Lady Day
His mind is made up. Courtney knows the saxophone is for him, but he needs lessons if he is to learn to play.
So he asks Miss Day to teach him.
Courtney listens really hard as Miss Day plays and copies what he hears. He knows he'll need to work even harder to make the auditions for the school band.
Let's listen in to Courtney's lessons
Listen (23 secs: mp3)
Miss Day plays phrases to Courtney, who copies what he hears. As Courtney's confidence builds, so his musical responses develop.
In jazz, 'call and answer' or 'riff trading', can lead to exciting musical duels, expert players demonstrating their imagination and technique by bouncing ideas off one another. 'Riff trading' also presents opportunities to learn and share new musical ideas with others
- Listen to Practising
- Set up your own simple groove over one or two bars.
- Appoint a soloist to play a catchy two-bar riff. This might be repeated by a second soloist, or by the whole band.
NB. During the early stages, the riff should be repeated as accurately as possible, faithfully reproducing melodic shape, rhythm and dynamics. - Allow the groove to 'settle' for two or four bars until the next soloist takes a turn.
- Consider setting limits until pupils feel secure (a limited range of notes, long notes only, etc)
- As pupils gain in confidence, attempt riff trading over a blues sequence or over the chords to a simple jazz standard.
- Go on to create your own riffs using music technology