I have been continuing my Jazz performance studies this semester with
Gary Burton's Jazz improvisation class. This is an online 12-week course.
Before dive in to this article, I need to tell you my specific situation. Playing Jazz is not my career, but I have been seriously perusing music in one way or another since my childhood. I am not technically great, but I can play fairly polished sounding stuff. I do not instantly sight read music nor typically write music I play. Mostly I listen to the tunes, get a lead-sheet or sometimes I write my own (just) chord chart and play with it. In short, I'd be a guy you'd run into with a full of bad habits and cliche riffs under my belt and say I am influenced by Bill Evans.... you are darn tootant!
So now you know what type of person I am perhaps the best way for me is to do this in a Q/A form, since that would be something I'd do with someone curious about taking the class.
Q: I have never really played Jazz. Will this be a right course for me?
Personally, I would recommend against it if you only know how to play rock, pop and blues. You are going to struggle if you do not have some basic understanding of Jazz harmony. Can you play Jazz standards like Green Dolphin Street, Autumn Leaves, or Desafinado from a fakebook in one week? Have you seen chords like Em7b5 or A(b9) or Gm11?
If the answer to above is "never" then I would first suggest taking a basic Jazz improvisation class. I think you can get through the class without that but I think you are not going to get much out and may end up dropping it as the pace could pickup half way the class.
Q: Do Gary Burton really teach the class?
A: Yes. He listens to your improvisation which you need to record and submit
every week! You will get to talk to him on weekly video chats! The course materials are all per-recorded as QuickTime videos and web pages. You are supposed to digest them weekly. They are very clear, concise and easy to understand.
Q: For you, how challenging is it?
A: Well, you do get one week to do scoring assignment plus recording. In terms of recording, Gary Burton provides both backing MP3 tracks with
his very own piano comping or with just bass and drums. Depending on how fast you are with these sort of things, but I would say most people spend about 8 hours or so a week on it. Materials are very straight forward to understand. Demonstrations of the concepts are both done in video, audio and also often with accompanying music PDF sheets, or if you have a scoring software (like Finale, Sibelius or Noteflight.com), they provide the scoring XML file that can be imported directly.
He will also throw some more newer difficult pieces like Carla Bley, Steve Swallow and Chick Corea pieces at you. Honestly though, some people, including myself, will struggle a bit. But do not worry much, because just about anyone else would.
Q: Do you need to read music well?
A: You do have to be able to read standard lead-sheet format charts with chords and melody. No need to sight read them but you do have to play them. In addition you do have to write scales or such and submit. If an assigned tune is not familiar to you, first thing you can do is to find the recording on YouTube.COM, you are likely to find old recordings uploaded by someone. Next you can check iTunes or the like and buy a track. You should and can listen to various renditions.
I recommend using some computer based scoring especially when you don't write them often like me. There is a free web based scoring software called Noteflgiht.COM This is not only free, but also scores are stored online, you can pull them anywhere you have an internet access.
Q: How difficult is the terminology used in the class?
A: With the basic understanding of music I do not see much problem from anyone exposed to music performance have issues. The instructions are very very clear and new concepts that are not familiar with people who have not really played Jazz before are well explained.
Q: Do you have to play well to be in the class?
A: I do not think so. This is not a performance class per-se so your recording do not have to be top notch. You will be evaluated on whether you have understood the materials. Gary Bruton is not going to expect that you'd play the Locrian scale in all keys on 16-th note up and down going at 160 bpm in a week and no need to. You will likely run into people from all different levels from the working professionals to those just turning from rock piano playing with basic understanding of up to 7th chords.
Also for solo instruments like Saxophone, Gary will provide you with play-alongs with his comps (rare chance to play with him on the Piano comping and he is much better than any of us!) But, say, if you are not confident about your left hands on your piano playing, you can also do that. In fact, I often recommended to my class mates first try developing the piano solos with his comping then add the left hand.
Q: How Do I Record?
A: The course provides a very basic web-based recording tool. Top people who have been doing it as a semi-pro or pro will usually record great with Pro-Tools or Logic, and some do submit using the basic tool. Some people ahead of you can demonstrate also to you how things should be done. Gary Burton will clearly indicate in his tone of comments on the responses (you will see all of the responses), so you get a good feel who is doing well.
Personally, in this day and age, you'd want to get up to speed with Garage Band or Cakewalk type tools to get some basic recording.
Q: Grading, Due Dates
A: Gary Burton understands that some people are busy so he does not strictly ask you to stick with the weekly legmen. He can cut some slacks on week or two where your submissions can be late.
Q: What would I get out of the course?
A: It will likely depend on your goals and also your current level of the understanding of Jazz, but for me, I will be given a set of professional asset to prepare myself to approach solo situations; both in terms of the correct mindset, Jazz vocabulary, and with the technique that will be pleasing to the audience.
So... if you are in a situation like me and want a chance to improve your understanding of improvisation, this would be a wonderful experience with you to study under one of the Jazz legends of our time!
12/27/2012: Well Gary has turned in the grade so here are the final comments from Gary (read the article).
