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Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation PDF

337 Pages·2015·5.17 MB·English
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Stein Helge Solstad Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation NMH-publikasjoner 2015:7 g Stein Helge Solstad Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation Dissertation for the PhD degree Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo 2015 NMH-publikasjoner 2015:7 NMH-publikasjoner 2015:7 © Norges musikkhøgskole og Stein Helge Solstad ISSN 0333-3760 ISBN 978-82-7853-207-2 Norges musikkhøgskole Postboks 5190 Majorstua 0302 OSLO Tel.: +47 23 36 70 00 E-post: [email protected] nmh.no Trykk: 07 Media, Oslo, 2015 Acknowledgement I am indebted to several people who have provided both inspiration and assistance in my doctoral research. I am particularly grateful to Rolf Inge Godøy for being my main supervisor and for updating my understanding of relevant areas of cognitive psychology as they relate to improvisation. I am indebted to Chris Washburne for being my co-supervisor, for making the research in New York possible by accepting me as a visiting scholar at Columbia University and for providing invaluable help in my fieldwork and in the refinement of my theoretical approach. Many thanks to my five interlocutors in New York City, namely Lage Lund, Jack Wilkins, Ben Monder, Rez Abbasi and Adam Rogers, for being so generous and for helping me by illuminating the secrets in jazz guitar improvisation. I am also thankful to associates, especially Fred Lerdahl and George Lewis at Columbia University, for sharing my interest in cognition and ethnographic research in jazz. Thanks to students in my classes over the years, and especially guitar students who have been a constant source of stimulation, expanding my own understanding of the subject. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to Kjell Arild Madsen for being my mentor in this project, Bjørn Alterhaug for reading my initial drafts, Jan Inge Sørbø for constructive comments on the thesis, and Paul Berliner for interesting conversations and suggesting New York City and Columbia University as a location for conducting this research. I want to iii Stein Helge Solstad: Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation thank Richard Whitehead for detailed and competent proofreading and Hans P. Weisethaunet for being a knowledgeable and reflective opponent in my “trial public defense” on the thesis. Finally, and most importantly, thanks to my wife Marit for continuous support and love all the way, and my children, Sondre, Haldor, Trygve and Karen Mathea for being generous with a sometimes absentminded father. iv Abstract What strategies are used in professional jazz guitar improvisation? This project finds that three main strategies are used by professional jazz guitarists; a basic coding strategy named chunking, an extended coding Chunking strategy based on context seen as schemas and an altered coding strategy chunks based on skilled interaction in context, defined as templates. entails grouping small information units into ; these can then be combined into larger, hierarchically constructed systems and function schema as a mental “store” from which the performer retrieves material during improvisation. Chunk networks are triggered in the form of a , which Templates is an abstract general mental representation of contextual knowledge. are large flexible schemas frequently used by experts. The practice-led research strategy has allowed questions, problems and challenges to be initiated and worked on in fieldwork. The aim has been to investigate how jazz guitarists recall, integrate, organize and develop their knowledge in improvisation. The inquiry includes participant observation, modal matrix playing with and interviewing five professional jazz guitarists in New York City. By examining the fieldwork a for analyzing structure, time and form in jazz guitar improvisation has been developed. The fieldwork studies have been supplemented by theoretical and contextual studies. The intention has been to bridge the gap between the roles as researcher and v Stein Helge Solstad: Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation performer, and in this process illuminate knowledge that might have an impact on different parameters in improvised music in general. This research project finds that professional jazz guitarists’ strategies are crucially dependent on context, style and type of interplay. Improvising is based on listening to what is happening in interplay and having flexible actions available to match the given input. Interplay defines the ways implicit (sub-conscious) and explicit (conscious) knowledge is used; the more familiar the context, the more use of implicit knowledge and intuition. The findings collapse the dichotomy constructed by the theories of top- down versus bottom-up expert skill, emphasizing that both approaches are needed dependent on time and place. vi Norwegian summary Kva slags strategiar er nytta i jazzgitarimprovisasjon? Funna i dette prosjektet viser at jazzgitaristar nyttar tre hovudstrategiar: Ei grunnleggjande koding kalla chunking eller gruppering, ei utvida koding basert på kontekst, kalla skjema, og ei intuitiv form for koding basert på høgt utvikla ferdigheiter i kontekst, definert som malar (templates). Chunking er gruppering av små informasjonseiningar til større hierarkiske einingar, chunks, som fungerer som eit mentalt lager som utøvaren hentar materiale frå gjennom improvisasjon. Nettverk av chunks vert utløyste i form av eit skjema, som er ein abstrakt generell representasjon av denne kunnskapen. Lang tids erfaring fører til gjenkjenning av mønster som skaper malar – samlingar av detaljar ved ein situasjonen eller eit problem. Når utøvarar samlar detaljar i templatar, trengst mindre analyse, og improvisasjonen kan byggja på meir intuitiv kunnskap. Ein praksisleia forskingsstrategi har vorte nytta, der spørsmål, problem og utfordringar har vorte starta og arbeidd med i feltarbeid. Målet har vore å finna ut korleis jazzgitaristar kjenner igjen, integrerer, organiserer og utviklar kunnskap i improvisasjon. Arbeidet er gjort gjennom deltakande observasjon, samspel og intervju med fem profesjonelle jazzgitaristar i New York. Feltarbeidet er fylgt opp av teoretiske og kontekstuelle studiar. Ei modal matrise for å analysera struktur, tid og form i jazzgitarimprovisasjon er utvikla. Føremålet har vore å kombinera rolla som forskar og utøvar, vii Stein Helge Solstad: Strategies in jazz guitar improvisation og i denne prosessen avdekka kunnskap som kan ha innverknad på ulike parameter i improvisert musikk generelt. Dette forskingsprosjektet viser at profesjonelle jazzgitaristar sine strategiar er grunnleggjande avhengig av kontekst, stil og type samspel. Improvisasjon er basert på å lytte til kva som skjer i samspel og at ein har fleksible handlingar tilgjengelege som samsvarar med det som skjer i augneblinken. Ekspertise definerer korleis implisitt (ubevisst) og eksplisitt (bevisst) kunnskap er nytta; dess meir kjend situasjonen er, dess meir nyttar ein implisitt (intuitiv) kunnskap. Funna slår saman motsetnadene skapt mellom skjemabaserte teoriar som gjer bruk av langtidsminne (top-down) og sanseorienterte teoriar (bottom-up) som nyttar sensorisk register og korttidsminne for å forklare ekspertise. I denne avhandlinga vert det slått fast at båe vert nytta avhengig av tid og stad. viii

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