Your assignment for this week: Listen to the Music

Hey Benny

That's How We Roll

Autumn Mist

Background Tracks for Practicing Written Solos & Improvisation

That's How We Roll- Measures 45-55

Hey Benny - Measures 41-64

Improvisation- Scales for Hey Benny

Hey Benny

Some thoughts:

Play the scales, then play around with them! Get to know them so you don't have to think about what notes are in the scale. Be creative with the rhythm or the order of the notes. ie. start from the top, play two or three notes, put some space in- between, play it again..., then start from the bottom and do something similar. Or another nice descending pattern that you can modify with repetition or rests inbetween is to start from the top and play as triplets 8 7 6, 7 6 5, 6 5 4, 5 4 3, 4 3 2, 3 2 1. Also play the dorian scale as arpeggios 1 3 5, 2 4 6, 3 5 7, 4 6 8, 5 7 9(2 up an octave), 6 8 10, 7 9 11, 8.

What is Dorian?

Dorian is a fancy name for the 2nd mode of the major scale. The 2nd mode of the major scale is a fancy way of saying, play the notes from a major scale, but play them starting from the second note of the scale. The dorian scale is a minor scale, and the chord tones from this scale are 1 m3 5 m7 (m = minor or lowered) ie D Dorian: D F A C. Anytime you see a chord symbol with m and 7 such as Dm7, you could improvise using the notes from a dorian scale starting on the note name of the chord.

Improv not sounding hip enough?

Listen to recordings of the jazz greats like Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, and Benny Golson (Hey Benny!) Sing along with their solos to get ideas for phrasing and note combinations. Try playing along and responding to what they are doing.

The above list could and should go on and on. Try typing in the word jazz and your instrument name in YouTube and see what/who pops up.

Mr. G.