[Trombone-l] Improv with a disability (of sorts)

[Craig Parmerlee]

I think Tom has good suggestions.  I would point out that ADHD is an 
entirely different thing from dyslexia.  I am mildly dyslexic.  That 
impacts my ability to read books, but I never really thought much about 
its impact on music. Now that I consider, it is true that I have often 
had problems seeing notes in their correct sequence, particularly when 
notes are chromatically close.  While dyslexia could definitely make it 
difficult to read scales, I wouldn't think it impairs hearing scales, so 
I would concentrate on singing and playing patterns that are heard 
rather than written on paper.  That's not a bad approach, imho, even 
without dyslexia.

I try to think of improvisation as a matter of recalling pitches more 
than inserting scales in the right place.  Years ago there was a TV game 
show called "Concentration" where players picked two boxes from a 5x5 
grid of cells.  The grid concealed 12 distinct objects -- two copies of 
each.  The objective was to  identify the matched pairs.  At the 
beginning of the game it was random.  As the game proceeded, players 
would have seen many of the cells, so it was a matter of memory where 
the mates were.

That is how I approach improvisation. If I know what pitch I want to 
play, I just have to remember where that pitch is on the horn.  It 
doesn't matter what name we give it.  Most people can easily do this 
with their voice.  The goal, IMHO, is to become just as good at "playing 
what you hear" as people are able to do with their voices.  I have no 
scientific background in dyslexia, but I don't think dyslexia should be 
an inhibitor to this process.

ADHD, that's a whole other thing.  Kids that are severely ADHD affected 
will have a lot of trouble maintaining the concentration necessary to 
become accomplished at music.  I have heard of cases where the study of 
music can actually improve the attention but I am not a person who has 
any skills teaching an ADHD student.




On 8/16/2019 3:20 PM, Ervin, Thomas R - (ervint) via Trombone-l wrote:
> Jon,
> I wonder if your student can echo short easy things you play. Or can he play parts/passages of tunes?  3-4 notes? Can he sing a little? Does he know ANY piano? Does he listen to plenty of jazz; does he have any favorites? Does he have any routines memorized? Can he replay a short passage he has just read? Can he repeat things you play on One Note, and get the rhythms right?  sometimes?
>
> No I haven’t taught such a student, but those questions imply where I might start.  Best to you both.  Tom Ervin
>
>
>>    1. Helping students with learning issues improvise (Jon Studer)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2019 21:18:10 +0000
>> From: Jon Studer <studer_je at hotmail.com>
>>
>> Anyone have suggestions for helping students that have dyslexia and or ADHD?
>> For instance, student has great tone, intonation, timing, etc, and can sight read and play music put in front of him, but wants to learn to improvise in Jazz.
>> However, due to learning disability issues, he can?t seem to commit scales/keys to memory. Hence, there is a mental disconnect between scales, keys, and improvising.
>> Repetition doesn?t seem to be working.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jon
>>
>>
> Tom Ervin
> ervint at email.arizona.edu
> Prof of trombone, Univ Arizona (Emeritus)
> ...now a recovering trombone player... ; >)
> (520) 743-5062
> website:    tom-ervin.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at trombonelist.org
> http://trombonelist.org/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l_trombonelist.org



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus