Tag Archives: chords

AC #27: “T” it up!

ATTN: All Instrumentalists and Vocalists! This post applies to you!

As you’re listening to some music and you hear a melody, a phrase, a motif, or an arrangement that draws your attention because it “speaks” to you and you really like it, you should “T-it-up”! What do I mean by that? You should transcribe it! You’ll benefit whether you “T” all of it, or only a fractional part of it! Just get in there and “T” something up!

I borrowed the title phrase for this post from the world of golf. I’ve been a fan of Tiger Woods for a long time. Through his actions on the golf course and his interviews, Tiger has always demonstrated that he possess a deep knowledge of golf on many levels. He has frequently spoken about the high regard and respect he has for golf’s “elder statesmen” like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicholas. He’s spoken specifically about the fact that he’s watched many videos of them and studied them.

In the world of music, you’ll find many musicians, including myself, who have the same kind of high-regard and respect for music’s “elder statesmen”. For instance, whenever someone asked The Beatles and Eric Clapton questions like “who most influenced you?”, they’d always name Chuck Berry first as they spoke about their high regard and respect they had for him. Whenever Chuck Berry was asked that same question, as he addressed it in his autobiography, he’d immediately credit his local peers, the great boogie-woogie pianists and the great Nat “King” Cole as he spoke about the high regard and respect he has for them all!

So, I was particularly delighted when one of my students, bass player Nicholas Gendron, originally an ear training student who by the time he signed on with me had already done complete James Jamerson transcriptions on his own by ear, spoke to me about the high regard and respect he has for many of the same great jazz bassists for whom I share the same feelings. When Nick expressed his interest in expanding his ear training studies to include having me work with him on “strengthening-up” his walking bass lines, I immediately suggested that he start right away on transcribing some of the great jazz bassists. I agreed to get right in there with him and do some of my own transcriptions of some of the bass veterans also to share with him in his lessons. So for this post, I decided to give you the complete transcription I did for Nick of what the great Israel Crosby played on “But Not For Me” from one of Ahmad Jamal’s classic albums. You can view the video and download this PDF too!

[gview file=”http://www.artmatthewsonlinepianolessons.com/wp-content/uploads/But-Not-For-Me-Ahmad-Jamal-AM.pdf”]

The information you can get from studying transcriptions is invaluable, and by all means, I strongly suggest that you, and all serious students of improvised music, should do a lot of your own transcription work! Don’t get me wrong. It’s definitely ok to draw information from the transcriptions of other people, however, the benefits of doing your own transcription work will pay bigger dividends because, in doing so, the information you derive gets planted deeper into your musical soul by the nature of the do-it-yourself process.

Whether you do one-chorus, multiple choruses, single phrase, multiple phrases, right-hand only, left-hand only, both hands, partial heads, full heads, partial arrangements, or full arrangements… you’ll be doing something that’s good for your musicianship!

The focus of your transcriptions are determined, of course, by whatever your objective may be at any given time. For instance, you might limit the focus of your transcription to getting the actual musical notes only! Or, you may want to exclude the actual notes and focus on obtaining chord progressions only, as in getting the chord changes of some particular song or tune. Perhaps you want everything… actual notes, chord changes, articulations, and dynamics too! Ear training makes it all available to you.

You can write your transcription work down on manuscript paper using standard music notation, or you might write it down in some other form on unlined or lined notebook paper for that matter! If you have a good memory, you can even skip the writing-it-down process altogether and simply keep it all in your head, as Nick did with his James Jamerson transcriptions. If you can do it, I recommend you do some of both because it’s all good!

At the time of this post, Nick is in Aruba! He’ll be starting his own page within my site soon after he returns so if you’d like to follow Nick on his page, check back in a few weeks and just type or paste his name into any search box on my site.

Remember that although your teacher or coach can point you in the direction of what work you need to do, it is YOU that has to DO the work by practicing!

Do some listening and “T” something up!

Practice well!

