scot mentioned practising classical in the morning as an helpful way to progress in piano, also many people spoke about the classical tunes they practise or practised.

i always have something from classical repertoire to work on, right now i'm working on gabriel faure's 3rd barcarolle, i enjoy it very much for it's melodic and harmonic language.

anyone else is working on classical pieces on a regular basis and wants to share what it brought to his playing and how it influenced his approach of piano and jazz music?
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(hopefully this will make you stay for one more thread dr.whack)


;-)
hey seb

i think classical music brings alot of clarity to improvisation.  

classical music has several inherent qualities that only a select few jazz pianists employ:

contrary melodies in left and right hand
polyrythm
melodies in left  hand
3 or 4 part writing
yep, that faure's barcarolle i'm working on is full of 3 against 2, and melodies simultaneously in both hands, it really increases my musical and pianistic knowledge :)
are you currently working on something styles?
nothing that drastic!
lol

but, i've been playing with the earlier(easy) works of bach, mozart, beethoven, clementi, haydn and bartok.

i've also noodled with debussy's passapied, that has harmonic ideas that  amaze me.

i might start an 2 part invention this weekend
oops sorry.. forgot you need to write the message, then post it...

i'm currently playing a wonderful debussy piece, prelude no. 1 from suite pour le piano.... sometimes called the fireworks prelude, or something, i was told. its a beautiful piece that moves between soft, low minor melodies to fiery major and augmented chords with big glissandoes. mainly this piece has really got me to appreciate the beauty of the whole-tone scale (debussy invented this didn't he...) it sings, runs and chimes away on this scale for a long time before the cadenza - a huge downward run leading to dm with the 6th & 9th, held, then another run to f major. that bit is simply sublime...

this piece's use of the whole tone scale in comparison to it's lush beautiful harmony which follows, really gives you something to think about.

aside from that the fact that it's such a horror to play well has really helped me practice my technique... :p
for technique, i think the fantasie impromtu op.66 of chopin is a real challange.. not only he sticks on a 4 on 3 rythme, at one point he also changes the accents from the first note to the second making the melody extremely hard to execute well while keepin the rythme.  



if u dont know the piece i could send u the file..
i agree inbi, i was working on the fantasie impromtu a couple of years ago and i found it quite a rewarding piece to work on, technique-wise. the time feel wasn't too much of a problem for me, as i knew the piece before i actually started playing it but it would be good in those areas as well.
there is plenty of chopin stuff that is great for technique. if you're serious about it then i'd get a few lessons from a decent classical teacher to give you some tips and make sure you're doing it right.
yes.. i just went to a master class of a very famous musician here in switzerland a week ago. he gave lots and lots of technical tips for the etudes of chopin. it seemed to help the students a lot. now if u never heard an etude of chopin, download one, or buy the cd (maurizio pollini made an excellent production). if u have done lots of boring relatively easy studies and are looking for some action, this is your chance!
inbi, i find it hard to believe you are at the level of playing chopin etudes if you don't know what the circle of fifths is.

the chopin etudes are generally played by college students majoring in music - piano performance.
that's where i worked on them, as well as three of the ballades, and don't forget the preludes -- they are jewels.
i don't. my cousin was a classical monster. he could get anything on paper under his hands, but ask him to this day about a ii-v-i or a m7b5 and you get a *circumfrence* look on his face.
thank u lambone first of all.

secondly, cynbad- "the chopin etudes are generally played by college students majoring in music" i think thats a very ignorant statement. many pianists who have nothing to do with a major in performance or any major in piano for that matter play pieces as hard as and if not harder than the etudes with incredible results. it doesn't at all mean that they know all the technical names of chord progressions etc..  

thirdly, if u had have read carefully and stopped yourself from jumping into conclusions, u would see that i never said i played the etudes of chopin..
i know of a stack of classical pianists who can read anything you stick in front of them, but have a very loose grasp on theory. they might know strict classical harmony (the 3rd must rise, the 7th must fall, etc.) but don't really understand most things. they are usually excellent at interpreting what's on the paper and that's their job so good luck to them.
even if you just take classical piano lessons, you learn the circle of 5ths.  you practice scales and chords around the circle of 5ths.
inbi, are you sure you aren't "mynameis"?
positive

why do u ask?
sorry, inbi, you just reminded me of him with some of those questions.
well u have to ask those questions (either to yourself, or others) at one point or another. a place like this seemed like the perfect spot. but just so u know cynbad, my knowledge in jazz has nothing to do with me as a pianist since i only started being interested a couple of weeks ago.
on a keith jarrett dvd i recently purchased called " the art of improvisation" he explains how he was classically trained a child. he also states how classical music doesn't take as much out of him as jazz does. but he plays a classical piece, and it made me want to go out and buy some bach or beethoven. it was pretty cool.
aren't players interpretations simply wonderful?
it's like a signature.
you ain't even lyin' solart.
why didn't u go buy the bach and beethoven then? :d

u can hardly lose much out of it
good question inbi. ya know, i just could never really get into classical music. but if you could suggest any classical music that would make the transition a little more interesting, i am open to suggestion.
oooh but theres plenty! try some gershwin preludes as a starter.. even though it's not classical it would bring u closer to it. i'm thinking perhaps some composers that fall right on the classical to modern era transition. preludes of many composers have a great kick of rythme to them. i personally like prokofiev's preludes (the one in c major is nice). maybe rachmaninoff etudes and perludes. btw, did u know that bach is considered, "swingwise", as the closest classical composer to jazz? something about his rythme. if u look at some preludes and fuges and just concentrate purely on the pulse, you'll see what they mean. i'll think of some more "transitional" pieces and composers and let ya know
on a sidenote i just listened to gershwin's piano concerto in f and its absolutely amazing! i recommend it to all of those who havnt listened to it yet
i'm working on some "easy" classical pieces - a mozart minuet and a brahms waltz. i'm just a jazz piano neophyte so this helps my technique i suppose. it certainly helps the sightreading.

ronnie
much appreciated inbi. i'm going to check those out. this site is waaaaaaay to cool. ya'll will never know how much you are helpin' me out. god bless you all.
my great great master :) chick corea learned goldberg variations from bach...
scot mentioned practising classical in the morning as an helpful way to progress in piano, also many people spoke about the classical tunes they practise or practised.

i always have something from classical repertoire to work on, right now i'm working on gabriel faure's 3rd barcarolle, i enjoy it very much for it's melodic and harmonic language.

anyone else is working on classical pieces on a regular basis and wants to share what it brought to his playing and how it influenced his approach of piano and jazz music?
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