In Jazz 101 we have covered a lot of material related to theory ( in the context of a single KEY) and how the theory creates a foundational structure (scaffolding) to create our music upon.

In our intermediate section (Jazz 102 phrasing)
we will next discuss how to take the knowledge we obtained in Jazz 101,
and create actual music out of it!

It can be said that Phrasing is incredibly important.
you cannot remove phrasing and still have great music.
to do so would be like take the English alphabet and assembling a word by putting letters together in order
(ex. abcd bcdef ab efgh)
it does not get us anywhere.

Phrasing means to take the knowledge of Music theory structure and next create something actual out of it that is a complete musical idea.
When we speak we have spaces to breathe we get louder or softer, we change the tone, pitch and timbre of the voice depending if we are excited, happy,sad, disgusted etc.

Phrasing in music is just as important as any other step in the process. ( could argue that it is MORE important than other steps but EACH is significant)

https://www.jazzadvice.com/thinking-about-musical-phrasing-for-improvisation/

https://mattwarnockguitar.com/jazz-phrasing/

In this thread we are going to explore the depths of phrasing in a way anyone can follow.

We are going to see that while some may think of learning the music theory end of things can be boring,
Phrasing is the part of making music where you add your individuality. you express yourself. you say what is coming from your heart your mind your experience.

We are going to explore every possibility in phrasing here in Jazz 102.

This thread assumes that you have covered and fathom the material presented in Jazz 101.
this is because we need to use that knowledge expanding to the next step...

Making music!

 

Section I
---------

Jazz phrasing was born from the melting pot of New Orleans .

Aspects of the Marching band, Blues , Ragtime, and Church music
were taken by musicians and put together to create Jazz.

The Historical aspects are significant here, because it shows the step by step development of Jazz.
How each development in phrasing came about and how it evolved.

We will look these things here to give us a way to understand it better.

Lets start off simple with the blues in C.

We begin with a I, IV, V structure ( root, subdom,dom)based in KEY of C major

Cmaj7, Fmaj7, G7

Next the Blues does a few unique things.

first is to Substitute for Dominant chords

C7 , F7, G7

This ties into a few aspects of Blues.
the extra tension by substituting for the dom chords.
the microtonal notes from the 7th to the root.
also the 12 bar structure.

Next we assemble a simple structure for our chords.

{C7 C7 C7 C7} , {F7 F7 F7 F7 } ,{C7 C7 C7 C7}, {C7 C7 C7 C7},
, {F7 F7 F7 F7 }, {F7 F7 F7 F7 },{C7 C7 C7 C7}, {C7 C7 C7 C7},
,{G7 G7 G7 G7},{F7 F7 F7 F7 },{C7 C7 C7 C7},{G7 G7 G7 G7}


This is our Harmonic foundation.

I have made an audio example file in Flac below


We have simple drum beat. barebone bassline and piano playing the simple progression.

https://mega.nz/#!2K40gABI!mtVQ-yYG-JP4PT0rK_pPmIl2aD0_GUb9XRRz93YLIPU

This is the Audio file you will use to play along with as we progress through.


Listen through the track and notice it is very simple. I didn't want to add in too much detail to confuse anyone. We can keep the backing simple and as we go through we can make the Phrasing of the lead melody more detailed and practice along.

Next , now that we have our backing Harmonic progression
We are going to look at the first scale we are going to use the C blues Scale.

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2018

Our First Step in Phrasing is to Take our Scale ( C blues) and over top of the backing track we will alternate Our first note with each of the other notes.


We begin with our High root note, and we alternate in 8th notes down to each scale degree and back up again all the way through each of the chord changes.

https://mega.nz/#!GG42WAKZ!bywQSvBVFZesHzKDAtUN3PCLJm6dv8JDIwSh9IAwVpw
Listen to the example of this below and follow along with your instrument or voice.

We can hear what each of our notes feels like over the changes.


Next we will start with our First phrase

C up to D# down to C down to G



https://mega.nz/#!SSo0hQRa!cHIZ4GtN87ZbEr2AL1Nbsh56m7ljl9gTo8TW2LtdsSo

Each time through we will develop onto what we have done before like building a house .(first cement foundation, then wall beams etc.)

Now that we have our simple beginning of the first phrase.
we want to make it a complete idea, while at same time using call and response.
what we can do in a simple way to accomplish these is to add one more tail note at the end. and break into 2 parts so that the new ending note is different the second time.



here is our audio example.

https://mega.nz/#!7GhiHKqA!eN3WHMlb752qZdNTH0FRnxj-9KaA3UipjMWZvkfpwY8


Now we have a simple Phrase, which has a call and response is minimal number of notes which repeats through the progression.

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2018

We now have the beginning of a phrase which has 2 sections call and response.
It is in quarter notes, but lets add more detail by switching over to 8th notes in swing


Next we will take our phrase that is in quarter notes. and add in notes on the swung 8th note beat.



Lets hear our audio example now with the added swing notes!

https://mega.nz/#!HXgV3YQI!-fBbqH89iftYUeynpAcB4W8K20SNedTgIkq4vVyfCYc

 

For our Next step we will add in 8th note triplets in spots.


Here is our added in 8th note triplets below


Here is the Audio example of the added in 8th note triplets

https://mega.nz/#!Gb5xTYgQ!LFWSNIt3rfT9osciVG5LlBgu5zaWjXwjnL1kXEQhJWg

 

We have now seen that with a few simple steps we can create Blues phrases from a simple idea.
Lets take a small break and listen to the Father of Jazz Louis Armstrong's Masterpiece "west end Blues"

Listen for the qualities we have discussed so far. see if you can find the spots in the music where the detail was added in on top of the simple note foundation. listen for areas where the phrasing was developed in increments of detail .
Finally listen for the quality of call and response inside the phrases.
Here we have the greatest American composer and Jazz most respected band leader Duke Ellington's classic "East saint louis toodle oo".
Lets listen for the very same characteristics as before.

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2018

Now we are going to make a new Second Phrase from scratch. (in quarter notes) then repeat it through our progression




Here is the Audio example of the new Phrase in quarter notes

https://mega.nz/#!vbwVUaLY!PFNz6-XXVyU6RrY6D0W1QP38Qt4s0vgNV18NkXNG5zk


Now we are going to add in our 8 th note swing notes for the first Bar and then leave second bar alone then repeat the whole pattern.



Here is the Audio example of what we have now so far.

https://mega.nz/#!GaolgSZY!eFj_g4KFUs9NK9uht8g7BvL6E1YcSxk66DkTx33yGxM

 

Last edited: Jul 18, 2018

Triplety phrasing works in med to med fast tempi
Once you get to improv in 8th notes at 200 bpm -300bpm it gets harder n harder to phrase that way if not impossible
The "newer" way was shown in a Jamey Aebersold I once bought, by Jimmy Raney.

You play 8th note ideas as 'straight' not 'swung' i.e. you do not triplet em up, but you accent the off beats not the on beats

so it is one AND two AND three AND so forth (straight)

as opposed to OOne and TWOO and THREEE and...(swung)