FMEA 2014 Professional Development Conference January 9, 2014 2:45 Pm

Navigating the Murky Waters: A Guide to Making Sense of Vocal Jazz Ensemble Charts Andrew N. Dahan [email protected] University of Miami Frost School of Music FMEA 2014 Professional Development Conference January 9, 2014 2:45 pm A Brief History of Vocal Jazz As jazz has evolved in our country, many vocalists have contributed to the art form. Many of us already know that singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday (to name a few) brought different ideas and styles to their performances, which in turn made them stand out in the jazz world. What many people may not know is Louis Armstrong is considered to be the person responsible for establishing singing as a part of the jazz scene. He also is the person responsible for setting the precedent that vocalists take a more “instrumental” approach when singing jazz. The post-war era brought the emergence of the jazz ensemble, or big band. Vocalists were often featured with these bands and shortly thereafter, small vocal jazz ensembles like Lambert Hendricks & Ross began to surface. By the 70’s, many small ensembles including the Singers Unlimited and the Manhattan Transfer really had established notoriety in the jazz world, and groups such as the New York Voices, The Real Group, and Vertical Voices continue the tradition today. The first school-affiliated vocal jazz ensembles as we know them today began in Community Colleges in the Pacific Northwest. Since music often wasn’t available for that type of ensemble, they sang actual jazz band charts that had been rearranged for singers. What is the purpose of the vocal jazz ensemble? To be the jazz band. The Problem For many of us, learning how to direct a vocal jazz ensemble, or even approach a piece of vocal jazz literature, was not a part of our choral methods classes. For this reason, many choral directors shy away from including this type of music in their programming. In my experience, I’ve heard many reasons for not doing vocal jazz, including (but not limited to): “The music doesn’t sound good.” “It’s bad for students’ voices.” “I don’t understand the music well enough.” “I don’t know how to teach my students how to improvise.” “I don’t know how to work with a rhythm section” Today’s Task I will be taking you through a few tunes from the vocal jazz ensemble repertoire , and through those, teaching you terms commonly used in the jazz idiom, and teaching you how to recognize these things when you see them in a piece of music. Important Terminology Lead Sheet A form of music notation that specifies the melody & harmony (and sometimes the lyric) of a tune Changes The chord progression of a given tune Chart The term given to a physical piece of music used by jazz musicians Form The overall structure of a tune. Most common form in jazz is song form (AABA) Intro A composed section at the beginning of a tune meant to aid in establishing the time feel and groove. Head The first chorus of a tune, in which the entire melody is stated without improvisation (or with minimal improvisation) Backgrounds Vocals that occur behind a soloist, whose purpose is to provide harmonic and/or rhythmic support Solo Section A place in a tune where there is an opening for a soloist (either instrumental or vocal) to improvise over the changes Scat Syllables Syllables used by vocalists in improvisation, such as “doo,” “bah,” “dah,” “wee,” and “bop.” These syllables have no meaning. Soli Section A passage performed by all singers that gives the surface impression that the ensemble is playing a "solo," because they are all playing in the same rhythm. Usually performed on scat syllables, but will sometimes have words Reharm Short for “reharmonization,” where an arranger may take the original melody and change the harmony beneath it in order to give it a different sound Ending The end of a tune, where any number of compositional tools can be used, including rhythmic augmentation, tagging, or creating something new altogether Swing A rhythmic style in which the first of a pair of written 8th notes is played longer than the second, even twice as long, while the second tends to receive a slight accent Steps in Teaching Vocal Jazz Ensemble Literature Step One: Give students a lead sheet of the tune they will be learning, and have them listen to a recording of it, and then have them sing through the melody of the tune. Why? This will teach students what the melody of the tune is, and at this point you can also talk to them about the form of the tune. Their understanding of form is very important when it comes to possible improvisation. Step Two: On their copy of the chart, have them identify where the different parts of the form are in their music, and also have them mark places where they have melody. Why? In this type of literature, the harmonies are such that it can be very easy for