How to Master Jazz Articulation

Summary

El video analiza técnicas de articulación en el jazz. Explica que no basta con marcar los tiempos débiles, sino que hay que adaptar la articulación a los contornos melódicos, usando sílabas como 'duden' en frases ascendentes y 'dudú' en descendentes. Detalla ejercicios como escalas bebop y notas de aproche cromáticas para practicar distintos patrones de articulación. Finalmente, ejemplifica estas técnicas en frases de transcripciones de Lester Young, Dexter Gordon y Michael Brecker.

Takeaways

• 🎷 La articulación en el jazz implica más que solo acentuar los contratiempos; varía según la dirección melódica de la línea que se está tocando.
• 🎶 Existen conceptos de articulación específicos como 'dude' y 'duden' para líneas ascendentes y mezclas de articulaciones para contornos melódicos complejos.
• 📚 Se ha lanzado una clase maestra sobre articulación en jazz con más de 80 minutos de contenido en video y un PDF suplementario con ejercicios y transcripciones.
• 🎵 Muchas articulaciones en jazz no pueden representarse adecuadamente con la notación musical tradicional, lo que requiere un enfoque diferente para su enseñanza y aprendizaje.
• 🎷 Los sílabas específicas de articulación, como 'dude' y 'duden', son herramientas para ayudar a los instrumentistas a pronunciar mejor el lenguaje musical del jazz en sus instrumentos.
• 🎼 Practicar escalas de bebop descendentes con articulación de los contratiempos es un buen punto de partida, pero es solo el comienzo para desarrollar habilidades de articulación en jazz.
• 📖 La utilización de notas de aproximación cromática en toda la escala ofrece una práctica más efectiva y aplicable para el desarrollo de líneas melódicas reales en improvisación.
• 🔊 Ejercicios específicos, como agregar notas de aproximación cromática al final de cada compás, permiten practicar tanto la articulación 'dude' y 'duden' como la articulación 'do dawudaou' en contextos variados.
• 👨‍🏫 La clase maestra cubre la aplicación de técnicas de articulación a tripletes y semicorcheas, además de ofrecer ejercicios, frases, etudes y análisis de transcripciones para una práctica integral.
• 🎷 Leyendas del jazz como Dexter Gordon y Michael Brecker han utilizado estas técnicas de articulación, adaptándolas a sus estilos únicos y demostrando la universalidad y adaptabilidad de estos conceptos.

Q & A

¿Cuáles son algunos conceptos erróneos sobre la articulación en el jazz?

Un concepto erróneo común es que en el jazz solo articulamos los tiempos débiles cuando la línea melódica está descendiendo. En realidad, cuando la línea está ascendiendo podemos usar la articulación 'duden' o 'doodan'.

¿Por qué no podemos escribir las articulaciones de jazz con notación musical tradicional?

La notación musical tradicional se desarrolló antes que el jazz, así que no tiene símbolos para muchas de las articulaciones que usamos. La única forma de ponerlas en papel es escribiendo la pronunciación vocalizada de cada nota.

¿Cómo suena la articulación 'duden' en un saxofón y cómo se logra?

Para lograr el efecto 'duden', ponemos la lengua en la caña del saxofón para ahogar el sonido por un momento, casi como si dijéramos 'duden' al hablar. Se impulsa el sonido desde el diafragma.

¿Por qué las escalas de bebop no son el mejor ejercicio para practicar articulación?

La forma melódica de las escalas de bebop solo asciende y desciende, así que no nos permite practicar con suficientes variaciones. Es mejor usar ejercicios de notas de aproximación cromáticas a lo largo de toda la escala.

¿Cómo se aplican los conceptos de articulación a los tresillos y semicorcheas?

Se vuelve más complejo, pero en la master class se cubre con más detalle. Hicimos versiones de algunos ejercicios y transcripciones con todas las articulaciones escritas para tresillos y semicorcheas también.

¿Cómo usaban las articulaciones jazzísticas leyendas como Lester Young y Michael Brecker?

