A Lesson With Ali Ryerson
One of the things which never ceases to amaze me in the Flute world is the incredible availability of the top names in music. I’ve got to see Peter Lloyd and William Bennett, for example, teach and pass ideas on… I’ve sat and chatted with incredibly well-known people and composers and found them, almost without exception, to be approachable, friendly and genuine. I’m honestly blown away by the accessibility and, generally, the enthusiasm by the people in the business… it’s awesome.
Recently, I was genuinely excited to find that Ali Ryerson was coming to headline the Florida Flute Fair (if you don’t know Ali’s music, go visit http://www.aliryerson.com before reading on). Better yet, she was booked in for two nights at Heidi’s Jazz Club in Cocoa Beach, a nice, fairly intimate, venue not a million miles from home. And… to put the icing on the cake, my wonderful teacher, Nancy Clew, set up a lesson with her for me.
The following page is my list of notes on the things she taught, paraphrased by me. So… as you read it, realize this is my interpretation of the things she said, not necessarily what she relayed or even what she believes! They’re really for my own benefit, but I thought I’d share, as you never know, they might help someone else.
As background, it probably helps to know more about my playing. I’m an adult student (I’d use the word “mature”, but I’m not sure if that fits!) and I’ve been seriously playing flute for about four years. Before that, I was a pretty good sax player who occasionally dabbled in Flute, but not in a serious way. I could hack out a few choruses of solo on Flute when required, but my tone and technique left a lot to be desired. Fast forward to today: I’ve been studying my way through the “full” Classical repertoire, and have sold all my saxes. Flute is now my primary instrument. I can blow through the changes of a whole bunch of standards, and, while I will avoid the word “good” when describing my playing, I would say I’m “not bad”. I have not, however, had a lot of formal training in Jazz, besides a few very helpful lessons from a great sax player in England whose name escapes me momentarily.
The lesson format with Ali was informal, which was nice. After playing a couple of notes to make sure I could get a sound that wasn’t horrible out of my flute, she had me play a few choruses of whatever I wanted from an Aebersold play along. As I seem to have a masochistic streak, I popped on “Have You Met Miss Jones” (at a nice brisk 208bpm) and jumped in to it. We stopped after a few choruses, and got down to serious work.
Her first insight, which I think was fantastic, is that I obviously haven’t spent a lot of time studying the head. “The head?” I thought. Surely, just a way to get to the solos… However, after some discussion I realized that by focusing on the soloing I’m missing my jumping off point. A well-executed tune starts with the head; if that’s swinging, it sets the feel for what’s to come and will provide numerous devices that work in the solo. It’s not just about playing the head… it’s about how you play it. Also, studying the head lets me understand more of the changes in context. We played about with different feels and I can see now that I can actually spend quite a long time thinking (and experimenting) about how to play a tune before I even think about blowing over the changes. Basically, if the head’s right, I’ve already got a huge jump start on the soloing.
Next, we talked about my (ahem) somewhat busy style. “Why, ” she inquired, “did you play so many notes in your opening bar?” My answer “Life is short, play a lot!” didn’t really seem to satisfy (although it did earn me a smile), and I realized once again how crowded my playing is. Of course, this wasn’t too much of a revelation, as I know my playing is crowded, and I’ve been trying to fix it to no avail for years. The end result of this effort sort of comes out as “crowded, with 3 beat rests in between”! Not good. So, we started some exercises designed to help me phrase better and play in more of a jazz style. Miraculously, they’re going to work. Instead of playing with the CD, I play alone a lot more, letting my mind shape the changes out of my solo. Furthermore, I play short two bar phrases, with a lead in and lead out. Ruthlessly applied, this is helping me break my thought and lines into more manageable chunks. Also, I went back to playing bass lines on the changes, and then solos that only contain 2 or 3 notes in each bar. These exercises are not what I would play in public, but they are forcing me to decide which notes I actually want to play for best effect. Astonishingly, they’re making a difference. I have the (good) habit of recording myself a lot when I practice and then playing it back to listen for what’s good and what’s not. Before and after recordings already show a marked difference.
Perhaps the largest macrosopic realization I had was that Jazz flute is not only a different instrument to sax, but it’s a different idiom. That is, tricks and ideas which worked for me fine on sax don’t translate to the flute. How can you make a flute swing without being hokey? That takes some thought, and to me, it was a new way of approaching the problem.
Vibrato and tone color are quite important when playing. Classically, however, the way you might use vibrato is different to when you’re playing Jazz. Thus, since my lesson I’ve been experimenting with when to turn it on and turn it off. The results are satisfying, and are creating a new dimension to my music. I think that’s one of the other things I learned: more variation. Don’t play what’s expected, but at the same time don’t leave the listener lost in a maze of uncertainty either.
Other realizations were equally profound. For example, I realized that pretty much anything I am going to play will sound good with an Aebersold play-along. Those rhythm sections are cooking (I do highly recommend them, with the caveat that follows) and they’re indispensable when trying out new ideas in a harmonic context. However, they’re misleading. When I record myself playing and play it back, it sounds great… I’m swinging, the recording’s jamming… until I take away the backing and listen just to the flute. Can I hear the changes? No, not always, and that’s bad. I’m faking Jazz in many ways. So, Ali suggested I play sometimes without any accompaniment. Play with just the lead sheet and play the changes so that you can hear them. First couple of times, it was hard, but Bam! Suddenly the idea solidified, and I’m really playing the changes such that just by listening to my solo I can tell not only what the chord progression is, but what the head was too. The difference in tonality is astonishing, and it’s giving me a lot more control. When I’m outside, I know I’m really outside, and so there’s another dimension I can use. By all means, play outside, step away from what’s really there, but do it with intentionality.
In terms of scalar patterns, while Ali has awesome chops (she played a few things which convinced me should could tear up the instrument as well as anyone else on planet earth) her approach is much more subtle. Let the fast licks appear when they’re needed musically, not just because you can! Additionally, patterns help expand your ear, and they’re the basic building blocks of Jazz, but they’re not the soul of it. Use them… but not everywhere or for everything. The solo starts in your head; patterns sometimes help you translate it to your fingers. For example, playing scales chromatically (not chromatic scales, but – say – Am, Bbm, Bm etc.) is useful because the scales aren’t linked like in a cycle of 5ths. Similarly, practicing scales starting at the top and working down is worthwhile, because it’s the opposite of my usual classical practice repertoire. An ascending scale with descending thirds is another good way to practice. Diminished scales, whole tones and all those things came up (in particular, the use of a HWHWHWHW scale and particularly effective way to get it under the fingers) but overall I felt the focus was on hearing what to play, not the science of playing it.
Overall, the lesson (1 hour, which she generously let overrun by a lot) has filled my head with new ideas. I’ve got new goals, new ways to tackle old problems, and new ideas. Furthermore, it was all accomplished gently, without being pushed down, but by being encouraged. Ali’s website is at http://www.aliryerson.com. Anyone wanting to play better jazz flute should check it out, or better yet, find a way to get a lesson. She’s approachable, and a wonderful teacher. Money very well invested.
Postscript (2 weeks later)
I think some pieces have finally fallen into place as I’ve had more time to think. If I had to summarize in a single paragraph, the thing I learned is hugely important, but also obvious. No matter what I think, and no matter what I’ve studied or I think I know, the music is what matters and should dictate where to play and how to play it. So a “C#” is in the chord scale… so what, if it doesn’t sound right! Music first, above technique, above patterns, above scale choices. All those other things follow on… that’s what I learned.