Jazclass - IN FOCUS : Lessons on good musicianship by Michael Furstner

IF 1 - About In Focus

To become a good, efficient and creative Jazz musician one must develop a multitude of skills.

Basic skills of instrumental technique (tone, articulation, timing, fluency) and general musicianship.

Automatic knowledge and facility over a range of scales, chords and chord progressions.

The ability to play interesting and creative musical phrases.

The Jazclass books and Courses cover all these aspects in considerable detail.

1focus/if001.gif The best way to make progress on all fronts is to do a little bit of work on a range of skills each time you practise.
This way you will cover all aspects at least once within the period of a week.
Over time all these individual skills will gradually blend together to convert you into a competent Jazz performer.
To make this happen it is necessary to pratise regularly over a period of time.
The length of each practice session is not that important (even a 15 minute session can be beneficial) but the regularity of practice is essential. You should aim to practise 4 - 5 days each week.

To help you cover a range of different subjects I discuss in In Focus one exercise or one subject to focus on especially during a two week period. If that is all you can do (for example during a busy period at work, school or Uni) you still have managed to keep your practice momentum going and made some progress.

Each fortnight we focus on a different subject. Subjects cover a wide range of musical subjects : scales, breathing, rhythmic skills, chords, articulation, timing, improvisation, and so on.

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IF 2 - Regular files

General files	Manuscript Paper	Key Signatures	Circle of 5ths
PaL tracks (Co5ths)	Major triads - 1 bar	Major triads - 4 bars	Major 7th - 4 bars
PaL tracks (Co5ths)	Dom 7th - 8 bars	Dom 7th - 4 bars	Minor 7th - 4 bars
Metronomes	MM = 40	MM = 45	MM = 50
	MM = 55	MM = 60	MM = 65
	MM = 70	MM = 80
Basic 12 bar Blues	In C

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