In this video we are going to train our ear together, singing the tonal numbers over the famous 2-5-1 chord progression. This is the most important chord progression in jazz music and it also appears in pop, rock, blues and other styles. Sing along and explore these beautiful sounds creatively with me!
This listening activity will help you learn to recognize chord progressions by ear. We have put together a list of beautiful popular songs that use the exact same chords that you're studying in IFR Jam Tracks Levels 2 and 3.
In this video we will demystify 9th chords, 11th chords and 13th chords and you'll see how simple these chords really are. I'll also try to show you that you are actually already producing these sounds in your music all the time, even if you don't realize it.
In this excerpt from the IFR video course "Introduction to Melodic Improvising", IFR coach Jelske offers ideas about how to begin experimenting with outside notes in your improvisations.
In this excerpt from the IFR video course "Introduction to Melodic Improvising", IFR coach Jelske demonstrates a series of creative activities that we use to study each harmonic environment of the major scale.
I'm excited to try the IFR method but I would prefer to have a hard copy of your book. Is Improvise for Real available in print?
I am practicing the IFR exercise ‘Sing the Map’ and I can move up and down the scale but I cannot yet make interval jumps and “wander freely”. Should I just keep practicing moving through the scale? Will this bring about the ability to sing the notes freely one day?
In Exercise 1 you describe "...looking down on this musical terrain from above..." Does this mean visualizing fingerings on your horn, notes on a staff, letters on a page or something else?
For IFR students practicing Exercise 1: Landscape, this is a demonstration of the Exercise 1 Daily Meditation. Miguel 'Pintxo' Villar demonstrates the exercise on the tenor saxophone using the interval of a half step.
An interesting variation on the Staircase exercise is to alternate between half steps and whole steps. This produces what jazz improvisers call the diminished scale.
