09/28/2015
Often times, the instrumentation provided / issues with enrollment, present challenges in regards to repertoire. Having a library full of big band literature, but not enough students to play it, leaves many an educator waiving their arms in front of the band, trying to justify what they hear to the score they see, putting flutes in the trumpet section, keyboards playing the bass line......
The above-mentioned are great ways of working around a problem and should never be completely overlooked. Here at Plymouth, however, with a bit of unique responsibility placed on student and director alike, we're starting to get a big sound from a smaller band (large combo, or tiny big band). With a standard lead sheet (plucked from the famed real book), we're arranging Duke Ellington's, "Come Sunday", for our (predominately freshman ed majors) underclassman Jazz Workshop. Many of our students in the Jazz Workshop are brand new to improvising, new to transposing, new to musical decision-making. With a simple lead sheet (melody and chords), we've got the melody in front of each musician. When resources allow, Bb, concert key, and Eb instruments read music in their respective keys. When concert key charts are all we've got, the students are expected to come to terms with the assignment in their respective key by the following week.
With a bit of jazz piano experience under my belt, I was able to play through the melody and accompany myself (in class....so the students can hear the tune before playing it). I distributed the accompaniment voicing across the horn section, having students write the suggested note names directly under the melody notes on their lead sheet. The students are forced to visually keep track of the melody, justify their assigned note against the melody as well as the chord symbol above it.
Sometimes I need a few minutes of silence in the middle of class so that I can daydream a bit, imagine an arrangement, deal with the attendance issues of the day, etc. Sometime I open the floor to the students and discuss their ideas for arranging the form / instrumentation.
I'm most concerned that the students see (and hopefully remember!) improvisation in a broader sense. If we as educators can imagine our way out of instrumentation / enrollment issues, keep students focused with real-world tasks (transposing, blending, making music without much on the paper), and keep music-making relatively simple with musicality and quality of sound / presentation at the forefront, then there lies the potential for any number of students, with or without much experience, allowing some curveballs re: instrumentation / enrollment, to make well-intentioned, intuitive, fun / satisfying music.
Here's a snippet of "Come Sunday". Up next, we learn to play this melody with the same focus and instrumental care and precaution that we would display in orchestra / concert band, as we would a Bach Chorale. Then...we harmonize the rest (thinning out from here on. Maybe bring full instrumentation back here and there.)
Advice for educators: Everyone should be a jazz person. Everyone should be a classical person. Everyone should play a decent amount of piano. Everyone should read chord changes.
