The Dummies Guide to Jazz Standards
How to Learn a Song (or find your blindspots) The simplest statement of the concept is the following: 1. Take a standard 2. Pick a tempo 3. Hide the sheet music 4. Play the melody, the chords and an improvised solo and the melody again. 5. The four components above are played one chorus each, in solid time 5. Let’s insist on this step: Play in tempo and don't stop no matter what! You’ll have plenty of time to review the parts of the song slowly later.
The “4-Chorus Exercise”
MELODY - COMPING - IMPROV - MELODY Optionally, either melody statements can be replaced by a chord melody arrangement, if you have one prepared.
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The “4-Chorus Exercise” In More Details -1- Melody
Feel free to play the melody as cleanly and as simply as you can, to confirm that you actually know it well from memory. When we ornament too much, we sometimes lose the essence of the melodic statement. The most common mistake is to add too many rhythmic displacements that lack forward motion in the statement of the melody. Alternatively, also test yourself with ornaments: do you know the original melody enough to add your own improvised melodic lines around it? This is a great challenge. -2- Chords
At first, it’s recommend that you use simply shell voicings (ie root - 3rd - 7h or root - 7th - 3rd). Use easy rhythms such as quarter-notes, half-notes or basic charlestons figures. When you feel that the progression is memorized (i.e. closing your eyes and sort of seeing the chord symbols pass through your head while you play), then take a chance and add chord with extensions. And perhaps experiment with using heavier rhythms and syncopations. The essence here, in fact, is to comp from memory. Whether it’s extremely basic or full blown with modern voicings, create a chord accompaniment by rote, from scratch. -3- Improvisation
Take a solo on the form with what you know. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel every chorus. Once again, the objective is to have you solo without looking at a piece of paper! You will probably stumble upon sections of the song you are working on that are more challenging. I like to call them “my blind spots”. Those place in the form of the tune are perfect opportunities for creating exercises for your regular practice time! -4- Chord Melody (optional)
If you have a chord melody arrangement ready (and memorized), the 4-chorus exercise is a chance to put it to the test. However, not all tunes are suited for this exercise. For instance, a chord melody is futile on faster bebop tunes!
The “4-Chorus Exercise”: Further Tips -Use 50% of all practice time on repertoire (i.e. songs) for as long as you need to have a decent sized repertoire. -Have a list of tunes you know (or are working on) handy, on paper. And keep growing it. Start small with 10 tunes. -When the list gets much bigger, test yourself: pick a tune randomly and play through the 4-chorus exercise. You’ll find your blind spots. As Michael Berard once told me “You know what you have to practice.” -What is a decent sized repertoire list? Beginners: 10 tunes. Intermediates: 25 tunes. Full-time students (undergrad): 50 tunes. Pro jazzers: 100+ tunes. Most local musicians here know about 200 of the most commonly played standards. -Memory is the most important aspect of working on songs. Throw out the written chart and chord grid ASAP. And “repetition the mother of memory” as they say. -Vary the tempos of the standards you are working on. Don’t practice three ballads on the same day. For instance, work on a ballad, a blues and a latin. -Michael Berard recommends working on repertoire from three main categories: standards, blues and rhythm changes. And his perspective on learning in this way is that each category feeds of each other. -Ballads: playing on slow tunes is invaluable. Aim to have about 10% of your repertoire as ballads (or “slow songs”): Blue in Green, My Funny Valentine, I Fall In Love Too Easily, Darn that Dream, etc. -Blind spots: when attempting the 4-chorus exercise and systematically messing up a certain part of the song in improv, comping or stating the melody make a note of it. This should be incorporated in your next practice session. Or else, you can’t really say that you know the song, can you? ;-)
Have fun learning standards and please let me know if you have further questions!
