It has now been over six years since I started playing the trumpet again. You know what that means, don’t you? That’s right, it’s time for another anniversary article!
A MAJOR MILESTONE: SIX YEARS
Most people focus on periods of five or ten years as “milestone” years, but in my case six years is actually more significant. That’s because six years is roughly the same amount of time that I had played the trumpet prior to my freshman year of college, when I had my big blowout. The “blowout” occurred during a period where I was practicing 6-8 hours a day. The inside of my lip split open and the outside developed a nasty blister. My lip eventually healed, but my embouchure never fully recovered. The year after the blowout I dropped out of music school and quit playing the trumpet for seven years. I guess you could say the blowout was the beginning of the end of my trumpet-playing career.
With six years back on the horn, it’s tempting to compare my current playing to my playing right before the blowout. But that would be an unfair comparison. For starters, I had much more time to practice back when I was in high school. By my senior year I was practicing my trumpet 3-4 hours ever day. Now it’s a major accomplishment if I can get two hours of practice in a single day. I also have a lot more distractions and stresses in my life now. Oh, to be young again… sigh.
Even though I was a stronger technical player at the end of those first six years than I am now, I’m definitely a much better overall player today. One important improvement that I’ve made is with my embouchure. When I started playing the trumpet again, I made some modifications to my embouchure which have resulted in a much more efficient setup. That allows me to use less mouthpiece pressure when playing and I can still get a big full sound. In fact, I’ve got any bigger sound now than ever before. And best of all, I now know how to use that sound to make music. I don’t have any jazz recordings from those first six years, but let’s just say they pale in comparison to what I can do now. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m well aware of how far I’ve come.
EAR TRAINING PRACTICE
Over the past year I’ve averaged about 30 minutes of ear training practice each day. Without a doubt, those ear training sessions are responsible for the bulk of my improvement as a jazz improviser. Before I started to practice ear training, I could barely play two notes by ear. Now, however, I’m able to hear and play multi-measure phrases accurately by ear. I’m not nearly as consistent as I need to be, but I feel like my improved ability to play by ear has me on the brink of a new chapter in my jazz improvisation journey.
To keep up with my improved aural skills, I’ve modified my ear training routine a little over the past few months. I used to begin each ear training session with intervals, but now I start with 4-note random melodies. Also, while I used to use major scales as the source for my random melodies, I now use all 12-notes of the chromatic scale. Introducing the full range of half steps has really pushed my ear to differentiate between similar note sounds. I typically play 4-note melodies for a few minutes, adding an extra note once I’ve demonstrated that I can play a majority of 4-note melodies accurately by ear. I’ll then add one additional note at a time until I reach 6 or 7 notes. At that point, I’ll move on to simple songs or jazz licks. If I have enough time, I might add modulation to the various melodic exercises. Lastly, I wrap up my ear training practice with a few minutes of listening to and playing back random chords by ear. Of course, I do all of these exercises with my free online ear training tools.
It’s important to modify elements of your practice routine so they keep pace with your developing skills. In the case of ear training, it would be a waste of time to practice intervals (2 notes) if you’re already able to accurately play 3- or 4-note melodies by ear. You’d be much better off practicing longer phrases that challenge your current abilities. But, it’s also important that the new exercises aren’t too challenging (don’t try going from 4 notes to 12 notes). When determining how hard to push yourself, think back to “the edge” diagram that I shared from the Thomas Hooten masterclass. Practicing at the edge of our current abilities gives us the greatest chance for improvement. Here’s that diagram in case you missed it:
RANGE AND ENDURANCE
I’m pleased to report that both my range and endurance continue to strengthen. Neither is where I want it to be, but at least there is noticeable progress. Last year at this time, I was just starting to be able to play C’s above the staff while improvising. Now I can hit several of them each day and I’ve even managed to hit a few D’s. I’m still using a little too much mouthpiece pressure in order to hit these higher notes, but at least my upper range is improving.
Consistency is my main enemy right now. There are days when my chops are great and I can play through my entire range for 15-20 minute stretches with little fatigue. And then there are days when I can barely play anything above the staff, even when my chops are fresh. I know that most, if not all, trumpet players battle with consistency so I’m definitely not alone on this. I just need to improve my overall playing so I can still play at a decent level on those bad days.
PLAYING THE TRUMPET IN PUBLIC
This past year included my first public trumpet performance since 1995. That first performance was at the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival where I participated in one of the trumpet ensembles. I was really nervous at the time, and actually hadn’t planned on playing at all until the festival organizer encouraged me to do so. There were plenty of things I didn’t like about my playing during the festival, but the act of going there and participating helped open my mind to the idea of playing the trumpet with other people.
Were it not for my positive experience at the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival, I don’t know how I would have reacted when I was invited to join a weekly jazz jam session in January of 2008. I’m almost positive that I would have declined the offer. As it was, I was leaning toward declining until my much braver wife convinced me to give it a try. Hey, what did she have to lose?!
It’s now been about 10 months since I started playing with that weekly jazz jam session. I’ve learned a lot about my playing during the sessions, mostly because they’ve helped me to address some of my weaknesses. For instance, the group often calls tunes that I wouldn’t normally choose to play. These tunes might have unfamiliar chord progressions or some other quirk that usually steers me away. Playing with the group, however, forces me to play these awkward tunes and overcome some of the barriers in my playing. The results aren’t always good, but at least I’m pushing myself to improve.
In addition to the weekly jazz jam sessions, I’ve also started to play jazz with my neighbor. He’s a great jazz guitarist who really knows how to listen and interact with a soloist. The two of us have played jazz together a handful of times and each time I think it sounds better and better. These jazz duets have probably been my most enjoyable playing experiences this year.
Hopefully I’ll continue to play in some of these groups and/or new groups over the coming year. As reluctant as I was to start playing music with other people, I’m really glad to have finally taken the plunge this year.