Aunque tienen estilos distintos, ambos usaban las mismas técnicas básicas de articulación 'duden', 'doodan' y 'dawud'. Cada uno lo hacía a su manera pero siguiendo los mismos conceptos.

¿Por qué parecía que Dexter Gordon articulaba cada nota cuando en realidad no lo hacía?

En tempos lentos Dexter solía articular más notas, pero en tempos medios y rápidos usaba 'duden' y 'doodan', lo cual articula múltiples notas a la vez por naturaleza.

¿Qué se incluye en la master class y los materiales complementarios sobre articulación en el jazz?

La master class tiene más de 80 minutos de video analizando la articulación en ejercicios, frases, estudios y transcripciones. Viene con un PDF complementario con muchos ejemplos de articulaciones escritas.

¿Qué se puede hacer para seguir desarrollando las habilidades de articulación en el jazz?

Además de practicar los conceptos presentados, analizar las articulaciones usadas en transcripciones de solos de jazz legends es muy útil. El oído se educa escuchando a los maestros.

¿Por qué es importante dominar las técnicas de articulación en el jazz?

La articulación es una parte clave de lo que hace que el jazz se sienta e interprete de forma expresiva. Domina estas habilidades para poder pronunciar el lenguaje jazzístico de forma idiomática.

Outlines

00:00

🎷 Introducción a la Articulación en el Jazz

Este segmento aborda los conceptos erróneos comunes sobre la articulación en el jazz, destacando que no solo se articulan los tiempos débiles y que la articulación debe adaptarse al contorno melódico de la música, ya sea ascendente, descendente o mixto. Se introduce la idea de articulaciones 'dude' y 'duden' para líneas ascendentes, y se enfatiza la importancia de la flexibilidad en la articulación para reflejar la dirección y el movimiento de las líneas melódicas. Además, se anuncia el lanzamiento de una clase maestra sobre articulación en el jazz que profundiza en técnicas, ejercicios y transcripciones, acompañada de un PDF suplementario con articulaciones escritas.

05:01

📚 Ejercicios de Articulación y Escalas Bebop

En este párrafo se discuten técnicas específicas de articulación para líneas ascendentes y descendentes en el jazz, utilizando el ejemplo de las escalas bebop. Se introduce el concepto de articulación 'duden duden' para líneas ascendentes, contrastando con la articulación de los tiempos débiles en líneas descendentes. Se enfatiza que las escalas bebop, aunque útiles, son solo el comienzo para entender la articulación en el jazz, y se promueve el uso de notas de aproximación cromática para ejercicios más avanzados y prácticos, incluidos en un ebook específico.

10:02

🎼 Aplicando Articulación en Ejercicios Avanzados

Este segmento profundiza en ejercicios más complejos para practicar la articulación en el jazz, destacando un ejercicio que incorpora notas de aproximación cromática en cada compás para trabajar en la articulación en diferentes partes de la escala. Se explican las decisiones de articulación basadas en la dirección melódica de la música y cómo estos ejercicios ayudan a preparar a los músicos para aplicar técnicas de articulación en situaciones reales de improvisación. Además, se menciona un descuento para una clase maestra que incluye contenido detallado sobre articulación en tríos y semicorcheas.

15:03

📝 Técnicas de Articulación en Frases y Transcripciones

El último párrafo se centra en la aplicación de técnicas de articulación en frases musicales y transcripciones de solos, incluyendo la descomposición de una frase específica para ilustrar cómo se utilizan las articulaciones 'duden duden' y 'do da oo'. Se destaca cómo diferentes articulaciones se adaptan a la dirección de las notas dentro de una frase y se menciona el análisis de solos de Charlie Parker como ejemplo de cómo estas técnicas se aplican en el trabajo de músicos legendarios. Además, se discute la importancia de estudiar y aplicar estas técnicas en contextos modernos y tradicionales del jazz.

Keywords

💡Articulación

La articulación en el contexto del video se refiere a la manera en que los músicos de jazz enfatizan o atenúan ciertas notas dentro de una frase musical para expresar ritmo y emoción. El video destaca cómo la articulación en jazz va más allá de simplemente acentuar los tiempos débiles, variando según la dirección melódica de la línea musical. Se utilizan ejemplos como 'dude' y 'duden' para demostrar técnicas específicas de articulación ascendente y descendente.

