Kurs: BG 8050/ BG 1016/ BG 1115 Självständigt arbete, kandidat, jazz, 15 hp

2022
Konstnärlig kandidatexamen i musik, 180 hp
Institutionen för jazz

Handledare: Håkan Goohde

Examinator: Ola Bengtson

Bjarni Már Ingólfsson

Drawing From the Source

Gaining improvisational language through transcription

Skriftlig reflektion inom självständigt, konstnärligt arbete

Det självständiga, konstnärliga arbetet finns

dokumenterat i KMH:s digitala arkiv.
Abstract
In this thesis transcriptions of solos from selected musicians are explored as a way to deepen
my connection with improvisation and my instrument. It is about a number of different
philosophies towards transcribing and working with transcriptions, as well as my reflections
on ways to utilize transcriptions in a way that I can absorb the concepts and language from
solos without regurgitating it in my own playing, but rather attempting to utilize it to explore
ways to expand my playing and conception of improvisational language as well as my own
instrument.

Keywords:
Transcription, improvisation, analysis, guitar, jazz, musical language
Table of Contents
Foreword .................................................................................................................................. 2

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Project description ................................................................................................ 2

1.2 Background........................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Aim and research questions .................................................................................. 5

2. The transcription process and its artistic results ............................................................ 5

2.1 The transcriptions ................................................................................................. 6

2.3 The exams concert .............................................................................................. 14

3. Diskussion .................................................................................................................... 14

3.1 The application of transcriptions to my own improvisation ............................... 14

3.2 How process affects the result of transcribing.................................................... 15

4. Summary ...................................................................................................................... 16

Citations ................................................................................................................................. 17
Foreword

The project of transcribing solos, finding ways to utilize their content and investigating their
impact on my improvisation is a subject that I find very interesting, and is something that has
been a big part of my personal practice for a while.

There are many ways to transcribe and utilize transcriptions for different purposes in your
practice, and it is my aim in this project to shed light on some of those different aspects and
processes, apply them to my practice and use them to expand my own improvisation, technical
ability and conceptual knowledge.

1. Introduction
1.1 Project description

In this work I will transcribe solos, and fragments of solos from selected musicians and explore
them as a tool to help widen my language as an improviser as well as my instrumental
capabilities. I will use different methods of transcription and applications of the solos in order
to learn from them.

Transcribing solos can help to give insight into the thought process of the soloist, how he/she
approaches the music as well as the instrument. I think that transcribing can give you the chance
to first learn and understand, and then expand upon a concept or language that has already been
established or mastered by the person you take inspiration from.

I transcribe music to gain a better understanding of the details of the music. Transcribing helps
me to understand the harmonic, melodic and technical tools being used and in taking close look
at the solo it can also help me to understand other nuances of the music, such as the phrasing
of the soloist, the sound, rhythmic details and more. Apart from being a helpful tool to encounter
and learn improvisational language, I find that transcriptions can also be a great tool to find
technical material to practice and reinforce weaknesses in my own playing.

There is a physical aspect to playing transcriptions which differs from the theoretical analysis
of the solos. When trying to emulate the sound of someone’s playing, there is more at play than
the note choice and harmonic content of the solo. To me the physical aspect of emulating the
solos of other musicians can give great insight into someone’s playing, as it is a very intuitive
part of the transcription process and can help to explore and understand sonic possibilities on
the instrument, whether it is trying to get close to the sound of someone on my own instrument,
or applying lines from a horn player or pianist on to the guitar, which often can be just as
valuable as the theoretical aspects of solos.

2
 1.2 Background

Transcription is a tool used by many musicians in their development and is considered by many
to be one of the key ingredients to obtaining improvisational language.

In a conversation between guitarists Mike Moreno, Gilad Hekselman, Nir Felder and Lage Lund
the subject of early influences and transcription comes up, Lund and Moreno then talk about
using certain guitarists as a way to extract information, to then apply in a broader musical
spectrum beyond the guitar. Lund said of discovering new guitarists during his development:
“Sometimes you find something, and it’s like: oh, I was looking for that, or I needed that right
now…”1 I think that certain things can be used as a stepping stone to getting to a broader
understanding of the musical language you are trying to acquire if it contains some element that
you feel is relevant to the goal you want to achieve.
Later in the same conversation Moreno counts up his influences and talks about transcribing
their solos: “I transcribed everybody... It’s like going into a shop and you’re trying on clothes,
like let me see how this shirt fits like on me…” 2
In my opinion there is value in emulating how others play in your development in order to
understand your own relationship to that kind of playing, and understanding what possibilities
exist on your instrument, and whether it fits the way you want to play. Some of it might not suit
your taste, but you might find elements that complement how you want to play.

