LJS 107: Composing Contrafacts to Develop Melodic Ideas

Welcome to episode 107 of the LJS Podcast where today we are continuing "Jazz Standards Month" talking about composing contrafacts to develop melodic ideas. Composition and melody are huge aspects of great improvisation. Learn why, and the great benefits composing contrafacts can have. Listen in!
Listen to episode 107







One of the things that I emphasize in my upcoming eBook The Jazz Standards Playbook, is composition. That may seem odd considering the book focuses on existing compositions and lessons we can extract from them. Where does composing music come in?
You may have heard it said before that improvisation is simply composition sped up. I find this to be quite accurate. The difference between the two is one gives you time to plan and think and the other doesn't.
So if we want to learn how to improvise better over jazz standards (which we all do), would it not be a good idea to practice composing?
Another important aspect of great improvisation is melody. The best solos out there aren't the most technically stunning or flashy ones. They are the ones that are profoundly melodic. Those are the solos I'd rather listen to any day of the week.
In this episode, I talk about composing contrafacts. A contrafact is simply a melody that is composed over an existing set of chord changes. You can take the chords to any jazz standard and compose your own melody over it. This is a great practice and has many benefits which I expand upon in this talk.
Here are some of the things I talk about:

*
The many benefits of practicing composition.

*
The importance of melody and how to utilize it.

*
Contrafacts, what they are, and what makes up a good one.

*
Two examples of contrafacts I've written over "It Could Happen to You."

*
My challenge for you this week.


I hope you'll listen to this episode and decide to take massive, determined action. Maybe if you're feeling so inspired, post a video recording of a contrafact you compose this week in the comments section below.






Important Links
The Jazz Standards Playbook
Learn Jazz Standards Community Facebook Group







Read the Transcript
Brent: Oh yeah, that's right. My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website LearnJazzStandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Man, I love podcast recording day, I love doing this show. It's so much fun for me, so I want to thank you for hanging out with me, whether you're a regular listener or whether this is your very first time, you are welcome here. You're in the right place. If you like jazz, if you're a musician and you want to learn, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced, you're in the right place and I'm glad you're here. So thanks for being here today.
Now, we are in the middle of Jazz Standards Month here on the LJS Podcast. In our very first episode of the month, we talked about analyzing jazz standards with Roman numerals. That was back on episode 105. Then in last week's 106 we talked about mapping out jazz standards with guides tones, with chord tones, trying to figure out what makes up these tunes, so that we can improvise over them better. Today, I'm going to talk about composing contrafacts to help you develop melodic ideas.
As I talked about in the other episodes during this month, we're celebrating this Jazz Standards Month, because in the month of April, we are going to be launching our brand new e-book,