HOW TO SPEAK JAZZ WITHOUT A CLASSICAL ACCENT


One of the difficulties in learning to speak jazz is that much of the inflection is not written - you are supposed to know. (Kind of like street signs in Boston: if you don’t know where you are going, you shouldn’t be here!) So here is a list of some of the basic patterns & how to interpret the line.

Swing eighths:
This is the BASIC sound of classic jazz (swing style); “It Don’t Mean a Thing, If it Ain’t Got That Swing...”
Most of us have picked up along the way that the eighth notes in jazz are more of a triplet feel:
equals (sort of...)

But, that isn’t totally accurate, nor is it the whole story. The feel is more “laid back” than straight triplets and most importantly, the emphasis is on the second in a pair of the written eighths (the “and” of the beat). Let’s first think the emphasis in triplets:
Think:


Now go to the swing eighths. Still keep the triplet feel; remember in swing
=
The accent pattern is what truly makes the notes swing. For comparison, say the example below with the correct swing “triplet” feel, but don’t accent or emphasize any notes.

Now say the second example with the syllables given... (make sure the “dah” has a bit of emphasis)




Your drummer MUST have that feel in his/her right hand!! It is a bounce kind of stroke leaning into the “and.”

But then there is the theory that you don’t really accent the second note as much as you “ghost” the first note...

Just to be confusing... some composers/arrangers write beginning charts (and jazz sections of orchestral works!) with the swing eighths as dotted eighth/sixteenths. Play those with swing (triplet) feel -- exactly what we try to teach our kids NOT to do!!

Rock, and Latin charts use straight eighths and have different drum & bass patterns.

Syllables or Do-Dot method:
Next, a few syllables. There are guidelines for which of the above notes got which syllable. Always speak your rhythms to get the sense of the flow of the phrase (much of jazz has to do with the rhythmic inflection almost more than the melodic line!). Whether the accents are written or implied, speak them as follows:

daw dah dot dit
(du if eighth)

BUT... most of the time jazz charts don’t bother to put in those articulation marks for us. So you need to know some of the “rules” for where to place the emphasis.

is short and fat sounding --->


Eighth notes before a rest are short and accented.



Accent notes that are syncopated

--> Any note that lands off the beat is accented whether or not it is marked.

Always break between the notes
(Make the dot an eighth rest
and accent the eighth note.)


Sixteenth notes are always straight, not swung - use legato tonguing



Here are some examples of classic rhythms and how to interpret them:


a beat four quarter note pickup
is almost always staccato

Syncopation:
Jazz and rock treat syncopation in exactly the opposite manner. In rock, this syncopated pattern would be short-long-short:
In jazz it would be long-short-long:
Try this example both ways - mark it if you need to:
Rock:


Jazz:


Misc. Thoughts


Call response:
The call response technique shows up a lot in jazz. I tell the kids to think of it as a conversation and sometimes I have them make up the verbal conversation. Particularly in jazz, you will often get an interjection that says, “Oh, Yeah!”. Look for ways to put the message of the music into words so that they students get it.
(See Take it From the Top excerpt in the section of chart examples)

Deciphering Nasty Rhythms:
Most nasty looking jazz rhythms can be broken down into a few smaller parts. The parts are usually one of the following:

Work from the back end of the phrase -- learn how it ends first and gradually work your way to the beginning of the idea.
(Get the accents & dynamics right away & they will be learned into the lick rather than have to relearn the lick to put them in!)
Now, is there a pick up??
What about a single note (or two or three notes) with a bunch of rests -- that is the attention-getter, “Hey! I’m ready to say something; are you listening??”
(See Misty excerpt in the section of chart examples)

Ballads & Slow Pieces:
Be careful, a lot of the ballads out there are rock ballads & need straight eighths. Look at the piece carefully!
Drummer should consider using brushes.
DYNAMICS!
Don’t be afraid to do slow pieces with young kids - they can do it and they really get into the beauty of the piece if you will let them! Show them the music in the piece -- the swelling phrases, the tapering to nothing, the painfully quiet sections. They will love it and feel like sophisticated musicians!

Use Your Kids as Resources!!
Many of your students are studying with jazz musicians - use them as resources. I will frequently tell my students that I’m not sure how to do something or what it means (they know I have never played jazz) and I ask them to ask their teachers.

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Jazz for The Classical Musican -- Diane Muffitt -- Wayland Middle School -- muffitt@massed.net