I have a pupil who is doing grade 1 jazz next term. She is worried that she will forget what she has planned to play for the improvisation sections of her pieces (exam nerves etc). Is it OK to pencil in some notes on the solo part of the music? I can't believe anyone genuinely improvises those bits anyway - surely it is all thoroughly prepared beforehand? Will she be penalised if the examiner sees that she is 'reading' her 'improvisation'?

Also, with regard to making changes to the head for the repeated section, is it OK to make very simple changes to the rhythm or notes for grade 1 eg coming in on the half beat rather than 1st beat of bar, occasional extra note in a chord, or do they expect more than this?

Thanks folks, all advice gratefully received (blind leading the blind here...)

I would steer clear of actually writing anything on the music - rehearsing the improvisation is fine, especially at this stage - most jazz musicians will rely on 'riffs' at some stage, but I think you would be marked down for actually reading a prepared improvisation. At grade one the examiner will only be expecting simple changes to the rhythm and notes for the return to the head - 'filling in' notes between larger intervals etc. Hope this helps.

!!!!Surely you can't write bits in or even "plan what you're going to play" to the point you can write it in - that's not improvisation, that's composition. Of course you practise phrases, licks, using guide tones etc but IMO writing things down completely defeats the object - isn't it only about 8 bars at grade 1 anyway?

The TG guidelines for the jazz sax syllabus state quite clearly
"Group A contains repertoire with a significant improvisation element that must be performed in the examination. Candidates are encouraged to be creative with this material and may not bring extra notation or written out solos into the examination room to assist in this part of the examination"
I can't see anything similar on the ABRSM site, but I'd be amazed and disappointed if it was encouraged.

If your candidate prefers to read, and the improvisation in inverted comments suggests it's not really improvisation, why is she doing jazz exams and not standard classical grades?

Sorry to come over all self-righteous about this, but I think it's a step forward for the ABRSM to be offering jazz exams, and would be a big step backwards in jazz education if the improvisation section was allowed to be effectively removed. Having said all of that, I have no experience of the jazz exams so can't state categorically the answer to this question - one for the Chief Examiner?

The impro need only be simple anyway. She should practice doing different patterns to what she normally does so she is prepared is she does forget her 'normal' impro.

The word improvisation does suggest 'off the top of your head' really.

try to get your pupil a little more confident in herself and I'm sure it will be fine

Er, because she prefers jazz to classical. She's actually quite good at improvising and is getting the hand of the genre very well, but is worried that her mind will go blank under the stress of the exam. I agree that writing things down takes away the 'spontaneity' element, and wouldn't advocate it in the longer term, but we are talking about a beginner here, not a fully fledged jazz musician.

The ABRSM exams also test improvisation in the aural and quick study sections, so even if she had written down some aide memoires for the solo, she would still be required to improvise elsewhere.

The longer you rely on having things written down the more difficult it is to get away from them. Obviously the final decision is down to you and your pupil.

This seems to be more a problem of confidence - maybe your pupil could try entering the improvisation with a short prepared phrase of perhaps one bar or so, that she memorises just to give her a good starting point and then properly improvises from there on in. It might seem less scary if she knows how she's going to start and can start off confidently... I agree it's no-no to write things down though. I do know what she feels about the mind going blank as I have done all the Jazz Sax exams and you do tend to wonder whether the old brain will actually kick in or let you down on the day. Just get her to do lots and lots of different impovising on the given passage so in the exam some thing will surely pop into her head!! Worked for me! Good luck to her.

I do think they really mean improvise when they say improvise. Writing it down or memorising defeats the object. If she's practising the same thing over and over then I can understand her being worried about forgetting it, but if she is actually good at improvising then it should surely be different every time anyway, and it's not a matter of remembering it. I'm sure they don't expect genius at grade 1 (Hope they don't, or I am stuffed!!) but I'm sure they expect some species of genuine improv, even if it's very simple variations on what is already written down.

I can understand being nervous about it - I was nervous enough doing recordings on youtube with improv, and am terrified at the prospect of improvising in an exam situation. But to write down the "improv" does seem to negate the point of the exam somewhat.

I could be wrong, and I guess it depends how quick an examiner was at recognising something over-rehearsed, but I would really hope that a simple but genuine on-the-spot improv should get more marks than a complex "learned" one.

