I’ve been lucky. While a student I was lucky to have been able to study privately with some of the top jazz musicians on the planet. I’m not going to drop names so let’s suffice to say that I’ve studied with some of the stars and innovators of the music. I’ve also been lucky to have studied with those who I consider great teachers. Inevitably the topic of transcribing would also come up. They all said the same thing, every one of them. At the time I was surprised to hear directly from them that they transcribed very little of other musicians work with the exception of one who was primarily self-taught. (The other exception was people I’ve worked with who studied with Tristano.) But, even in that case it was still an extremely small amount compared to what students transcribe now. This isn’t to say they didn’t listen to music. They listened voraciously and played with others constantly.
They all looked at jazz as primarily a rhythmic language. (Of course there are also certain harmonic and melodic devices that consistently come up) Once you’ve got that part of it, there’s really no need to continue transcribing unless you hear something that you want to learn, a lick, a voicing or a group of voicings, or a song that you couldn’t get the sheet music for, something that you want to learn. Provided you’re studying music. The goal was always the concept though and not to simply copying the licks.
Likewise, when I was in groups in school, and later playing professionally, you didn’t play those licks you transcribed from recordings. Improvising was considered sacred ground. You played what you heard. If you started playing Bird licks, or anyone else’s licks you transcribed, during your solos you got called out for it immediately. Not only did it mean you weren’t in the moment it was considered dishonest and disrespectful to the music.
For a long period of my teaching career I ran a college ear training department. Transcription was a part of the program. The reason for this was to put into practice what they had learned to hear in class. Of course it hopefully served to help teach them how the music was approached. The transcriptions assigned also contained the concepts they were learning in harmony so it served to cement things together.
So, what do you actually need to hear and how much transcribing do you actually need to do? You need to transcribe enough to understand what’s going in the music that you want to play…..
- How it’s approached, the types of rhythms and melodic and harmonic devices that are typically employed. A few transcriptions of any of the greats can give you all of that. Then it’s up to you to take those concepts and make them your own.
- You need to be able to hear what other musicians are playing around you when performing and how to react appropriately.
- Chord qualities. It would be great if everyone could hear the exact voicing being played, that’s the goal. However, being able to identify the chords quality and any applied extensions as you hear them is a bare minimum.
- You need to be able to hear and recognize melodic lines. The direction, intervals, the underlying harmonic implications.
- You need to be able to know what you are hearing in your own head and express it musically. That could mean a certain voicing, a line or a rhythm, and be able to execute it when you hear it. This means you need to know yourself and is probably the most important of all of it.
The goal of transcribing isn’t mimicry or to regurgitate copied licks. The goal is to trigger your own creativity. Ultimately, we all need to find our own way around. We want to be asked to play and hired by others because we bring something unique to the table.
None of this saying don’t develop your ear. Without that we have nothing. What this is saying is don’t allow your copying of other musicians to inhibit your own personal growth. We stand on the shoulders of the greats but don’t lose what makes you who you are. You need to be true to yourself, not everyone hears bebop lines. Not everyone can play at 300bpm. That doesn’t mean you can’t play jazz, it only means that you have to find where you fit it and learn to develop yourself. I know some great players who won’t play bebop. Not because they can’t, in fact I don’t know any who can’t. Slow the music down and they actually play it great. They understand it and know how to create in that style. But they don’t naturally hear that style of music in their heads so they went in another direction.
Bottom line, we’re all who we are. Use your time studying music to absorb as music as you can with the goal being to learn who you are and what you have to offer to the music. As I’ve said before learn/absorb means it’s in you mind, your ears and under your fingers. Don’t just collect information.