Nice post! Can we talk about the metronome? Definitely a wedge issue in jazz practice! I would just add that it can be really helpful to practice without a metronome too. Specifically, when working on improvising over tunes, I find it very useful to practice rubato (out of time). Play one chord, play/sing something over it and then take time to think about/hear how to connect to the next chord. If you jump straight to practicing with a metronome, there isn't time to make these kinds of discoveries. Playing out of time before playing in time can make playing in time a deeper experience.
Good point for sure. My thought about the metronome is that it is one of our best ways to have tangible, confirmable evidence that we are improving on playing something. This would especially be useful for younger players who have difficulties seeing improvement on a week-to-week or day-to-day basis.
Interesting - the practice that you describe is similar to what I saw Donny McCaslin do in a clinic.
Is there any room for the words "always" and "never" in the arts?!?!
Right on. Kind of a tangent, but related: in my work, one of the things I do is audition a lot of players who want to join an ensemble in our community music program. After doing those auditions for a few years, I decided to require that applicants not audition on a ballad. Because many players wanted to come in and play a ballad, I think because it can be so expressive, harmonically rich and emotionally therapeutic. I love ballads, of course, but for the purposes of placing you in a group, I need to know less about how expressive you can be and more about if you can keep time, keep your place in the form, don't drop a lot of beats, etc. That's metronome stuff, for sure!
When it comes to learning repertoire, at what point do you feel like a tune is internalized and ready to add to your pool of songs?
This is definitely a topic for an upcoming post! Thank you for a great question.
Nice post! Can we talk about the metronome? Definitely a wedge issue in jazz practice! I would just add that it can be really helpful to practice without a metronome too. Specifically, when working on improvising over tunes, I find it very useful to practice rubato (out of time). Play one chord, play/sing something over it and then take time to think about/hear how to connect to the next chord. If you jump straight to practicing with a metronome, there isn't time to make these kinds of discoveries. Playing out of time before playing in time can make playing in time a deeper experience.
Good point for sure. My thought about the metronome is that it is one of our best ways to have tangible, confirmable evidence that we are improving on playing something. This would especially be useful for younger players who have difficulties seeing improvement on a week-to-week or day-to-day basis.
Interesting - the practice that you describe is similar to what I saw Donny McCaslin do in a clinic.
Is there any room for the words "always" and "never" in the arts?!?!
Good to hear from you Rob!
Right on. Kind of a tangent, but related: in my work, one of the things I do is audition a lot of players who want to join an ensemble in our community music program. After doing those auditions for a few years, I decided to require that applicants not audition on a ballad. Because many players wanted to come in and play a ballad, I think because it can be so expressive, harmonically rich and emotionally therapeutic. I love ballads, of course, but for the purposes of placing you in a group, I need to know less about how expressive you can be and more about if you can keep time, keep your place in the form, don't drop a lot of beats, etc. That's metronome stuff, for sure!