Does anyone know anything about Jazz Flute?

[LynetteScavo]

DD passed grade 5 flute last summer. She seems to have managed to get to grade 5 with very little effort - just one half hour lesson a week and about 20 minutes a week practicing. She seems to have some ability, but no inclination. I don't think she'll make grade 6 next summer (she could if she suddenly started practicing, but that seems highly unlikely and she hasn't taken any theory exams) She has, however, expressed an interest in jazz flute. I didn't even know this was a thing until DD mentioned it.

If she made a sideways step to jazz flute would she be able to play at grade 5 level or would she need to start at a lower level and work up? Is there anything we should know about jazz flute? ABRSM don't seem to have updated their jazz flute book since 2006, so I assume it's not very popular.

If you look at other music boards than ABRSM you might find that the repertoire is more varied. I definitely did a mixture of jazz, contemporary, and classical when I played the flute, using the Guildhall exam boards. People are snobby about Guildhall vs ABRSM but I enjoyed the flute much more after switching teachers and the main difference was the syllabus.

Is Guildhall now Trinity? DD has been playing some Trinity pieces with her teacher.

Having had a closer look in the ABRSM website- grade 5 jazz can be used instead if Grade 5 theory, which is making me think it's quite tricky. But I guess we won't know if she can improvise until she gives it a go. There only seems to be one book, does it say in the book what grade the pieces are?

Yes I think you’re right that Guildhall is now Trinity Guildhall, and looking at it they have a jazz flue syllabus.

So I've found jazz exam pieces downloads to listen to/playing with on the ABRSM site and the "The Jazz AB Real Book" - does anyone know if the exam pieces are in the AB Real Book?

This is the syllabus (the range of set pieces) for Grade 5 Jazz Flute for Trinity / Guildhall.

DS is not a flautist, but is a jazz woodwind player, and all his exams from Grade 5 onwards were Trinity Jazz ones.

It is worth discussing with your DD's teacher whether they feel confident teaching the specifically jazz skills such as improvisation - DS's teacher was a jazz specialist (though she also taught classical woodwind to Diploma standard) so this worked well. For a purely classically-trained teacher, this might work less brilliantly.

It's also worth noting that for Trinity Jazz exams post Grade 5 you don't need ABRSM Grade 5 theory, and that elements of theory are built into the practical exam.

From the Trinity list, Microjazz and Jazz Zone books are ones where DS had the equivalent when he was at that level, so they may be good places to start for a jazz 'try out'.

The 'Real Books' are a bit hard to explain! Essentially, they are a collection of key jazz 'standards' that jazz musicians might use as a starting point for the 'head' (melody) of a jazz piece, and from which they will then improvise. Every jazz musician will have or have seen a copy of the relevant book in their instrument's key, and a small jazz ensemble might warm up by picking a few favourites and playing them as a basis for a jam / improvisation session - DS and a small group have used them when busking, for example. They're not 'scores of pieces' in the classical music sense.

(For jazz, IME, the Trinity exams are more popular than the ABRSM ones, with the local music centre being booked up for several days of exam sessions - but that may just be a local jazz teacher phenomenon)

@cantkeepawayforever that's super helpful - and now I understand about the AB book, thank you!