ATLANTA JAZZ SCENE
During the past year, I became a lot more involved with the Atlanta jazz scene, both on this website and by personally attending more jazz concerts and events. Every week I’ve attended at least one jazz concert, and some weeks I’ve been to as many as three or four jazz concerts. You can see clips from some of those concerts on the Atlanta Jazz Videos page that I started in December of 2007.
Getting more involved with the Atlanta jazz scene is definitely one of the most rewarding things I've done this past year. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to and to learn from dozens of wonderful jazz performances. And more importantly, I’ve come to meet and become friends, or at least friendly, with many of Atlanta’s top jazz musicians. Sure, there are a few unsavory characters in the Atlanta jazz scene (e.g. Mace Hibbard), but by and large they’re a great group of people and I truly feel privileged to be able to hear them play jazz on a regular basis. Sorry, Mace, I couldn't resist ;-)
If you’re serious about becoming a jazz musician, or even if you’re just an ardent jazz fan, I strongly encourage you to get to know the local jazz musicians in your city. Attend their concerts and talk with them in between sets. If you support your local jazz scene, the musicians will reward you with knowledge, motivation, and inspiration. Trust me, it's well worth the investment.
This page contains my improvisation recordings from 2008. As you'll hear below, the recordings feature such highlights as cracked notes, poor note choice, unsteady rhythm, and meandering phrases! And that's why recording myself is so important. It's the best way to evaluate my playing and to chart my progress over time. I don't expect that I'll ever be a great jazz trumpet player, but I am anxious to hear how much better I can get with practice. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
You may recall that I recently switched to using a Mac as my primary computer. Even though I could still use my old PC to record with, I really want to have a Mac solution that sounds as good (or as bad, depending upon what you think of my other recordings). For this attempt, I used GarageBand to do the recording. Unfortunately, the levels came out awfully low, especially after I exported to mp3. I ended up amplifying the mp3 in Audacity, but that resulted in a lot of clipping on the trumpet track. I also tried adding some reverb to my sound in GarageBand, thanks to a suggestion from a reader named Raphael. Whatever reverb I added is just about impossible to hear in the final clip, though, perhaps due to the Audacity amplification. The next time I record my playing, I'll probably try using Audacity to do the whole thing. In any case, I've got quite a bit of tinkering in my future.
JUNE 23, 2008
Aebersold #25, My Foolish Heart
Unless I overlooked a recording, it's been about four years since the last time I posted a ballad recording ( My Funny Valentine from 2004). Hoping to meet my unofficial ballad quota of one every four years, I gave "My Foolish Heart" a try tonight. This was my first time improvising over the tune. I don't think it sounds too bad, especially considering the fact that I didn't look at the changes. And for the sake of consistency, I even threw in one of my trademark cracked notes near the end!
APRIL 19, 2008
Aebersold #116, Trane's Ride
I recently purchased the "Miles Of Modes" Aebersold recording. As you might guess from the title, it has a lot of modal exercises and tunes. It also has a pretty energetic rhythm section, at least on some of the tracks. This clip features one of my favorite tracks from the play-a-long, "Trane's Ride" (written by Jamey Aebersold). If you've listed to several of my recordings, you know cracked/missed notes are par for the course. Heck, my recordings would probably be unrecognizable without them! Well, let's just say this recording doesn't disappoint. Near the end of the recording are two notes in a row which I totally miss. They're just tiny squeaks of air...
MARCH 9, 2008
Aebersold #104, Drone in E
As I often do when recording, tonight I set my Aebersold tracks to shuffle and tried playing with whatever was randomly selected. I was really in the mood to play something fast and hard-hitting, so when this track from the Kenny Werner - Free Play play-a-long began, I was tempted to hit the "next" button. I decided to give it a try, however, when I saw the title of the track, "Drone in E". Since that's the key of F# on the trumpet, I figured this would be a good chance to challenge myself to play in one of my less familiar keys. This is my first time playing with this Aebersold track, and it's the first time I've shared a clip quite like this, but I thought it came out good enough to share. Just pretend I actually hit those two notes at the end :-)
FEBRUARY 16, 2008
Clip #1 - Aebersold #56 - "I Mean You" by Thelonious Monk.
Clip #2 - Aebersold #56 - "I Mean You" by Thelonious Monk.
I first recorded with this "I Mean You" play-a-long track back in 2004 (). I've improvised with the track a few times over the years but I hadn't had the inclination to make any new recordings until last weekend. Above you'll find a clip from last weekend (Clip #2) as well as a clip from this weekend (Clip #1). As you'll hear, Clip #1 is similar in style to most of my other jazz recordings while Clip #2 is a little more adventurous (at least in parts).
When practicing jazz improvisation, I try to approach my solos with a variety of styles. I'll play a few choruses in a straight-ahead hard/bop style, then I might try something really sparse, or maybe I'll play in an angular or avant-garde style. These varied approaches aren't always successful, but they do help open new avenues of creativity that I might otherwise miss by playing everything the same way all the time. Variety... it really is the spice of life!
This past weekend, I attended the fifth annual (2008) Atlanta Trumpet Festival at Emory University. Below you’ll find my review of the festival and some notes from the master classes. While this is no doubt of more interest to trumpet players, I’d encourage everyone to read the notes from Thomas Hooten’s masterclass. His tips on getting the most out of your practice session apply to any instrument -- and just about any goal for that matter.
TRUMPET ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS
The Atlanta Trumpet Festival has separate ensembles for middle school, high school, and adult trumpeters. As always, there are no auditions. Participants select the parts they want to play and are encouraged to play different parts on each tune. On one tune the best players might be playing 1st trumpet and on another they could be playing 6th or 7th trumpet. This rotation of parts allows younger and/or less experienced players to sit next to and learn from better players.
If you’ve read my review of the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival, you know that last year was my first time playing the trumpet in public in over a decade. It was such a positive experience that I felt compelled to participate again this year.
While my range and endurance have improved since last year, I didn’t want to press my luck when it came to picking music. So, rather than blow my chops away on the higher parts, I opted for the lower charts for every tune. Little did I know, the bottom trumpet parts were probably just as demanding. On one tune, for example, there were several entrances where we had to come in on a low “G” at a very soft volume. That’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially when cottonmouth sets in.
