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Roar Like a Violin Monster
Legendary jazz drummer Billy Hart once told me[...]
Develop Your "Thing", Whether or Not It's "Jazz Violin"
Are classical musicians creative? Any musical activity is creative, but we can a[...]
Creative String Teachers inspire generations of string players
In May when I visited to work with (orchestra director) Clark Chaffee's string program at Stevenson [...]
The #1 thing you can do to become a better musician
The key is listening frequently, and critically, in order to shorten the gap between what you think [...]
structuring creative practice to avoid overwhelm
Seems like I'm constantly working on new content in response to user requests, (keep them coming[...]
Amplifying your acoustic violin with acoustic violin pickups
Hi Chris, how are you? I have a question which I don't think is the best subject for the webi[...]
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Archived Articles
Jazz violin give-aways; improvisation secrets revealed
Posted June 1, 2011 in Education, General Blog
I’m giving away lot’s of stuff today. To receive even more presents, enter your email address into the form on top of the right sidebar on this page!
On to the first wave of gifts:
GIFT #1) this video http://christianhowes.com/2011/05/28/how-to-improvise-easily-with-confidence-for-classical-string-players/
which shows how a nine year-old girl can achieve a 100% success rate with improvising diatonic melodies. You can take off, using the worksheet, and do LOT’s but first, read on…
Gift #2) Secrets revealed :
1)beginning with a “scale-based” approach to improvisation really DOESN’T WORK, beyond a very limited scope…
2) some jazz violinists try to improvise based on their knowledge of arpeggios in root position and
THIS DOESN’T WORK EITHER.
3)What DOES WORK is using voice-led chord tones as the basis of any improvised melody in just about any style of music.
In case you’re wondering, to “voice lead” is to resolve from any note in a given chord to a nearby note in another chord.
This sounds simple, right?? Why do you struggle with it?
Most likely you never internalized/memorized chords in extended range and all inversions. For most classically trained string players, no one ever explained a system or gave you a tool like the worksheet Camille uses in the video above.
These exercises will make your life easier if you’re a classically trained musician learning to play jazz violin,viola, or cello (as well as blues, rock, and a wide variety of styles.)
The Creative Strings Academy now provides an easy-to-use curriculum.
Just click here:
http://christianhowes.com/2011/05/27/finally-online-jazz-violin-lessons/
These online video lessons share everything I know about improvisation, harmony, technique, gear, the music biz, and more.
Are you a Creative String Player?!
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My Editorial in Strings Magazine – Let’s Rebrand “Alternative Styles” Strings
Posted May 30, 2011 in Education, General Blog
For those of you that haven’t picked up the July issue of Strings Magazine, here is a re-posting of my article
We need a clear, positive definition about what is missing from traditional classical-music education, including improvisation.
Christian Howes advocates for ‘creative string playing.’
(String players interested in studying my teaching related to improvisation, harmony, gear, music biz and more, check out my new Creative Strings Lesson Videos here
http://christianhowes.com/2011/05/27/finally-online-jazz-violin-lessons/)
The so-called ‘alternative styles’ movement needs to be rebranded and a clear manifesto declared. In fact, the term itself is misleading and confusing. What does it really stand for? What are its members advocating? It’s like a political party without a clear message.
Much like a “party of no,” the term seems to rely on its opposition to the status quo of classical-music education, rather than standing for something. Like “alternative rock” or “alternative schools,” this term can only last for so long. Let’s find a clear, positive purpose, instead of saying “we are the other guys. ”
I mean, sure, I get that the movement advocates for the legitimacy of musical styles outside of classical music. But isn’t there more to it?
The term itself begs all sorts of other questions. For example, just which styles qualify as alternative? We should take a more comprehensive look at what’s been missing from classical-music education and encourage the development of these skill sets and knowledge.
But first, let me say, I’m both a proud Suzuki dad and a classically trained violinist. I’m on your side! I’m grateful for all the things I learned from my classical teachers. But there were some things missing, and these are what proponents of alternative styles should stand for.
1. Teach improvisation and composition
Classical-music education does not generally encourage or foster creativity in these ways. I would argue that improvisation and composition are among the most valuable aspects of music making and music education, and that this idea is in line with the value that every person is unique, with his or her unique contribution to make. Improvisation and composition should be valued as highly, or more highly, than anything else. After all, creativity is the ultimate equalizer (for example, there are many violinists who might play faster than me and more in tune, but because I’ve practiced so much improvisation, there is no one who can sound like me).
The cellist at the back of the section will always feel inferior to the principal cellist when measured only according to orchestral repertoire, but if the same cellist is encouraged to create his or her own music, then that musician also can be judged in terms of originality.
Think about your favorite artists. The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, and Jimi Hendrix all stand out based on their originality and not just their virtuosity.
A common purist response to this notion goes something like this: before we teach improvisation, a student must first learn proper technique. But I’ve never heard any justification for this claim. In fact, I’d suggest that creativity, when taught early, helps to build better technique.
2. Teach the theoretical and analytical understanding of Music’s construction
Let’s face it, most classical musicians can’t listen to a song and tell you how it’s put together (i.e., the chords, the bass line, the groove). Mozart could do this because he understood how the various components of music fit together. Jazz musicians can do this because they train themselves to listen to the chord progression, the rhythmic clave, the bass lines, and so on, within the music. So they can take a song apart and put it back together.
