Welcome to EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING Using the Garritan Jazz/Big Band Library

[timmy858]

This is genius, I am so glad I chanced on this - I'm doing one of my first jazz arrangements, and was kind of stumbling through, but this course will be invaluable! Many thanks to all who contributed. Tim from Oxford, England.

[stpunos]

Alll the pictures are forbidden...

why...

was it blocked for me??

Thanks!

[tomhartman]

Gary, I just kind of stumbled onto this tonight, so I am REALLY late joining in.

This is just stunning. Jazz is a great interest of mine of late, and I am a complete beginner at learning to arrange in this style, though I feel and hear the style in my head quite well.

I really can't thank you enough for helping all of us with this brilliant and incredibly helpful (watching the score as it plays is truly helpful). Amazing all around.

Thanks a million
Tom

[Mick@itc]

Gary, I just kind of stumbled onto this tonight, so I am REALLY late joining in.

This is just stunning. Jazz is a great interest of mine of late, and I am a complete beginner at learning to arrange in this style, though I feel and hear the style in my head quite well.

I really can't thank you enough for helping all of us with this brilliant and incredibly helpful (watching the score as it plays is truly helpful). Amazing all around.

Thanks a million
Tom

Hi Tom, I'm even later

My son (he's 20) came up to me the other day and had FOUND Gary's internet site. He was raving about the JABB product and about this great FREE lessons on another site. I slowly opened the drawer on my desk and took out the JABB and GPO disks. Now we have ordered the Book/DVD and have started spending lots of time together learning jazz together.

Gary and Professor Chuck. Your gift to the community is much more than stuff on paper or a web-site. It is a true gift of companionship for musicians and family alike. Many blessings on you both from whatever source of blessings is good for you.

Regards
Mick

[macrylinda1]

Cool!

I've never been a jazz enthusiast but I'm looking forward to learning some new tools to use, be it in context of jazz or not.

I just want to add my advice to anyone who is on the fence about studing jazz.....someone who wants to compose Orchestral or modern Pop music would benfit greatly from studing Jazz. The advanced harmony and colors used in jazz goes a long way in understading what makes Orchestral and Pop music tick. Jazz will give you some great tools even if you never compose/arrange in that style.

On a personal note: THANK YOU for this course....

[davidwilsoon]

EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING
Using Garritan Jazz & Big Band
ONLINE INTERACTIVE EDITION
by Chuck Israels

Welcome!

We are pleased to welcome you to this Interactive Edition of "EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING", based upon Chuck Israels' new book. Chuck Israels is a true jazz master and there simply is no better source from whom to learn about jazz arranging.

This book is destined to be a classic. The superb quality of the text with its clarity and its wealth of information, coupled with the inline audio examples, truly makes this a uniquely worthwhile and extraordinary learning experience.

For the modern composer, it is essential to have a strong background in jazz theory, in addition to orchestration and traditional harmony and theory. This course encompasses a wealth of solid grounding and practical knowledge, clearly written and explained, all generously augmented with musical examples of melody, rhythm, harmony, form, writing for 2 voices, 3 voices, 4 or more voices, writing for full band, and much, much more.

This writing is already recognized for excellence as it is currently being used at Juilliard School of music for their course in Jazz Arranging and we are honored to present it to you here in this enhanced interactive edition.

Hear and See the Scores with Real-time Examples

In this revised internet edition, we provide the original text, with the added capability to hear the examples of Chuck Israel's works.

One of the the most effective ways to learn jazz is by listening, andsimultaneously seeing it on the score . Live playback of the score examples imparts an added dimension, converying concepts far more clearly and immediately than simply viewing what's on a printed page.

In this Interactive Edition we have provided exactly that facility: score excerpts which allow the learner to simultaneously listen and visually follow. The ability to see and hear various jazz arrangements of the different examples from Chuck Israel's text is invaluable; and books alone cannot provide this level of instruction.

