Chapter: The Bandstand

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.

Performance is the culmination of the time spent practicing. At first, performance might mean simply sitting in at a jam session, or playing at a party for some friends. It might also mean playing in a school concert. Eventually, this may lead to playing professionally at a coffeehouse, restaurant, bar, or jazz club.

Regardless of the setting, playing in front of others carries with it a responsibility to the audience that goes beyond simply playing a good solo. From selecting the material to choosing tempos to deciding who will solo and in what order to knowing when and how to end a tune, there is a definite skill to public performance.

Of course, there is also the matter of stage presence, but this is a rather intangible quality, and it is largely a function of the personality of the performer. This chapter does not directly deal with stage presence, but it does present some ideas on the more musical details of playing a gig.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Chapter: The Bandstand