Cory Henry is the artist in the March 2017 Spotlight Feature. I think he is one of the most gifted musicians that have come to the forefront of the public’s attention in recent years. One of my students introduced me to him, “figuratively”, and I quickly became a fan.
He plays all of the instruments in the keyboard family and he plays them all exceeding well! He is a multi-instrumentalist who is “at home” in any musical genre in which you might find him playing. Here’s a link of him playing drums.
In this Spotlight Feature, he is playing the Hammond B3 Organ on an original composition he dedicated to his parents titled…
“Heart At Midnight“
I did this transcription/video as a way for my students and me to have a little fun while we study this particular snapshot of Cory’s artistry, and to wish him a “Happy Birthday” (2/27/87).
I transcribed the complete song performance but limited the scope and focus of the document to his right-hand only. A PDF of the transcription is available as a free download on my website.
In general, my first purpose in doing transcriptions is to give my students and me some additional material to help us in our study and analysis of improvisation. However, being a valued visitor and guest, you too are welcome to download all of the freebies that I’ll be posting and to purchase any of the other deeply-discounted materials that are displayed in the store. (No membership or password restrictions here! Just come on in and join us!)
If you’re not familiar with Cory, you can check him out further on the Internet. In the meantime, for your convenience, I’ve included the following 7 links of him playing various “boards”:
If you like what I’m doing here, please “like”, subscribe, and share my site. Also, consider donating and/or signing up for, or gifting some online music lessons.
Lesson appointments are available 24/7 because I love working on a worldwide basis with beginners and intermediates of all ages. Let me hear from ya!
That’s all the time I have for now but, stay tuned, more transcriptions in general and more with Cory will be coming in the future.
Just a quick post to say I wish nothing but the best for you in 2017 and thereafter.
I’ve been staying fairly busy lately which means I’m finding I have less time to post in this blog. However, if you’re a beginner or an intermediate student, of any age, I can always make time and room for you. I love teaching and coaching and I’d love an opportunity to work with you.
Please visit my website frequently to check out and share the videos that I post in the “Spotlight Feature” section on the site’s front page: artmatthewsonlinepianolessons.com.
In the meantime, keep practicing and making great music.
Throughout the month, and frequently henceforth, the Gym will be receiving more items and other stores in the mall will have practice material added to their “shelves” too!.
Stay tuned!
As I said, you’ll have to Bring Your Own Books as I did not include any standard sheet music pages with the accompaniment tracks. However, I did include a video chord sheet so that, after you’ve stated the theme, you’ll have a schematic on which to build your variations… (your solo!)
I made each book’s main page default-scroll down to an optional loop utility–instructions for which are on-board. Otherwise, scroll back up to the area where you can make your selections.
It’s been a while since my previous post and the main reason for that is simply “there aren’t enough hours in a day“. I’m sure the thrust of that familiar expression impacts many of your lives in the same way it impacts mine–and probably more so for some of you.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the busier I get in working with and having fun with my students and my other music service customers, the less time I have to spend blogging and making “ed-vlogs” for my website–which is fine on one hand because I love teaching… but on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoy all of my website extracurricular activities too!… I’m torn!!
By the same token however I must say, “I’d rather wear-out than rust-out”! I’m just glad the key phrase is “less time” in stead of “no time“! Even though my posting pace is slower than I’d like, things are definitely continuing to develop and move forward on the extracurricular activities front.
With all of that being said, here is a synopsis of the website updates as of this post:
Website Update March 2016
In addition to the updated page and post header images, there are three new items to which I’d like to draw your attention.
1. The Bulletin Board: Bulletin boards are pretty much self explanatory and I’ve placed an auto-scrolling board in the sidebar of my site’s front page. A mouse-over stops the scrolling and a mouse click on any of the board links will take you to that item’s notice page. Although I’m not sure how or whether this will work out, but I’m going to try to make some sort of tie or link between all three new features and the Art’s Corner Blog.
2. Matthews Music Mall: is a virtual 5-store strip mall of stores which offer practice items that often feature a virtual bass and drum rhythm section playing accompaniment tracks against which you can practice various rudiments.
