Creative Jazz Fundamentals

Do you find yourself or your students frustrated by trying to learn to improvise from books full of scales and chords? That’s like being given the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the finished picture looks like (or in this case, sounds like). Learning to improvise isn't just about learning licks and patterns--you need to be aware of the bigger picture to grasp style and improvisational techniques that really sound at home in a song you're playing.

“Creative Jazz Fundamentals” makes improvising straightforward and fun with holistic videos that teach jazz vocabulary in the context of real songs and help you internalize musical ideas and how it feels to play the sounds you hear in your head. Engaging videos with built-in opportunities for playing along and improvising help the material come to life, offering demonstrations and interactive examples that you can’t get from a book.

Learn songs, style, and improvisation from Institute for Creative Music Teaching Artists, professional jazz musicians who know how to teach what they do. No experience with jazz is necessary to start the course, just a basic knowledge of your instrument and a willingness to experiment and have fun!

This course is perfect for anyone who wants to sound like a jazz musician because you learn the way that generations of jazz musicians did before all those books were around: by listening, watching, and doing. It’s great for current students, teachers, and adults who put their trumpet in the closet 20-years ago and want to do something creative now.

Chris Teal, Nick Finzer, and Chris Ziemba have crafted a sequence of songs that give you the context to learn real jazz vocabulary and style--not just permutations of scales or licks that "work" on different songs. You'll progress from the one-chord New Orleans standard "Little Liza Jane" through blues, ii-Vs, and modal material. Each module introduces a different aspect of jazz style to work on so you continue to encounter and build new skills throughout the course.

Try Module 1 (Little Liza Jane) for free here