There are many sides to analyzing and working with transcriptions apart from exploring the
harmonic content and note choice of the soloist.

In an interview from 2020, Sullivan Fortner and Pablo Held speak on some the different aspects
of ear training besides the pitch value of notes and how it relates to transcribing. Fortner says:
“Ear training is also articulation and dynamic levels. Being able to respond and hear that
quickly, being able to adjust to that, and fit in to that... You’re training your ear to hear detail,
as quick as you can, you know what I mean? Not just the note but the detail of the note, the
skeleton of the note.” Held: “Yeah it makes sense because a lot of people are getting caught up
with transcription and getting the notes right, but this is usually where the journey only starts
you know.” Sullivan Fortner expands, stating that he has only really transcribed two or three
solos (implying from start to finish), and states that he does not see the point in doing it. “Unless
you are analyzing the solo, unless you understand what the rhythm section is doing, unless you
are figuring out the hidden details and the inner workings of the types of lines, and the line
structure. And unless you have gained a serious, strong opinion about the solo, you’re not really
transcribing.” Sullivan Fortner then continues, addressing a conversation he had with a student
on a transcription “… If you can’t tell me three things you hate about the solo, then you’re not
doing your homework. (laughs) You’re not finding your voice through that person.”3

Some of the details surrounding the transcription process of Moreno, Fortner and Held don’t
come up clearly in the interviews above, though it is implied in Held’s conversation with

1
Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-
CdQJU&t , 1:56:15
2
Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-
CdQJU&t, 1:58:30
3
Held, P, 2020, “Sullivan Fortner interviewed by Pablo Held” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzAN5CWlmh0&t,
1:06:08

3
Fortner that they don’t transcribe much as opposed to Moreno who spent a lot of time
transcribing solos. Held addressed his transcription process in an interview with Nelson Veras.
Held was asked whether he transcribed much or not. Held replied: “I had to transcribe some for
school … Obviously I took a lot of stuff off records, but it was never a whole solo, more like
little things … If I would hear a phrase that spoke to me by Dexter Gordon, Cannonball
Adderley, Miles or Herbie -well, anyone- I would definitely take it apart. It might even be just
four notes - anything that I liked I would learn it and see what it means.” Prompted by Veras,
Held then started speaking about the realization that a lot of what he transcribes ends up being
simpler than what he thought upon just hearing it. “I realized more and more that it’s less about
what they play it’s more about how they play it.”4
Moreno in his conversation with Lund, Felder and Hekselman similarly addresses that the
information you gather from studying certain musicians goes beyond just the notes themselves,
or the music theory behind it. “It’s just sound, like I feel like with (Scofield) in particular, it’s
just like the groove of what he’s playing and the sound.” Then Moreno adds “...With some
guys, you get to that point where you can just play three notes and that surpasses like all the
music theory that people get obsessed with, and what am I going to play on these changes? and
all that stuff. It’s just tone and groove.”5

To me this suggests that there are a lot of similarities in the approach that all three of them take
to transcription, listening to and analyzing music. The information that you can gather from a
solo is about much more than just harmonic content and pitches, but just as important is the
timbral, rhythmic and dynamic content of the solo as well as the less definable human elements
such as their projection of energy.
It is also interesting to note that although Fortner’s and Moreno’s approaches to transcription
seem to differ fundamentally, as Moreno talks about transcribing from as many sources as
possible, and Fortner being less concerned with the volume of transcriptions, they come to quite
similar conclusions about what are the important elements to transcribing or analyzing a piece
of music in detail, as well as using the transcription to help you to figure out how you yourself
want to sound.

An established American saxophonist told me during a private lesson that he had only
transcribed a handful of solos throughout his life, yet he had a very deep understanding of the
bebop language and could recall and even sing whole solos or fragments of solos of many the
great players of that style. My understanding of this is that through deep listening and aural
recognition transcription wasn’t a tool that he felt was necessary in order to study and
understand the music, which coincides with parts of Sullivan Fortner’s philosophy on
transcription from his interview with Held, and it also blurs the line between transcription and
attentive listening, a lot of what transcription gives you can also be achieved through conscious
listening and practice related to that.
To me some language is most easily captured through transcription. Instrument specific details
such as those that pertain to timbre and phrasing, I find to be most efficiently learned by
emulation, and detailed inspection.