As I write this post, the stores in the mall are under construction but most of them are open with only a few practice items. The store’s item population will be increasing over time. Your visits are welcome and this link takes you to the mall’s parking lot. where you may select a store by clicking its logo title. I ask that you please pardon the construction signs and any other inconveniences you might experience because, at the time of this post, the stores are still unfinished. These stores and the other website expansion projects are all works in progress.
3. Spotlight Feature: The front page now displays an area titled “Spotlight Feature”. The idea for this comes from WGBH radio host Eric Jackson’s “Monday Night Spotlight” where he turns a figurative spotlight on a featured artist or topic.
As I write this post, the spotlight is focused on Joey Alexander. (A fantastic 12-year old musician).
A couple of my students introduced me to his music and expressed an interest in taking a closer look at some of his work. So, following their cue, I transcribed “My Favorite Things” and “I Mean You” for my students and me to analyze and study. You can get both of them free of charge in my store under the “Study Materials” category. Once you’re there, scroll down to the “Transcriptions / Adaptations” area where you’ll find the Download buttons.
I plan to post mostly music-related features in the spotlight but you never know what might be presented because I won’t know either! I’ll be taking ideas from my students, customers, and you, if you’d like to chime in, so, again, stay tuned!
At the end of 2015, I closed my downtown brick-and-mortar office. Now, all of my teaching and music services are conducted online exclusively (100%). Since that happened, a couple of alter egos have developed themselves in my consciousness.
When you see them, those of you who know and/or follow me will immediately recognize the radically different character traits they display. In fact, some parts of their persona are about as far away from mine as one can get! However, like me, they love to work hard, practice well, and have fun while doing it. They’ll make periodic cameo appearances in various pages and posts in the MATRA-sphere starting in the very near future. So watch out for them!
In my previous post, (AC #55), I stated that “I’ve been super-busy”. Well, on that point and close to a year later, nothing has changed and that’s something about which I feel very good!
I love being busy because I’d much rather “wear-out” than “rust-out”–if you know what I mean!! Time seems to pass by so much faster when I’m happily engaged in something and having fun with it. Otherwise, time seems to be an endless super-slow drag!
So, even though I’ve been happily engaged in other aspects of my work and the year has flown by, the fact remains that this is my first post of 2015 and it comes out near the halfway point of the year’s 11th month, and that’s a point about which I’m considerably less happy!
Ultimately, I feel that all delays between posts, that are deviations from a regular release schedule–intended or unintended, short or extended–, are really just one type of “blog vérité”–if you will–which inevitably happens from time to time, whether you’re a one-man crew conducting nearly 100% of your business’ operations, like me, or a part of a staff. John Lennon sums it up like this, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“! (“Beautiful Boy” )
As I organize the activities of my days, I give top priorities to my wife, my family, and my students, and most of the time, everything and everyone else, including myself, comes after them.
During my sabbatical from posting, the behind-the-scene logs of my website and social media properties all show that people were, and still are, reading and watching in increasing numbers. I want to thank my new students who’ve recently signed up and also acknowledge the people who decided to subscribe and follow me, despite the fact that I hadn’t posted any new material all year–until now of course! Thanks, guys! I’ve noticed all of you and I appreciate your visits.
I am very fortunate and blessed to be in the circles of some really great people and to be able to stay busy doing only the things I absolutely love to do–namely, learning and making music at home, teaching music in class, teaching music online, tinkering with computerized music technology, posting and blogging on my website, and helping people along the way.
“This Is The Way We Roll” – “Old School”
The video project, about which I spoke in AC #55, is finally posted. I emphasize the word “posted” because in no way do I consider it “finished“… although I’ll bet that overshooting my originally stated release date spread by 6 to 9 months, any possibilities of “project manager” jobs coming my way are probably very much “finished“! I just don’t know how the time disappeared so fast! In any case…
The project was done for fun as part of our studies on improvisation. It is not for sale.
When I approached my students, I promised I would not do or include anything that would make them or their parents ashamed to say they know me. However, when I looked at some of the videos my students posted of their own on their website(s), I realized I had a WHOLE lot of room in which to roam!–like the whole state of Texas, which would only take up a fraction of the safe areas available to me! It was all done in a spirit of fun and I love it all!
