12/17/2023 0 Comments Dexter gordon transcriptions![]() ![]() In general the three part process involves at first saturated listening to the chosen solo with the first goal being to sing along in scat fashion. Imitation as a stage of learning is timeless and inevitable. Knowing what came before is the only way to realize what there is left to do. The end being artistic creation, musical freedom and hopefully, a recognizable style of playing. Transcription is an unbeatable tool as a means to an end. As mentioned above, transcribing a master is the next best thing to having an accomplished improviser present in real time in front of a student as a model to copy and inspire. It is the closest one can come to the age old master apprenticeship system which existed for centuries as theĪccepted method for learning the arts and crafts. In my opinion, it is the most efficient and productive technique for learning to improvise in the jazz tradition, or in any tradition for that matter. This can help the student initiate his or her own ideas and inspire one to go further in their own research. As well, with the notes written out it becomes possible to analyze the thought process of the improviser. ![]() This includes but is not limited to the subtleties of rhythmic feel and how the artist interprets the beat as well as the use of expressive nuance in one’s sound, aspects of which are usually lumped under the word “phrasing.” In transcribing, a musician is forced to hear and duplicate everything. The so-called intangibles in jazz, outside of the specific notes and rhythms, cannot be notated exactly. ![]() Finally a student can hear the way the language is actually used and pronounced rather than written by being immersed in a foreign culture on a day to day basis. Transcribing is like learning how to speak a language, similar to the experience of traveling to a foreign country whose language may have been studied in school. It is exhaustive, complete and very satisfying with results immediately perceived in most cases via an improved time feel and more subtle use of nuance for starters. If present, the teacher can serve as a guide, but in any case this process can all be accomplished without the aid of an institution. Being an auto didactic system, the process involves a student 100% in their own work with tangible and measurable rewards. Transcribing involves a three part learning process: body, mind and spirit-in that order. I have a DVD titled “The Improviser’s Guide to Transcription” (Caris Music Services) which describes the process in detail with actual demonstrations. This is a process-a means to an end and to my mind very necessary. And the best players are usually the ones who will tell you immediately that so and so was their main inspiration and they began by copying him. My contention is that in one way or another, whether it be as detailed as I will describe or as casual as Charlie Parker supposedly standing outside of a club in Kansas City hearing Lester Young and then going home with phrases in his ear and mind to practice and recall, most artists have done something of this sort. Some musicians object to transcribing as stealing other people’s ideas. ![]() But without that opportunity, I have found transcription is the next best method. Learning in this way becomes a natural outgrowth of constant exposure and reinforcement on the spot. For jazz, the most valuable form of imitation is a direct master-apprentice relationship in which the live model (master) demonstrates directly to the student demanding immediate and exact repetition until mastered before moving on. The best approach is exact aural and tactile imitation-the first stage of all artistic growth. How does one learn tone, nuance and develop a true and believable jazz sense of rhythm? Certainly there are exercises and method books which can help a student attain these goals, but there is a built in elusiveness to these concepts since they are virtually impossible to notate in any convincing fashion. ![]()
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