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Teaching Jazz Improvisation: What Notes Do I Play?

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"Memorizing chords, scales and melodies gives courage to our imagination"

-Jamey Abersold, Jazz Educator

The middle school, junior high and high school years provide an excellent opportunity to introduce students to jazz performance and improvisation. Most middle school and junior high level jazz ensemble music arrangements involve only a few chord changes making it an excellent time for students to practice the art of improvisation. Here are a few basic jazz improvisational strategies that are not usually taught and sometimes forgotten.

Scales, Chords & Melodies

Jazz improvisation involves two activities listening to jazz and acquiring a vocabulary of scales, chords, and melodies. A practical way to include improvisation in your program is to connect it to the repertoire. Try to select one tune for your jazz band to perform that will allow them to apply the art of improvisation. Generally, a diatonic or blues scale tune is appropriate for beginning level improvisers. Improvisation on these types of tunes usually requires the use of only one major scale, dorian mode, pentatonic and/or blues scale. 

Click the video above for an example of middle school students improvising on the tune Blue Train (by John Coltrane), arranged by Paul Murtha

For the purposes of this article, lets select the tune Blue Train (by John Coltrane), Arranged by Paul Murtha, for middle school jazz ensemble. The tunes blues changes (in the Key of F Concert) and moderate tempo makes this a great tune for beginning improvisers.

As part of our rehearsal warm-up, the students will learn to perform and memorize the Concert F blues scale. The blues scale is constructed as follows: Root, Flat 3rd, 4th, Sharp 4th, 5th and Flat 7th (as written below for Eb Instruments). The concert F blues scale scale will be used to help students to create melodies(improvise) over the changes in the solo section of Paul Murtha’s arrangement of Blue Train.  

Concert F Blues Scale written for Eb Instruments (e.g. Alto/Baritone Saxophone)

Once the students have memorized the blues scale, the students will learn to play the minor pentatonic scale by eliminating the Sharp 4th, which in the example included above is the G#. The notes that remain are : D, F, G, A, C, making-up the minor pentatonic scale. The notes of the D Minor Pentatonic Scale is another option for students to create melodies (improvise) over the Concert F Blues Changes in the solo section for the example listed above.

After the students have memorized the scales, encourage students volunteers to experiment with creating their own melodies using a few notes from the Blues and/or pentatonic scales. As a guide, encourage the students to begin their melodies with either the root (first note of the scale), third (3rd note of the scale) or fifth (5th note of the scale). Point out that familiar melodies such as Hot Cross Buns, Merilly We Roll Along and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star begin either on the root the third or fifth. At the next rehearsal, utilize the jazz band rhythm section to perform the changes (accompaniment for improvisation); consider using the program Band in the Box create a source recording of the rhythm section performing the changes or purchase Jamey Abersold's Book/CD Vol. 21 Getting It All Together and use track 30 F Blues recording) for the students to practice improvising. For your convenience, I’ve Included a free downloadable track of the F Concert Blues.

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