GCSE Jazz Composing Guide

*1. Begin by composing for rhythm section: piano, double bass and drum kit, and two frontline instruments: any two of trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax and trombone. Add a guide piano stave at the bottom of the score and a melody guide stave at the top of the score.

*2. Ensure that your chosen 8 (or 12 or 16) bar jazz chord progression (which should include extended chords) is written on the guide stave and labelled with chord symbols and note names: use the chord progressions from the sheet provided or from a source of jazz standards (such as a fake book which may be found on the music department website). Ensure that these guide chords are repeated throughout most of the piece and do not delete this guide stave until your composition is finished and ready to submit.

*3. Compose a piano part using notes from the given chords in a variety of syncopated (including push) rhythms. Use mainly block chords with occasional single notes. Include subtle changes to the syncopated rhythms to make the piano part sound improvisatory, in the style of piano comping.

*4. Compose the double bass part by copying the piano bass line. The double bass should play mainly the bass notes of the piano, but using more interesting syncopated rhythms or, where possible, moving by step between the main bass chord notes.

*5. After an 8-bar introduction, notate the blues scale from your chosen key on your melody guide stave. Use these notes, organised into memorable, syncopated, repeating motifs moving mainly by step, to compose an 8-bar ‘Head’ or ‘Theme’ melody for the frontline instruments in unison. Consider repeating this head/theme in parallel 3rds or 6ths.

*6. Follow this theme with 8-bar solos for each instrument. These can be more virtuosic than the theme (depending on the instrument). For bass and drum solos, consider using ‘stop time’ (in which other instruments play only on the first and last beats of the bar).

*7. After these solos, consider introducing an 8, 16 or 24 bar Bridge in a new key: an alternative 8-bar chord progression to provide contrast. This can accompany a new theme played by the frontline instruments, or frontline solo(s).

*8. Return to the original key and chord progression final solo(s) followed by the theme/head, repeated to conclude the piece.

*9. Many different structures can be effective. I recommend: Intro, Head/Theme, Head/Theme Repeated, Frontline Solo 1, Frontline Solo 2, Piano Solo, Bass Solo (optional), Drum Solo (optional), Head/Theme (optional), Bridge (new key and chord progression), Final Solo (optional), Head/Theme, Final Head/Theme repeated, Short Coda.

*10. The part played by the drum kit is almost always based on a conventional pattern: do not imagine your drum part from scratch. Base your drum part on one of the ‘Example Drum Patterns’ found on the Music Dep website. In the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th bar etc. consider adding a drum fill. Change the drum pattern between sections.