MUSA 180 Introduction to Jazz Improvisation

Previously MUSC 155. This course offers a step-by-step approach to the art and science of jazz improvisation by focusing on the basic elements of music: sound, rhythm, melody, harmony, and form. Students will learn how to create and develop musical ideas and play them in a jazz style. Students will complete assignments that include ear training exercises, creative composition, and memorization. Students will develop a greater awareness of musical style and structure through the use of a variety of listening exercises which cover the blues in jazz, swing, bebop, and modal jazz. Students will learn to improvise over blues forms, II-V-I harmonic progressions, and song forms. Students must be able to read and write music, and possess basic technical proficiency on a melodic instrument.

Credits

3

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

1. Improvise a solo on a basic blues chord progression.
2. Improvise a solo based on the melody of a standard jazz composition.
3. Create well-developed solos through the use of repetition, variation, and contrast.
4. Identify and classify chord tones and non-chord tones in a given melody, and understand the musical process of dissonance, consonance, and resolution in Jazz.
5. Demonstrate the basic aspects of jazz and swing rhythms and articulations.
6. Identify and improvise over ii-V-I progressions in major and minor keys.
7. Improvise on standard jazz compositions using a variety of song forms, such as AABA, ABA, and AA.
8. Improvise over modal jazz compositions using the Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Dorian modes.
9. Analyze and address ideas in solos of great jazz masters to develop informed variety in their own solos.
10. Listen to and reflect upon the diverse jazz styles from different periods in history and discuss their cultural influences.

Course Objectives

1. Improvise a solo on a basic blues chord progression.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

2. Improvise a solo based on the melody of a standard jazz composition.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

3. Create well-developed solos through the use of repetition, variation, and contrast.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

4. Identify and classify chord tones and non-chord tones in a given melody, and understand the musical process of dissonance, consonance, and resolution in Jazz.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • An exercise

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT1
5. Demonstrate the basic aspects of jazz and swing rhythms and articulations.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

6. Identify and improvise over ii-V-I progressions in major and minor keys.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

7. Improvise on standard jazz compositions using a variety of song forms, such as AABA, ABA, and AA.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

8. Improvise over modal jazz compositions using the Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Dorian modes.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

9. Analyze and address ideas in solos of great jazz masters to develop informed variety in their own solos.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Presentation

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT2
   • CT3
10. Listen to and reflect upon the diverse jazz styles from different periods in history and discuss their cultural influences.

    Learning Activity Artifact

    • Writing Assignments

    Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

    • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

    Critical Thinking

    • CT4