Improvisation thought
dizzy once said something to the effect of, "i may not play all the right notes, but i play them all at the right time."
so i decided to experiment with something.
i took just friends and then started improvising over it. whenever i felt like it was time for a phrase to end, i would keep on playing, filling in the space between phrases with notes.
this is just an exercise, you'd never want to do this at a performance.
so, then i started removing the parts of the phrases that i "wanted" to play, and only played the filler material.
an interesting thing happened. i started thinking about the real solo phrases even more, and the filler material turned into short introductions to real improv phrases, and then i recorded some of it and listened to it (highly recommend for anyone).
i noticed that my introduction phrases, or what was the filler material, would start anywhere from half a measure to two measures in front of the downbeat of a new section. so by the time i got to the downbeat of the new section, my idea was in full swing and it didn't sound at all like i my improvisation was being forced by the form of the tune. instead my improvisation was based on being musical, swinging, and my own free will.
this is something that a lot of us do anyway, but i've never really thought about it carefully.
afterwards i was able to boil it down to a method of practice which is fairly simple: don't end a phrases where you want to, go for another x amount of beats. sometimes go for half a beat, sometimes go for 5 more beats. just don't stop playing when you want to, force yourself consciously to stop playing after you feel like you want to.
it is an amazing little thing to work on.
Scot is available for skype jazz piano lessons (and google hangouts, phone call, etc...)
Use the contact link at the top of the page.
There are 3 comments, leave a comment.
obviously a person would first need to know the science behind the music, that is, harmonically what goes with what (what scale or notes go with a b7#5 chord and that sort of thing).
but once you have learned the science which is all old fashioned study and practice, nothing mystical about it, and can play lines over chords of any flavor and style, then it boils down to how you play it.
going longer in the line (as in the previous message) is half the battle, then you need to know where to stop and how to stop.
in practicing this stuff there's a nice secondary effect- the rhythm of each note i play has become more important. things are swinging harder. i had a house party with some seattle cats the other day and they commented on the increased rhythmic aspect of my playing. i didn't even know anything had changed, but afterwards when i had a chance to examine what was going on, i realized that there was more focus on the rhythm of individual notes and smaller phrases, all within the larger phrases i was forcing myself to play.
kind of cool.
Scot is available for skype jazz piano lessons (and google hangouts, phone call, etc...)
Use the contact link at the top of the page.
by Scot Ranney on 04/15/2008, 18:07
lessons.ie; the album with marian mc partland where he plays "all of you' it is fantastic.
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.
Most Recent Discussions
Articles
Piano for Adoption Scam
Aprender Jazz en Piano
BEWARE: FREE BABY GRAND PIANO SCAM
Oh Tannenbaum for Jazz Piano
Volume 5 of the "Jazz Piano Notebook Series" is Available!
LearnJazzPiano.com File Downloads News
more...
Top Sheetmusic Picks
Jazzy Christmas Arrangements
Cocktail Piano
Best Songs Ever, 6th Edition
Christmas Medley
Moana Songbook
Late Night Jazz Piano
Jazz piano education is cool.
Rock on. Follow your passion.
Sign In
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only