4
Held, P, “PABLO HELD INVESTIGATES: NELSON VERAS, https://pabloheld.com/en/investigates/nelson-veras
5
Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-
CdQJU&t, 1:52:03

4
 1.3 Aim and research questions

My purpose with this project is to investigate what I can learn from doing transcriptions of
different solos, and using some different methods of transcribing, analyzing, practicing and
learning to apply concepts and language from these solos into my own improvisation. In doing
so I hope to strengthen different aspects of my playing, and to gain a broader understanding of
language, technique, sound and more to expand my own playing.

The questions I aim to answer with this project are:

What are the different aspects of transcription?

How do different approaches to transcribing material affect my understanding and

implementation of the solos?

How do I apply language from a transcription to my own playing?

2. The transcription process and its artistic results

My work consists of transcribing improvised solos, either whole or in fragments, and analyzing
and working with the material in ways that I think can contribute to my own improvising and
composing.

Transcribed pieces that will be used in the work:

Mike Moreno – Anthropology live at a Paris masterclass 2009 6

Sonny Rollins - I’ve got you under my skin from his album, “A night at the Village Vanguard”
(min 0:51 – 2:50)7
Charles Alturas’ solo on Elsewhere live at Bar Bayeux with Melissa Aldana in 2021 (min 8:51
– 10:20)8
Fragments of Johnny Griffins’ solo on Let’s Cool One on Thelonious Monk’s album
“Misterioso”9

Much of the focus of applying and understanding material from the solos I have transcribed has
come in the form of learning and playing the transcriptions on the instrument. Doing this has
led me to both take certain phrases or concepts from the solos and try to use them in different
ways, as well broader concepts, like fingerings, hand positions, register, shapes etc. Working
on these solos has also led me to tackle technical concepts in a broader way that may not entirely
relate to the solo. For example, I have found that Mike Moreno and Charles Altura are
effortlessly able to use triads in a way that I cannot, which has led me to spend time with playing
triads linearly through scales, in different places on the instrument, different fingerings,

6
, 2009 ”Mike Moreno Rhythm Changes – Anthropology” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Uq_qTUTOc
7
1959, Monk, Thelonious. “Let’s Cool One” Misterioso, Riverside Records, track nr. 3
8
2021, Melissa Aldana Quartet – Elsewhere – Bar Bayeux https://youtu.be/2SGSQipPAK0?t=531 8:51
9
1987, Rollins, Sonny. ”I‘ve Got You Under My Skin“ A Night at the Village Vanguard, vol. 1, Blue Note, track nr. 2

5
inversions etc. as well as using the book “Hexatonics” by Jerry Bergonzi to find exercises that
suit this concept.

I experimented with different ways to engage with the language from the solos, like taking eight
bars of a solo to use as a foundation and try to improvise lines that resemble the structure, note
choice, rhythms and such in order to try to use the language in an improvised manner, and to
be able to compare my own interpretation of the language to that of the solo. The concept I find
to be quite interesting and was a useful tool in some ways. I found that over a longer period it
did not keep me engaged in the practice, and to some extent I think that it can have a limiting
factor on my creativity in soloing, because I found myself taking those concepts with me when
I was improvising over similar harmonies in different situations.

Finding ways to work with the solos in a concrete way after the transcription process could be
quite complicated and yielded mixed results. Usually working on specific lines or concepts
from the solos in isolation failed to keep me engaged for a longer time, and begged questions
about how to use them in a creative way and get away from mimicking the feel of the solo I
was transcribing in my own improvisation.
Since the solos were difficult for me technically It was often a long process to work on playing
the literal lines from the solos well, and as a result I found that even just playing along to lines
from the solos themselves was a good exercise, as well as taking broader concepts from the
solos and working on them in isolation.
Examples of concepts that I extracted from the solos and worked on, varying in specificity:
Numerous fingerings, chromaticism, linear triads with inversions, different modes, numerous
harmonic concepts from the solos, arpeggios (7th chords minor/major/dominant and suspended),
different registers on the instrument, approach notes and enclosures etc.

