Trying to Learn
i've been making up tunes since i was about 5 years old--and that was a *long* time ago! i have had almost no formal music training (just accordion lessons when i was 10 and being in school choirs when i was a teenager. (my voice never was particularly good, but i did all right in a group. of course, that wasn't jazz. besides, these days, i don't sing at all because my throat has been damaged by various health problems.)
when i was in high school, i traded my accordion in for a nylon-string guitar and got into the folk music/protest songs thing in the 1960s. (that really dates me, doesn't it.) i didn't learn how to play the left hand of the piano until i started taking my son to piano lessons. (i sat in on the lessons, then tried playing some pieces myself.)
for the most part, i'm self-taught.
i've always loved the sounds of blues and jazz. (heck, i was named after a jazz song.) but until about 1996, i didn't even know the basic blues scale. discovering that scale was like a revelation! it opened me up to so many more musical possibilities.
unfortunately, i don't think i can ever develop the physical skills to be able to play jazz piano, but thanks to a midi keyboard and mid software, i can and do compose and record music. (i even have an mp3 web site.) i hope the fact that i create my music using a computer doesn't put off those on this site who perform live. i have great respect for performers. (in fact, i'm in awe of all of you!) but i spend most of my time working as a public policy analyst and disability rights advocate. that's in addition to managing my own disabilities. it doesn't leave me nearly as much time as i would like to spend on music--either playing or composing.
my music is pretty eclectic in style (and varies a lot in quality!), but i want to include more jazz and blues elements in what i do. that's what brought me to this web site. i feel a little intimidated by some of what i've seen here, but i look forward to visiting this site in the future and to learning more.
--laura
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Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Volume 1 of this educational jazz piano book contains 15 jazz piano exercises, tricks, and other interesting jazz piano techniques, voicings, grooves, and ideas Scot Ranney enjoys playing.
"Latinesque"
Volume 2 has 14 jazz piano exercises and tricks of the trade, and quite a bit of it is Calypso jazz piano related material, including some Monty Alexander and Michel Camilo style grooves. Jazz piano education is through the ears, but books like this can help.
Volume 3 contains 12 jazz piano exercises and explorations by the acclaimed jazz piano educator, pianist, author, and recording artist Tim Richards.
Tim wrote the well known "Exploring Jazz Piano" and "Improvising Blues Piano" books and has several others to his name.
Volume 4 is by Jeff Brent, a jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and author of "Modalogy" and other acclaimed jazz theory and education books. In this book Jeff shares detailed analysis of transcriptions of live performances. He covers everything from the shape of the songs to the tricks and licks he uses in improvised lines to the ideas behind his lush chord voicings.
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