Teaching Jazz Improvisation: The Two Bar Jazz Riff

Once the students have mastered the blues and minor pentatonic scales as discussed in the previous post Teaching Jazz Improvisation: What Notes Do I Play? Teach the students to perform as a group ten 2-measure blues riffs, which the entire ensemble learns to perform together as a part of a warm-up.

Two measure Concert F Blues Riff/Ideas written for Eb Instruments (e.g. Alto/Baritone Saxophone). Feel free to transpose the riffs here and use them with your students.

Once the students have memorized the riffs, ask them to create their own 12 bar solo in the following steps:

Students we are going to go around the ensemble and everyone is going to create a jazz solo using the riffs we learned together. However, we will follow the following parameters:

  1. You can play either a 2 measure riff or a 2 measure rest, but you may not play the riffs in the same order they have been written. (Pro Tip: Give the students a few rehearsals to practice and get comfortable with re-ordering the riffs to create their own solos in Step 1).

  2. Then, challenge the students to add a pick-up note to one or more of the riffs. (Pro Tip: Again, give the students a few rehearsals to practice and get comfortable with the concept in Step 2).

  3. Challenge the students again to change some of the riffs by adding holds or repeating a portion of a riff. (Give the students a few rehearsals to practice and get comfortable with this concept).

  4. Finally, analyze the riffs with the students and help them to understand the importance of placing the flat 5 or sharp 4 on the strong beats (beats 1, 2, 3, 4), this helps to create good sounding riffs. (Pro Tip: Our ear does not like the sound good of the flat 5 or sharp 4 of the blues scale when they are performed on the up beats.)

  5. Have the students create and perform for each other their own 2 bar riffs placing the flat 5 or sharp 4 on the strong beats (1, 2, 3, 4).

Click the video above for an example of middle school students improvising on the tune Blue Train (by John Coltrane), arranged by Paul Murtha using two-bar riffs.