Since the 1960's, an avalanche of improvisation instructional materials has been published. Since 1975, I have reviewed almost all of them in my "Survey of New Teaching Materials" column in over 80 issues. Method textbooks, etude, rhythm, ear training, and theory books and play-along recordings have all been critiqued. Reviews of other valuable tools such as videos, computer software and DVDs have also appeared. I would now like to introduce to you a new, signifigantly enhanced format for teaching jazz improvisation. It is very creative, and can take intermediate and advanced improvisors to new heights. And it may very well foreshadow the next generation of jazz improvisation instructional methods.

You must examine Hal Galper's Forward Motion From Bach to Bebop: A Corrective Approach to Jazz Phrasing. It is available in two versions: book form and ebook Internet version. Galper states: “..."many aspiring jazz musicians are plagued by unconscious practice habits they developed as children. They carry these unconscious habits into adult musical behavior often hindering the way they "hear" the beat in music. To be able to study music as a child the first musical element a child learns is how to count beats, the most important beat being the first beat of the measure. Often termed the downbeat and counted as beat "one" the tacit impression is given that this beat is where all phrasing begins. By applying tension and release analysis to the beats in the bar, Galper's demonstrates that the downbeat is not where musical ideas begin but where they end. Thus, grouping notes starting on the downbeat of the measure can be a burden to the ear of an adult musician. With "Forward Motion," musicians can retrain themselves to play "toward" the downbeat as the last beat and note in a phrase, a practice based in the physics of sound and rhythm, which propels the music with a feeling of moving forward."

First illuminated by Johann Sebastion Bach over 200 years ago, these laws apply to all music, regardless of genre, geography, or temporal placement. The author demonstrates, in clear and easy to understand terms, how music is not static but in motion forward towards future rhythmic, melodic and harmonic points. Although Forward Motion contains theory and exercises, it is really a conceptual book. Musical examples and exercises are geared to alter a student's basic perception of rhythm, melody and harmony. Students are then encouraged to use the book as a starting point for creating their own exercises, thereby applying Forward Motion's techniques to their musical individuality.

Forward Motion is divided into ten important chapters: “Melody and Embellishments,“ “Rhythmic Forward Motion, “Scalar Forward Motion‚“ “Arpeggios and Forward Motion,“  “Appoggiaturas and Forward Motion,” “Intervals and Forward Motion,“ “Harmonic Forward Motion,“ “Forward Motion and Pentatonics and Cells,“ , “ Superimposition,” and “How to Practice Forward Motion.“ Instead of mechanical repetition , these chapters offer a unique step-by-step process for retraining hearing. And the process you use to practice Forward Motion exercises is crucial to changing the way you hear phrasing. As Galper says “it‘s not only what you practice that is important, it‘s how you practice, because, as a performance tool, you bring to the band the process itself, not the music ideas you practiced.“

What separates this method from others is that it assumes you have been applying outmoded practicing and performing habits long enough that, when corrected, you immediately recognize their natural appropriateness on an intuitive and emotional level. Hearing via Forward Motion‘s methods is is natural. Once practiced and learned, you may never return to your previous way of hearing musical phrases

Ebook (Internet) Version

Once the ebook is downloaded from the Internet, you can read it using the Acrobat Reader product (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.html). These PDF files will run in your web browser (Microsoft Explorer) along with the free Myriad Music Plug-in. The Myriad Music Plug-in is freeware that can be downloaded at: <http://myriad-online.com/plugmain.htm>. It enables one to play, display, transpose and print music files that are apart of the ebook, directly from your web browser. Just click on any of the 300 play-along exercises to play them in your browser. Unlike MP3's, the Internet exercises load quickly and use very little of your computer’s memory. By simply clicking on a button you can, transpose, change the tempo, zoom to expand a file‘s viewing size. Wherever practical, the exercises have a click track, an automatic scroll bar and are looped to repeat. They are easily printed thus allowing for portability if your instrument isn't near your computer. The musical examples in Forward Motion are not contained within the PDF file (ebook) itself. They reside on the Internet and are linked to the book‚s musical examples. With the PDF file open in a web browser while connected to the Internet, the hand curser, when held over an example, turns into a pointing finger thus indicating the example is an Internet link. So be careful not to run the PDF files offline because there will be no Internet interaction.

I particularly like the addition of the Internet version because the author can easily update the methodology with addition instructional materials. Literally, this book is never finished since Forward Motion's music example files reside on the Internet, not in the book itself. The printed textbook also has Internet access; on its second page, the “Tipsheet” lists internet links for the musical examples. When bought through the Forward Motion web site both the ebook and print version purchases are automatically entered into Forward Motion's mailing list. Print version purchases from other sources can join the mailing list from the “TipSheet“ Internet page.

Myriad Music Plug-ins

The Myriad Music Plug-In (MMP) enables you to play all of the musical examples found on Hal Galper‘s web site. This free product works fantastically well with Hal Galper‘s ebook. In addition, Myriad has two music notation products that can build web music examples for Internet interactive instruction. Melody Assistant and Harmony Assistant are available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Myriads score files can be read with either Melody or Harmony. These two programs are compatible. They both have the same general look and interface and all features of Melody Assistant are available in Harmony Assistant, but the reverse is not true. Many of Harmony Assistant‘s features are not available in Melody Assistant. Harmony Assistant is also more powerful than Melody Assistant in that it can do many operations automatically. Therefore, it is simple to use. Full-page editing, in either scroll mode or page mode, is available with Harmony Assistant. In scroll mode, bars are drawn on a single row. In page mode, you can edit your score as it will be printed on paper. Melody Assistant uses only scroll mode. Both products are multilingual and include the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. At the Myriad web site you can download the most recent versions of programs and plug-ins for Windows 95 to XP and Mac OS 8.6 to X.2. The web site has one the very best one-on-one tutorials on the Internet. There is a on-line, must-see, step-by-step video tutorial available that explains how to use Myriad music programs. Web developers may be interested in the shareware versions offered at a slight fee. For more information about all of Myriad’s programs and plug-ins, you can log on to <http://www.myriad-online.com>.

Closing Comments

This improvisation publication by Hal Galper is outstanding. Because of how it was put together, a very creative and innovative learning environment for jazz improvisation pedagogy is established. I strongly suggest that music educators become familiar with this improvisation publication. I predict that future improvisation publications will take advantage of similar Internet capabilities. Although many people have computers, most don‘t know much about the technology they’re using. The improvisational materials reviewed in this installment will definitely utilize your computer chops more with real-time improvisation instruction on the Internet. The printed book is 198 pages and costs $29.95. The e-book is 193 pages and costs $16.97. Both are available through Hal Galper’s web site, http://www.forwardmotionpdf.com.