Overall, I’m glad our project is finally released but I can’t believe I miscalculated the time it would take me to get it posted by a factor of at least two or three! There are more things I wanted to do and include and you’ll see lots of rough edges that I could have and should have corrected or fixed.
However, I really desired to get the project out before the end of the year, so I decided to “take a page” from the modern business practices handbook of the major software companies and release it now, in spite of its unresolved bugs, imperfections, and problems. You know how they do it! Maybe I’ll do some “point-upgrades” and releases as time goes on. I may include a few pop-ups here and there but I guarantee that I’ll never sink to sneaking in spyware! (Just kidding!)
In closing I want to say, “Thank you“, to the folks who made many behind-the-scenes contributions, and to my students who were brave enough to participate. We had some fun in the process of putting this thing together and I hope that everyone who views the video really enjoys it or can find at least a smile or two somewhere in the flick.
You’ll find this free utility inside of my store in the “Study Materials” section in the right sidebar. It is a script that can assist you in getting to know the functional names of most of the intervals contained within any give one-octave range. For anyone who may have questions about how to use the utility, here is a short video clip of me demonstrating a few examples of how I use it.
Even with its limitations, which are documented in the script’s on-board instructions, I still like to use the script because it can be run off-line directly in your browser. It may be run manually or automatically, and it hardly takes up any hard drive real estate because of its very small file size which makes for a fast and easy download!
Download the script then “kick back” and use its hands-free mode to be quizzed on ascending and/or descending intervals within an octave.
Okay! It’s time to take a look at the last interval of the series!
8ths – a.k.a. octaves. These intervals are easily identified because both notes share the same letter name. When written in standard music notation, the upper note will occupy a space if the lower note is on a line and vice versa, notwithstanding any accidentals which may be attached to either note.
Several perfect octaves are illustrated in the graphics just below.
On the piano keyboard, both notes of a perfect octave share the same letter name and they are 8 major scale steps apart (up or down).
Play some octaves starting on as many keys as you can with this playable onscreen piano keyboard.
Major Scale Legend 1-8 = scale steps w = whole step (major 2nd) 1/2= half step (minor 2nd) 1w2w3 1/2 4 w5 w 6 w7 1/2 8
The most commonly used accidentals are shown in the lineup just below followed by examples of the most common occurrences of 8ths in the key of C.
Perfect 8th = C to C (The 8th note of a major scale remains unmodified) Augmented 8th = C to C♯ (The 8th note of a major scale is sharped once) Minor 8th *(N/A) *(Minor functionality isn’t allowed on any perfect interval.) Diminished 8th = C to C♭**(The 8th note of a major scale is flatted once) **(Perfect intervals become diminished with only one flat)
This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.
After working with the “open-book” drag-and-drop drill exercises in this section, move on and dive into some deeper waters with the staff and keyboard exercises just below.
Dive into “deeper waters” with these staff and keyboard exercises
The blue staff 2 or 8 opens a page where only numeric values are required in your answer.
Clicking the treble staff or keyboard icon opens a respective interval ID page where numeric and quality values are required.
Since each exercise utility is never-ending and presents questions indefinitely, you may want to set some type of completion benchmark for yourself such as, answering 25 up to 100 questions correctly or using the timer, located at the top of each utility, to set a time limit, such as 5 to 10 minutes.
In any case, keep working until you have a success rate that’s between 90% and 100%.
This post is a round-up and review of the intervals we’ve covered in the series up to this point. The things I intended to cover in this series, like interval ID and modification, were done earlier. For your convenience, I’ve included lots of links to each of the earlier posts in numerical order.
Knowing all of the intervals within an octave enhances your musicianship in lots of ways. Your voicing, ear training, transposition, and reading abilities are among the things it enhances.
Construction of Intervals (1sts thru 7ths) from the steps of a Major Scale
Start with #1 then select any other scale step. Extract both numbers and your interval is created!