💡Contorno melódico

El contorno melódico describe la forma general de una línea musical según se mueve en el espacio tonal, ascendiendo, descendiendo o girando en direcciones diversas. En el video, se argumenta que el contorno melódico influye en la elección de las técnicas de articulación para hacer que la interpretación sea más expresiva y coincida con la dirección de la música.

💡Escala bebop

La escala bebop es una herramienta de práctica mencionada en el video que introduce un cromatismo en escalas mayores, menores o dominantes para alinear mejor los acordes con los ritmos de jazz. Aunque el video sugiere que las escalas bebop no son lo único que se debe practicar, se presentan como un punto de partida para entender la articulación en líneas descendentes.

💡Notación musical tradicional

La notación musical tradicional se discute en el video como insuficiente para capturar todas las sutilezas de la articulación en jazz. Esto se debe a que el jazz utiliza articulaciones y acentos que no se pueden representar fácilmente con los símbolos de notación estándar, lo que lleva a la utilización de sílabas vocalizadas para enseñar cómo se deben articular las notas.

💡Sílabas vocalizadas

Las sílabas vocalizadas, como 'dude' y 'duden', se usan en el video como una herramienta pedagógica para ayudar a los músicos a entender y practicar las articulaciones específicas del jazz en sus instrumentos. Estas sílabas no son iguales a las sílabas de scat utilizadas por vocalistas, sino que están diseñadas para imitar los sonidos de articulación en instrumentos.

💡Notas de aproximación cromática

Las notas de aproximación cromática son una técnica que se discute en el video como una manera de añadir expresividad y complejidad a las líneas melódicas en jazz. Al integrar notas cromáticas en diferentes partes de una escala, los músicos pueden crear líneas más interesantes y variadas que las ofrecidas por las escalas bebop tradicionales.

💡Master class

El video menciona una master class sobre articulación en jazz que ofrece más de 80 minutos de contenido en video, ejercicios, frases, etudes y transcripciones, así como un PDF suplementario. Este recurso se presenta como una oportunidad para que los músicos profundicen su comprensión y habilidad en la articulación específica del jazz.

💡Ejercicios prácticos

Los ejercicios prácticos mencionados en el video incluyen el uso de escalas bebop y notas de aproximación cromática para desarrollar habilidades de articulación en contextos realistas. Estos ejercicios están diseñados para alejarse de la práctica limitada de escalas y hacia aplicaciones más dinámicas y musicales de la articulación en el jazz.

💡Frases y etudes

En el video, las frases y etudes son utilizadas como material didáctico para aplicar técnicas de articulación en contextos musicales complejos. Estos ejemplos ayudan a los músicos a comprender cómo aplicar las técnicas de articulación discutidas a líneas melódicas más largas y variadas, mejorando así su expresividad y fluidez en el jazz.

💡Células melódicas

Las células melódicas se mencionan en el video como parte del contenido de la master class, ofreciendo un enfoque práctico para aplicar articulaciones en contextos modernos de jazz. Estas células representan fragmentos de líneas melódicas que pueden ser articuladas con las técnicas discutidas, ayudando a los músicos a integrar estos conceptos en su propio lenguaje musical.

Highlights

Articulation in jazz often articulates the offbeats on descending lines, but accents the downbeats on ascending lines using 'duden' articulation

The articulation syllables are to help articulate notes on instruments, not for scat singing

Bebop scales going up and down are a starting point for practicing articulation, but have limitations

Chromatic approach notes used more thoroughly in scales makes lines sound hipper

Approach note and enclosure exercises are practical for translating articulation technique into real lines

Articulation applies to triplets and 16th notes too, covered more in full masterclass

See analysis of a Charlie Parker solo using these articulation techniques in the full masterclass

Dexter Gordon used these articulation approaches with a fat, legato style

First 8 bars of Dexter's solo on 'Love for Sale' shows this articulation approach

