[Dixielandjazz] Improvising

[Bobolink7736 at aol.com]

Dan,

In a message dated 6/26/03 10:33:45 AM, Steve.Hoog at rockhurst.edu writes:

<< Get a recording of Sousa marches, preferably with some you aren't very 
familiar with.  Learn to play the bass lines, even in the dogfights.  You'll have 
the basis for almost any jazz tune right there, not to mention rags. >>

But, DO NOT get the charts.  Play only what you hear or feel.  DO NOT think 
about what
key this is in or what time it has.  DO NOT THINK.  FEEL.  Feel the bass.  
Feel the rhythm, feel your own emotions, and play.  Play whatever you feel and 
nothing else.
Learn the tune by hearing it only.  DO NOT go running for the score card.  Be 
alone if
you are embarrassed to do this in front of your wife or your dog or the 
neighbors next door.  Wait til they leave and do something naughty--play by sound 
and feeling.

There is one other ingredient, of course, and that is memory of the melody.

Of course this assumes your being physically able to lift, buzz, blow, and 
move
your appendages in time with the music and, hopefully, in the same key as that
the band is playing in.  

Play any part that appeals to you.  I used to enjoy playing the piccolo part 
to Stars
and Stripes Forever on the Sousaphone.  Clarinet parts are sometimes neat 
too.  But most important for you, it seems to me, is to HEAR and FEEL the bass 
and to playalong.

Have fun.  You can work later.  Some of the real pro's on this list play no 
other way.

best wishes,
boblynn
bobolink7736 at aol.com