曼哈頓音樂學(xué)院爵士演奏碩士

師從 Dick Oatts 及 Mark Turner

Jazz music is a language. It is a means to communicate, to collaborate in real time, to create a unique piece of art which exists only in the now. One of the many miracles of jazz music happens when musicians who have never even met can come together and improvise exquisite music. To reach this level, there is a tremendous amount to learn—about chords, scales, forms, grooves, and of course instrumental technique.

爵士樂是一門語言，它也是一種方法，它讓樂手們?nèi)贤?、去即時合作、去創(chuàng)造只存在于當(dāng)下的獨特藝術(shù)作品。爵士樂有很多奇妙之處，其中之一是能讓從未謀面的音樂家們走到一起，即興演奏出精美的音樂。要達(dá)到這個水平，需要學(xué)習(xí)大量的東西——和弦、音階、結(jié)構(gòu)、節(jié)奏，當(dāng)然還有樂器演奏技術(shù)。

The focus of learning all these things should be for the purpose of “talking”, through the music. To have an exciting and interesting musical conversation we also need good “topics”to talk about, and in jazz music, these topics are the tunes. The most popular topics, the most often discussed, we call “jazz standards”.

學(xué)習(xí)所有這些東西的重點應(yīng)該是為了能夠通過音樂“交談”。為了有一個激動和有趣的音樂對話，我們還需要有好的 “話題 ”，而在爵士樂中，這些“話題”就是曲子。那些最受歡迎、最常被討論的“話題”，我們稱之為 “爵士樂標(biāo)準(zhǔn)曲”。

My advice to students of jazz would be the same advice that every one of my teachers at the Manhattan School of Music gave to me when I was a student there: 1) play sessions, and 2) learn tunes.

我給爵士樂學(xué)生的建議跟當(dāng)初我作為學(xué)生時得到的建議一樣，當(dāng)時曼哈頓音樂學(xué)院的每一位老師都會這樣建議我：第一，參加合奏。第二，學(xué)習(xí)曲子。

A “session” is any time that people get together to play music—NOT to rehearse for a show, but just simply to participate in the joy and the experience of making music together. Just as in learning any language, the most essential practice is conversing with others. This is what shapes the context for all of the specific learning goals. Although it’s always nice to have a session with a full “band”, with bass, drums, piano, guitar, horns, etc., in fact, you just need two people, on any instrument, to play a session—the way of making musical conversation is the same.

合奏不是為了某一場演出進(jìn)行排練，而是指大家聚在一起演奏音樂。參加合奏意思很簡單，就是參與到一起制作音樂的快樂體驗中。像學(xué)習(xí)任何語言一樣，學(xué)爵士樂最基本的練習(xí)是與他人對話。這是所有具體學(xué)習(xí)目標(biāo)的情境和前提。最理想的合奏當(dāng)然是有一個完整的樂隊——貝斯、鼓、鋼琴、吉他、管樂等，但其實，你只需要兩個人，用任何樂器都可以開始合奏，因為我們進(jìn)行音樂對話的方式是一樣的。

Next, learn as many tunes as you can—learn them in all twelve keys, in various styles, tempos, and meters. When you learn a new tune, start with the melody, then learn the bass notes, then the chord tones. Be able to improvise something (anything!) on this tune. Now play that tune in your next session!

第二點是，盡可能多地學(xué)習(xí)曲子——用所有12個調(diào)、用不同的風(fēng)格、速度和節(jié)拍去學(xué)習(xí)它們。當(dāng)你學(xué)新的曲子時候，先從旋律開始，然后學(xué)習(xí)和弦根音，再學(xué)習(xí)和弦。確保你能在這首曲子上即興創(chuàng)作一些東西，任何東西都可以。接下來要做的，就是在下一次合奏中演奏這首曲子！

Once you put these two methods into practice, you will have a much better sense of direction when learning all of the many skills and knowledge points that you need to master in order to play jazz.

一旦你把這兩種方法付諸實踐，在學(xué)習(xí)演奏爵士樂所需掌握的許多技能和知識點的時候，你就會更有方向感。。