To God be the glory for the great things He has done...
Repertoire - Initially, I chose an original comp by Orrin Evans, "Faith In Action", but I think another song would fit the technique I've been working on, left hand comping straight 8ths as mastered by Erroll Garner. The song I'm gonna tackle this week is "Take 5". Brubeck didn't have to worry about maintaining that familiar comping motif and soloing (at least in the version I'm learning) he plays because Paul Desmond takes the melody. So my challenge is to swing it in the left hand and be as silky as Desmond in the right, and he is definitely smooooth as warm butter on that horn. This should be interesting.
Technique - Sad to say I was a little sloppy with the tremolo and Garner's straight eights (I did throw it in toward the end of the recording, but only for a bar or two.) Plus, Brubecks comping on "Take 5" So I'm gonna work on those three this week.
Ear Training -The song is in Eb minor and the melody takes from the Eb blues scale (or some other minor scale). I haven't learned the melody yet, just fidgeted around with it quickly. This is cool because the song from last week was in Eb major...no I didn't plan that. Should be an interesting contrast of sounds.
Improvisation - Storytelling, Motifs
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Wisdom of Billy Taylor - Tell Your Story
To God be the glory for the great things He has done...
While listening to a clip of Billy Taylor explaining ___________, I learned something. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has said this so I left the topic blank. The guy is a giant of this music and no doubt any music he decided to play while alive. (We share a birthday, just 60 years apart!) In my case, he was explaining improvisation. He said, and I paraphrase, that your music (improvisation) should tell a story and convey a meaning. So as a good student should do, I took that and applied it to the song I was working on (The Way You Look Tonight). I finally got music embedded on my blog! It only took a few courses in Greek, I mean html code writing. Check out my recorded version up top as I explain it. (there is a short pause before the song starts)
In the beginning of the sound is a brief intro - I imagined that my wife and I planned a much needed date (we really need one!) and that she was taking too long, as women often do.
When I first play the head - I imagine she is fully dressed, ready to go and walking down the steps slowly
As the song picks up - I imagine we are in the car, going to and arriving at our restaurant, sitting down having a lively discussion.
When I improvise (the soft part right before the head) - I am actually interpreting what I'm hearing as SHE talks. So I am playing what I hear her say.
After the solo, at the end - We are back in the car, headed to bed (just to sleep!!), lying down looking at each other and slowly falling asleep.
Powerful stuff. Thanks Billy! My wife enjoyed my story.
While listening to a clip of Billy Taylor explaining ___________, I learned something. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has said this so I left the topic blank. The guy is a giant of this music and no doubt any music he decided to play while alive. (We share a birthday, just 60 years apart!) In my case, he was explaining improvisation. He said, and I paraphrase, that your music (improvisation) should tell a story and convey a meaning. So as a good student should do, I took that and applied it to the song I was working on (The Way You Look Tonight). I finally got music embedded on my blog! It only took a few courses in Greek, I mean html code writing. Check out my recorded version up top as I explain it. (there is a short pause before the song starts)
In the beginning of the sound is a brief intro - I imagined that my wife and I planned a much needed date (we really need one!) and that she was taking too long, as women often do.
When I first play the head - I imagine she is fully dressed, ready to go and walking down the steps slowly
As the song picks up - I imagine we are in the car, going to and arriving at our restaurant, sitting down having a lively discussion.
When I improvise (the soft part right before the head) - I am actually interpreting what I'm hearing as SHE talks. So I am playing what I hear her say.
After the solo, at the end - We are back in the car, headed to bed (just to sleep!!), lying down looking at each other and slowly falling asleep.
Powerful stuff. Thanks Billy! My wife enjoyed my story.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Erroll Garner (1923 - 1977)
| "Duke Ellington?..Oh yeah...watch this!" |
This post is the essence of what this blog is all about. Listening to a great musician and learning. It's what Garner did his whole life. He never learned to read music. I don't advocate that but I do advocate just playing over just reading. (soapbox out) Okay. So while listening to Garner's superb take on "The Way You Look Tonight" (remember, that's the song I'm working on this week), I notice he is comping straight 8ths almost THE WHOLE SONG. Even during his solo. It's not as easy as it sounds. It requires your left hand to focus on the harmony and rhythm and your right to focus on harmony, rhythm AND melody. Sometimes the rhythm is similar in both hands, but most times different! That's alot for a budding musician to tackle. I have a question: How do you eat an elephant? Haven't heard this one yet??? Well, if you don't know, it's just like every thing else...one bite at a time! So my first bite is to play the first chord of the song, Eb7, straight in my right hand and play the different modes of Eb in my right (and whatever else comes to mind). Just to get my mind and hands wrapped around the idea of doing different things simultaneously.
How did I come to practice this technique? Did I read it in a book and say, "Hmm, that would be cool."? No, I heard it and wanted to play it. Get's no better than that. Now I can say I studied under Erroll Garner even if he was on the 4th floor and I was on the 3rd ...hahaha...
Don't forget to check out Garner's version, it's awesome, of course!
The Way You Look Tonight - Erroll Garner
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Week 1 - 11.27.11
To God be the glory for the great things He has done...
If you've checked out my profile, you read that I am a young father of three young children with a young wife and a young marriage. All that to say, time is a precious commodity so every week, not every day, I update my practice schedule. Let's get started!
There are four sections to my practice schedule:
Technique
Ear Training
Improvisation
Repertoire
The process is as follows.