Major Scale Legend (a.k.a Major Heptachord {since we stop at 7}) 1-7 = scale steps w = whole step (major 2nd) 1/2= half step (minor 2nd) 1w2w3 1/2 4 w5 w 6 w7
Play a major heptachord in as many keys as you can with this playable onscreen piano keyboard. Start with any key and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, (or 1/2 step where needed).
Construction of Generic Intervals 1sts – 7ths from the 7-Letter Music Alphabet
C D E F G A B
Simply choose any two letters and your generic interval is instantly created. If there’s only 1 letter in between the 2 you’ve chosen, you have a 3rd. If there are 2 letters in between, you have a 4th etc. *(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matter.)
When written in standard music notation, intervals from 1sts thru the 7ths look like this in C.
Keep the following points in mind:
1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)
(The video below shows intervalic 7ths being played up and down an octave in the key of C.)
I recommend practicing rudiments of any type in “musical” contexts because it provides more avenues to make music with the rudiments before starting to apply and use them in songs.
This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.
After working with the “open-book” drag-and-drop drill exercises in this section, move on and dive into some deeper waters with the staff and keyboard exercises just below.
Dive into “deeper waters” with these staff and keyboard exercises
The blue staff 2 or 7 opens a page where only numeric values are required in your answer.
Clicking the treble staff or keyboard icon opens a respective interval ID page where numeric and quality values are required.
Since each exercise utility is never-ending and presents questions indefinitely, you may want to set some type of completion benchmark for yourself such as, answering 25 up to 100 questions correctly or using the timer, located at the top of each utility, to set a time limit, such as 5 to 10 minutes.
In any case, keep working until you have a success rate that’s between 90% and 100%.
Sevenths are among the first intervals I bring to the attention of my students who are are interested in studying chord voicings. The use of 7ths, as they relate to jazz, may be heard by listening to the left hand of pianists like “Bud” Powell and Sonny Clark during their solos.
Sevenths come directly out of the major scale and although it’s a common practice to think of the major scale as an 8-note scale, the note we think of as 8 is only an octave-repetition of scale step 1. Scale step 8 is really scale step 1 of the major scale, starting in a different octave. So in reality, major scales are 7-note scales and there’s a term for 7-note scales. Heptachords! Ta! Da!
Heptachords are 7-note scales and perhaps the MAJOR heptachord is the most well-known of all heptachords because it actually IS the major scale upon which our music system is based.
Now I don’t know about you but saying “major scale” rolls off of my tongue a lot easier than saying “major heptachord”! I have to be careful to not bite my tongue when I say it! I use these kinds of terms in class as a way to provide a historical perspective. It’s good to know this kind of stuff but don’t get hung-up on names! They’re only words that are part of the historical record. Don’t over-analyze because too much analysis breeds paralysis! 😈 So, with that said, on we go!
Construction of Major 7ths from the 1st and 7th notes of major heptachords
Major 7th intervals are made by extracting the first and last note of a major heptachord. Just select and extract the 1st and 7th scale steps only and the interval is ready to be deployed.
Major Heptachord Legend (a.k.a Major Scale) 1-7 = scale steps w = whole step (major 2nd) 1/2= half step (minor 2nd) 1/2= half step (minor 2nd) 1 w2 w3 1/2 4 w5 w 6 w7
Start with C and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, the C major heptachord will reveal itself on your piano’s white keys. Play the heptachord in the keys of G, D, A and E too.
Construction of Generic 7ths from the 7-Letter Musical Alphabet
C D E F G A B
1. Select any letter from the 7-letter sequence (In doing that you’ve established the interval’s letter name and root… think of it as scale step “1”.)
2. Skip over the next 5 scale steps. (In doing that you skip over scale steps 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 because your mission is to make a 7th.)
3. Having skipped over scale steps 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, select the very next letter in the sequence. (In doing that, you’ve selected scale step “7” as the interval’s upper note and then you extract scale steps 1 and 6.)
That’s it! You’ve constructed a 7th… a generic 7th*. *(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matters.)
7ths – These intervals may be identified by their letter names because both letter names are the 1st and 7th letters of an alphabetically sequenced 7-letter string (heptachord).