Last year I addressed some of the shortcomings that I noticed about my playing during the Atlanta Trumpet Festival. Notably, I struggled with my limited range and found it hard to blend in with the ensemble. Since I stuck with low trumpet parts this year, I didn’t end up testing my upper range at all, but it was definitely easier for me to blend in to the overall sound of the ensemble this year. Mostly this had to do with my improved ability to hear intonation issues between myself and the other players. I credit the jazz jam session that I’ve been attending each week for helping me with group intonation. No offense to that group, but it’s quite common for one or more people to be significantly out of tune. That forces me to really pay attention to my pitch, adjusting as needed while we play.
KEVIN LYONS - BECOMING A VERSATILE MUSICIAN
Kevin Lyons, a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, led a discussion about being a versatile musician. Versatility will allow you to play a variety of musical styles (classical, jazz, salsa, etc) thereby increasing the potential number and types of gigs you can play in as a professional musician. A versatile trumpet player himself, Kevin Lyons spent a couple of years playing jazz with the Glenn Miller Orchestra prior to joining the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
As Kevin Lyons pointed out, when learning various styles of music, the most important thing you should do is listen. If your goal is to play gigs in a salsa band, get some salsa recordings and listen to them over and over again. Listen closely to the phrasing, accents, and rhythms. Listening affords you the ability to really zero in on the nuances that identify a particular style of music. These nuances can’t be taught in written music, you can only learn them through listening. Listening to recordings is perhaps the most frequent type of listening you’ll do, but Kevin Lyons also stressed the importance of attending live concerts. At live concerts you’ll not only get to listen to fantastic music, but you’ll also learn how musicians interact with each other and with the audience. You’ll also have a chance to meet local musicians and begin the valuable stage of networking.
Once you begin to absorb the sound of a particular musical style through listening, the next step is to record yourself playing the music. Ideally you’ll be able to record yourself playing a solo or phrase for which you also have a professional recording. You can then compare your solo to the original to ensure that you’re closely emulating the style of music that you’re trying to learn. If you don’t sound like the original, the recording should help you to quickly identify those aspects of your playing that don’t match up. As Kevin Lyons mentioned, recording yourself makes it much easier to find and fix problem spots in your playing. And that’s precisely why I record my jazz improvisation solos.
I enjoyed Kevin Lyon’s discussion and also appreciated his laid back attitude. It can be very intimidating for young and/or beginning players to talk with such accomplished musicians, but Kevin’s friendly demeanor really took the edge off. I suppose it’s all of those long, moonlit walks on the beach that mellow him out. I also liked it when one of the middle school kids asked Kevin to define the word “gig.” Kevin replied, “A gig is a professional job that you get paid for. And a professional job that you DON’T get paid for is called a gag.” Now there's something you don't learn in school!
THOMAS HOOTEN - GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PRACTICE SESSIONS
Thomas Hooten is the principal trumpet in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He’s also the best classical trumpeter I’ve ever heard in person. During his discussion, Thomas played an excerpt from Mahler’s 5th Symphony that was so stunningly beautiful that I it gave me goose bumps. Thomas Hooten’s brilliant playing was well matched by the insight he shared during his masterclass about getting the most out of our practice sessions.
Thomas began the discussion by drawing an image like the one you'll see below:
The dark circle in the middle of the diagram represents those things that we’ve already mastered in our playing. The large dotted gray area beyond that represents things we can do occasionally but with inconsistency and/or lackluster results. And the area beyond the large circle represents things we can’t do at all. When practicing, many of us attempt to do too many things that are floating around in the middle of the dotted area. We’d have a much greater chance of success, however, if we focused on things that are right on the edge of what we’ve already mastered. For example, if I’m trying to learn how to improvise at faster tempos, I won’t make significant progress if I start practicing Giant Steps at 300bpm. The mix of fast tempos and challenging chord progressions is setting me up for failure. I’d be much better off playing a tune I already know at tempos that narrowly exceed my current comfort level, gradually increasing the speed as my competency grows. This concept of setting attainable goals is nothing new, but it’s still something most of us fail to do because we’re in too much of a hurry to improve. Next time you find yourself trying to do too much too soon, remember this diagram and focus on the edge of that inner circle.
Following are several more of Thomas Hooten’s keys for success:
You Perform How You Practice - if you don’t take your practice sessions seriously, it will be obvious in your performances.
Good Performers Are Consistent, Not Lucky – when you’re underprepared you need luck to get through a performance. Proper preparation delivers consistent results.
Don’t Judge Yourself – when we play poorly we sometimes become angry with ourselves and overly critical. These negative emotional responses cloud our judgment and inhibit progress. When problems arise, focus on the issues without taking it personally.
Never Quit – there’s always a way to improve.
Use a Metronome and Tuner – good time and good intonation never go out of style!
Practice Slowly – don’t play something at full tempo until you can play it at half tempo.
Make Hard Sections Even Harder – Thomas Hooten demonstrated this one by playing an excerpt with a very challenging leap to a high note. Since it's such a difficult passage, Thomas will practice the phrase while jumping to an even higher note. After that, the real/lower note seems easy. This one only works, however, if you can actually play the intended note in the first place.
Take a Break After 30 Minutes of Practice – after 30 minutes, fatigue sets in and it becomes harder to concentrate. Thomas actually sets a timer when he practices so he doesn’t accidentally exceed 30 mintues. Once the time goes off he rests for at least 10 minutes, and sometimes for an hour or two.
Experiment, Be Creative – you don’t have to do everything the same way all the time. Experiment with new repertoire, new approaches to existing material, and add variety to your daily practice routine.
Keep a Practice Journal – Thomas keeps very detailed practice journals so he can evaluate his progress over time.
Practice Active Listening and Record Yourself – Thomas basically echoed the same concepts I mentioned from the Kevin Lyons masterclass.
