Course overview
In this course students will begin to develop the fundamental skills that provide the foundation for a career in jazz. Students will study tunes on the first year tunes list which at this point focuses on the blues, modal tunes and simple traditional jazz numbers. Students will analyse solos performed by the greats on some of these tunes, explore relevant chords and scales, learn important rhythmic patterns, create simple bass lines, and explore simple reharmonisation concepts. Students will also develop aural skills through interval recognition, rhythmic dictation, chord and scale recognition. One of the weekly sessions will be spent developing basic keyboard skills so the students can more easily grasp the concepts explored. Students will learn to play the relevant scales (one octave), simple jazz voicings and simple bass lines on the piano