AC #26 – Three Piano Technique Practice Tips (Part-3 of 3)

3: “FIGURE 8” EXERCISES: What are they? How do they apply to piano?

I borrowed the term “Figure-8” from the world of Olympic figure skating. If you aren’t familiar with figure skating, a little background and demonstration on that subject might be helpful.

Please note that I address both questions in the second half of this post. So if you’d like to skip past the “FIGURE 8s” IN OLYMPIC SKATING background/demonstration section that follows next, you can go directly to the “FIGURE 8s” in Piano and Music section by clicking here.

There was a period of time when Olympic ice skating competitors were required to participate in the Compulsory Figures Competition. They had to skate a certain number of compulsory figures into the ice and then re-skate or trace-over the figures. All of the figures were based on or derivatives of the number “eight”, thus the term “Figure 8” skating. At first there were twelve figures but over the years, the number was gradually reduced and by 1973, only three compulsory figures remained. Skaters were scored on how well each figure was initially etched or engraved, and on how well they traced-over each original skating.

Compulsory figures were eliminated entirely from international competition after 1990, so videos and rebroadcasts are perhaps your main avenue of seeing what I hope doesn’t become a lost art form! If you haven’t seen Olympic figure skating in live broadcasts or taped reruns, I’d like to have you take a look at the next several clips from that world because seeing the skaters create and then trace the figures will help me draw a picture of the parallels I see.

When I first watched the introductory commentary clip just below, I smiled when the comparisons of skating fundamentals and the musical scales of a pianist was made because I completely agree with what was said.

The Paragraph Loop figure, with its sub-loop variation within each of its two circles, seemed to be the most challenging of the three remaining figures to skate and trace. This was my favorite event to watch because of the discipline, skill, control, grace, precision, stamina, mental toughness, and strength it took to pull it off. Check out the following really short video clips on “Figure 8” skating before returning your focus to the music world.

“FIGURE 8s” IN OLYMPIC SKATING

Commentary on Compulsory Figures – “They are really basically like the scales for a pianist.”

Clip #1 – The Counter figure is Illustrated

Clip #2 – The Paragraph Bracket figure is Illustrated

Clip #3 – Debi Thomas Skates The Paragraph Bracket

Clip #4 – The Paragraph Loop figure is Illustrated

Clip #5 – Debi Thomas Skates The Paragraph Loop

Setting skating aside, does this illustration of the Counter remind you of anything?

Which of the three answers below do you think would be the most chosen
in a David Letterman-like picture association skit or poll? (drum roll please…)

1. A snow man;
2. Three scoops of vanilla ice cream;
3. The notes of a musical triad;

A case could be made for #s 1 and 2 but I think the Letterman answer might be #3, a musical triad! Paul Shaffer might say “Yeah! Let’s run with that one!” as we shift our focus back to music.

Speaking of music… the tune you hear upon clicking the Counter graphic just above is is an original tune of mine titled, “The Counter” (©2013). The melody uses C-E-G only so that beginners and everyone can easily Jam along with it and improvise during the solo section! I invite you to post a video of yourself jamming and improvising to this little ditty on my YouTube “The Counter” post. If you like, right-click and save an mp3 of the music here.

“FIGURE 8s” in Piano and Music

“Figure-8s”, as I use the term in piano lessons, are musical figures which, once played, must be repeated or “traced” two or more times and as smoothly as possible in a manner that is figuratively similar to the way tracing was done in the world of figure skating. The length and complexity of the figures may vary but the object is to have your fingers remain in continuous contact with the piano keyboard while you’re executing and tracing so that the figure remains unbroken and true-to-form during the entire exercise.