Take Notes After Each Lesson – if you’re taking private lessons, your teacher may be telling you more things than you can remember during a lesson. If you record the lesson or take notes immediately afterwards, you stand a much better chance of retaining all of that information.
Dealign with Nerves: Be Overprepared – a good way of dealing with nerves is to be so prepared that you don’t have to worry about whether or not you can perform.
Dealing with Nerves: Play for your friends – many of us become self-concious and nervous when playing in front of others. You and your fellow musicians can combat this by regularly performing in front of each other.
Here’s one more tidbit about Thomas that I found especially interesting. While in college, Thomas said he had hit a wall with his playing. His teacher at the time, Armando Ghitalla, told him that he needed to change his embouchure in order to succeed as a professional trumpet player. On a leap of faith, Thomas took the advice, spent several months barely able to play as he adjusted to his embouchure, and look where he is now: principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra! This story interests me so much because I was a freshman at the University of Michigan when I first ran into major problems with my embouchure (the blowout). And guess who the head of the trumpet department was at the time? None other than Armando Ghitalla. I was a jazz studies major at the time and Armando Ghitalla primarily taught upperclassmen, but now I’ll wonder how things might have turned out if he could have helped me with my embouchure back then. Of course, it’s extremely unlikely that I would have become a fantastic trumpet player like Thomas Hooten, but perhaps I’d at least be able to play above the staff for 5 minutes before my chops give out! Sigh….
HOPING FOR MORE JAZZ IN THE FUTURE
Given the trumpet’s pivotal role throughout the history of jazz music, it seems important to me that jazz should be represented at any trumpet festival. At last year’s Atlanta Trumpet Festival we did indeed have jazz performances and discussions, but this year it was strictly a classical production. Whether the omission of jazz was intentional or simply a matter of scheduling conflicts (the festival date changed this year), it was a missed opportunity to expose the young trumpet players to jazz. You never know, jazz might be just the thing that keeps some of them interested in playing the trumpet. It certainly keeps me coming back to the horn. Hopefully next year jazz will return to the Atlanta Trumpet Festival.
Update 9/23/2008: The Atlanta Trumpet Festival director, Kay Fairchild, has informed me that jazz will indeed continue to play an important role at the festival. They actually had two jazz trumpeters scheduled to appear this year but things fell through when Emory University had to change the date on short notice.
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCES
Attendance at the Atlanta Trumpet Festival was down a bit since last year’s record size, but there was still a decent number of participants in the middle school, high school, and adult trumpet ensembles. Each ensemble played well during the final concert and I’m happy to report that I successfully made it through those soft low G’s!
FINAL THOUGHTS
As always, I’d like to thank Kay Fairchild, her son David, and the Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble for all of the hard work they put into making the Atlanta Trumpet Festival possible. I look forward to participating again next year and hope more of my trumpet playing readers will attend as well.
It’s been a while since my last update, so I thought I’d share some recent events…
TRUMPET REPAIRS
If you’ve seen pictures of my trumpet, you know it isn’t exactly in tip-top condition. There’s a sizable dent on the bell near the front brace and there’s a random assortment of smaller dings and dents scattered around the horn. The dents and the tarnished appearance don’t bother me, though. If anything, I think they give my trumpet some character. The only thing I’ve really wanted to fix on my horn is the valve action, since I have to oil them every couple of days or they’ll start to stick.
A couple of months ago, while taking my horn out of its case during my regular Thursday night jam session, I noticed that the front brace which connects the lead pipe to the bell had broken off. I think that was my trumpet’s way of telling me enough is enough -- fix me! Since it’s been a loyal companion to me for 21 years, and it only mildly punished me for leaving it in its case for 7 of those years, I decided it was time to do the right thing for my beloved trumpet. I’d have it repaired and restored to its former glory! So, I immediately procrastinated for a couple of months and then I brought it to one of the finest brass repair shops in the Southeast: Rich Ita’s Brass Instrument Workshop. All of the dents will be removed, the valves will be realigned, and it will have its first chemical cleaning since… well, ever.
My trumpet should be should be ready this coming Saturday. Until then, I’m playing one of Joe Gransden’s trumpets. It’s a great 1961 Conn Connstellation 38B that’s in fantastic condition thanks to Rich Ita. Joe plans on selling the Connstellation soon, so this is my opportunity to try it out and see if I want it as a backup horn. If I don’t buy it, you can expect to see it on eBay in the near future. Joe’s also going to be selling a pristine Mt. Vernon Bach, but that one’s going to be a little out of my price range. If you’re interested in either of these horns, let me know and I’ll tell you if/when they go on eBay.
Update 9/6/08: My trumpet is back from repairs. Rich Ita did a fantastic job!
I MADE THE MAC SWITCH
I’ve owned an underpowered MacBook for a couple of years now, but I didn’t do much on it aside from testing websites and other software. A week ago, however, my employer sent me a brand new MacBook Pro and I decided it was finally time to make the switch from PC to Mac. What does this have to do with jazz or ear training? Nothing at all. But, it does help to explain why I haven’t updated this site lately (that and my job has kept me very busy). It’s taken quite a bit of time to get everything setup on the new Mac (thank goodness for Parallels), and I still haven’t had time to figure out how I’m going to record new audio clips with the Mac.
