Ready, Aim, Improvise!
Offered - Fall, Spring
Course number - PSIJ-271
Using the lecture/demonstration format, this course explores in detail the critical areas involved in learning how to improvise in the jazz idiom. Topics discussed are: listening skills (learning how to divide your attention between the solo and the accompaniment while playing), jazz ear training (learning how to hear ahead on chord progressions), jazz execution (rhythmic feel, accents, ghost notes, articulation, natural dynamics), building jazz vocabulary (chord tone and chord scale soloing), the role of ego in improvisation, self-recording, self-critiquing, designing topic-specific exercises for improvisation, and developing improvisation practice routines. This course is recommended for serious, career-minded students of jazz improvisation at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, especially those who take the Jazz Improvisation 1-6 course series.
Credits: 2
Course Chair: Carl Riley
Prerequisites: Overall ensemble rating 3
Required of: None
Electable by: All