Group Rehearsal

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.

As soon as you feel comfortable playing by yourself, you should start to think about finding other musicians to play with. So much of jazz is about interaction with other musicians, it is impossible to obtain a well-rounded education in isolation. You may find that your playing sounds better when you are being accompanied by other musicians. Part of this is simply that you are hearing your solo in the proper context, but it is also likely that you will really play better when you have a good accompaniment. If you can hear and feel the harmony and pulse in the rhythm section, you will be more likely to be comfortable enough to take chances in your soloing, and this is almost always a good thing.

Another reason to seek out others to play with so you can all learn from each other. This is true regardless of the relative abilities of the players, but for best results, you should all be at around the same level, so you can share equally in any new knowledge. Of course, having one or more players a little better than yourself is always nice, as they can mentor you to some extent, but you should try to find ways to give something back as well.

When playing informally with other musicians, there are few rules. You should be considerate of the other players and not solo too long if there many others waiting their turn. You should also be considerate of the rhythm section and not expect them to want to play twelve choruses of every tune for every soloist.

You should avoid calling material that is beyond the ability of the other musicians. It is probably best to concentrate mainly on the type of material that you will likely to be asked to play at a public jam session or gig. This means blues tunes, rhythm changes, and standards. While many professional musicians prefer to chart their own courses, playing mostly original material, the vast majority began by learning the basic repertoire that jazz musicians have been using for decades. It helps if everyone has access to the same fakebooks. See the appendix for a list of commonly played tunes. You should not expect or demand to play only tunes that you personally have practiced. There is value in trying new material as well. On the other hand, you may wish to decide on a few tunes in advance so everyone has the opportunity to practice them first.

If your group is getting ready to perform in public, then you will want to use your group rehearsal time to prepare for the gig. The most important benefit of rehearsal for performance is simply getting familiar with the playing of the other members. This is indeed one of the primary advantages of a regular band over a pick-up session in which the members meet for the time at the performance.

Familiarity makes an especially big difference for the rhythm section in a conventional jazz combo. The bassist, pianist, and/or guitarist will want to be on the same wavelength harmonically, and together with the drummer, they will all want to share a common rhythmic approach. Of course, any melody instruments will also want to know how the rhythm section tends to play, and vice versa.

Therefore, I recommend that some time in rehearsal be spent playing a full length version of a composition, just as if you were performing it. This is the only way players can truly learn about each other. However, if you do this all the time, you will not have as much opportunity to accomplish some of the other goals of group rehearsal. Some time should be spent working on these other areas, which I describe below.

Perhaps the most common thing to rehearse has to do with improving the accuracy of execution of specific passages of an arrangement. While each musician should shed his part during individual practice, if there is a unison passage, this will need group rehearsal to make sure everyone agrees on how it should be played:

[EXAMPLE]

This type of collective shedding can also be useful for passages where the various parts are not played in unison, but rather fit together in a particularly intricate way:

[EXAMPLE]

Sometimes rehearsal is needed to ensure that everyone understands the form of the arrangement. That is, what the intro is, how many times the head is played, where the breaks are, and how it ends. This is sometimes called the road map. In addition, time can be spent in rehearsal developing new arrangements or making changes to existing arrangements.

Most of the reasons for group rehearsal thus far have to do with enhancing the group performance. This makes sense, as you can improve your own performance best through individual practice. However, there is certainly benefit to be gained from practicing your soloing with live accompaniment. Therefore, you should be sure to spend some time in rehearsal soloing. Everyone need not solo on every tune, nor need solos be as long as they would in performance, but allow for some soloing time during group rehearsal. After all, you are supposed to be playing jazz, not just reading music.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Group Rehearsal