2.1 The transcriptions

Mike Moreno – Anthropology:

Mike Moreno’s solo on anthropology was taken from a masterclass where he was playing the
tune in a solo setting, playing almost exclusively single line phrases. To me the transcription of
the solo was more about the technical and phrasing aspects of the solo, as well as the melodic
shapes rather than the harmonic content of the lines.
What fascinated me about the solo was the technical command of the instrument that Moreno
showed in the clip, as well as the phrasing and sound of the lines. Every note is very clear and
the phrasing is fluid but still very clear in the time, as opposed to floating over the time.
I wanted to be able to emulate Moreno’s phrasing and use the solo to encounter difficult
technical things that I could work on. Playing along to the solo and extracting concepts from it
meant that I had to work on the dexterity of all of my fingers to be able to replicate the fingerings
that Moreno uses in the solo. I also had to gain strength in my fingers and get used to playing
technically commanding phrases in more stretched positions, and in the lower portion of the
guitar neck.

The concepts I extracted from the solo include:

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 • chromatic passages, four- to six note per string chromatic passages
• Playing in positions in the low register of the guitar neck (positions from open to 7th
fret)
• Playing phrases with different fingering combinations, using ring and pinky fingers
more
• Approach notes and enclosures, diatonic and triads, arpeggios.
• Chromatic descending 2-5-1’s
• Using chord voicings on the instrument as a tool to construct single lines
• Mike Morenos‘ sense of flow in the lines

Figure 1: An example of Moreno’s long weaving lines through the changes taken from his solo
on Anthropology, in this example he plays in the lower neck positions of the instrument, which
for me is quite technically challenging. He weaves through the changes “horizontally” using
many chromatic notes, and mostly not marking the chords in a very literal sense, with a more
modal approach to the changes, which I tried to apply to my own improvisation exercises on
rhythm changes.

Figure 1

Figure 2 (top of next page): Another example of Morenos’ long flowing lines. Using four
different minor triads in the first four bars (Gm/Fm/Abmin/Gbmin) resolving it to the 5th bar of
the example, and then flowing in a long technically difficult line that lasts for 17bars (past the
end of the example).

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Figure 2

Charles Altura – Elsewhere:

Apart from the complex way that Charles Altura weaves through the changes, I realize in
playing his solo that he can make very fast and difficult passages sound very relaxed. As
opposed to Rosenwinkel or Moreno, where the fast passages are often very fiery and expressive,
and in my own playing I tend to feel very much on the edge of control when I’m playing fast,
the calmness on fast phrases is an aesthetic I would like to explore also. In the solo Charles
Altura switches back and forth between two modalities seamlessly in a way in which at points
they seem to blend together. He utilizes difficult fingerings, stretches as well as triads and
arpeggios in an interesting and complicated way.

Charles Altura’s solo has made me interested in exploring a different type of fingerings. a lot of
three note per string figures, both diatonic and pentatonic.

• Investigating linear triads

• Three note per string position arpeggios and triads, in Major and Melodic Minor modes
• Three note per string pentatonic shapes
• Connecting V7- Imin or bII7- Imin (A7 – Dm or Eb7 – Dm) cadence in Minor keys
using Melodic Minor scales a major third apart and alternating between them in a
flowing way. F.ex (A7 or Eb7 -Dm = Bb melodic Minor – D melodic Minor)
• Suspended 4th triads arpeggiated modally through Major and Melodic Minor modes

Figure 3: In this example Altura moves freely between the modalities of Eb7 (Mixolydian) and
Dm6 (Dorian), with a few “outside notes” and notes suggesting Eb7#11 and D-maj7.
This type of line made me interested in exploring moving fluidly between modalities.

8
Figure 3

Figure 4: In this example you can find how Altura weaves together arpeggio shapes, 4ths and
scale lines, all while switching back and forth between the two modalities unpredictably and
then landing on the D minor.

Figure 4

Figure 5 (next page): One of the simple technical exercises that I studied, was to play linear 7th
chords and triads diatonically in Melodic Minor on different starting notes and different
positions, for the purpose of working around this specific solo I focused on Bbm and Dm.

9
Figure 5

Figure 6: An example taken from my own improvisation on “A Night in Tunisia” inspired by

lines and concepts from Charles Altura, in regards to his harmonic approach, fingerings and
phrasing on the alternating Eb7 and Dm6.

