A Note From Bob


February, 2002


I've just returned from Washington D.C., where the National Symphony and the American Saxophone Quartet played my piece "Rhythm of the Americas" in three consecutive concerts. The quartet and orchestra were superb, a composer's dream come true! Leonard Slatkin was a pleasure to work with. He is quite open to anything new that one might bring to the orchestral instrumentation. He is also a real pioneer of new American music. The orchestra also was very open minded and eager to play. A really nice bunch of people.

I thought I might discuss the presentation I gave at IAJE in California this January for those who were not there. The topic of the discussion was "A melodic and rhythmic approach to improvising through use of various compositional skills".

We began with the basic elements of learning how to play:
1.Saturation: Listening incessantly to recordings and live performances. Bathing the ears and brain with the music. You are gonna pick up quite a lot through doing this.
2. Emulation: Getting inside the music you are listening to, emulating groove, phrasing,
inflection, melodic and rhythmical ideas.
3. Technical and theoretical studies: Scales, arpeggios, chords, patterns, systems which help organize one as an improviser and composer.
4. Playing piano: chord voicings, learning tunes, combining harmony and melody in an immediate way.
5. Playing with others: Working out your ideas in a playing situation, writing tunes, assembling a band, learning how to interact with the band.

The next issue involved making some decisions about how one wants to present their playing. I proposed that it is necessary to work on motivic development, composing melodic material that makes up the body of one's improvising vocabulary, leaving space versus filling space, practicing the art of developing ideas in an improvisation that lead logically to the next ideas, and using dynamics, textures, various sounds, articulations, all in the name of variety. This can be done initially in the practice room, very much the same way one might compose a piece of music.

We then moved on to the concept of writing down an improvised solo that you might play on a standard. It is harder then it sounds. I had a lot of trouble with this when I was younger. But it showed me that my playing had certain flaws that I was then able to work on. Writing down a solo will show you how your lines sit in the groove (or don't), if your lines are sufficiently melodic, if you are getting to the more colorful notes in the harmony, and if your solo "sings".

The three etude books I did for Warner Bros. were basically an exercise for me to write down things I might improvise, which would also stand up as tunes on their own. I urge everyone to try this. It will give you the opportunity to check your playing out.

Well, back to the piano. I'm writing the music for the big band date we are doing in April. Will keep you posted.



Peace,
Bob Mintzer