When written in standard music notation, 7ths will have exactly 5 unoccupied staff steps in between the interval’s lower and upper notes–a space/line/space/line/space, OR, a line/space/line/space/line. Also, five alphabetically sequenced letters will be skipped over.
Keep the following points in mind:
1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)
2. Every staff line and every staff space correlates to a specific white key on the piano. (This point applies to all ledger lines and ledger spaces.)
3. If 5 consecutive staff steps are skipped over, 5 correlating piano keys are also skipped over! (This “skip-over/fly-over” concept and analogy is illustrated in the key of C in the photos just below.) (Your eyes skip-over the 5 staff steps while your fingers “fly-over” the 5 correlating piano keys.)
(The video below shows LH 7ths being used in a practice exercise on blues chord changes.) In jazz and pop music chord symbol notation, 7ths, as in X7th, are played as minor 7ths or b7s. The only time a major 7th is played is when a specific instruction calls for it like (EbMaj7).
Major 7th = C to B (The major 7th is unmodified) Augmented 7th = C to B♯(The major 7th is sharped once) Minor 7th = C to B♭(The major 7th is flatted once) Diminished 7th = C to B♭♭(The major 7th is flatted twice)
This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.
Sixths are consonant intervals that add stability to many situations where stability is desired. They’re beautiful sounding intervals that add richness to the music in which they are used. Things like block chords, melodic passages, and improvisations are enhanced with their use.
Hopefully, the mechanics of transforming major intervals into their other states of modification is “old hat” to you by now. With that said, we’ll quickly move through this post and the rest of this series starting from here. If you have any questions, just sign-up for a few lessons.
Construction of Major 6ths from the numerical scale steps of Hexachords
Hexachords are 6-note scales. The Major Hexachord is a major scale subgroup that’s comprised of major scale notes 1 thru 6. Extracting the 1st and 6th notes make a major 6th.
Major Hexachord Legend 1-6 = scale steps w = whole step (major 2nd) 1/2= half step (minor 2nd) 1 w2 w3 1/2 4 w5 w 6
If you start with C and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, the C major hexachord will reveal itself on your piano’s white keys. Play the hexachord in the keys of G, D, A and E too.
Construction of Generic 6ths from the 7-Letter Musical Alphabet
C D E F G A B
1. Select any letter from the 7-letter sequence (In doing that you’ve established the interval’s letter name and root… think of it as scale step “1”.)
2. Skip over the next 3 scale steps. (In doing that you’re skipping over scale steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 because your mission is to make a 6th.)
3. Having skipped over scale steps 2, 3, 4, and 5, select the very next letter in the sequence. (In doing that, you’ve selected scale step “6” as the interval’s upper note and then you extract scale steps 1 and 6.)
That’s it! You’ve constructed a 6th… a generic 6th*. *(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matters.)
6ths – These intervals may be identified by their letter names because both letter names are the 1st and 6th letters of an alphabetically sequenced 6-letter string (hexachord).
When written in standard music notation, 6ths will have exactly 4 unoccupied staff steps in between the interval’s lower and upper notes–a space/line/space/line, OR, a line/space/line/space. Also, four alphabetically sequenced letters will be skipped over.
Keep the following points in mind:
1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)
2. Every staff line and every staff space correlates to a specific white key on the piano. (This point applies to all ledger lines and ledger spaces.)
3. If 4 consecutive staff steps are skipped over, 4 correlating piano keys are also skipped over! (This “skip-over/fly-over” concept and analogy is illustrated in the key of C in the photos just below.) (Your eyes skip-over the 4 staff steps while your fingers “fly-over” the 4 correlating piano keys.)
(The video below shows 6ths being used in block chords and descending scale passages.)
The most commonly used accidentals are shown in the lineup just below followed by examples of the most common occurrences of 6ths in the key of C.
Major 6th = C to A (The major 6th is unmodified) Augmented 6th = C to A♯(The major 6th is sharped once) Minor 6th = C to A♭(The major 6th is flatted once) Diminished 6th = C to A♭♭(The major 6th is flatted twice)
This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.
I just don’t know how the time disappeared so fast! In any case…
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to you by now. With that said, we’ll quickly move through this post and the rest of this series starting from here. If you have any questions, just 