“Figure 8s” on a major triad

In the videos just below you’ll see me “figure 8” the notes of a C major triad which make my “target notes” C, E, and G. To “figure 8” the notes, I use a 2-note ornament that starts with a scale step above the target note, passes through the target note to a half-step below the target note then returns to the target note so that the figure-8 ornamenting of each target note will consist of 4 tones being played. In short, I “hang” a two-note ornament on each of the three target notes. The video starts with me “figure 8-ing” Middle C by practicing the 2-note ornament around that single note before I move on to practice the same ornament on the other two notes. (See the major triad videos)

“Figure 8s” on a minor triad

In the videos just below you’ll see me “figure 8” the notes of a C minor triad which make my “target notes” C, E^b, and G. To “figure-8” the notes, I use a 3-note ornament that starts with a half-step below the target note then moves directly to a whole step above the target note then makes a chromatic 2-note slide which ends directly on the target note so that the figure-8 ornamenting of each target note will consist of 4 tones being played. In short, I “hang” a 3-note ornament on each of the three target notes. The video starts with me “figure 8-ing” Middle C by practicing the 3-note ornament around that single note only before I move on to practice the same ornament on the other two notes. (See the minor triad videos)

In the context of piano technique, these “Figure 8” piano finger patterns and exercises require the same characteristics as those I mentioned near the top of this post in the ice skating context. As you work with these exercises, practice slowly and strive for evenness and accuracy. Speed will always come to you as a by-product of slow efficient practice!

I encourage you to come up with your own “Figure 8s” too. Your figures may vary in size from very short ornaments, like the ones I used in this post, to longer phrases, like the one in the interactive picture just below.

With the use of rhythmic and pitch variation, the possibilities are virtually limitless!

Of course all of the exercises discussed and demonstrated in this three-post topic, as well as any you may make or find elsewhere, won’t give you the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound or be faster than a speeding bullet! However, if you are persistent, patient, and do the exercises I recommended in this post in all 12 keys, your fingers will learn to do things and go places they’ve never gone before on the piano keyboard.

Practice well and have fun!

See you next post.

Art

AC #22: Block Chords: What are they? How to use them?

While recording “You’re My Everything” during a recording session on October 26, 1956, Miles Davis whistled during the song’s intro to stop the recording and said to Red Garland, his pianist, “Play some block chords Red… Alright Rudy?… Block chords Red”.

This instruction was left in the mix and can be heard on the commercially released recording. What did Miles mean when he said that? What did Miles want from his pianist? The song’s intro starts at the video’s 19th second time code marker and as you’re listening, pay special attention to the difference in Red Garland’s playing before and after Miles’ instruction.

http://www.plosin.com/MilesAhead/Sessions.aspx?s=561026

“Block chords” is a harmonic device that calls for all harmony being played, during the spans-of-time that block chords are engaged, to be delivered within certain close-position voicings and rhythmic parameters. When block chords are applied to melody and/or single-note improvisation lines, a more impactful, “phatter”, richer sound results! I’ve seen Phineas Newborn draw actual gasps-of-excitement from audiences with his highly skilled block chord use!

There are several types or variations of block chords but the one on which I’m going to focus in this workshop I’ve named “book ends”. Book ends call for 5-note voicings with a numerical schematic that spells voices 1 through 5 the from top to bottom with the melody or lead always being note 1 or the top-most note. Note 5 always doubles note 1, one octave lower. Notes 2, 3, and 4 are harmony notes which must be placed in between or within the one-octave span of notes 1 and 5 (the “book ends”) at all times.

Since this is a tall order, I highly advise you to do yourself a favor before moving on to blocking melodies and improv lines. Do the prep work of making sure that you can play all Major7, Dominant7, Minor7, Minor7b5 and Diminished7 chords in all four of their positions in the 5-note block chord style! It’ll make what follows much easier!!!

As I always say, don’t hesitate to contact me if you need some assistance. I’ll be glad to hear from you and glad to help. Let’s Skype!

Where did block chords come from? Who invented them?

I recall having read somewhere in the past that pianist/organist Milt Buckner was given credit for starting or inventing block chords!