1) Select a song you want to learn AND stick with it. You are more likely to stick with it and learn the song if you like it and want to add it to your bag. As you learn the song, you are working on training your ear to hear harmonies and melodies. This is called "transcribing" even if you don't write it down. You can write it if you want to practice written compositions. But that would be another blog!! Our focus is on the ears!!! It usually takes me 6 days to learn a song of medium difficulty. (Remember I have a young family) It may take you more or less but one thing is for sure, the more you do it, the faster you become.
2) Technique - Right now I am using Schaum's Fingerpower Level 4. Gonna start with the first exercise. It's designed to work your fingers, especially those unruly ring fingers (wait, is that why that's the finger you put the wedding ring on?) I will work on that at the beginning of a practice session to warm up the fingers.
3) Improvisation - Once I learn the head and the harmony, then I can work on improvisation. I start by transcribing the solos from the song I'm learning. Remember, this is a aural experience. So many of us have a whole bunch of theory but can only play 'a little bit'. We are going to leave the books (eyes) out and focus on the ears. For now let's focus on what sounds good. We will get into different improv techniques as we progress.
4) Repertoire - Once you've learned the song you selected, you add it to your repertoire, DONE!
That's it! See, didn't I tell you it was simple.
The specifics for ME:
Technique - Schaums Fingerpower Level 4, #1
Ear Training - 'The Way You Look Tonight' - Frank Sinatra
Improvisation - The song is in Eb
Repertoire - same song by next Saturday
If you've checked out my profile, you read that I am a young father of three young children with a young wife and a young marriage. All that to say, time is a precious commodity so every week, not every day, I update my practice schedule. Let's get started!
There are four sections to my practice schedule:
Technique
Ear Training
Improvisation
Repertoire
The process is as follows.
1) Select a song you want to learn AND stick with it. You are more likely to stick with it and learn the song if you like it and want to add it to your bag. As you learn the song, you are working on training your ear to hear harmonies and melodies. This is called "transcribing" even if you don't write it down. You can write it if you want to practice written compositions. But that would be another blog!! Our focus is on the ears!!! It usually takes me 6 days to learn a song of medium difficulty. (Remember I have a young family) It may take you more or less but one thing is for sure, the more you do it, the faster you become.
2) Technique - Right now I am using Schaum's Fingerpower Level 4. Gonna start with the first exercise. It's designed to work your fingers, especially those unruly ring fingers (wait, is that why that's the finger you put the wedding ring on?) I will work on that at the beginning of a practice session to warm up the fingers.
3) Improvisation - Once I learn the head and the harmony, then I can work on improvisation. I start by transcribing the solos from the song I'm learning. Remember, this is a aural experience. So many of us have a whole bunch of theory but can only play 'a little bit'. We are going to leave the books (eyes) out and focus on the ears. For now let's focus on what sounds good. We will get into different improv techniques as we progress.
4) Repertoire - Once you've learned the song you selected, you add it to your repertoire, DONE!
That's it! See, didn't I tell you it was simple.
The specifics for ME:
Technique - Schaums Fingerpower Level 4, #1
Ear Training - 'The Way You Look Tonight' - Frank Sinatra
Improvisation - The song is in Eb
Repertoire - same song by next Saturday
In the beginning...
To God be the glory for the great things He has done
Improvisationer? Well, with the multitude of blogs on the web now, I had to stretch it a little. But isn't that what great improvisation is, stretching it just a bit? If we think about what improvised solos are, they are just spontaneous stretching of an established pattern. We take some changes and add our interpretations. Stretch It! Has anybody figured out what the word for the day is (heh heh in my Pee Wee Herman voice)? Stretch! Hopefully, this blog will make you stretch just beyond your comfort zone and try something new or different. Hopefully you will think about your playing and the playing of others and .... yes ... stretch it just a bit. Enough with the stretching thing...for now. Why did I decide on blogging?
Every musician should keep a practice journal, which inherently means you are practicing. You are practicing, right? You do have a schedule, right? Well if you don't, it's never to late to start! This is my practice journal. My goal is to share strategies, techniques, tools, tips, and all that other stuff that gets passed on from musician to musician. I am NOT a professional (yet!) I am NOT a professor (yet!) I do NOT have all of the answers or knowledge (ever!). In fact, if you stick around you will see what I don't have but you will also see what I do have and feel free to share what you have. We all bring something to the dinner table, even if it's just a fork! So eat up and don't forget to share your "recipes" and most of all ... Stretch It!!
Improvisationer? Well, with the multitude of blogs on the web now, I had to stretch it a little. But isn't that what great improvisation is, stretching it just a bit? If we think about what improvised solos are, they are just spontaneous stretching of an established pattern. We take some changes and add our interpretations. Stretch It! Has anybody figured out what the word for the day is (heh heh in my Pee Wee Herman voice)? Stretch! Hopefully, this blog will make you stretch just beyond your comfort zone and try something new or different. Hopefully you will think about your playing and the playing of others and .... yes ... stretch it just a bit. Enough with the stretching thing...for now. Why did I decide on blogging?
Every musician should keep a practice journal, which inherently means you are practicing. You are practicing, right? You do have a schedule, right? Well if you don't, it's never to late to start! This is my practice journal. My goal is to share strategies, techniques, tools, tips, and all that other stuff that gets passed on from musician to musician. I am NOT a professional (yet!) I am NOT a professor (yet!) I do NOT have all of the answers or knowledge (ever!). In fact, if you stick around you will see what I don't have but you will also see what I do have and feel free to share what you have. We all bring something to the dinner table, even if it's just a fork! So eat up and don't forget to share your "recipes" and most of all ... Stretch It!!
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