The Mac is also relevant to this site because it’s forced me to pay more attention to how my free online ear training program works on a Mac. On my Windows PC, the ear trainer sounds awfully close to a real piano. On a Mac, it just sounds awful. Each note has an electric buzzing sound and the cymbals sound pathetic. I've also noticed audio delays and dropped audio on the Mac. While I’ve always known the ear trainer sounded and worked better on my PC, it wasn’t until now that I’ve felt compelled to deal with it. I fear that I won’t be able to find a Java solution to the problem. If that’s the case, I definitely haven’t ruled out the idea of creating a Mac-specific version of the ear training tool. But that’s not exactly how I’d like to spend my free time…
ATLANTA JAZZ SCENE – TWAIN’S
I know most of my readers don’t live in the Atlanta area, but I want to mention how fantastic the Tuesday night jazz jam sessions have been at Twain’s Billiards and Tap. The house band features some of Atlanta’s finest jazz musicians, with Joe Gransden on trumpet, Tyrone Jackson on piano, Craig Shaw on bass, and Chris Burroughs on drums. Each week the turnout has been incredible. By 10 or 11pm, the place is packed. One of the coolest things, to me at least, is the mix of people in the audience. The audience spans all ages with lots of college kids (definitely rare for jazz shows in Atlanta) and even entire families. If you live in the Atlanta area, do yourself a favor and check out the Tuesday night jazz jam session at Twain’s. Just be sure to stay past 10pm because you never know who will drop by as the night goes on.
Here’s what happened last week when Marcus Printup and Russell Gunn joined Joe Gransden on stage:
Last year, I saw an announcement from Dave Douglas, mentioning some of the classes he was going to teach at the 2007 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. One of the classes, "Ear Training for Improvisers" really piqued my interest. Not only was it an ear training class specifically geared toward improvisation, but it was also being taught by one of my favorite jazz musicians on the scene today.
Real quick… for those who are less familiar with Dave Douglas, here's a (very) brief bio: Dave Douglas is a two-time grammy-nominated jazz trumpet player, composer, and educator who has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and he's appeared on over one hundred recordings as a sideman. In addition to leading his own band, Dave Douglas is well known for his work with John Zorn's Masada group and more recently as a member of the SFJazz Collective. Dave Douglas also started his own independent record label, Greenleaf Music. Here's an even shorter bio: Dave Douglas is a bad ass! For more information, read Dave Douglas' official bio.
Since I knew I couldn't attend Dave Douglas' ear training class in person, I sent him an email hoping to learn more about the class and possibly his thoughts about ear training in general. We exchanged a couple of messages after my initial inquiry, and Dave graciously agreed to write an article about ear training for his GreenleafMusic.com blog. He did warn me, however, that it would probably take several months due to his busy playing and touring schedule. And boy has he been busy… since that first email Dave Douglas toured around the world with the SFJazz Collective and separately with his own band, he composed a 75-minute suite for big band and quartet, and he recorded and released a new live album with his Keystone band. Oh, and don't forget all the other requests he has to contend with from demanding fans like me…
Given Dave Douglas' hectic schedule, I wasn't expecting him to send me anything more than a few paragraphs about ear training. And honestly, I would have been thrilled just to get that. So, you can imagine my surprise and delight when Dave recently sent me six pages worth of ear training exercises and valuable insight!
Below, I'll highlight a few sections of Dave Douglas' ear training article. I encourage you to read the entire article at the GreenleafMusic.com blog.
IS EAR TRAINING IMPORTANT?
If you've read any of my ear training articles, you already know my answer to the above question (hint: my answer rhymes with "Wes"). While I'm absolutely confident in my beliefs about ear training, it certainly helps to have some supporting evidence about the importance of ear training, especially when that evidence comes from professional musicians.
I think the following paragraph from Dave Douglas says it all:
Ear training is the most valuable training for any musician, and maybe most of all for an improviser. Improvisation puts a musician on the spot in unpredictable ways -- you have only your ears to help you learn what's going on and decide how to respond to events or initiate them. Basically ear training underlies anything a musician does: melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, form, density, community (who you are playing with), legacy (how you choose to deal, or not deal, with the traditions of music). You name it -- to be handled fully it has got to be heard deeply and accurately.
IS EAR TRAINING QUICK AND EASY?
If you've searched around for ear training materials, you've probably seen at least one of those ear training programs boasting super fast results. Some even go so far as to suggest that you can develop perfect pitch within a few weeks. I fell for one of these programs myself, many years ago (it was a waste of money). Unfortunately, I've yet to find a "silver bullet" for ear training. It's much more realistic to say that while most methods of ear training will improve your aural skills, the results come slowly, and only through practice and perseverance. Ear training can also be very humbling to realize you can't play simple things accurately by ear. Dave Douglas echoes these sentiments in the following statement:
Ear training takes a lot of time to master, and it seems like the more you work on it the more you see your own shortcomings. It's slow going…
I don't know about you, but I certainly feel a lot better about my own progress with ear training now that I know a fantastic jazz musician like Dave Douglas can relate to the slow (and frustrating) process of ear training.
EAR TRAINING EXERCISES
In his ear training article, Dave Douglas describes several exercises which became part of his practice routine at one time or another. There's a lot of great detail in this section, so be sure to check out the original article for more information. Following are some highlights from Dave Douglas' ear training exercises:
Practice With A Metronome
Dave Douglas illustrates several different ways to practice with a metronome, including everything from playing along to clicks on 2 and 4, to subdividing individual beats so each metronome click represents dotted quarter and dotted half notes. He even goes on to explain how you can use the metronome to practice over tricky meters like 7/8 and 9/8. As Dave states, "These exercises are about developing a solid time feel. Part of my motivation stems from the philosophy that each musician in an ensemble should be equally responsible for the time."
I occasionally practice with a metronome on 2 and 4, but I hadn't even thought about some of these more advanced ideas. I'll definitely give some of them a try, but I probably won't spend too much time with the 7/8 and 9/8 stuff. I'll leave that to the pro's ;-).
Seeing Structures
Dave Douglas' structure exercises involve taking a section, or cell, of music and using that section as source material for improvisation. The improvised material should be the same length as the source material, should sound at least somewhat similar, and should be followed by a repetition of the original source material. For example, let's say you begin with a melody that's two measures long. You'd start out by playing that two-measure melody at a steady tempo (this is a good time to use that metronome). After playing the original melody, you'd improvise for two measures, keeping your improvisation faithful to the original melody. You might stick to the same notes, the same rhythms, the same dynamics, the same general form, whatever. The main point is that the improvised section should be derivative of the original melody and it should be two measures long. After those two improvised measures you'd replay the original two-measure section followed by another two measures of improvisation and so on.