The full articulation masterclass analyzes transcriptions showing use of these techniques

The masterclass comes with a PDF of articulations written out to supplement video content

See analysis of modern players like Michael Brecker using articulation with modern language

Coupon code for $10 off jazzlessonvideos.com masterclasses

Everyone from Lester Young to Michael Brecker used this articulation approach uniquely

Subscribe to the YouTube channel for more jazz education content

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

hmm

[Music]

all right so let's talk about

articulation today the first thing to be

aware of with articulation

is that there are some misconceptions

about how articulation works in jazz

mainly there's this idea that all we do

in jazz is articulate the offbeats in

reality

that's only true for when the shape of

the line is descending

when the shape of the line is going up

we can actually do what's called a dude

and do articulation or a duden

articulation

and then a lot of times realistically

the shape or melodic

contour of the line that we're playing

is really

twisting around and going into all sorts

of directions

not just up and down but around and

moving in interesting ways so then we

want to be flexible

in mixing up the articulation to match

with the shape of the line so that's

what we're going to talk about today

we're going to talk about different ways

to use articulation patterns and

techniques

in jazz articulation and i've actually

just released a full master class on

jazz articulation that has over 80

minutes

of video content going really deep into

articulations on exercises

phrases etudes and transcriptions

and it also has a supplementary pdf with

tons of articulations written out for

you

and the articulations match with the

exercises

and all the content that we go over in

the master class so if you want to get

serious about refining your articulation

techniques

definitely make sure to check that out

it's a great reference

but for now let's just do a brief

overview of how to develop your

articulation skills in jazz

and first off it is important to note

that the articulation

breakdown and analysis that you're

seeing in the examples

on your screen are not written with

traditional

music notation so the first question

that we should answer is why is that in

jazz the reality is there are a lot of

articulations that we use that just

can't be written down with traditional

music notation

of course traditional music notation

started long before

jazz existed so the articulations that

we use in jazz

just have never been really given a

music notation

label one of the things that makes jazz

feel so good is the way that we

pronounce

the language in the vocabulary that

we're playing and the only way to really

put that on paper would be

through writing out the actual vocalized

pronunciations of each note and it's

important to know that these are not

scat syllables like these are not scat

syllables that a vocalist would use

the purpose of these syllables are for

helping us articulate on our instrument

now some of these exact syllables might

be catered a little bit to saxophone

but the general idea of how we feel the

music on our instrument

is the same throughout brass players for

instance might say doodle doodle

saxophonists for instance would probably

say dude and duden

but we're all speaking the same language

either way and we're just trying to get

the music to feel as good as possible

on our instrument i've actually done

ensemble master classes where i've had

the student drummers in the master

classes

say duden duden while they play a ride

cymbal pattern

and it's actually helped them

significantly to make their ride cymbal

pattern feel better so this really

applies

to all instruments so by now i'm sure

you're wondering what these syllables

are and if you're already familiar with

these syllables you might want to know

how you can play them better

so that's what we're going to get into

now alright so i mentioned earlier that

we do

articulate the offbeats a lot when we

play a descending line

that's a line going down a great way to

understand that and help practice that

would be by playing a bebop scale going

downward

now in general i actually think that

bebop scales aren't the best thing to

practice

and so we'll go over that more in a

second but for now

bebop scales can be a great way of just

getting into step one

of articulation just make sure you don't

get stuck here because we can go so much

further

with a bebop scale the direction is only

going to go straight up and straight

down

so we'll get into more practical shapes

and exercises in a second but for now

this is a great place to start

so to start i'm just going to play a

descending bebop scale

and again here i'm just going to be

articulating the

offbeats giving syllables that you could

vocalize

to this articulation i would say

if you were to sing that it would sound

like

and then playing it would sound like

this

so that works great for going down but

what about going up

if we do just the offbeats going up that

doesn't sound

nearly as hip it would sound like this

so as you can hear it doesn't sound

super hip to just play the offbeats when

you're playing

an ascending line so what if you accent

the downbeats going up

that would sound like this

all right so that sounded a lot better

but how did that work

because i wasn't just tonguing the

downbeats i wasn't just articulating the

downbeats i was doing a little bit more

than that

if i just articulated the downbeats and

did nothing else

that would sound like this

again what i did was different that

sounded like this

[Music]

