How To Play Jazz Saxophone E-Book

Ned Bennett

• Herausgeber: Faber Music Limited
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 54

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

How To Play Jazz Saxophone is a fun and engaging introduction to jazz from composer and saxophonist Ned Bennett. Discover the exciting world of jazz, from its roots in ragtime to blues, bebop and beyond! Ideal for established beginners (approximately Grade 3+ standard), this book teaches methods of improvisation, how to play in swing time, syncopated rhythms and jazz scales and modes. It also presents suggested listening ideas and melodic 'phrase banks' based on typical jazz chords alongside plenty of great new pieces. Audio and piano accompaniments are available to download for both alto and tenor saxophone.

Leseprobe

HOW TO PLAY JAZZSAXOPHONE

Ned Bennett

For online audio tracks andpiano accompaniment scoresscan the QR code or go tofabermusic.com/content/audio

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Contents

Introduction 3

Session 1Stomping at the 100 Club4

Ragging • C major pentatonic • Learning from the masters

Session 2Jungle Nights at the Cotton Club14

G minor pentatonic • Swing • Blues

Session 3Mambo at Minton’s Playhouse22

D Mixolydian • Improving tone

Session 4Swingin’ on the airwaves30

C Mixolydian • Bending notes • Playing in tune

Session 5Two-Five-Ones at Birdland38

Chords • Articulation

Session 6Playing it cool at the Village Vanguard48

Bebop • Cool jazz • Modal jazz

Session 7Mystery at the Vortex58

Vibrato • Indian raag

Session 8The late set at Ronnie Scott’s64

Warming up • On stage • Playing a gig

Glossary of terms 72

All pieces unless otherwise indicated are composed or arranged by Ned Bennett.

© 2020 by Faber Music Ltd

Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA

Music setting by Donald Thomson

Cover and page design by Susan Clarke

Printed in England by Caligraving Ltd

All rights reserved

ISBN10: 0-571-54140-2

EAN13: 978-0-571-54140-9

To buy Faber Music publications or to find out about the full range of titles available

please contact your local music retailer or Faber Music sales enquiries:

Faber Music Ltd, Burnt Mill, Elizabeth Way, Harlow CM20 2HX

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]

[email protected]

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Introduction

What is jazz?

Jazz is a style of popular music that developed in the United States of Americaat the beginning of the 20th century.

Why is it fun to play?

Jazz is full of catchy rhythms that make you want to dance. It also sounds coolbecause of the tasty chords going on underneath the melody. And best of all,you get to make it up as you go along! It’s not hard, as you will find out.

Does it sound good on the saxophone?

You bet! Many of the greatest jazz musicians are sax players.

This book is suitable for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone.There are separate piano accompaniments for both Eb and Bb saxes.

How to use the book

You will find all of the audio tracks you’ll need to guide you througheach chapter, as well as piano accompaniment scores online here:

Throughout the book, these symbols indicate the following:

the track number for demo audio

the track number for backing track audio

find a recording online

piano accompaniment PDF available for download

Each chapter is named after a famous jazz club and a particular style of jazzthat you will explore in the session.

To begin with, all you need is some knowledge of how to play the saxophone;the book progresses from approximately grade 3 to grade 5 (late elementaryto intermediate) level.

So if you’re ready, let’s get started!

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Session 1

Stomping at the 100 Club

100 Oxford Street, London

Around 1890, many musicians from New Orleans and the south of the USAbecame bored with playing marches and waltzes to amuse the people whoemployed them. Instead of playing the melodies as written, they began tochange the rhythm to make it more fun. This was called ragging. Somecomposers wrote original pieces in this style, the most famous being ScottJoplin. London’s historic 100 Club, originally known as Mack’s restaurant,was an important venue for this style of traditional jazz.

Maple Leaf Rag 1899 Scott Joplin

Ragging a melody

Let’s try this for ourselves. Below is a well-known melody by Beethoven.

The rhythm is simple and repetitive and certainly not jazzy:

Perhaps we can do something about that …

Pushing notes

The best way of ‘jazzing up’ or ragging a melody is to add pushes by playinga note earlier than expected, so it is played off the beat instead of on the beat.This is called syncopation.

Play the following phrases. In each case, the first two bars are in the Beethovenstyle and the second two bars contain pushes to jazz it up. Count carefully andslightly accent the pushed note.

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Here is a fun ragged version of the Beethoven melody. The rhythms havechanged but the time signature and the beat (or pulse) remains the same.

Try playing your own ragged version of the same tune. Then try ragging thetunes below. As you probably know them, only the beginning is shown. You’llneed to work out the rest by ear!

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A very useful scale

Here is the C major pentatonic scale:

It is just the same as the major scale, but without the 4th or 7th note. Practisethis until you can play it without thinking, up and down.

Try to sing this pentatonic scale. Improvising is all about playing whatyou hear in your head!

Study Just The Five Of Us

Here is an unaccompanied piece that will help you get used to the uniquesound of this scale. Although much folk music uses the major pentatonic scale,the pushed rhythms will make this sound like a piece of jazz.

See if you can memorise it: this will improve your ability to play by ear,which is very important for jazz playing.

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Knowing and blowing C major pentatonic

Use the backing track to practise the C major pentatonic scale. Start by playingthe notes in order up and down a few times, listening carefully to make sureyou are in tune. Then use the same notes to make up some phrases of yourown. There is no tempo, so play as fast or as slowly as you like. Enjoy thefreedom and try to relax.

Listening and copyingC major pentatonic

Start track 4 and listen to the recorded phrases. The first time you play thistrack, sing back each phrase as an echo. The second time you play the track,repeat the phrases as echoes on your saxophone and remember to copy therhythm exactly too. All the notes are from the C major pentatonic scale.

The first four phrases are shown here to get you started:

There are four more phrases on the track which you’ll need to work out by ear!

This exercise is all about using your ears. Being able to hear what is