The Development of Jazz Improvisation Skills through Exercises for Guitar Students at Phetchaburi Rajabhat University

Abstract

            The purpose of this study was to 1) develop jazz improvisation skill exercises, 2) compare jazz improvisation skills before and after learning using the exercises, and 3) study students’ satisfaction with the jazz improvisation exercises. The developed exercises were implemented for two months with an experimental group consisting of 10 second and third-year guitar students from Phetchaburi Rajabhat University. Research instruments for data collection included a jazz improvisation skill assessment and satisfaction questionnaire. Statistics for data analysis included percentages, mean, standard deviation, and t-test.

            The study findings showed that:

1. The jazz improvisation skill exercises consisted of 1) concepts, 2) instructions for using the exercises,
   3) 3 lessons including arpeggios practice over chord progressions, chord tone soloing, and motivic development, 4) additional practice guidelines for each exercise, and 5) backing track download links.


2. Students’ jazz improvisation skills after using the exercises were significantly higher than before using them at the 0.05 level of significance.


3. Students’ satisfaction with the jazz improvisation exercises was at the highest level (x̄= 4.66, S.D. = 0.127).