Jazz Musicians Think Differently

[jhatpro]

Interesting subject explored here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-01-miles-davis-mozart-brains-jazz.amp
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[Robert Rowe]

This "finding" is not surprising to me.

I find many other differences between classically-trained musicians (like myself), and players that dwell in the jazz idiom.


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[John Mohan]

Link

[trumpet.trader]

[kehaulani]

Regarding the OP, what about those of us who do both? Split personality?
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[deleted_user_02066fd]

I once read a statement that I believe was made by Thad Jones about the difference between a classical musician and a jazz musician. Not 100% sure it was Thad. The statement went something like this. A classical musician is taught to take directions while a jazz musician makes their own direction.

[halfgreek12]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BomNG5N_E_0

[jharris2]

[jazz_trpt]

[LaTrompeta]

[TrumpetMD]

These functional brain studies (EEGs or MRIs) tend to provide anecdotal results with unsupported conclusions that are often overstated by the the press.

That being said, I agree that different types of playing requires different cognitive and neuromuscular skills.

Mike
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[bamajazzlady]

Are studies like this one the reason why people said/say that Jazz is intellectual w/regards to creating and listening to it?
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[jazz_trpt]

[trickg]

I experienced something interesting after I started getting comfortable as a drummer.

When I first started drumming, I'd try to cover the drum part of the tune we were covering stroke for stroke, or as closely as I could to it, which was stressful and frustrating. As I got further along, I started finding my own style and way of doing things, within context of course, and that's when it started to have such a big impact on my trumpet playing. I believe that comes from a difference in approach to the two instruments, which is drastically different.

As a trumpet player, I'm not into improvising - I'm not comfortable doing it, and I've never delved too far into it, so as a result, almost everything I play on the trumpet is read off of the page.

As a drummer, although I can pick apart and read a drum kit chart, I rarely play that way. I learn the song form, and create my own loose part around that - I know what grooves I'm going to play, and I know where transition points and basic hits are going to be, but I don't plan fills - that all flows in the moment. There is a lot of musical freedom for me as a drummer, but there is also a lot more responsibility - as the drummer, it's up to me to set tempo, volume, general feel, and to musically "move" the tune where it's going to go.

What I noticed was how it affected my phrasing on trumpet, and IMO, I became a much more musical player, or at least it came more naturally. Of course this all could just be anecdotal - the one may not have anything to do with the other and it could just be as a natural maturation due to time and age, but to me it seems and feels connected.

Bringing this all around to the subject of the thread, it makes sense to me that a jazz musician is going to have a much different mental approach to the horn than a classical musician, and FWIW, it would probably be of great benefit to those who consider themselves to be "classical" players if they started to dig into learning to play improvisational jazz.
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[kehaulani]

I'm sill looking for an answer to what if you do both? Is your thinking different depending on what you're playing at the moment, or does the brain work in one-at-a-time or simultaneously modes?
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[Croquethed]

I totally agree, trickg. And it needn't be difficult or even "jazz," actually.

Neither skill set should be minimized, BTW. It takes a very high level of skill to be able to read and play a sheet full of 16th notes in A flat, for example.

It takes another skill set to take a fairly simple and popular song - let's take Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere," for example, that sounds good in D minor for Bb instruments - and fashioning a short solo of eighth and quarter notes off the melody.

It may be that better comprehension of the improv side may improve the speed at which one can play that challenging sheet of music eventually, because you'll have a more instinctive knowledge of the road from A to B.

[Turkle]

I'm going to disagree with the premise. I think that the esteemed Mr. Keith Jarrett is incorrect, as quoted in the article.

I was a classical-only musician until my early 20's, at which time I switched over 100% to the dark side and played only jazz, including improvisation.

I suggest that the two disciplines are not at all as far apart as we might like to believe. I can tell you that an experienced classical musician is just as in the moment, playing according to the unique demands of the setting, the audience, the room, the time of day, and the responses and vibe of the musicians (s)he's playing with, as a jazz musician. There's this unfortunate idea that proper classical playing demands performing a piece the same way every time. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, a classical musician is alive to the possibilities inherent in the piece for spontaneous expression, and will play according to the demands of the moment.

If this sounds similar to the way we would approach a jazz improvisation, that's no accident. Both disciplines require a combination of adherence to form and spontaneous expression. The idea that jazz affects one's brain in a way that classical does not seems to me totally silly.

I would suggest that what the brain monitors in the linked article are measuring is simply the particular skill those musicians are comfortable with, (e.g. one has practiced disciplined piano fingering and the other has practiced alternate chord voicings) not an entirely different brain-mechanism for improvisation.

All musical performance demands both adherence to form and spontaneous expression. There is no contradiction at the neurological level between classical and jazz performance, even if they do rely on different musical techniques.
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[halfgreek12]

[kehaulani]

Am I looking at this simplistically? It doesn't mean to me that we "think differently" rather that we merely use some different skills at different times. Is this really that earth shattering?
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[jazz_trpt]