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Improvising Better: A Guide for the Working Improviser
Improvising Better is an easy to read self-help book created with the new generation of improviser in mind. It's written for today's performers, looking for a quick fix to their performance problems. This book is a fast read with long-lasting results. Jimmy Carrane and Liz Allen have improvised, taught, and directed in Chicago for over thirty years combined, and have either seen or experienced the most common problems facing improvisers today. Improvising Better will give you simple tools for repairing your improvisation through original and enhanced exercises. This book addresses the improviser as a whole, including how offstage issues affect onstage performance. Speaking candidly about this very personal art form, Carrane and Allen offer common-sense solutions, some tough love, and a little inspiration along the way. Whether you are a beginner or a veteran, Improvising Better will catapult you to the next level in your career as a working improviser. .
Price: $8.43
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Shred Guitar: A Complete System for the Rock Guitar Improviser (Contemporary Guitar Series)
A carefully planned and systematic approach to fretboard mastery, SHRED GUITAR is actually two books in one. The first half of the book book, SHRED GUITAR, is based around 10 popular rock chord progressions with full play-along tracks included on the accompanying CD. The second half of the book, The Practical Guide to Harmony and Theory, is a guitar theory reference that contains 17 units of detailed information that will be useful to all guitarists..
Price: $17.99
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Process: An Improviser's Journey
Author, teacher, and improviser Michael Gellman was given a mission by Del Close himself: “[T]o create improvised one-act plays of literary quality from scratch ” Already steeped in the world of improvisation, he took it upon himself to do this, in the form of a class for other improvisers in which they would build the skills necessary to execute such a seemingly tall order. Scruggs and Gellman’s book, modeled after Stanislavski’s timeless An Actor Prepares, follows a fictional young actor taking Gellman’s real-life class. Scruggs and Gellman introduce readers to Geoff, who has just moved to Chicago to pursue acting. He undergoes the standard trials of audition and rejection before he takes the advice of a fellow actor and turns to improv classes at Second City. At first, Geoff thinks improvisation is about laughs and loosening up, but he soon learns that it is a powerful tool as well as an end in itself. Through Geoff’s eyes, the book introduces readers to key tenets of improvisation: concentration, visualization, focus, object work, being in the moment, and the crucial “yes, and.” His experiences with the basics of improvisation do serve to get him a few roles, but his real breakthrough comes when he signs up for an improvised one-act class with Michael Gellman. He and his classmates arrive unprepared for the challenge, but with Gellman’s prompts and advice, they slowly move through process to performance over the course of three seasons in Chicago. The class culminates with their final project: a completely improvised one-act play performed in front of a live audience. .
Price: $10.84
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The Real Easy Book: Tunes for Beginning Improvisers Volume 1 (C Version)
The only fake book specifically designed for middle school or high school classroom use. It contains over 40 simple, but classic, jazz tunes by Miles, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, etc. Each song is on a left-hand page, and all the information that a band director would have to write out for his/her students is on the corresponding right-hand page - sample piano voicings, bass lines, guitar diagrams, scales for soloing, etc. Saves the teacher countless hours of prep work!.
Price: $17.95
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The Well-Tempered Body: Expressive Movement for Actors, Improvisers, and Performance Artists
Wake up your body with this unique program of solo, pair-work and ensemble exercises, inspired by the writings of the great directors from Stanislavsky onwards. Delve into the physical side of characterization with Laban, and learn practical ways of organizing rehearsals and movement improvisations. Topics include the power of physical expression, the motion of emotion, the plasticity of the body, and techniques for expanding reach-space. There are also illustrations, movement charts, and reference sections including mini-biographies of Copeau, Decroux, Barba and other prominent figures of the 20th century theater. Every performer needs to establish a connection with the audience, and the key to this is body language. Learn from the writings of the theater greats to develop as a professional, and as a person..
Price: $29.64
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Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art (Jazz Perspectives)
“Meticulously researched, detailed and documented, this long awaited overview justly establishes Konitz as one of the most consistently brilliant, adventurous and original improvisers in the jazz tradition—a genius as rare as Bird himself.” —John Zorn “Hamilton’s work may well mark the inception of a format new to writing on Western music, one which avoids both the self-aggrandizing of autobiography and the stylized subjectification of biography.” —The Wire “An extraordinary approach to a biography, with the man himself speaking for extended sessions. The main vibration I felt from Lee’s words was total honesty, almost to a fault. Konitz shows himself to be an acute observer of the scene, full of wisdom and deep musical insights, relevant to any historical period regardless of style. The asides by noted musicians are beautifully woven throughout the pages. I couldn’t put the book down—it is the definition of a living history.” —David Liebman The preeminent altoist associated with the “cool” school of jazz, Lee Konitz was one of the few saxophonists of his generation to forge a unique sound independent of the influence of Charlie Parker. In the late 1940s, Konitz began his career with the Claude Thornhill band, during which time he came into contact with Miles Davis, with whom he would later work on the legendary Birth of the Cool sessions. Konitz is perhaps best known through his association with Lennie Tristano, under whose influence much of his sound evolved, and for his work with Stan Kenton and Warne Marsh. His recordings have ranged from cool bop to experimental improvisation and have appeared on such labels as Prestige, Atlantic, Verve, and Polydor.
Crafted out of numerous interviews between the author and his subject, the book offers a unique look at the story of Lee Konitz’s life and music, detailing Konitz’s own insights into his musical education and his experiences with such figures as Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, Warne Marsh, Lennie Tristano, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, and Bill Evans. Andy Hamilton is a jazz pianist and contributor to major jazz and contemporary music magazines. He teaches philosophy, and the history and aesthetics of jazz, at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is also the author of the book Aesthetics and Music (Continuum 2007). Joe Lovano is a Grammy Award–winning tenor saxophonist. His most recent album is Streams of Expression. .
Price: $55.00
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Jazz Ears: Aural Skills for Improvisers
From Thom Mason comes a fun and interesting guide to help you develop aural skills. This book focuses on improving your technique in hearing pitches, rhythms, melodies, and chord progressions, as directly to applied to actual music in the jazz repertoire. The text will help you to hear music in your head from the written page, transcribe, and sight sing, all the while making it musical through appropriate jazz phrasing and articulations. The valuable lessons learned can be applied to any instrument or voice, with skills that transcend jazz, useful in all styles of music..
Price: $15.79
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The Jazz Improviser's Woodshed - Volume 1 Scale Studies/Chord Exercises
The Jazz Improviser's Woodshed Volume 1. Scale Studies/Chord Exercises Volume 1 contains basic musical rudiments and fundamental Jazz studies, presented in a progressive order. It serves as a reference of scales, chords and basic Jazz vocabulary. The tools you need to become a Jazz Soloist. For all treble clef instruments. Includes: Major/Minor scales & chords. Diatonic thirds, Diatonic triads & Diatonic 7th chords. Dominant 7th chords. Major/Minor 7th & 9th chords. Diminished scales & chords. Whole tone scales. Augmented chords. Bebop major & Bebop dominant scales. Turnarounds, II V exercises and more..
Price: $19.95
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