San Diego City College 2008

Jazz Improvisation

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Getting Technology To Help You
With Your Musical Goals

First, hear the musical idea that became a jazz band music score.

"Footprints" was written by Wayne Shorter in 1967 as a jazz waltz in 3/4 time, key of Eb. But that is not what I heard in my head. How can one minimize the time it takes to get the sound out of one's head and into a format that allows musicians to bring the idea to life? What I heard was a fusion of smooth jazz and rock in 4/4 time. There was a driving arpeggio to offset and balance the Bass hook in the original song. Horn and Reed sections played chords against each other to create a haunting, musical background while a trumpet and sax played the melody like a couple dancing across the top of all the layered sound. All this to set the stage for the artists who would play improvisational solos.

And this is what it sounded like after using steps 1 through 3, below:

"Footprints" by Wayne Shorter (1967), orchestrated by Cliff

Now see Cliff's 5-step process taken to make a musical idea into a finished product that a jazz band can play from.

Step 1: "Computer Hardware Technology (input & output)"

Step 2: "Computer Software Technology"

Step 3: "Producing performance practice tracks"

Step 4: "Producing FINALE music scores"

Step 5: "Testing the song and making fine adjustments to the score"

Adobe PDF instrument scores:

© 2008 Clifford Taylor Fleischbein. All Rights Reserved.