singers to default to singing the melody when they shouldn’t be, which results in a loss of harmony and texture. Knowing what part of the tune they are in and who has the melody can help to counteract this. Step Three: Student must learn their parts. If the resources are available, consider the use of sectionals or part recordings, since with much of the music in this genre, playing all of the parts simultaneously can be a challenge, even for those with good piano skills. Additionally, some of the voice parts – particularly inner voices) may be very “crunchy” and rehearsing those parts together right off the bat may serve to be more of a hindrance than a help. Step Four: Be vigilant about reinforcing musical and technical aspects of the music, including tone quality, dynamics, cut-offs, counting, and so on. In a concert choir, directors would never let these types of mistakes go, and it should be the same in a vocal jazz ensemble, or any type of ensemble dealing with more contemporary music. Why? Students should be held to high musical standards regardless of what type of music they are singing. Also important to note is that good singing is good singing, regardless of the musical genre. Do not let stylistic stereotypes become reality for your ensemble if the stereotypes reinforce bad vocal habits. Important Differences Between Vocal Jazz Ensemble Literature and Traditional Choral Literature Chord Voicings In vocal jazz literature, you will rarely, if ever, see the traditional ascending “do-sol-mi- do” voicing. More often, the basses and tenors will have 3rds and 7ths, making the crucial to the tuning of the chords. Many dissonances (usually between 9th and 3rd or between 7th and root) occur as well. Making these intervals part of your warm-up can help your students tune. Ballad Tempo In a cappella jazz ballads, the tempo should be dictated by word stress, and not by a metronome marking. Don’t be afraid to take liberties with tempo, particularly if you feel strongly about emphasizing certain words. This can add a different musical and emotional dimension to the chart that might not be possible if adhering to a strict tempo. Tone Quality This is one of the biggest complaints about vocal jazz ensemble sound. Many choral educators believe that groups that sing this type of music either consistently belt or have a breathy sound. The reality is that neither of these should be happening in an ensemble situation. Students should be using the same tone production as in concert choirs, but with modified vowels, and special attention paid to tuning chords before any vibrato is introduced. Balance and Blend Sopranos = trumpet Altos/Tenors = saxophone section of jazz band Basses = trombones (or bass in the case of unaccompanied tunes) Rhythm section = helps to establish time feel and groove In a traditional choral setting, it is usually important for choirs to sing with a parallel sound, where all parts are equal from the top down. In a vocal jazz ensemble, the sound should be more of a funnel shape, lead being heard the most and the lower voices beneath for support. Some Great Groups New York Voices Swingle Singers Manhattan Transfer Mad Romance The Real Group Take 6 Groove for Thought Swingle Singers Toxic Audio Vertical Voices Singers Unlimited Rajaton Some Great VJE Arrangers Darmon Meader Rosana Eckert Larry Lapin Anders Edenroth Michele Weir Jennifer Barnes Tim Brent Ward Swingle Paris Rutherford Gene Puerling Greg Jasperse Phil Mattson Jeremy Fox Kirby Shaw Kerry Marsh Roger Treece Matt Falker Steve Zegree Kirk Marcy Vijay Singh Roger Emerson Tim Buchholz Dave Barduhn Russell Robinson Where Can I Find Charts? Sound Music Publications http://www.smpjazz.com UNC Jazz Press http://www.uncjazzpress.com J.W. Pepper http://www.jwpepper.com Beethoven and Company http://www.beethovenandcompany.com Special thanks to Beethoven and Company for providing a chart for this session! Many of the arrangers above have their own websites as well. Do a Google search for them, and chances are that you’ll stumble across their websites. Many of them are happy to write commissioned charts that are personalized for your group. I Want To Learn More! Check out these great vocal jazz camps, open to students and educators alike. There are many others like them across the country, if you do a Google search. Also, join the Vocal Jazz Educators group on Facebook to interact with others interested in vocal jazz. Steve Zegree Vocal Jazz Camp http://tinyurl.com/l59kk9w Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) June 22-27, 2014 Jason & Jeremy’s Jazz Theory Boot Camp www.jazztheorybootcamp.com June 22-28, 2014 or August 11-17 (Creston, IA) July 12-18, 2014 (Elmhurst, IL) SMV Vocal Jazz Camp www.vocaljazzcamp.com July 21-25 (Algonquin, IL) July 28-August 1 (Creston, IA) August 4-8 (Winnipeg, Manitoba) .

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