Construction

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

I use the term "construction" to describe the process of taking an idea in the form of a contour:

[EXAMPLE]

and turning it into an actual series of notes:

[EXAMPLE]

It has to do with hearing how you want the contour realized, and then being able to make those specific sounds come out of your instrument.

There are two basic components to construction: vertical and horizontal. In vertical construction, you choose your notes based on how they relate to the underlying chords. In horizontal construction, you choose them for how they relate to each other. You normally consider both components.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following solo:

[EXAMPLE]

Let us say you want to continue with the following contour:

[EXAMPLE]

In vertical construction, you choose your notes based on how they fit the underlying chord. For example, if you wish the line to be completely diatonic and consonant, you might construct it as follows:

[EXAMPLE]

If you wish to make the highest note in the phrase a point of additional tension, you might instead construct the line in this manner:

[EXAMPLE]

If you want the entire first half of the phrase to create tension that is resolved by the second half of the phrase, you might construct it like this:

[EXAMPLE]

These are all examples of vertical construction. Decisions as to specific notes were made entirely based on how they related to the underlying chord. In horizontal construction, you are more concerned with the intervals within the phrase. For example, if you want a simple melodic line, the same contour used above might be constructed horizontally by using mostly diatonic scale fragments and thirds:

[EXAMPLE]

This has the effect of reinforcing the harmony. If you want to create a more complex melody, you might use more half steps and fourths in your line:

[EXAMPLE]

These intervals tend to obscure the harmony. If you want to create a point of tension, you might alter the melodic approach to that note to use an unexpected interval:

[EXAMPLE]

In reality, many musicians rely more on their ears than application of theory in constructing phrases. If you can hear the idea in your head and then play it successfully , it does not matter how you arrive at that point.

Sometimes, an idea will occur to you fully constructed. In most cases, however, I believe it is a two step process: the idea begins as a contour, and then you construct it. You need not construct the idea fully before you play it, however. That is, you do not necessarily have to figure out every note you intend to play before you play it. You might choose to calculate only a couple of key notes in the phrase. For the rest of the notes, you can just let your fingers fall where they will, guided by your intuition or muscle memory. I refer to this as partial construction. For example, using the same contour as above, you might decide on the following key notes:

[EXAMPLE]

You might then play this partially constructed phrase as:

[EXAMPLE]

or as:

[EXAMPLE]

or as:

[EXAMPLE]

Your fingers, you should find, develop wills of their own, and if they are well trained in playing conventional melodic lines, they will generally do a good job of playing one for you.

Note that I am not advocating playing without thinking. On the contrary, I believe it is important to have a firmly envisioned idea of what you are playing. I am simply suggesting that this vision need not be complete in all details.

Consider if I asked you to picture your best friend. You can presumably form a mental image very easily. But how complete is it? If I asked you whether or not your friend was wearing a watch, or some other detail, how would you answer? I believe you would fill in that detail only as needed. If you stopped to draw a complete photograph in your mind when I asked you to picture your friend, you might still be at it, trying to fill in details, but in improvisation, you have only the moment.

The mind can only work so quickly, and when improvising, you are limited enough as it is in that you cannot try out several different approaches before choosing one, nor can you edit what you have played. If you were try to fully construct every idea before playing it, I believe you would end up limiting yourself to either simple phrases or ones that you have played often before.

Partial construction enables you to express ideas that you could not otherwise have improvised. For example, there is almost no chance, when improvising, that someone would be able to completely construct the following phrase:

[EXAMPLE]

That is, even if a great improvisor were to hear that phrase played once, he would be extremely unlikely to be able to play it back without error on his first attempt. The only way this phrase would come out during improvisation is thorugh partial construction, perhaps of a contour such as this:

[EXAMPLE]

I believe this is an interesting sound that is worth hearing, and therefore worth playing.

On the other hand, there is no reason not to aspire to be able to fully construct simpler, tonal lines you wish to play, such as this one:

[EXAMPLE]

By this I mean, you should eventually be able to play a line like that with complete confidence after hearing it in your head. Whether you do this by the application of theory or simply by developing your ears is up to you. For many musicians, it is a combination of the two.

After you have dealt with the concept of partial construction, the next logical step is gestural improvisation. In this type of playing, the specific notes are not the focus at all. For example, you may decide to play "a lot of fast, staccato notes widely spaced in range, followed by two longer, legato notes". You might execute this idea as follows:

[EXAMPLE]

If the idea is well conceived and executed with conviction, you will be able to communicate it successfully to the audience. The ear will hear the idea for what it is, and not wonder why you played an F against a C7 chord. The idea was not about melody or harmony, but rather it was about texture. This is just as valid a musical statement as any other.

Another example of gestural improvisation would be to decide to play "up and down motion with oddly placed accents". This might be executed as follows:

[EXAMPLE]

You are encouraged to draw from all these approaches in your playing.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Construction