Analysis On The Characteristics And Playing Techniques Of The Vibraphone Improvisation In "Times Like These" By Gary Burton

Garry Burton is a distinguished American jazz vibraphone performer,composer and educator.His had made a great contribution to the vibraphone composing,performing and creation of playing techniques."Times like these" he composed is a modern jazz duet which had been recorded in 1995 with the Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone.This paper includes four parts.Garry Burton's life and his composition and researches of vibraphone are presented in introduction.The vibraphone improvisation characteristics and performing techniques showed in "Times like these" are analyzed in main body(using the regular version of score that notated according to Garry Burton's improvisation in 1995)and the summary is in the conclusion.The first part of main body introduces the characteristics of improvisation in "Times like these",where the use of various scale elements,the extension of chords,the rhythm of Latin style and the stress shift in rhythm are discussed in details with performing examples.The second part introduces the improvisation techniques used in "Times like these" and analyzes the use of Burton grip and paradiddle.Through the analysis of the vibraphone improvisation in this work,we have a deep understanding of Gary Burton's arrangement of melody and the interpretation of harmony,which would be the guidance and reference my future vibraphone practice.