Figure 6

The focus of my improvisation exercise attached to the project, on A Night in Tunisia (same
concept of Eb7 to Dm6 vamp) was to play long flowing lines, many of whom have a similar
shape structure to some of those found in Altura’s solo.

Sonny Rollins – I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Sonny Rollins’ solo on I’ve Got You Under My Skin is one that I have listened to for a long
time but never actively transcribed. I started by singing along to the recording, slowing phrases
down and figuring out how to sing them note for note, and singing along to the solo at a slow
speed, and trying to sing whole phrases without reference from the recording. I transcribed a
rather large portion of the solo but not the entire thing. A big part of what I got from transcribing
this solo came from absorbing the language itself by listening and singing, which made it very
simple to translate the solo to the instrument, and I found myself being able to play much of the
solo in many different positions on the instrument without having to try so hard, as things just
naturally fell to the instrument which was an interesting comparison to the solos of Mike
Moreno and Charles Altura, where I had to be very meticulous about fingerings and such. I did
find fingerings and string combinations on the guitar that suited how I wanted to play the lines
and concepts from the solo better than others, and it was interesting to me to try to apply similar
phrasing to the lines as many modern guitarists and find out how many similarities the language
of some modern players share with Sonny. The tempo of the recording is very high and there

10
is a high technical demand in playing lines from the solo at that tempo, so putting some of the
lines and concepts into practice in my improvisation is an ongoing process and has taken a lot
of practice.

The most valuable part of the transcription for me was the aural part of the transcription process.
In order to obtain some of the language from the solo and some of the phrasing elements I
wanted to pursue I extracted small portions from the solo, and isolated some concepts like:

• Using chromaticism, enclosures and approach notes through triads and four note
arpeggios within three note per string positions on the guitar
• Playing legato with attack on selected notes and trying to apply more definition to legato
notes.
• Using bIIImin7 as a substitute on dominant chords, specifically resolving to IImin7
(Chromatically descending minor chords: Dbm7 to Cm7 instead of G7 to Cm7)
• Taking specific phrases from the solo to analyze, work on technically/conceptually

Figure 7: one of my favorite lines from the solo, and one that is quite difficult to play. The line
has many approach notes and enclosures as well as the implied chromatic minor chords
descending at the end of the phrase.

Figure 7

Figure 8: this line shows many of the ways Sonny Rollins uses approach notes and enclosures
as well as well as the descending chromatic minor chords he uses a lot in this solo.

Figure 8

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Figure 9: In this example I list some approach note and enclosure exercises I did, in both
directions, through the range of the position on the guitar – and through all diatonic chords.

Figure 9

In my own improvisation exercise on I’ve Got You Under My Skin, which is attached to the
project. I attempted to use some of Sonny Rollins’ line shapes, approach notes, enclosures,
arpeggios and Db-7 as a substitute for G7, as is seen in figure 10 below, transcribed from my
own improvisation on the same harmony (line starting at 2:20 in the video.)

Figure 10

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Johnny Griffin – Let’s Cool One

Johnny Griffin‘s solo on Let‘s Cool One from Monk‘s In Action, is another solo where I chose
to focus on the aural part of the transcription specifically. This was by far the hardest solo to
transcribe, and the process of singing the lines took some work over the course of every day for
around two weeks before I felt that it was time to pick up the instrument and try to play some
of the lines, and at that point I still continued singing with the solo a lot, to try to get the phrases
into my head and to be able to sing them without the assistance of the track.
I chose to focus on fragmented parts of the solo specifically, but did work on many more parts
of the solo by ear than what I chose to focus on with the instrument, as some of the phrases are
quite unclear in the time, and sometimes pitch as well, and are not so easilly playable on the
guitar. It was also the most difficult solo to apply to the instrument, and the one I got the shortest
way with, especially since a big portion of the solo is based on 16th note lines at a tempo that I
find hard, as well as many of the phrases being difficult in tregister, shape and more.

