Abstract & Overview
Workouts for the Vocal Instrument is a cross-cultural creative project inspired by the methods of the Hindustani vocal tradition, with the purpose of demonstrating an integrative approach to vocal jazz training that encompasses practical musicianship by means of applied modal music and modal improvisation.The discussion about voice as instrument -the medium of human spirit and creative expression -is too often left in the shadows of formal vocal jazz education.Jazz, being an improvisational art, requires vocalists to be able to think harmonically and melodically, however to many jazz theory books only cover the harmonic aspect of this musical practice.The study of modal music and modal systems is an important prerequisite for learning how to improvise.If the "ABC's" of music making, involving the skill to conceive a melodic idea, and think horizontally, is not taught to jazz vocalists, then how exactly can vocal students feel confident when they are expected to improvise as soon as they hear the "changes" of a tune?Who is to blame, then, for the many jazz vocalists who dread improvising?What does it take to know one's voice from the insideout, and have the absolute confidence to express oneself musically as a vocalist?The solution to these questions can be found in the teachings of North Indian (or Hindustani) vocal music, as the voice in this tradition is treated as a musical instrument, and therefore trained as such.Vocal art in Indian classical music is highly evolved, and improvisational by nature.Because it is a soloistic art, vocalists are trained in an integrative manner to perform with a great diversity of vocal techniques and artistic approaches, with complete control over their voice.For this crosscultural project, I adapt the methods of Hindustani riyaz -the culture of perfecting the voice -as a way to introduce select Hindustani vocal practices to jazz students, thereby teaching the basics of modal music and vocal musicianship to students of an essentially African American musical tradition.For this project, then, I consider some similarities between Hindustani modal system classification (called thaat) and Western European diatonic modal scales (which, in jazz, are predominantly thought of in harmonic terms).Since the terms "mode" and "modal" have different meanings, depending on whether the historical or cultural context is Western European or Hindustani, brief concepts of the two modal systems are also provided to help set the parameters within which the term "mode" is applied.viii viii