Just read the second part of your question - no, at grade 1 small changes to the rhythm and a few added or missed out notes as variations to the tune in the repeated "head" section are fine. This is grade 1 after all !!

I am doing my grade 2 jazz piano this term and am also worried that during the stress of the exam may find the improv section difficult. What I've done is lightly pencil in the first couple of notes as a guide for my improv - that helps me get my hand in the right place and then it seems to flow fine from there.

(I shall now retire in expectation of the Jazz Police hammering on the door when they read that I use a pencil in my jazz book)

Cheers

Karen

When I suggested memorising I did literally mean only a few notes to get her started because she lacking in confidence. I think a fully memorised improv part would be awful and totally against what is intended, and would probably sound over rehearsed. However it really does beg the question of how easy is it for the examiner to tell a memorised solo from a true improv? One would hope that "spur of the momentness" would shine though, but does it?

Yes - and I agree that can be helpful my post was in response to the OP rather than your suggestion

I have been known to scribble a couple more guide notes/write down which scale is appropriate for the improv on my jazz books.

Most times you read about improv, learning riffs and stuff by heart is endorsed and even encouraged - same sort of thing really?


No idea, to be honest: I guess it's possible that with enough flair and panache a memorised improv could fool, I don't know enough about jazz to know how easy it would be to spot... I think it would be easier to spot if bits of it were written down as the player would be reading them from the music.

I would HOPE that an examiner would be able to tell, and have to trust this is the case, but I simply don't know, because I know I couldn't guarantee to spot a memorised improv so it's hard to imagine how anyone could, but that's from the POV of someone whose jazz experience is very limited. I would hope it would be a great deal easier for a jazz examiner to spot!!

An interesting point, I'd love to hear what the examiners have to say about it.

Me too!

One of the downsides of CD playalongs I find is that I tend to play pretty much the same thing over and over. Not on purpose, just that hearing exactly the same thing over and over again will prompt the same response from me. I have to very consciously play with different devices in mind to make myself respond differently. I love spending 2 weeks practising with a CD then having a lesson where my teacher plays piano and the whole thing becomes dynamic and alive again.

*sigh* I definitely need to either get my piano teacher into jazz piano accompanying, or find a jazz group to play with!

I have a student going for a jazz sax exam in the autumn - and I was wondering how do the examiners mark the improvisation section anyway?

Re needing things written down because of the stress of playing in an exam situation, surely the stress of an exam is partly meant to help you learn how to play under stressful conditions, ie in front of a live audience!

If you want to learn to play jazz then presumably one day you'd like to be able to get up in front of an audience and play improvised jazz solos, therefore writing down anything more than a couple of guide notes at the very most would be very counter-productive.

As far as I'm concerned true improvisation doesn't even contain rehearsed licks and phrases but really does come straight out of the 'creative brain'. Learning the 'jazz scales' and relevant licks and phrases etc is just a means of learning the language and tools of jazz but the aim is to be able in a way to dispense with the tools and cast out on your own so you can play something spontaneously that is truly your own.

I went to a fantastic jazz concert the other night - the Norwegian Tord Gustavsen Trio. Gustavsen played something that was truly his own, using influences from his childhood - spirituals, Norwegian folk music, you name it, and wove it all together into a unique language. It's people like him who are taking jazz forward, and this is the way to approach jazz, as something that's always fresh and new, striving forwards.

So in a way, fear and clinging to the known shouldn't even be coming into it, even at the very early stages. After all, at Grade 1 level all you need to do is memorise a couple of scales and then let your imagination flow free! Some great jazzers even say practising jazz is counter-productive; what you need to practise is your instrument, so you can play any note and in any combination at any speed. The inspiration comes first and foremost from your brain.

In my jazz teaching these days I do a lof of getting students to sing solos; I find this really helps them develop their ideas. Then you have to get them to play on their instrument what they can hear in their heads - the hard part! But not if you really practise your instrument...

Oh and re a jazz examiner being able to discriminate between a rehearsed and a spontaneous solo, I'm sure this is one of the things they're trained to listen out for.

Any experienced jazzer will know the difference, and um, these guys are experienced jazzers I'm afraid!



I'd imagine they'd be listening out for the quality of the solos from the point of view of phrasing, rhythmic quality, swing, light and shade, range, choice of notes, variety, tension and release and sheer dynamism, adherence to the genre, confidence, communication and projection - to name just a few!