Improvising over tonal music requires some kind of understanding about how chord progressions work and how to create a melody that goes over a chord progression. In free jazz, or avant-garde improvised music, chord progressions aren’t going to be an issue. But when talking about most popular tonal music, a musician needs to have some ability to analyze harmony, namely chords, in order to formulate an approach to improvising over chord progressions.
if you are interested in learning more about string improvisation, I recommend my new lesson videos plan
or check out the Creative Strings Workshop
At age 13, I was proud of the “ears” I had developed from my Suzuki training, but grew to find that my relative pitch had come with serious limitations, including an inability to pick out chords. Yet ear training and theory can be taught and studied in a way that yields a much higher return on our investment as string players.
To read the rest of what I wrote, please go to the article in Strings Magazine here:
article
To learn directly from me about improvisation, harmony, gear, music biz and more, check out my new Creative Strings Lesson Videos here
http://christianhowes.com/2011/05/27/finally-online-jazz-violin-lessons/
The Creative Strings video lessons are a great tool for learning improvisation and harmony on the violin for beginning and more advanced improvisers, and for everyone in between (like me!). The videos and Violin Harmony handbook really help fill in the gaps that other traditional improvisational systems leave. It’s wonderful to finally have a method specifically tailored to improvising on the violin that really understands the nuances of the instrument and can deliver the content in a fun, easy and creative way. Thank you Christian for sharing your knowledge and making this available to anyone who wishes to learn to improvise!
This is especially worthwhile for any string players (violinists, cellists, violists, etc…) interested in things such as jazz violin, blues cello, playing bluegrass on viola, free improvised music , etc…
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Summer Camps for String Players
Posted April 5, 2011 in Education, General Blog
If you’re trying to develop as a creative string player, summer camp is a great option for adults as well as kids.
First let me tell you about the innovative Creative Strings Workshop, catering to adult pros/semipros, teachers, and/or serious players as young as 16. This conference is devoted exclusively to a wide array of improvised music for string players. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse intensively and perform in ensembles with our guest artists in several of the 25 concerts we present during the week. Lug gear, take road trips, deal with live sound, and be prepared to receive high fives from fans because you will lay it all on the line ONSTAGE, accompanied by top of the line rhythm sections.
Our guest artists are amazing, and you will work with them as a member of their band!
See these highlights regarding some of the guest artists set for this year: Claudio Peña is a creative cellist conducting bowed group improv Jason Anick is a fresh and informed voice in gypsy jazz, fiddle styles, and more. Billy Contreas is the greatest genius on the violin in the history of the universe.
Other Camps
There are some other great camps this year as well to check out including Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camps in Tennessee (June 20-24) and Boston (June 27 – July 1), the Mike Block String Camp for fiddle styles in Florida (June 26 – July 2)), Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp in Colorado (July 31 – August 7), Alasdair Frasier’s Sierra Fiddle Camp in California (June 18 – June 26), the first year out for Peter Rolland’s Camp for fiddle styles in Colorado (June 26 – July 2), Django Camp in Massachusetts for gypsy jazz (June 14 – 19), and the Mt. Shasta Invitational Music Camp in California (check out my blog for videos of me and camp founder Tashina Clarridge talking camps and jamming!).
All of these camps will help you develop as a creative string player and allow you to network with other like-minded musicians.
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Claudio Peña, jazz cello innovator and 2011 CSW faculty
Posted March 18, 2011 in Education, General Blog
Watch the video below this post. You’ll see 2011 Creative Strings Workshop and Festival faculty member, Claudio Peña, conducting nearly 100 improvising cellists at the Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires. Using predetermined hand signals, Claudio leads the musicians through a beautiful and haunting musical arrangement composed in real time. His conducting can initiate or modify harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, or form, allowing for the composition to be collectively and spontaneously developed.
Claudio has won numerous awards in Argentina for jazz and avant-garde, as well as music for theatre and children’s shows.
You will be able to take classes from and play along side with Claudio, as well as many other noted creative string players, such as Marcelo Vieira, Billy Contreas, Jason Anick and myself, at this years Creative Strings Workshop and Festival, being held June 21-26 in Columbus, OH. Click here for more information and to register.
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full circle
Posted September 4, 2010 in Education, General Blog, Performance/Press
When I was about 14 I heard Amy Kauffman and Nora Carter, older teen-aged violinists, playing some of the romantic violin concertos.I thought they were from another world. Bruch, Lalo, Brahms, etc.. These girls played the repertoire with mature, thick tone, wide vibratos; “sul g” moments that live on in my memory…
Around that time I attended the Chautauqua summer performing arts camp- a conservatory-like program for 8-10 weeks where everyone practiced or rehearsed all day everyday. The thought of how much it changed my life was part of what prompted me to found my annual Creative Strings Workshop.
At camp (Chatauqua)when not practicing, I could often be found walking the compound in my breakdancing jumpsuit, carrying a hacky sack in my pocket and a big boom box on my shoulder- except I was turning it up to 10 with the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, Mendelsohnn and an occasional Bartok string quartet..
I knew then, especially after I met (and heard) Ruby, a 13 yr-old girl who played violin like a 70 yr-old woman, that this was what I wanted as much as anything in life- to touch people like her playing had moved me, to play with such emotion and passion and play music that was infinitely romantic.
And then, through a combination of events I don’t need to get into now, it all changed and I became a jazz violinist.
What many people may not know is that I never really gave up my love of classical music. I just knew it would be less practical to try to compete as a concert soloist. In jazz, I could have a place not through virtuosity, but by simply following the natural development of my own creative voice. Jazz rewards the creative, the dedicated, the risk takers. Anyone with a distinct voice can have a place in jazz if they persist.
But the other day I was invited to perform 2 movements of the Lalo Symphony Espagniole, one of my favorite romantic violin concertos. On the same program I also got to do a ton of jazz pieces with the orchestra. Here are the classical movements below. It felt like coming full circle!
(I’ll be performing the full 5-mvmt concerto with two orchestras in Maine this November)
Part 2
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