I’m not going to co-sign such an absolute statement but I will go along with acknowledging the fact that Milt Buckner is one of the first musicians to be widely noticed and recognized for bringing this style of playing to the “forefront”. George Shearing credited Milt Buckner and the big band sounds of Glenn Miller as his two major influencers along the lines of his developing the block chord “George Shearing sound”.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/05/milt-buckner-block-chords-parade.html

Erroll Garner also credited the sounds of big bands as his main influence in the development of his signature style which uses block chords. There are many other musicians who cite Milt Buckner as a main influencing source along these lines but as to whether or not Milt Buckner actually invented block chords, I choose to remain a non signatory.

John Lennon once said that if you had to rename rock and roll, you’d have to call it “Chuck Berry!” However, in Chuck Berry’s autobiography, Chuck thanked J.L. for the statement but spoke up right away saying that the whole “Chuck Berry” concept and sound was not actually his! It came directly from his being influenced by his local peers, the great boogie-woogie players, and people like the great Nat “King” Cole!

I like to think that if Milt Buckner were around today, he might thank all of his fans and “influencees” before giving the same kind of cautionary statement the C.B. gave J.L.

And so the story goes… Because of the influence factor, it’s usually inaccurate at best to try to trace and pinpoint something like a trend or a style in music down to one person. What is more important to me is finding out how to do it and how to use it in my playing.

With that said, let me draw your attention to the 7/22/13 update release of “Block Chording Short Scales” in my store. It is a rudimentary block chord drill system that focuses on block chording 3-, 4-, and 5-note scales of the major and minor varieties and it has MIDI accompaniments to help your practice move right along. If you do the work, this updated package can be very helpful to you in getting block chords “together”. Contact me if you need assistance.

See you next post.

Art

AC #16: Two Guarantees. Which One Is For You?

One sure way to guarantee that you will never get any better or improve is to not practice!
On the other hand…
One sure way to guarantee that you will definitely get better and improve is to practice! Daily!
It’s that simple!

If you need some ideas about things on which you might work in your “practice room”, bookmark this post so you can easily return to “The Virtual Lecture Hall” from time to time to jot down a couple of suggested practice items you’ll see me “write” on the chalkboard.

Now without knowing your current level of musical development or your specific needs, I won’t be able to coach you as effectively as if you were one of my online or in-office students. Nonetheless, I think it’s a good idea to focus and practice on one or a few items at a time.

The “talking points” I brought with me in this version are appropriate for beginner to advanced students. So, each time you click my picture, I’ll go over to the chalkboard and write something that may or may not be appropriate for you. I’ll trust you to know which points speak to you. Have fun!

The Virtual Lecture Hall

If you need some assistance with any of the suggested VLH practice items, contact me anytime. I’m always glad to hear from you.

See you next post… practice well!

Art

AC #14: Reading Piano Music – Need Help? – Read This!

Learning to read piano music can be one of the most challenging tasks that faces every piano student.

Although one person might find this task to be less difficult than the next person, the fact remains that in order to learn to read music, you have to actually spend some time reading lots of it. It’s like you’ll never learn how to swim if you never get in the water!

Short Story

My first car was a 1955 Chevy that looked very much like the one pictured just below.

It eventually developed transmission trouble and it wouldn’t move. James Ballard and Emmett Kendall, two mechanics who’d given me a job as a teenager in their gas station / car repair business, came to my house and towed the Chevy back to their garage, which was only a half-block away from my home. While I was working hard at tending to the pump customers that day, they disassembled the transmission, then they showed me the malfunctioning parts that had caused my car to break-down. By the time I got off work, they’d fixed my car and I was “back in business” cruizin’ and playin’ the radio with no particular place to go!

End of Story

Now you might ask, “What does that short story have to do with reading piano music?!”

Well, the lesson I took from that experience was that if there is a problem that has caused or is causing a break-down of any sort, somewhere in the mix of my life, deal with it by “towing” the problem into my figurative garage (my mind), take it apart, analyze it, identify the source of the problem, fix it, put it back together and move on!

By applying that very simple methodology to my teaching techniques, I’ve been able to help lots of people improve their music reading abilities for years and I can help you too.

