Jedi mind tricks: Lennie Tristano and techniques for imaginative musical practice
Issue: Vol 7 No. 2 (2013)
Journal: Jazz Research Journal
Subject Areas: Popular Music
Abstract:
In the 1940s, pianist Lennie Tristano was among the first to attempt to teach jazz improvisation as an area of study distinct from instrumental technique. In doing so, he employed a methodology which was considered highly unorthodox at the time and which is still somewhat unique for jazz pedagogy. Chief among these unorthodox pedagogical devices was the use of visualization and other mental techniques for musical practice and composition. These methods enabled students to separate imaginative musical experiences from the habits of muscle memory, while at the same time speeding the acquisition of certain digital techniques and developing the musical imagination.
Visualization techniques also served to extend available practice time for students who lacked space suited to audible instrumental practice, and to those who were working day jobs and had limited time available for instrumental practice. Recent studies in brain plasticity bear out Tristano’s intuitive use of mental techniques as a useful addendum to more traditional forms of instrumental and compositional practice. Though certainly not the first to emphasize the importance of mental conditioning and imaginative practice methods, Tristano’s use of them within a methodology for jazz instruction constitutes a unique pedagogical approach worthy of further research and discussion.
Author: Marian S. Jago
References :
Aebersold, Jamey (1978) How to Play Jazz and Improvise. New Albany, IN: Jamey Aebersold Jazz.
Brown, Ted (2009) Interviews with the author, 31 March and 24 April.
Chamberlain, Safford (2000) An Unsung Cat: The Life and Music of Warne Marsh. London: Scarecrow Press.
Coker, Jerry (1964) Improvising Jazz. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
——(1970) Patterns for Jazz. Indiana: Studio P/R Inc.
Davis, Francis (1986) In the Moment: Jazz in the 1980s. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Denis, M. (1985) ‘Visual Imagery and the Use of Mental Practice in the Development of Motor Skills’. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences 10.4: 4S–15S.
Gitler, Ira (2001 [1966]) The Masters of BeBop: A Listener’s Guide. New York: DaCapo Press.
Hamilton, Andy (2007) Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improvisor’s Art. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Herrigel, Eugen (1981 [1956]) Zen in the Art of Archery. New York: Vintage Books.
Ind, Peter (2005) Jazz Visions: Lennie Tristano and his Legacy. London: Equinox.
Jago, Marian (2011) ‘Musical Koryu: Lineal Traditions in Jazz: Lennie Tristano/Lee Konitz’. MUSICultures 38: 205–227.
——(2013) ‘What is a Jazz Record Anyway? Lennie Tristano and the Use of Extended Studio Techniques in Jazz’. Journal of the Art of Record Production 8.
——forthcoming 2015. ‘Dig It: The Musical Life of Ted Brown’. Journal of Jazz Studies 10.
Kastin, David (1985) ‘Back to Basics’, http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html (accessed 18 April 2009).
Mackie, Vivien (2006) Just Play Naturally: An Account of her Study with Pablo Casals in the 1950s. Boston: Duende.
McKinney, John Francis (1978) ‘The Pedagogy of Lennie Tristano’. Ed.D., Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Mumford, B., and C. Hall (1985) ‘The Effects of Internal and External Imagery of Performing Figures in Figure Skating’. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences 10.4: 171–76.
Nelson, Oliver. 1966. Patterns for Improvisation. Los Angeles: O. Nelson & Noslen Music.
Norris, Ross A. (1980) ‘Imagination’. Review of Research in Visual Arts Education 6.2: 53–60.
Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, Jordan Grafman and Mark Hallett (1994) ‘Modulation of Cortical Motor Output Maps during Development of Implicit and Explicit Knowledge’. Science, New Series, 263.5151: 1287–1289. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.8122113
Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, Dang Nguyet, Leonardo G. Cohen, Joacquim P. Brasil-Neto, Angel Cammarota and Mark Hallet (1995) ‘Modulation of Muscle Responses Evoked by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation during the Acquisition of New Fine Motor Skills’. Journal of Neurophysiology 74.3: 1037–45.
Robinson, Bradford J. (2011) ‘Lennie Tristano’. Grove Music Online (accessed 11 April 2011).
Sarath, Ed (1996) ‘A New Look at Improvisation’. Journal of Music Theory 40.1: 1–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/843921
Shim, Eunmi (2007) Lennie Tristano: His Life in Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Suzuki, D. T. (1956) Zen Buddhism. New York: Doubleday.
Suzuki, Shunryu (1993) Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. New York: Weatherhill Inc.