The second lesson for the spring - completing what I considered an assessment of where I stood and where I was likely to go with instruction.
I was originally a student of suzuki, and when I played the piece I had prepared for the teacher, he (knowing that I was a former suzuki student) said that he wasn't surprised to find that the rhythm was my greatest challenge.
I knew going in that sight-reading skills would be my biggest challenge. I spent a lot of time on the song to try and master the rhythm and be able to read it correctly. In fact, I was able to play it pretty well as it was written, my only downfall being that I decided to listen to a recording of the tune & ended up trying to immitate what I had heard. That was mainly because I was concerned about it sounding too "amateurish".
I've since given in to the fact that I'm going to have to sound hokey and unrefined for a while & have spent some time reading the piece and being able to play it from start to finish in perfect rhythm. Lots of slow playing with the metronome.
One idea that I was already familiar with and which makes a lot of sense and has been paying off a lot is the fact that if you practice perfectly, you will play perfectly. Of course, the idea of doing anything "perfectly" in regards to music is bad, but the idea that how you practice music is how you play it is still true. (If you practice too fast and everything mushes together, that's how you will always play it, even if it's the best you've ever done, it's still sounding mushed to your audience)
Another big thing that was touched on during the lesson was that I was making very large movements on the keyboards with my chord choices.
I initially was concerned about this because I knew about the chord range and knew that I was going out of the range, but I didn't know where to go and waited for the teacher to give me some guidance. If you didn't know, the chord range is from the F above middle C to the C an octave below middle C.
To be able to stay within the chord range, I had to invert some of the chords. In fact, the teacher explained that I was free to practice open voicing in which I was free to play any of the notes from the chord, anywhere within the range.
Another thing that makes a tune sound polished and professional is tone-sharing or having the same tone or pitch occur in multiple and consecutive chords. This creates a relationship between the chords.
Finally, the teacher gave me this advice - keep the bass line moving in the same direction. So there is a chord progression in the tune that is Cm7, Eb, E7, Dm7(b5), G7; the chord progression is such that the bass line goes Eb, E, F, keeping the bass line moving in an upward direction.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Spring Lesson 1: Acadiana Conservatory
This was the material covered in my first lesson of the spring. An explanation of the terms & ideas presented in this first part will follow below. The lesson was for jazz piano & it should be noted that is what this lesson contains; there are differences between jazz piano & classical piano terms.
Three Main Parts of Music:
- Melody - succession of tones
- Harmony - stacking of tones
- Rhythm - succession of pulses in metered time
Tone/Pitch - Vibrations per second
Tertian Chord Structure - every other note or pitch; 3rds
Major Scale - 1(w) 2(w) 3(h) 4(w) 5(w) 6(w) 7(h) 8/1 - w - whole step - h - half step
Key Chords:
- I - major - 1 3 5
- II - minor - 2 4 6
- III - minor - 3 5 7
- IV - major - 4 6 8/1
- V - major - 5 7 9/2
- VI - minor - 6 8 10/3
- VII - diminished - 7 9/2 11/4
Jazz Chords:
- X - major triad - 1 3 5
- Xm - minor triad - 1 b3 5
- Xsus - suspended - 1 4 5
- Xres - resolution - 1 3 5
- X7 - seventh/dominant seventh - 1 3 5 b7
- Xmaj.7 - major seventh - 1 3 5 7
- Xm7 - minor seventh - 1 b3 5 b7
- X6 - sixth - 1 3 5 6 (exception to tertian system)
- Xm6 - minor sixth - 1 b3 5 6
- Xdim - X° - diminished seventh - 1 b3 5 bb7 (7th same as 6th; noted in tertian)
The lesson began with an assessment of what I knew about piano and music. The teacher was put in somewhat of a difficult position as he had to generate a lesson out of thin air; I was neither a beginner nor an advanced student & had a very specific set of needs for our time together. That being said, he did an excellent job of going through an augmented beginning lesson and getting me straight into some material that I could use and understand immediately.
He covered the three main parts of music emphasizing that rhythm was the most important aspect to be able to grasp. Rhythm, as he explains, is a series of pulses in metered time. This is similar to a heartbeat. If you listen, you will notice that one beat is stronger than the other. This creates a rhythm. Without this pulse, something is lost; a series of pitches can be in metered time but without some variation on thier intensity - without creating a "pulse" - your music will be lifeless and bland.
The term note or pitch is important to understand. In fact there can be some ambiguity about the exact definition of note or pitch. Pitch is measured in vibrations per second; you can hear a pitch. A note is a written symbol on a page; you cannot hear a note. These terms are interchangeable and anyone would understand what you meant that had a basic knowledge of music theory, but there seems to be some importance of making the distinction - there is a connection that is made once you take the time to consciously realise that what you hear is vibrations per second, not paper, in your ear.
The tertian chord structure simply tells us that our chords will be made up of every other note or thirds. In the jazz chords that I listed below the tertian definition, you'll notice the 6th chord does not follow this structure; it is an exception to the rule. You should also note that in the diminished chord the double flatted seventh is the same as the sixth, however it has been noted in tertian form.
The major scale form shows us the basic formula for any major scale - progressing up by whole steps except between 3 & 4 and 7 & 8 where there are half steps.
The key chords show us how the triad can be moved up through the range of a scale.
The jazz chords are all the standard jazz chord forms.
The lesson will be revised - please leave comments/suggestions/insight
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