During the course of my teaching career, I’ve found, more often than not, a major cause of my students’ music reading problems stemmed from their inability to read and play rhythms fluently!

Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm!

Reading rhythm is the sole focus of a class I teach titled, “Rhythm-a-ning”. Understanding rhythms and developing the coordination to execute them with either hand is the center-stage activity in this class. There’s a reason why the piano is considered a percussion instrument and sits in the percussion section of an orchestra and not the string section.

Reading music, even at its most elementary level, involves decoding information from two main streams of data synthesis, the rhythm stream and the pitch stream. If you’re having trouble deciphering and executing the data from both streams, your work on effecting a solution will be twice as difficult if your approach is to work on solving the problems you’re having with both streams simultaneously.

So the basic idea behind rhythm-a-ning and pitch-a-ma-ning is to separate and isolate the two main component processes of music reading, rhythm execution, and pitch placement, then reintegrate the two skills at a later point in time after thoroughly working on each of the areas of concentration. The separation and isolation approach allows you to then focus 100% of your attention on working to improve and strengthen your weaknesses in each one of those two main problem areas independently.

I feel it is a lot easier to work on one problem at a time than it is to work on two or more problems simultaneously. This is a less stressful strategy and with this approach, your probability of success tables are tilted more in your favor and the odds of your success rates are increased exponentially.

Watch this sample video of Jason reading and playing the rhythms of a piece by one of my favorite classical music composer/pianists.

With patience, determination and hard work, Jason is now doing a pretty good job of rhythm-only reading through many musical genres like classical music, ragtime, hymns, pop, and jazz. He can see and appreciate his own improvement in this area which, in and of itself, is a very powerful factor in keeping him self-motivated to continue his work in this area.

Now there’s no reason why the same thing can’t be happening for you too! So get in touch if you need assistance in this area. I can help you! The main provisory is that it is you who has to practice and do the work! This is not about me! It’s about you! So contact me so we can get busy.

See you next post.

AC #12 Musical Tonality & The Zodiac: Are They Connected?

12 Notes / 12 Houses / 12 Signs

Three facts are stated in the subtitle of this post. There are indeed twelve notes in the octave, and the Zodiac has twelve houses and twelve signs. With that stated, it’s easy to understand why people might be curious as to whether or not there is some kind of mystical connection or cosmic correlation. However, over many years, Sir Isaac Newton and others have tried and failed at scientifically linking the chromatic scale to the houses and signs of the Zodiac. So although I find the question interesting, I have no scientifically-based answer to give you.

Nevertheless, you can still have some fun with the concept in an unscientific and light-hearted way, and view your daily horoscope too, just by using the chart below during your daily practice. The on-board rhythm section accompaniments will help you play some of the essential rudiments and other practice items through all 12 keys.

Unichords (Unisons), Major and Minor Dichords, Trichords, Tetrachords, Pentachords, Scales, Triads and Seventh Chords and their inversions, and songs that have short simple melodies like “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and “London Bridge” are some of the things you can practice along with the chart’s virtual rhythm section accompaniments.

Click and hover over the graphic’s hotspots to explore the possibilities. Have fun!

The musical tones were assigned to the Zodiac signs by coupling the ascending notes of the C chromatic (where C represents #1), with the ascending numerological order of the Zodiac signs (where the 1st house and Aries represent #1).

1st house = Aries = C
2nd house = Taurus = C#/Db
3rd house = Gemini = D
4th house = Cancer = D#/Eb
5th house = Leo = E
6th house = Virgo = F
7th house = Libra = F#/Gb
8th house = Scorpio = G
9th house = Sagittarius = G#/Ab
10th house = Capricorn = A
11th house = Aquarius = A#/Bb
12th house = Pisces = B

The main purpose of this post is to provide some fun and entertainment for those of you who are doing the serious work of practicing and improving your musicianship and for everyone else who comes here simply curious about the title’s question. You are welcome to visit this page as often as you like to use the accompaniment tracks as part of your music practice and/or view your daily horoscope updates!