Fotografia Tutorial
In this lesson we explore the beautiful tune “Fotografia”. This is an accessible tune with simple but beautiful harmony. It makes a great study for students just starting out with Brazilian piano music.
The Core Components Of Bossa Nova
We start by introducing a simple bossa nova groove over the first 2 chords of the tune which are C-7 and F7sus. We then isolate the different components of bossa nova performance which are the harmony, melody, comping, and improvisation.
Related Lessons
Learn to play “Triste” for solo piano performance. We explore chord voicings, accompaniment, reharmonisations, and improvisation.
When writing “Desafinado”, Jobim and Mendonça decided to write a tune with many of these unusual scale degree choices in the melody.
The first jazz standard lesson in this course is “Corcovado” written by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim and lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes.
Practice Tips
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Spend some time vamping around the first 2 chords using a simple Bossa Nova groove.
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Experiment with the different ways that we can interpret the melody as demonstrated by Jovino in chapter 3.
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Learning to comp through the entire tune is an effective way to internalise the chord changes and work on the rhythmic aspects of Bossa Nova performance.