I currently practice a variation of Dave's structure exercises when practicing licks from jazz transcriptions. I'll pick a measure or two that I really like from a transcription and I'll use that lick as the inspiration for my improvisation, occasionally returning to the original lick. If the lick has lot of interval leaps, I'll have a lot of leaps in my solo. If it's bluesy, I'll also try to play bluesy. You get the idea. I don't, however, obey such a regimented structure where I improvise for the same length of the original lick nor do I repeat the original lick after each improvised section. I'm definitely going to spend some quality time doing this exercise as Dave Douglas describes to see where it leads me.
Playing In All Keys
Dave Douglas' final ear training recommendation involves playing music without written materials, in every key. As Dave states, "It should be obvious that this skill is important in improvisation because it entails, essentially, the removal of barriers between the musical imagination and the musical instrument." In other words, the ability to play equally well in any key, and actually without even thinking about key, frees you to play any musical idea that pops into your mind. Dave recommends taking a familiar tune and playing it without written material in each of the twelve keys. You'll only use your ears to guide you from one note to the next.
If you've tried either of my ear training tools, you know that I've got several different exercises to help you play melodies by ear in every key. My simple song randomizer will give you random tune names and starting notes and my ear training applet has random melodies, simple songs, and jazz licks, all of which can be sequenced and modulated. You can even modulate the melodies over the complete cycle of 5th (and 4ths).
A side note… As you probably noticed, Dave Douglas doesn't like to use the term "playing by ear" to specifically mean playing without written materials. In his mind, all music is played "by ear" even when reading from written music, since we're always using our ears to guide us on some level. For instance, even if you're reading from written music, your ears are still able to tell you whether or not you hit a wrong note or whether or not you're out of tune. So, to Dave, there's always a "by ear" element to playing music. I definitely see where Dave is coming from on this and he obviously sees where I, and others, are coming from when we talk about playing (exclusively) by ear. We simply have a different default definition of the phrase "playing by ear". Just thought I'd address that in case anyone was confused, since I use the phrase "playing by ear" throughout this site.
THANK YOU DAVE DOUGLAS!
Dave posted his ear training article to his GreenleafMusic.com blog a few days ago and I've already seen it re-posted on a couple of jazz message boards (TrumpetMaster, TalkBass). No doubt, his article will inspire and motivate more people to spend time with ear training in their daily practice routines. I, for one, am extremely grateful to him for taking the time to share his thoughts about ear training.
If you haven't heard much of Dave Douglas' music, I'd recommend starting with his "Live at the Jazz Standard" recording, which was released in 2007. The interplay between Dave and Donny McCaslin (saxophone) is crazy good. It's an excellent example of what you can do with strong aural skills!
As I wrote in my review of the 2007 Atlanta Jazz Festival, last year's Atlanta Jazz Festival was fantastic. The 2007 festival featured some of today's great young musicians such as Vijay Iyer and The Bad Plus and living legends like Charles Tolliver, Bobby Hutcherson, and Herbie Hancock. Ever since the 2007 Atlanta Jazz Festival ended, I've been anxiously awaiting news about the 2008 festival. Who would headline this year? Would there be any great trumpet players? I even started searching the Web a little earlier than normal, as I scoured jazz musician websites hoping to see "Atlanta Jazz Festival" in their schedules. I just knew the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival would be one to remember! Turns out I was right…
THE GEORGIA DROUGHT TAKES ITS TOLL
Earlier this year, Piedmont Park officials announced the cancellation of all large festivals due to the Georgia drought. Apparently the ground was so dry that large crowds would have killed all the grass. While this may have been a prudent decision for Piedmont Park, it left Atlanta's largest festivals, including the Atlanta Jazz Festival, scrambling to find a venue. You can imagine how disappointed I was to hear this news. Even worse, when the news first broke, I heard rumors that there might not even be a jazz festival at all this year.
NEW FESTIVAL LOCATION
After a month or so of an uncertain future, it was announced that the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival would take place as scheduled, but at a new location: Woodruff Park. While it was great to hear that the Atlanta Jazz Festival found a new home, the new location brought some unfortunate compromises. For starters, Woodruff Park is much smaller than Piedmont Park. Located on just a couple of blocks in downtown Atlanta, Woodruff Park occupies just 3.3 acres of land and has a maximum capacity of less than 50,000 people. Frankly, I don't see how it can hold more than 20,000 people comfortably. By comparison, Piedmont Park is 190 acres and the main concert area can accommodate over 100,000 people. The following image should give you an idea of the different venue sizes:
Due to Woodruff Park's smaller size, the jazz festival couldn't accommodate the types of crowds that you'd expect with big-name acts like Herbie Hancock. Thus the next major compromise would be the decision to feature only Atlanta-based musicians at this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival. That's right, one of the largest metropolitan areas of the southeast was going to have a jazz festival without a single national touring artist. Heck, even Jacksonville had marquee artists like Terrance Blanchard, Casandra Wilson, and Pancho Sanchez at their jazz festival this year (not to pick on Jacksonville, but it only has a metro population of 1.3 million compared to Atlanta's 5.2 million).
