Jazz Flute Practice Method

"If I were an aspiring jazz flute player, this is the first book I would buy." - Mark Levine, Noted jazz pianist and author of The Jazz Theory Book and The Jazz Piano Book. This is a daily practice method for both aspiring and experienced jazz flutists. To better understand the process of jazz improvisation, the basics of jazz theory are explained and illustrated. The corresponding exercises following each lesson will help to develop the technical and musical reflexes necessary for jazz improvisation. The exercises progress by topic rather than by level (easy to difficult). Therefore, depending on one's experience with intervals, theory, chord progressions, etc., it is up to the individual whether or not to play the exercises sequentially. The goal of the exercises is threefold: to train the ears, the mind and the fingers for jazz improvisation. Not designed as a source book of jazz patterns to be memorized and played over a set of changes, the exercises are intended to develop a sense of fluency with intervals, chords, scales and common chord progressions, while absorbing the jazz vocabulary. Method books abound for the classical player, filled with scales, arpeggios and exercises designed for that genre and its repertoire. This jazz practice method focuses on jazz scales, chords (arpeggios) and patterns designed to strenghten jazz improvisational skills.