![]() ![]() 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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