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Atlanta's jazz musicians had the opportunity to showcase their music and reach a larger audience at this year's jazz festival, especially since they haven't had much of a main-stage presence in the recent festivals. But I think the Atlanta Jazz Festival works best when both local and touring musicians are featured. To me, the absence of big-name touring acts at the jazz festival gives the impression that Atlanta doesn't take jazz seriously. I know this wasn't the intention, but I'm stating this primarily because I'd hate for the city to think a scaled-back jazz festival is sufficient in years to come. While I'm at it, I'd also like to suggest that future Atlanta jazz festivals should feature local Atlanta jazz musicians on the main stage and in a good time slot (between big-name acts). Since main-stage timeslots are in short supply, perhaps there could be an "Atlanta Jazz Showcase" event where several Atlanta musicians/groups share a set. While it's great that Atlanta jazz musicians have had the second stage in recent years at Piedmont Park, they really deserve a premium billing on the main stage. But I digress…
THE MUSIC THIS YEAR
As mentioned, this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival featured only Atlanta jazz musicians. Actually, they did manage to get smooth jazz artist, Mike Phillips, to play on the final night. I don't follow smooth jazz but I believe he's pretty well known in that world. The rest of the lineup included all six winners of our local Future Of Jazz Competition. Only two of these six acts were straight-ahead jazz. The rest were primarily smooth/contemporary jazz musicians. And depending upon how you classify things, only 3 or 4 of the remaining 9 timeslots at this years jazz festival featured straight-ahead jazz musicians. Consequently, to me it really felt like this was a smooth jazz festival with a little straight-ahead thrown in for good measure. And since I'm not a fan of smooth jazz, I wasn't digging a lot of it (here's the full schedule). I did catch one of the smooth jazz performances, though, and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy themselves. In fact, based on their enthusiastic reaction, I'd say Atlanta could definitely support a separate smooth jazz festival. It would be nice, though, if the real "Atlanta Jazz Festival" was mostly straight-ahead.
Following are some pictures and notes from three of my favorite performances at this year's jazz festival:
KEMBA COFIELD
Kemba Cofield was the winner of this year's Future of Jazz Competition for the "Straight-Ahead Vocals" category. She's also one my favorite Atlanta Jazz Vocalists. Kemba always brings a lot of energy to her performances and she has a natural rapport with her audiences. She's one of those people who you really want to succeed as a musician and she definitely did succeed in singing a great set at this year's jazz festival.
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY JAZZTET
The Georgia State University Jazztet included various members of Georgia State University's jazz faculty, including Gordon Vernick on trumpet, Mace Hibbard on saxophone, Kevin Bales on piano, Dave Frackenpohl on guitar, Robert Dickson on bass, and Justin Varnes on drums. I've heard all of these guys play and in various groups over the years so it was a real treat to hear them all on the stage at once.
MACE HIBBARD
Mace Hibbard won this year's Future of Jazz Competition's "Straight-Ahead Instrumental" category (here's a photo of Mace receiving his award). Mace Hibbard is a fantastic musician and I've seen him play many times around town. If you haven't seen him play yet, you're really missing out. Mace Hibbard is definitely on my short list of must-see Atlanta jazz musicians.
FESTIVAL ATTENDANCE
Even with the smaller venue and lack of national touring acts the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival still managed a pretty good turnout, at least for the size of the venue. While there were still several empty pockets around 4pm on Sunday and Monday (the two days I was at the festival), most of those areas were filled in by 6pm. That's fairly consistent with the Piedmont Park venue as well. At both locations it seems like a lot of people wait for the sun to die down a bit before heading out to the festival. Of course, Piedmont Park's "full" is around 100,000 people while the "full" crowd I saw at Woodruff Park was estimated at only 10,000 people or so. But at least Woodruff Park appeared well attended. The following picture shows the Woodruff Park audience on Sunday around 6pm.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR'S JAZZ FESTIVAL
As of now, it's uncertain when (or if) large festivals will return to Piedmont Park. If the Atlanta Jazz Festival is forced to find another location next year, I certainly hope they don't return to Woodruff Park. I can't really think of a delicate way to say this, so I'll just tell it like it is: Woodruff Park is not a good location for the Atlanta Jazz Festival. I know it was one of the original locations many years ago, but the festival has come a long way since then and they've had much better venues.
The first problem with Woodruff Park is that it isn't very park-like. The best viewing area at this year's festival was on Auburn Avenue, in the middle of a street (traffic was blocked off). Directly behind the street was a plaza covered in granite tile. Both the street and plaza area got VERY hot under the direct sun and the hard surfaces were totally uninviting compared to the grassy field of Piedmont Park, or any real park for that matter. There actually is a grassy section in Woodruff Park, but the way the stage was setup (and the way people were sitting and standing) you could barely see or hear the musicians from the grass so it may as well have not existed. I'm sure some people didn't mind sitting in the road or on the plaza, but I really missed Piedmont Park.
The other major problem with Woodruff Park was the high concentration of vagrants, panhandlers, and other street characters. There is certainly some of this in Piedmont Park, but they usually don't make their way into the festival audience and definitely not in such a heavy concentration. At Woodruff Park, I witnessed several instances where people were forced to move because they were being harassed in one way or another. My wife and I were forced to move at one point because some guy sat down near us and kept yelling unintelligible stuff about the Bee Gees and Michael Jackson. Then he started arguing with another street person who pulled up in a wheel chair (an hour later the wheel chair guy got up and danced… a jazz miracle!). Frankly, I feel a little silly complaining about all the street people at Woodruff Park. After all, Woodruff Park is one of their normal hangouts. If anything, the jazz festival audience was intruding on their turf. Let's do them all a favor and not bother them again next year!
If Piedmont Park isn't available next year, there are definitely better venues than Woodruff Park. The old home of the jazz festival, Grant Park, seems like a great alternative. I'd also suggest Candler Park. At 55 acres, Candler Park is much bigger than Woodruff Park and it just so happens to be within walking distance of my house :-)
SPECIAL THANKS TO FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS
While this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival certainly wasn't ideal by any stretch, I do give a lot of credit to the festival organizers for making the best of an unfortunate situation. I know the change in venue wasn't their idea and I'm sure they would have wanted to book some big-name touring acts. But, things happen and, as they say, the show must go on. Given the circumstances, I'd say the event went really well. Kudos to the Atlanta Jazz Festival coordinators for pulling it all together!
ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For reference purposes, here's the schedule for the 31st (2008) Atlanta Jazz Festival:
May 24, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 3rd place
May 24, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Genetic Drift (Fusion)
May 24, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Heather Johnson (Contemporary Vocals)
May 24, 2008 - 5pm - Rua 6
May 24, 2008 - 6:30pm - Bernard Linnette, featuring vocalist Charito
May 24, 2008 - 8pm - Serenata Band
May 25, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 2nd place
May 25, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Bradford (Nu Jazz)
May 25, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Kemba Cofield (Straight-ahead Vocals) w/ Melvin Jones on trumpet
May 25, 2008 - 5pm - Gordon Vernick and the GSU Jazztet
May 25, 2008 - 6:30pm - Joe Jennings and Howard Nicholson's Lifeforce
May 25, 2008 - 8pm - The Ojeda Penn Experience
May 26, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 1st place
May 26, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Zon 3 (Contemporary Instrumental)
May 26, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Mace Hibbard (Straight-ahead Instrumental)
A few months ago I was introduced to the director of jazz studies at one of the local Atlanta universities. For the sake of anonymity, let's call him Joshua. The person making the introduction told Joshua that I have a website featuring Atlanta jazz musicians, Atlanta jazz clubs, and Atlanta jazz concerts. Joshua asked me for the name of my site, but when I told him the name he didn't recognize it. I then told him that I had written about several jazz events at his school and that he's probably seen my site when he does online searches for "Atlanta Jazz" topics. Once again, he said he wasn't familiar with my site. I certainly wasn't offended that Joshua didn't know about my site, after all there are lots of jazz-related sites out there and I don't expect everyone to know about mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't have given any more thought to our conversation until Joshua said, "You know, I never do any searches for jazz on the Web."
The more I think about Joshua's comment, the more it concerns me. As the director of a university jazz studies program, it's Joshua's duty to prepare his students for a career as jazz musicians. That responsibility shouldn't be limited to teaching them how to play music. For his students to succeed as professional musicians, they need to learn as much as possible about their local jazz scene, including the local musicians, clubs, and events. And most importantly, they need to learn how to promote themselves and their music. In today's world, the Web is unquestionably the most effective medium for accomplishing these goals. And certainly, it's becoming more important every day. I can't help but think that if Joshua isn't actively using the Web to find and disseminate information about jazz, there's a good chance his students aren't either.
I can't speak for other cities, but in Atlanta there aren't any printed publications that cover all of the local jazz musicians, clubs, and concerts. At best, newspapers simply announce national touring acts and a few local events. To truly know what's happening in the Atlanta jazz scene, you have to go online. And even there, you can't simply rely on a single website to tell you all there is to know. You have to continually search for information. Since Joshua isn't searching for jazz online, he and his students are probably out of touch with what's happening in the local jazz community.
Sure, some students will turn to the Web for information on their own, but I don't think their initiative should be taken for granted. As with all of the other important aspects of the jazz curriculum, jazz educators should take the lead when it comes to teaching students about the local jazz scene. Educators should give students a list of websites that feature local musicians, clubs, and events and they should continually search for new online resources so that list doesn't become stale. If you leave it to the students to find this information on their own, there's always the possibility that they'll miss some valuable piece of information and/or fail to make a connection that can help them in their careers.
A major part of your success or failure as a jazz musician stems from your ability to promote yourself and your music. I don't know what Joshua covers on the subject of promotion, but I'm fairly certain there's little discussion of online promotion. I base this on the fact that several of his graduates don't have any web presence at all (not even MySpace pages). Even though I see them play around town, I can't find any information about them online so I don't know where or when they'll be playing next. Consequently, there's a good chance I'll miss their next gig. Their lack of Web presence is odd to me since all of these graduates are young, having grown up in the Internet age. You'd think it would be natural for them to get online and at least create a MySpace page. But in most cases there's nothing. I can't help but think this is because Joshua and the other educators at his school never mentioned anything about online promotion. BTW, for more ideas on jazz promotion, check out my Atlanta jazz - promotion ideas article.
I know there are several music school students who read my jazz blog and use my ear training tools. Perhaps you could shed some light on this subject. What role does the Web have in your jazz education? Do your teachers refer to the Web as a place to learn about jazz in your community? Do they give you lists of musicians, clubs, and event-tracking websites? Is online promotion included in our jazz curriculum? If somehow the Web isn't a integral part of your jazz education, I encourage you to start a dialog with your teachers on this subject. Maybe you can school them for a change!
ONE MORE THING
This is a bit of digression, but somewhat related... Jazz students should regularly attend local jazz concerts (not simply national acts). I'd go so far as to say it should be a REQUIRED part of your jazz studies. I attend at least one or two Atlanta jazz concerts each week that feature local Atlanta jazz musicians and I rarely see students at these events. When I was their age I also didn't attend many local jazz concerts. It didn't seem that important to me at the time so I didn't bother. Looking back, I can see how foolish that mentality was. Attending local jazz concerts is a fantastic way to see what life will be like as a working jazz musician and it's a great opportunity to start networking with local musicians. Any one of them might be the source of future gigs and likewise you may need to call upon those local musicians someday to play at one of your gigs. Start learning about your local jazz scene today. See live jazz!
This page contains my improvisation recordings from 2008. As you'll hear below, the recordings feature such highlights as cracked notes, poor note choice, unsteady rhythm, and meandering phrases! And that's why recording myself is so important. It's the best way to evaluate my playing and to chart my progress over time. I don't expect that I'll ever be a great jazz trumpet player, but I am anxious to hear how much better I can get with practice. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
A few months ago I was introduced to the director of jazz studies at one of the local Atlanta universities. For the sake of anonymity, let's call him Joshua. The person making the introduction told Joshua that I have a website featuring Atlanta jazz musicians, Atlanta jazz clubs, and Atlanta jazz concerts. Joshua asked me for the name of my site, but when I told him the name he didn't recognize it. I then told him that I had written about several jazz events at his school and that he's probably seen my site when he does online searches for "Atlanta Jazz" topics. Once again, he said he wasn't familiar with my site. I certainly wasn't offended that Joshua didn't know about my site, after all there are lots of jazz-related sites out there and I don't expect everyone to know about mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't have given any more thought to our conversation until Joshua said, "You know, I never do any searches for jazz on the Web."
SEND ME A MESSAGE