It was very valuable to try to sing the lines from this solo, and there were some obstacles, as I
noted with the lack of clarity in some lines, as well as most of the solo being very high in pitch
and often much to high to really sing, but still to attempt to vocalize the high notes and sing the
lines in pitch at a slow tempo was rewarding and also made the transition to the instrument
easier, as it pertains to the notes of the lines themselves even though it was a big challenge
technically to get them close to the recording speed. In the solo many of the line shapes are
alike, and Griffin uses similar tools over the same harmonies which can be convenient for the
sake of analyzing and understanding his harmonic appproach to the changes, as well a lot of
lines rapidly going through different registers, often spanning two to three octaves, usually
symmetrically; with arpeggios etc.

Figure 11: In this example Johnny Griffin plays through the first 7 bars of the A section, playing
cleanly through arpeggio shapes, implying secondary dominants and using many approach
notes and enclosures. The phrases are very much on the edge of the time and sometimes fall of
the grid slightly, which is very different from the other solos I transcribed for this project, and
was one of the key points to bring in to my own improvisation from studying this solo.

Figure 11

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In the solo there are many pentatonic shapes in different places, along with the arpeggios and
approach notes. In figure 12, from the b section of Griffin‘s solo, he plays C minor pentatonic
on F7 and a pentatonic shape outlining B minor 6 on the Bb7 chord. Hearing and singing these
shapes help to create the context for myself around these more theoretic types of shapes and
lines.

Figure 12

2.3 The exams concert

My exams concert was held on the 5th of April, with a quartet consisting of Anna Gréta
Sigurðardóttir, Henrik Jäderberg, Johan Tengholm and myself. We played various
compositions from myself, which mostly had been written in a period of the last two years but
featured one new composition as well. Playing my own compositions in trio and quartet
constellations has been a big focus of mine during the last two years, and so I felt that it would
be good to use that material at the concert, especially since the project is about expanding my
improvisational language, and instrumental capacity as a whole, and not just under the specific
circumstances that is playing the compositions I transcribed the solos from. I feel that the
transcriptions have helped me to expand as an improviser and the knowledge gained from
studying these solos have translated to my playing, not only at the exams concert but in other
projects, gigs and jams that I encountered over the course of the year.

3. Diskussion
3.1 The application of transcriptions to my own improvisation

The practice of taking language from others and systematically applying it to improvisations
over jazz standards has brought up the question of my own connection and voice in my approach
to playing on standards. To me transcribing is about seeking tools that will help me to connect
better to my own voice as an improviser, and to spot and work out my shortcomings on the
instrument and conceptually.
I wonder if systematically taking lines and concepts from the solos of others and trying to
directly apply it into my playing contributes to my own connection with improvising on tunes,
or if sometimes it just is a quick way to apply language from those musicians into my own
playing without any real connection to it.

I have also reflected on how to use information from a transcription to my advantage, and to

14
further establish my own voice and connection to the language.
It seems to me that it can both be of great value to understand the language of my favorite
musicians, and their conception towards playing on tunes, but I also think that it might be
precarious to be too literal in applying their language into my own playing, as it is not my intent
to copy their approach, but rather to use it as a tool to expand my own language and approach
to improvising. I think it is a more complicated step to use the language acquired from
transcription in a way that deepens my own connection to improvising. But there are also plenty
of examples of great improvisers being very literal in their approach to applying language from
their favorite musicians into their own playing, like Joel Frahm directly lifting phrases from
Johnny Griffin, Sonny Stitt from Charlie Parker etc. so of course the discussion is two-fold, and
each approach has its different sides. But for me an important part of this is to be aware of how
I use the transcriptions to benefit my own playing and not just as a quick way to directly lift
language that I think is “hip” onto my own playing.

Over the course of this project, I have felt my playing develop significantly in many areas, and
although all my different practices tie together to affect my playing, I feel that the transcription
element has pushed me forward in my playing and conception of the instrument and language.
I also believe that transcription ties in directly with many other aspects of my practicing, and
has an effect on why I practice certain things, noticing things that I would like to expand, or
give an indication of an aesthetic picture I would like to pursue, without tying directly in to the
language of the solo I transcribed. So in some ways it is hard to talk about transcription and its’
effects in a vacuum, because in my case it is often tied in to other practices, or leads me into
other areas, and often the ideas that I will pursue from a solo can be quite indirect, and often
tied to areas that I find as being personal weaknesses.

3.2 How process affects the result of transcribing

I experimented with a few different ways to transcribe solos during this work to see if it would
affect me in different ways. Altura’s solo was one that I barely knew when I started to transcribe
fragments and lines from it, and similarly I was not very familiar with Moreno’s solo when I
started to translate it to my instrument, often using the instrument as a guide for the transcription
process. With Griffin’s and Rollins’ solos I decided not to start transcribing and applying their
contents to my instrument until I knew and could sing the phrases I was transcribing.

