Building a Jazz Vocabulary (Jazz Book) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Described in one word: useful!
If you were going to teach someone to read, would you start out by having them memorize and repeat great speeches from history, or would you teach them the alphabet and how to recognizecommon words and phrases?
Building a Jazz Vocabulary takes the latterapproach and is a very cleanly organized book in which each sectioncontains a brief explanation and expository exercises that illuminate afundamental feature of the language of Jazz.
Topics covered includeintervals, chords, scales, progressions, and solo building, among others. Perhap the gem of the book is the excellent coverage of cells and thedevelopment of melodic line.
One of the real advantages of Building aJazz Vocabulary is that the exercises are not mindless transcriptions orthe painfully mechanical contrivances that all too commonly fill up endlesspages in many music books.Instead, each topic is covered with just enoughexplanation to make sure you get it intellectually and just enough examplesand exercises to allow you to see how it works in practice.The topic thenends by providing enough suggestions on practice and application that youcan proceed on your own for a lifetime or two.
As a result, this is therare kind of music instruction book where you *will* want to have yourinstruments in hand, but *will not* just be reading exercises off of apage.
A couple of things to be aware of, this book doesn't do a lot ofhand-holding; it's written in an easy to understand manner but it isdefinately for adults and does presume some existing knowledge of music andmusic theory.Additionally, it covers 'vocabulary' only in the sense ofnotes and phrases.Coverage of intonation or rhythm is very brief.
FWIW,I'm a somewhat experienced musician and play a number of instruments,primarily guitar and violin.My wife is a relative novice and plays tenorsax.We both love this book.I'll be getting her a copy for her birthday. Do I love my wife?Sure!But mostly, getting her a copy of her own isthe only certain way to ensure she keeps her grubby fingers off ofmine!
- Cayenne

Click Here to see more reviews about: Building a Jazz Vocabulary (Jazz Book)

Product Description:
A valuable resource for learning the basics of jazz from Mike Steinel of the University of North Texas. It covers the basics of jazz, how to build effective solos, a comprehensive practice routine, and a jazz vocabulary of the masters.

Get 29% OFF

Want to read more honest consumer review about Building a Jazz Vocabulary (Jazz Book) now ?