything. But I have never once read a book on improviseing or anything like that, and I don't want to sound full of myself or anything, but people say I'm pretty good at improviseing...

stewmuse

Courting the Upper Register (classical)
CUR II • JAZZ (Jazz)

http://www.stewmuse.com/Books.html

Available in paper or PDF (on CD) format.

NickD

OK, I count myself a STUDENT of jazz improvisation. So take my comments for what they are corth within that context!

First, I would recommend Mike's book. They provide very well graded material to work with. They help you gradually extend your range and are geared nicely for a player of your experience.

Also, the idea espoused by TrumpetBlower is good, too. You don't want the stricture of "jazz methodology" to stifle your creativity by forcing you to think about changes in certain ways. You will always need to play with a certain amount of abandon.

However, I think understanding the thoery is really important. One of my heros is Dizzy. Dizzy was well schooled in the be-bop trenches and he knew just what he was doing. He could sit down at a piano and explain what he was doing. Most of my favorite jazz improvisors can do that. Sure there are some that just played by ear and had remarkable skill, but I still feel that I hear some of the most intersting stuff from folks who know what they are doing. Now, by "know what they are doing," I mean they are keenly aware of the changes they are playing and the theory uderlying them.

For example, one of my Chicago area jazz players is Doug Scharf. Doug has been a fabulous improvisor for as long as I have known him (over 25 years now) and he has always impressed me with another skill that I have no doubt has helped him a great deal. Doug is also a fine jazz pianist! In fact, that fact, along with some other influences in my life recently, played a big part in my going back to study piano with Alan Swain.

I can improvise by the seat of my pants OK. Sometimes, I'll pull of a passable solo, sometimes, I won't. However, when I KNOW the changes, I will ALWAYS play a solo that I can feel good about. Now, by know the changes, I mean, I can recite them to you and suggest scales and patterns that fit each change and turnaround. I am, indeed NEW to this level of analytic thinking about my jazz, but it is already helping me.

In addition to Mike's books, books by other composers on TM, I would urge you to research Alan Swain's books and start teaching yourself reading changes to tunes. You could start with "All The Things You Are." Learn the melody from memory. Then memorize the chord progression and labor through it on piano. Don't be concerned about sounding GOOD on piano. You're a trumpeter! It's OK to have to play very slowly on piano. In fact, that's good! It'll force you to hear each chord in context.

Of course, all of the Aebersold stuff is excellent. You'll find plenty of supportive info on his work. However, playing the piano YOURSELF will help you in more ways than you can imagine.

Now, you said that you want things that can help a 10th grade player. I WISH somebody had pushed me to do this when I was in 10th grade. You have no idea just how much I wish that. In fact, I have got my son doing this (he plays piano, 1st and tenor 2nd). He is so far beyond where I was at his age, I can't even begin to describe it. However, ALL of the kids in his high school bands are that good. He has to work hard just to keep up.

You should also get a lot of adivce on this thread about listening and transcribing. I'll leave that end to other folks, but the extreme importance of that aspect is the background and context this will give you for what I am suggesting. I am jumping in here with the Alan Swain and piano thing because that is the one thing that I didn't get when I was your age, and I honestly believe it was the most important. I am trying to make up for that now.

One last disclaimer...
It could be that the Alan Swain piano work that I am doing is helping more at my stage because of my experience. I know thousdands of tunes, and I can play them in any key. I do this by ear, but THAT is another skill you'll need to develop. I've also transcribed many solos and studied still other transcriptions. I have thousands of CDs, LPs, and tapes, and I listen. So, when I am working on learning the changes to a tune by struggling through it on piano, I have an idea of many licks patterns and their permutations and combinations that I can fit together in my head when I play. At your age (10th grade) you may not have the same contextual info to work with. Nevertheless, I would URGE you to make jazz piano a serious double for you. You can't loose.

FWIIW, coming from me.

Best wishes in your jazz studies and...

Peace!

Nick