so how did i do that this is what a lot

of people refer to as a duden

duden articulation now the label doesn't

really matter it's just a way of helping

us get this concept down more

and it's a way of helping us pronounce

the language that we're playing

a lot better so let's talk about how to

apply this duden articulation to our

plane

so essentially the reason why a lot of

people call this a doodan doodan

articulation

is because essentially we want to

pronounce the language that we're

playing

on our instrument as if we're saying

duden duden

through the horn so just like when you

speak the sound

duden your tongue goes to the roof of

your mouth

and chokes off the sound a little bit

for instance you go

duden duden

so that's what we want to translate onto

our instrument so for saxophone we

actually want to choke off the sound for

a second

by putting our tongue on the reed this

is something that we get into with a lot

of detail

in the master class that i've done on

this but just a quick tip

would be to really push from the

diaphragm to help make it happen

so if we just play dude in it would

sound like this

if we go on and play dude and do it

would sound like this

[Music]

if we go all the way up the bebop scale

using this approach

it would sound like this

then if we play up the whole bebop scale

with the dude and doonan articulation

and we play down with the du da da

articulation

it will sound like this

then if we mix up the shapes of the

melodic contour that we're playing

and we do a bunch of combinations of

dood and dude ins

and do dawud material is going to end up

sounding like this

[Music]

so how do we bridge the gap between

being able to play up and down a bebop

scale with this articulation technique

and actually being able to play real

language

with this articulation technique so the

first thing that i recommend

is actually just practicing this

articulation concept

on better exercises so like i mentioned

before i actually think the bebop scales

aren't really the best thing to practice

and that's because we can go so much

further into the concept

that the bebop scale was based off of

and if we do that then we can actually

practice

exercises that use that in a way more

effective way

and a way that's more practical for

translating

into real lines and so that brings us to

the concept of chromatic approach notes

i've made videos on this before but

pretty much the bebop

scale just takes a major dominant

or minor scale and adds one chromatic

approach note to it

then with that chromatic approach note

we just zip up and down the scale in one

or a couple octaves if we want but the

reality is the legends of this music

all added chromatic approach notes all

over the place

throughout the scale not just in between

two

notes so if you want to make your lines

sound way hipper

then you really want to be practicing

chromatic approach notes

throughout the whole scale and not just

in one place

so that's what the exercises in my ebook

on this concept

do that ebook is called 15 approach note

and enclosure exercises for jazz

musicians

with all those exercises written out in

all 12 keys and because the melodic

contour of those exercises is way more

like an actual line that you would want

to solo with these exercises are great

for

practicing articulation as well so let's

briefly check out one of the exercises

that we go through in more detail

in the full articulation master class

this is an exercise where we add one

chromatic approach note

at the end of every single measure that

way we're getting chromaticism

in every part of the scale the diatonic

part of this exercise so the scale part

of this exercise

always goes up and down so you can

practice both the dude and duden

articulation

and the do dawudaou articulation in that

part of the measure

and then you can also practice mixing up

the articulation

for the last part of the measure from

the end of four

to the downbeat of one on the next

measure

because depending where you are in the

scale you might do an

in do from the n four into one

or you might do a duo depending

on where you are in the scale and

depending on the direction

of those two notes are they going up or

are they going down

so we might articulate there or we might

slur

if we put all this together it will

sound like this

[Music]

and if you want to go more in depth into

that exercise

plus phrases and etude and transcription

content

make sure to check that out in the full

master class

which comes with a supplementary pdf

that has all these articulations written

out for you as a reference

there is a coupon code in the video

description if you want to check that

out you can use coupon code

clb10 for ten dollars off any master

class

this week at jazzlessonvideos.com one

thing that we get into

in the master class content is also how

to apply these concepts to

triplets because that definitely gets

tricky

and 16th notes as well we also get into

the topic of melodic cells and there you

can really get a sense of how the more

modern legends like michael brecker

use these same articulation techniques

even with the more modern technical

language

so in other words if you're playing with

a more modern sound you can still be

using these dude and doodon

articulations along with the doo daous

and applying it to a more modern

approach that would sound like this

[Music]

