Like music like food like jazz!

Like Music Like Food Like Jazz

Listening to one type of music is for instance like eating one thing. Let’s take chips for example. At first they taste great, you may have them with salt, vinegar, cheese, beans etc. But after a while, you will get bored of them, and they will make you fat and lethargic. This is exactly the same with music - it’s all about your five a day!

A healthy balanced diet of many different types of music is what is needed in order to keep the creative mind active and the appetite whet. There are so many different styles of music out there and even more augmentations within each idiom. One of my main aims as a teacher is to encourage students to be as open as they can to the music that is around them. We live in such a diverse and multicultural society, why shouldn’t music be integrated and fused together- after all, any type of music has come from experimentation and improvisation.

With jazz, the music is built up of key elements; however the main ingredient in jazz as well as any music is feeling. If jazz has no feel, then you might as well open the oven door on your soufflé and watch the mess unfold!

Many teachers out there look at just getting the notes right, and making sure students pass their grade exams and the result usually sounds rushed, sloppy and unmusical. Of course everyone has to start somewhere, but I am a firm believer that knowing about feeling makes things much easier later on.

Some of the best ways to improving feel in playing include...

Practising with a metronome

This is a number one to practising anything! Scales, long notes, pieces, breathing etc. Using a metronome helps to internalise not only a speed, but makes you try to make the beat come alive. One thing to do is to imagine that you have a full rhythm section helping you swing along!

Transcribing

Transcribing is like learning to talk. We have to take every single element into account and to see why things work and in which way they do it. Any world class jazz musician will tell you that transcription whether just by listening or by writing it down is crucial in order to get into the nooks and crannies of why things work, especially the feel.

Listen, listen, listen!

Whether it’s Iron Maiden, Mozart or Monk listen to them all! What do you have to lose? Nothing is the simple answer. Taking influences from where ever you can will not only help you to be a more rounded musician, but also a person. The amazing adventures that you can expect to take just from listening to music, or tracking down that one record may lead you to something completely different that you never expected and who knows, it may just change your life...