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An Exploratory Investigation of the Assessment of Vocal Jazz Improvisation

Conservatorv of Miusic, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio 44074, USA

The purpose of this study was to investigate the assessment of vocal jazz improvisation achievement. Subjects were 101 college students enrolled in vocal jazz courses. The following aspects of vocal jazz improvisation were measured: (a) tonal (intonation, correct tones, appropriate language, variety, originality, motivic development, and unity): (1) rhxthm (steady pulse, appropriate feel, appropriate figures, varietvx originalitv, motivic development, and unity); and (c) expression (appropriate scat svllables, appropriate tone quality, variety in tone quality. varietv in range, and variety in dynamics). These items were measured by three judges using fivepoint rating scales for two tasks, a blues and a ii-V7-1 progression. The major findings of this study were as follows: (a) interjudge reliability for items ranged from 47 to 89; (b) interjudge reliability for the composite measure was 90; (c) a high correlation (.88) was found between the blues and ii-V7-I tasks; (d) moderately strong correlations were found among the dimensions of tone, rhythm, and expression, ranging from 76 to 78; and (e) three underlying factors of vocal jazz improvisation were identifiedRhythm, accounting for 66% of the variance; Tonal, accounting for an additional 8%; and Divergence, accounting for 6%.

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