Jennifer Rodriguez

3/31/16
MUSE375: Improvisation Assignment

For my improvisation assignment, I believe there were some strong points in my

performance, as well as areas of improvising that I could work on. Overall this exercise opened
my eyes to some of my personal tendencies when improvising which I will share at the end of
this paper.
To start, I mainly tried to stick to the triad utilized in each chord change. By doing this, I
believe my improvisation worked well in the format of the changes, adding weight to a new idea
depending on when the chords changed. Further, I think I did a really good job of changing up
my articulation and rhythms. Though I may have been playing similar note patterns between my
two run-throughs of the chorus, I made them different through use of different added notes and
guide tones as well as articulations to try to keep things interesting.
Continuing, one area in which I could further develop my jazz skills are through
expanding my knowledge of what role notes play in a chord. For instance, I was able to work my
way around a triad, but I would like to utilize chromaticism and 7th chords more often. When
listening back to the recording, I found myself play a lot of rhythmic patterns on the root. When
working further with jazz, I hope to move away from playing so much of the root and play more
melodic patterns that perhaps mimic some musical ideas in the chart.
After experiencing this assignment, I have a better understanding of how I can approach
teaching improvisation. I believe it would be best to start with the triad and add the 7th, and have
students improvise on those notes. Then the class could work towards adding in guide tones and
more notes outside of the triad and 7th. Further, I would encourage my students to try more
melodic patterns than what might be conventional and decide if they like something they are

Jennifer Rodriguez
3/31/16
MUSE375: Improvisation Assignment

creating. If they really enjoy it, we could then try to figure out the theory of it and why it sounds
good to their ear.