Re: Derek Baily Improvisation TV

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

I don't think these are two fundamentally different understandings. As 
with homicide, it's all in the intent. Transcription without a doubt 
improves ear training, which is crucial for improvisation. I do it all 
the time myself, informally when listening to music, trying to nail the 
chord progression and picturing the melody on the fretboard, then going 
to the guitar and seeing how correct I was. Every once in a great while 
I'll write out the rhythmic values.

Now, during my time in music school I was constantly harangued to 
transcribe things in order to "learn a lick and then practice it in all 
12 keys". I felt then, and still feel, that this is a terrible approach 
to improvisation. Stringing pre-fab phrases together...ack. What good is 
that going to do anyone, except to make it seem as if you have an 
understanding of music you actually don't, and have ideas you don't? I 
simply refused this approach (didn't help my grades).

My feeling is that, if you can hum a little melody, you can improvise. 
Practice should be oriented toward making it so that playing your 
instrument is easy as humming; the goal is that all thought should go 
into the music you want to hear coming out, not the technical task of 
playing the instrument.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com

> You disagree with my own experience of transcription? How the heck is 
> that possible? That's like me saying I like strawberry icecream better 
> than vanilla, and you disagreeing.  :)  My own experience and my 
> learning style contradicts everything you say below. That's just one 
> person's learning style vs. millions of others.
>
> Kris
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>>>> I also like Bailey's interpretation of the value of transcribing in 
>>>> jazz or in learning to improvise. I've never found that as a useful 
>>>> tool, in terms of making me a better player or increasing my 
>>>> improvisation skills...maybe making it easier for me to copy other 
>>>> players' licks and clichés, but nothing from a creative standpoint.
>>
>> I have to disagree with this. I suppose if you go into transcription 
>> with the goal of hijacking somebody else's style, that's all you'll 
>> get out of it. But transcription is an excellent form of ear 
>> training, and I would argue that good ears are, if anything, even 
>> more important in authentic free playing than in the mainstream. And 
>> nothing says you have to restrict your transcription to solo 
>> instruments. Try to pry apart some of Maria Schneider's dense 
>> large-ensemble jazz voicings; even though I can do it imperfectly, I 
>> think it can greatly improve one's clarity of expression.
>>
>> Brian
>>
>
>