| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: The New Tristano | |
| elwapo -- 02/14/2007, 03:58:54 -- #33039 | |
| Would anybody out there know where i can get my hands on a transcrition of any / all songs on this album? Thanks in advance | |
| elwapo -- 02/14/2007, 04:01:57 -- #33039 | |
| All i could find was this which is helpful http://armand.reynaud.free.fr/transcription.html | |
| elwapo -- 02/15/2007, 03:28:32 -- #33039 | |
| Maybe some of you have come across these Tristano exercises designed to create facility in fingering difficult passages? http://www.humboldt1.com/~jazz/lenny.html | |
| asteffen -- 02/15/2007, 08:23:34 -- #33039 | |
| I once heard about a chord/voicing system from Tristano but have never found it. anybody heard of it? | |
| GS_Jon -- 02/15/2007, 11:33:29 -- #33039 | |
| I took a few months of lessons from a teacher in North Carolina who studied with Tristano and used his system. The chord system is pretty elaborate. You start out memorizing hundreds of left-hand voicings for each category of chord (major, minor6, dominant, and minor 7) in every key. Concurrently, you learn as many melodies of tunes as you can with both hands. After you know all thousand or so left-hand chords in all keys you can begin arranging the tunes you know. After that, you begin learning two-handed voicings starting from the ground up: 135, 351, 513, 153, 315, 531, 1357, 3571, 5713, ...., 13579, ....., etc. You start in C major with 135 (1 note in lh and 2 in rh or vice versa), move that interval through the mode (CEG, DFA, EGB, etc) up and down twice. Then you do the rest of the major keys and the minor harmonic and melodics. Then you begin making fancier arrangements with this arsenal of two-handed voicings that if you stick with it will give you the ability to play absolutely any voicing in any key at any inversion or drop-2 or whatever. Don't get me started on Tristano's scale system. It's every bit as elaborate as the chord system, with all sorts of polyrhythmic contrary motion using bizarre fingerings at extremely slow tempi. Needless to say, I did not make it through the entire system due to moving away and not having the time or discipline to carry through. The best thing I took away from these lessons, however, is the transcription routine: sing and transcribe 15 Lester Young solos, then 15 Charlie Christian Solos, then 15 Charlie Parker Solos, then 15 Louis Armstrong, then Dizzie Gillespie, etc.... I'm still on Lester Young and Charlie Christian, but the difference transcribing makes on your playing is amazing. | |
| Jazz+ -- 02/15/2007, 14:12:58 -- #33039 | |
| That sounds like the "Tristano School" approach. But it sure is different than the way Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett learned. | |
| GS_Jon -- 02/16/2007, 08:19:47 -- #33039 | |
| In case you want all of the detail, there's a book available: http://www.paoloproductions.com/4436.html I agree Jazz+ that this is not a typical way of learning, and I've never found anyone else who teaches this method. What initialy seemed attractive to me is this method helps you focus on one thing at a time. I was overwhelmed with the amount of info out there and the variety of techniques/etc. It felt good to have a calm voice cutting through the clutter saying "okay this is the path. Do this and you'll get there". This is something I could not get from books or a lot of the other teachers I tried. Plus, I'll never be a Bud, Bill, Wynton, Red, Herbie, or Keith. | |
| elwapo -- 02/19/2007, 01:11:01 -- #33039 | |
| Thank you GS_Jon. Would you recommend buying this book | |
| GS_Jon -- 02/19/2007, 05:57:20 -- #33039 | |
| If you are interested in learning about the Tristano method, this book is a thorough and effective companion. The only problem is that it could be tough to find a teacher to support it. | |
| elwapo -- 02/20/2007, 00:47:25 -- #33039 | |
| Hi GS_Jon thankyou for the helpful advice. There are no teachers or jazz musicians where i come from so i am pretty much stuck with the books i have. I am seriously considering dropping everything and moving to a location in europe where i can find a good teacher. Thanks again.. | |
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