M-JP-SAX2

Practical Classes

11

1

30

One 50-minute lesson per week

25 hours

283 hours

Completion of M-JP-SAX1.

See Competencies Matrix.

Further developing the technical aspects of the students' musicianship in the broadest sense of the word, as well as stimulating their musical awareness and personal taste in music. Students will be able to apply the acquired instrument skills and and theory knowledge in in their band performances and improvisations, demonstrating their ability to incorporate increasingly complex structures with respect to harmony, melody, rhythm and musical form. They will be able to play ca. 40 standards or self-chosen pieces by heart and to improvise over them.

The level of instrument proficiency is in line with the compulsory and optional band lessons (Elective Band) and theory lessons.

TECHNIQUE:
Scales: rehearsal of the common scales and diatonic/chromatic triads and tetrads with variations and different tonal spaces. See the sheet "Technical Exam" for more details.
Different intervals.
II-V licks with alterations, octatonic and whole-tone lines.
Sigurd Rascher: Overtone Exercises
Joseph Viola: Chord Studies
Various specific techniques, including multiphonics, slap tongue, false fingerings, shakes, double tongue, growl and laugh.
READING SKILLS:
Study material with a musical complexity level similar to:
Lennie Niehaus: Advanced Jazz Conception 3
Bob Mintzer: 14 Easy Jazz, Blues and Funk Etudes (advanced)
Various big band parts chosen by the student.
IMPROVISATION:
Jamey Aebersold Play-a-Longs: Vol. 16, Turnarounds & Cycles
Minor blues, Parker blues, Confirmation changes.
Consistent use of altered and octatonic scales.
Transcribing (partly by ear) Coltrane until 1957, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins until 1959, Sonny Stitt, and pieces chosen by the student.
Playing standards or other pieces unaccompanied and improvising over them.
REPERTOIRE:
Studying standards with different styles, tempi, and chord techniques, e.g., Blues for Alice, Confirmation, Joy Spring, Recordame, Have You Met Miss Jones?, Just Friends, Lady Bird, Out of Nowhere, I Hear a Rhapsody, Donna Lee, Watermelon Man, or similar pieces chosen by the student.
In-depth study of specific repertoire from a specific period, e.g, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Lennie Tristano, and Lee Konitz.

Individual lessons and (as agreed with the instructor) big band lessons, group lessons and section rehearsals.

Real Books; Jamey Aebersold: Play-a-Longs 16, 21 and 24, Band-in-a-Box Software, Bob Mintzer: 14 Jazz and Funk Etudes, Lennis Niehaus: Jazz Conception for Saxophone 3 (advanced); recordings of the pieces to be played.

Organizing a short performance (band, repertoire, rehearsals) as part of the annual Jazz & Pop student concert.

Assessment by the main subject instructor at the end of each semester.

The student should have mastered the elements described under Aims. Specific criteria are: creativity, expression, improvisation, technique, sound, intonation, timing, reading skills, repertoire knowledge, progress, self-reflection, session participation, attitude and lesson preparation.

The student has completed this module if being awarded a minimum grade of 5.5 at the end of the second semester.

At the end of both semesters the instructor fills out an assessment form designed specifically for this module. Assessment is comprised of a verbal evaluation and a concluding grade. The instructor reviews this assessment with the student during the first subsequent lesson. Assessment at the end of the autumn semester is formative and expressed in terms of satisfactory/unsatisfactory. It indicates a student's progress in this module. No ECs are awarded and there is no resit. Modules can only be absolved, and ECs awarded, after the end of the spring semester.

See the Education and Assessment Plan.