Singing the solos before playing them was a longer process, as I had to establish a strong aural
connection to the solos before I could start working them out on the instrument, but the process
was also more detailed and helped me to understand those solos more intuitively than the ones
I took a more casual approach to transcribing.
One thing that stands out is my recollection of phrases in the solos, when I have already aurally
internalized a whole solo deeply, it is always easy to come back to and internalize the pitches
and shape of a line and recall it than if I have not established that same connection with the solo
to my ears. And so, when I am away from the instrument for instance, I have a much stronger
connection to the solos I have internalized through listening and singing only than the ones
where the internalizing has in some ways gone straight to the instrument.

I found that applying phrases that I could sing to my instrument to be a much easier process,
and often it would barely take any repetition or in some cases even a slow down to translate

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segments of the solo from my ear and to the instrument. I also found it much easier and more
intuitive to use different fingerings and to play the solo on different parts of the instrument
when I had internalized the solo before playing it on the instrument.

It was interesting to be able to sing phrases from the solos and not be entirely sure what it was
on the instrument, so the language felt more integrated into myself rather than onto the
instrument directly. I do also think that you establish a strong aural connection to the solos that
you transcribe in a different way, but it is not equally as challenging on the ears as it is to sing
the phrases first without help from the instrument, and singing the phrases truly by ear, as
opposed to having the instrument help when things come up that I have a harder time
internalizing is a really helpful tool for myself to expose and challenge what I have difficulty
with.

I do think that being able to internalize a solo without the instrument is a more complete way
to transcribe, as it made me much less reliant on the instrument itself to being able to translate
and internalize the language of the solo. To me the process of singing the solo before playing it
established how great the importance of listening to music is for my development. If you get to
know a solo aurally, often you have either an intuitive or literal understanding of what is
happening in the solo just from listening, and at that point it can become very simple to apply
to the instrument.

Transcription is a way to get concrete evidence of what it is that you hear on a recording, being
able to analyze what it is theoretically or what it means on the instrument and finding ways to
utilize the concept around it. As well as being a way to hone your technique and putting things
you like into practice, as well as finding ways to make it fit your way of playing or translating
it onto your instrument.

4. Summary

In doing this work I realized how many sides there are to the concept of transcribing, how many
different viewpoints different musicians have towards transcribing and different views on its
benefits and flaws. The work also made me reflect on the perceived barriers between the act of
transcribing, and the act of learning music by sheet music, deep listening and ear training, which
in essence are all related to each other in different ways, as well as reflecting on the purpose of
transcribing as opposed to learning by these other methods, and how these methods play into
the act of transcribing.

Transcribing and learning to apply these solos to my instrument presented many challenges and
exposed me to weaknesses in my playing that I tried to find ways to work on through the year.

by transcribing I gain a deeper connection with the solo than purely through listening.
By listening I can understand the overall aesthetic and vibe of a solo and pick out certain stuff
but when I transcribe, I see and am able to analyze the inner workings of the material I
transcribe, giving me a much more specific understanding of it.

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Citations
Album
1959, Monk, Thelonious. “Let’s Cool One” Misterioso, Riverside Records.

1987, Rollins, Sonny. ”I‘ve Got You Under My Skin“ A Night at the Village Vanguard, vol.
1, Blue Note.
Internet

Held, P, “PABLO HELD INVESTIGATES: NELSON VERAS”

https://pabloheld.com/en/investigates/nelson-veras

Held, P, 2020, “Sullivan Fortner interviewed by Pablo Held”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzAN5CWlmh0&t, timestamp: 1:06:08

Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-CdQJU&t, timestamp: 1:52:03

Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-CdQJU&t , timestamp: 1:56:15

Moreno, M, 2021, “HOUSE GUEST SERIES ... Felder, Hekselman, Lund”,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRki7-CdQJU&t, timestamp: 1:58:30

2021, Melissa Aldana Quartet – Elsewhere – Bar Bayeux

https://youtu.be/2SGSQipPAK0?t=531 timestamp: 8:51

2009 ”Mike Moreno Rhythm Changes – Anthropology”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Uq_qTUTOc

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