Lesson 52
Notes to Lesson 52
Lesson 52 is the last lesson in Mickey's extraordinary course. Note that in Lesson 50, I mentioned that most courses start with improvising around the melody and go from there. Mickey waited until the end of the course. He tells us why: to him, it's the most difficult aspect of the course. In many instances one is actually competing with the composer, creating a melody that is interesting and modern that will be accepted by the listener.
The principle method of improvisation until the Bebop Era was improvising around the melody. This method has become so commonplace that many folks don't consider it improvisation or "Jazz". In other styles of music, such as traditional country music in the US, it's thought of as a variation, much as classical music has long entertained "Theme and Variations" as a legitimate composing technique.
I believe that we can learn a lot by listening to early recordings. At the Red Hot Jazz website, there are literally thousands of recordings from the 1920's. Two well known guitarists of that era are Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson. Additional guitarists to look for are Carl Kress and Dick McDonough. These guitarists are of the pre-electric guitar era, and their instruments are mic'ed acoustic guitars, often archtop models. Many of the guitarists of this era were originally tenor banjoists and when banjos fell out of favor, they changed to standard and tenor guitars. Although single string soloing was common, especially by Lang and Johnson, there were a number of strummed chord solos similar to tenor banjo solos. I'm always struck by the precision of the great players. There are lots of ideas for building around melodies and I hardily recommend this wonderful website.
Let's return to Lesson 52. Mickey's final six lessons are one per each major key except Ab. Each exercise is four measures long. He gives a simple melody. Beneath it he gives us a four-measure example of creating a melody around the melody. He asks us to create two additional solos, which I've done as student participation. That brings each exercise to 12 measures. I've added a rhythm guitar part. Note in the book Mickey once again gives us Plain-Jane chords. After 51 measures, how could I accept that? I substituted per Mickey's philosophy.
This means that each exercise is a TEF with three modules. Since the first module is the example's melody, I've muted it. Of course, feel free to unmute it and use it in any way to help you. After we finish, we are to transpose each example to the other orchestra keys. I've done that with my examples.
This is it for my nagging about your Standards portfolios. I hope that you have forgiven me for that and that you will continue to fill it, all during your musical career like good little boys and girls!! As this course continues to live online, there is no reason why you can't send me any of your work to include. As a living course, I also hope you'll use it as a reference and return to it often.
About the future: I am adding Appendices that will touch on some features not covered or glossed over in the 52 lessons, such as comping with both 3-note chord accompaniment and melody chords, Latin rhythms, and arranging. Plus you can write an appendix on any aspect of the course that you feel needs amplifying and we'll include it. Some of you are true experts in facets of the music world, like setting up and working on the equipment. That's a necessary discipline as well.
Just keep it FUN!