This video, as the title suggests, is a recording of a clinic given by Mike Titlebaum at a jazz conference. The clinic is about what melodic embellishment is, and how a jazz performer can use it in their improvisation. I first found this clip while searching for ways to improve my own improvising. It was by far the most helpful resource I came across, and it gave the best results when I applied its techniques to my own playing. I would recommend it to any aspiring jazz musician I know. The clinic featured in this clip offers a very good example of exceptional teaching. The instructor works at a nice pace, never being too fast with the students, but also never being too slow. He starts with simple concepts before moving on to harder ones. Getting the entire class to sing along all at once is a great way to not put anyone on the spot, as the more nervous or less talented students can hide behind or blend into the group’s sound, so they still get an opportunity to sing. Titlebaum also helps by playing along on his saxophone, so that everyone can hear and match exactly what they are meant to play, as some of the harder examples are quite difficult for even well trained singers to sightread.
This video is one of many produced by the YouTube channel 12Tone. They produce many educational videos about music and music theory, from everything such as the fundamentals (or building blocks) of music theory to analyses of popular rock songs. There were many videos from them I could have used for this assignment, but I chose this one because it was the most impactful to me, and likely to many of the other music students in my year. Functional harmony is the bridge between understanding notes and chords and being able to use theory productively to analyze or compose a piece of music, which is why I believe it is so important. This clip, and the channel it comes from, are both great example of very good teaching. No matter how much theory knowledge you know, this channel is great because it starts from the basics but also works through some very complicated concepts. Each video is well paced, linking to their other videos if they gloss over a concept because they are building off of it, ensuring that no student gets left behind. Additionally, playing the music as they write it helps in avoiding the disconnect between music and music notation, so that the concepts presented can make sense in a more applicable way. Writing a ii-V-I carries absolutely no information about how strong of a sense of resolution it carries, unless those chords are also sounded alongside it.