so all in all the bebop scales are fine

to practice

but it only gets into a really small

part of the potential for

chromatic approach notes and there's

really no variation

in the shape or the melodic contour

because we're just

playing straight up and down escape so

there are a lot of exercises that we get

into in the master class like the

approach note and enclosure exercises

as well as the melodic cells approach

and these exercises are going to be a

lot more

practical for getting into sort of real

life material real life language that

you would actually be playing

on a gig or playing when you're

improvising and speaking of real-life

examples of articulation

let's actually check out a phrase now

and apply

this articulation technique to this

phrase

so this phrase is one of the 10 phrases

that we go over in the master class

and we have all the articulations

written out on all those phrases as well

this phrase is from an ebook that i

released called approach note and

enclosure phrase workouts

because all of these phrases are really

good ways to practice the concept

of approach notes and enclosures in

actual phrases

these phrases are also a great way to

practice this articulation technique

so let's check out how the articulation

works in this phrase

so with this phrase you'll see a lot of

duden doodons to start

we have a couple notes that go down from

beat two to the n of two but the reason

why we're still doing

dude and duden there is because the and

of two

goes up into a do on the downbeat of

three

so whether you use the do-da-ooze or the

dude and doodons

a lot of times just comes down to if

you're on the end of a beat going up

or the end of a beat going down so here

for the first part of the line we've got

all doom do's that's going to sound like

[Music]

then from there we've got a da uh

because we're going

down from the end of four to the

downbeat of one

so then we've got doo doo

then from the end of one of the second

measure into the downbeat of two we've

got

another now this is a great

example of when you don't want to get

too caught up on the d

in the den it's more of a duden than a

do

dim then after that we finish off the

phrase with just a dawu

because we've got another descending

direction in the shape there

and then for the last note you can say

that as being dot

because for ending the phrase it's kind

of like a dot sound

so if we were to sing through and

pronounce the whole phrase all the way

through

it'd sound like this

[Music]

all right so the last thing you want to

be doing to get a hang of this

articulation concept

is practicing this sort of thing on

etudes and transcriptions

this gets more challenging because we

start adding in triplets and 16th notes

which again we get into more detail on

in the full master class and we actually

made some versions of some

etude and transcription content with all

the articulations written out

so make sure to check that out as a

great resource for getting deeper into

this topic

and with transcription of mind i think

it's really cool to see how

no matter what jazz legend you're

checking out

whether it's someone like lester young

or someone more contemporary

like michael brecker i find they're all

doing the same articulation style

just in their own way so for instance

dexter gordon used this articulation

style in a really amazing way

dexter would play his articulations with

a really

fat thick legato approach but it's a

common misconception that dexter

actually articulated

every single note in reality that's only

really true

in the really slow tempos like on three

o'clock in the morning off of the album

go but anytime he was playing more

medium or up tempos he was totally

locked into the dude and doodon

and the du dau daus but it's important

to note that with the duden dudens

by nature of how you articulate that in

a way

you sort of are articulating every

single note

but it wasn't just dexter who would do

this as i mentioned

everyone from lester young to michael

brecker has used this approach

one perfect example of dexter using this

approach would be on his version of love

for sale

which is also off of the same album as

three o'clock in the morning that album

is of course

the album go so if you check out the

first eight bars of what he plays

on the bridge of his first chorus that

is a prime example of this approach

that would essentially look and sound

like this

[Music]

all right so again in the master class

we go way more in depth

into this sort of thing and i even break

down and analyze a full

charlie parker solo writing out all the

articulation techniques that he used

which was

quite challenging but well worth it was

really fun to make this content and i

hope you'll enjoy checking out the full

master class

and the supplementary pdf that comes

with it in the meantime i hope you

learned something from this video today

make sure to subscribe to the channel if

you haven't already

and i will see you guys next time thanks

so much for watching