Here is but one example of the many animated scores in the course:

Score References & Musical Examples Using JABB:

Click on Play Button below to Play from the Score

Course Structure - Community Learning and Self-Study

With this course you read about the various concepts and you watch and listen to the various animated score examples to understand the concepts. There will be online "professors", including Chuck Israels, who will share their expertise and help guide the discussions.

The "EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING Using the Garritan Jazz/Big Band Library" course will initially be offered on this forum only. A new lesson will be posted periodically. The lessons will be presented in the same systematic step-by-step approach as Chuck structured it in his book. A syllabus of this course is listed in the bottom of this post.

If you come in late, start with Lesson 1. This course follows a logical order and it best to go sequentially and not race through it. It is important to read, listen, follow the scores and understand the material in one lesson before progressing to the next.The lessons are offered in small segments so it will be easy to digest the material. Each reading and listening example should be completed before advancing. There's an abundance of complex information and it is easy to lose focus -- so stay with it. There should be plenty of resources and people to help.

About Chuck Israels

Composer/arranger/bassist Chuck Israels is a recognized master musician in the world of jazz. He has worked with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J.J. Johnson, John Coltrane, and dozens of others. He is well known for being the bassist with the Bill Evans Trio from 1961 through 1966 and for his pioneering accomplishments in Jazz Repertory as Director of the National Jazz Ensemble from 1973 to 1981. He is now the Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington University.

Chuck is a guest composer/director with various jazz ensembles and has numerous recordings to his credit. Among Chuck's many recordings as a bassist, some outstanding ones include: Coltrane Time, with John Coltrane; My Point of View, with Herbie Hancock; Getz au Go-Go, with Stan Getz; and many recordings with the Bill Evans Trio, including The Town Hall Concert; The Second Trio; Trio '65; Live at the Trident; Time Remembered; and Live at Shelley's Manne Hole.

Pre-Order the Book

The course is offered free of charge and there is no obligation to buy anything. If you are benefiting from this course, it would be appropriate to support Chuck in the tremendous amount of work that has gone into this book

One way is to make a donation to Chuck in appreciation of his work. Another way to support this work us to pre-order the hardcover book that will ship at the conclusion of this course. The hardcover book will have significant additional material and will include this entire course on DVD.

Also, although every example was done with Garritan Jazz and Big Band library, it is not required to benefit from this course. However, the library will help in emulating the exercises.

Prerequisites

It is assumed the learner has some necessary basic musical skills including some knowledge of music theory and jazz. This course is not for the casual learner or beginning learner and requires a serious commitment.

First it is a pre-requisite that you are able to read music. This course requires following scores and being able to read treble, bass and alto clef is important.

If you are unsure about your level of proficiency it will not hurt to try some lessons to see if they are right for you. Learn at your own pace and try to supplement your knowledge in areas that are lacking. If you have mastery of material being taught, please try to help others who are learning.

It is essential to have the latest Flash Player in your browser installed in order to see the flash enabled scores. Macromedia has recently released their latest version of the Flash Player Plugin (Version 8). You can download the latest Flash Players here.

To benefit from this course it is recommended for learners to be registered with the forum to post questions or contribute in discussions. You can register to be a member of the Northern Sounds Garritan forum here.

Some Guidelines

This will be an open virtual classroom and people should feel free to visit and learn at any time.

A few guidelines: We are here to learn so please be courteous to others. Constructive criticism is welcomed -- especially if it will improve the course and provide for a better educational experience. Encouragement helps learners much more than unbridled negativity. Try to be helpful to others and avoid demeaning less experienced learners. Please do not flame, name-call, banter or disrupt the learning experience for others. This course is offered as a free service and if one is against it for competitive, philosophical, political, religious or psychological reasons; we would rather you do not participate. Just like a bricks and mortar class, disruptive behavior may lead to being suspended or expelled.
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We reserve the right to make changes if circumstances so dictate. We reserve the right to change the dates, change the structure of the course, or to withdraw any part or the entire course at any time.

Copyright & Terms of Use

Copyright © 2007, Chuck Israels and Garritan Corp. All rights reserved.

The EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING Using the Garritan Jazz/Big Band Library is offered as a courtesy and may be withdrawn at any time. Chuck Israels and Garritan reserve the right to charge for hardopy and other versions and media of the material. You are allowed to use this material for personal education purposes only. It excludes any commercial use (including professional or promotional uses) without written permission. No image, artwork, score, textual contents, sound files, mp3s, MIDI files or other material on this web site may be copied, reproduced, displayed, altered, posted, transmitted, sold or distributed in whole or in part, or for any purpose other than individual viewing of this web site, without the express prior written consent of Garritan Corp. None of the demos may be copied, reproduced, displayed, altered, posted, transmitted, distributed, or linked in whole or in part, for any purpose other than individual learning without the express prior written consent of Garritan. No part of the materials may be copied for resale or other commercial use, or included with other software, or posted on other public bulletin boards, web sites or online venues without written permission.

Acknowledgements

This online course would not have been possible without the help of some very talented and dedicated people. First and foremost thanks to Chuck Israels for writing such an extraordinary and needed text. Chuck also composed many of the music examples. Many thanks to Roberto Soggetti who made all of the mp3 audio examples. Roberto used a special version of the Jazz and Big Band library that he modified. Thanks to Sean Hannifin for doing all of the Flash work so that the music follows the score. Thanks to Adina Cucicov for layout and formatting. And thanks to Mark Simon and Dave Burnett for hosting this course on Northern Sounds.

Let the Course Begin...

To offer such a jazz arranging course, written and presented by a jazz great -- plus present it with interactive real-time examples, and open the learning process into an online co-operative -- is truly something extraordinary!

This course is initially being offered free of charge and it is our way of giving back to the musical community. I believe that education is more important than just products and we are committed to providing every musician the means to improve their knowledge and skills.

Please spread the word about this extraordinary learning opportunity. Mention it to your friends or in colleges and schools, on forums, blogs, chats, publications as well as to anyone who would benefit from this course.

I hope you will use the concepts taught in this course in your own music and that what you will learn here will greatly benefit you for years to come.

Musically yours,


Gary Garritan

Course Syllabus
(subject to change)

Lesson 1 - Intro & Rhythm
Lesson 2 - Bass Lines
Lesson 3 - Bass Lines (Continued)
Lesson 4 - Harmony
Lesson 5 - Harmony (Continued)
Lesson 6 - Form
Lesson 7 - Form (Continued)
Lesson 8 - Melody & Orchestration
Lesson 9 - Melody & Orchestration (Continued)
Lesson 10 - Melody & Orchestration (Continued)
Lesson 11 - The Rhythm Section
Lesson 12 - The Rhythm Section (Cont.)
Lesson 13 - Writing for 2 Voices
Lesson 14 - Writing for 3 Voices
Lesson 15 - Writing for 4 or More Voices
Lesson 16 - Writing for 4 or More Voices (Cont.)
Lesson 17 - Writing for 4 or More Voices (Cont.)
Lesson 18 - Writing for The Whole Band
Lesson 19 - Writing for The Whole Band (Cont.)
Lesson 20 - Writing for Singers

Thanks to Professor and Garritan. I can't wait to see the first lesson posted!

[pqkawara]

That's really true. Superb topics. I am waiting for the book with DVD!

I hope that considerable time will be spent on Big Band horn orchestration, achieving various colors, using mutes and doubles (flutes, clarinets). Having studied jazz for years, the style and notes are not an issue for me, but applying them to a full size horn section is something I'd really like to dive into. Thanks Gary and Chuck.

[devobitch]

HI all!!!

I want to buy the book.
Anyone know where I/we/us can buy it?


Much thanks to Professor and Garritan.

[bnlsrv]

HI all!!!

I want to buy the book.
Anyone know where I/we/us can buy it?


Much thanks to Professor and Garritan.

So what happened to the book and DVD offer?

[jazzman2007]

I wish I would have known of this much sooner. I'm just glad I know about it now. I began my studies today.

Thank you so much!