Case study 1 - Ear training

Ear training and interpretation 

My aim from this case study is to learn to train my ears so that I can connect my ears to my instrument within jazz music. Ear training will allow me to understand what I am hearing and be able to transfer what I hear to my instrument. I have previously had difficulty with my ear interpretation when playing my the trumpet and flugelhorn and this had affected my improvisational skills. I was introduced to jazz music by attending a jazz ensemble at the University of West London which took place on Saturday's as part of my extra curricular activities. I learned jazz standards from a score and performed an improvised solo. The standards covered were Herbie Hancock's Watermelon man, Horace Silver's 'Song for my father' and buffalo head by (composer's name)

Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, America. This occurred in the early 20th Century. Jazz music originated in America, other styles of music have had an impact on the features. Using the article 'Where did jazz come from?', it summarizes the link between African music and jazz. African music provided rhythm to the music, providing a"bluesy" feel to jazz and Improvisation, a feature of African and jazz music, is performed during solo sections. The link with jazz is that Africans communicate music to each other orally, rather than through written work like composers in the classical period notate this music. With this ear training, each generation passes their musical knowledge on to the next creating an integrated oral tradition. The result is an exceptionally expressive language as sometimes the ideas were changed. African slaves brought these traditions to the United States and the new music arose unconsciously from the transplantation of the African culture to a new world

CITATION

When jazz music is not written, it allows the player to connect with their instrument and not rely on a score. This could take away from the actual 'performance' of the musician. Therefore, playing without a score is where ear training and interpretation comes in. 

I will specifically be looking at the methods used by other jazz instrumentalists in terms of improving their ears for transcribing. There are exercise which are used to work on ear training which are outlined in the video explained below. 

Jazz trumpeter, Aaron Washington shares how he was able to 'bridge the gap between what I am hearing in my mind to the trumpet'. His aim with training his ear was to have a rapid transition from the mind to the instrument. For example, he would hear the chords in a song and be able to find a scale to improvise over it, in a matter of seconds. I was particularly interested in this as this links to what I aim to be able to develop during my musicianship, while working on jazz, improvisation is an important feature and using the ear is an essential skill to have. In this project I will be playing jazz fused with Latin and within this there is a solo section. From this I have learnt that from improving my ear interpretation, my recognition of chords and associating them with the notes on my instrument will become faster. This will impact my project as this will improve my improvisational techniques as I will be able to recognize the chords to be able to elect notes which would work the best there. This will happen without 'fishing for the notes' or playing out of the key during a solo. 

Washington wouldn't take a solo for extended lengths, e,g. 32 bars and instead, he would take shorter solos of 2-3 bars. By reducing the length of improvising, and work in smaller chunks. By gaining confidence within small parts pf the solo section, and building up from there, the ear will adapt to the sounds and while gradually increasing the length of the solo, the confidence in improvisation is maintained.


Ear training can also  be used with harmony

In this video, Herbie Hancock closes his eyes in order to hear the notes properly. Two pianist, Jacob Collier and Herbie Hancock harmonies each other in amazing grace and use their ear to hear that the other pianist is playing and coordinate to create a harmony.

After this case study, I understand that I will not yet be able to easily learn to music by ear on my instrument instantly as this is a gradual process rather than something which happens overnight. Therefore, my primary mindset will be set onto practicing by listening to jazz and attempting to play the head melody of this on my instrument.