PIerre practice routine in video, challenges

That’s it Smole… just a little focused transcription each day, and you will be surprised with the results over the span of a few months.

Even if it feels like you aren’t making progress, stick with it and you will certainly see an improvement.

I like to look at listening/transcription as a ‘musical investment’ for the future. Because often you do not see the results straight away.

Still not mastering my foolish heart really not a song for beginner … this one resist me and slow me down in my progress … challenging one for me to remember thats sure.

So lets do the stock of what i learn since i begin

  • remembering 2 of the 3 songs Autumn leaves , Song for my father (my foolish heart)
  • 251 minor in progress
  • begin some transcription
  • introduction in diminished mood learn the 3 scales , and play along

i need to continue this songs with being able to play them with other musicians , with backtrack for next month
hope my foolish heart will come under the finger and in mind

next songs for the month to come straight no chaser

in two month Oleo or another rhythm change

and before the end of the next year Blue in green Spain , and Michel Petruciani Looking up , 1900"s theme “playing love”

Lets continue

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i have also found My Foolish Heart to be a bit difficult; just chipping away learning 4 bars at at time… hopefully be able to glue them together

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Good point guys… Maybe we should reclassify that tune into a later course. I agree that the chord changes are difficult to remember and hard to commit to memory.

Perhaps we can simplify the arrangement. I do agree that the arrangement I put together has some relatively advanced reharms and other things. Or perhaps a lesson could be cool on how to simplify the form for easy memorisation.

Nice set of goals there Pierre.

I have been working hard on the Wynton Kelly “Sassy” transcription and working out his 16-note lines which come next in his solo. I worked out the notes quickly and easily, but playing the 16th notes very evenly and in-time has been difficult for me.

That’s a key thing I’m working on right now… ‘switching gears’ from swing 8th notes, to triplets, up the 16 notes, then back to swing 8th notes. I’m going to share all of my findings in the Transcription thread.

I’ve had a new lesson idea/concept which I think will help encourage transcription, and directly highlight its benefits.

  1. I’ve transcribed up to 2:05 in the recording which is just under half of the record

  2. In that couple of minutes, there’s a lot of really strong melodies, and motifs.

  3. I want to show how we can take just a few of these melodies/motifs/melodic ideas, and then use them to create a full solo through repetition and transposing the same idea over all of the chords in the progression.

I’ve just been cycling around with iRealPro doing exactly this, and I’ve seen some really great developments in my improvisation abilities. Mainly just relaxing into it more, where it’s more flowing and natural. Feeling it! :grinning:

That’s one of my key goals for 2019 as an educator here at PianoGroove… to empower all of our students to do this themselves. Easier said than done because listening and transcribing requires a LOT of time and patience and it’s not something that can simply be copied, like a chord voicing for example.

Our other teachers are helping with this initiative too.

Nice choice, very commonly called tune and a must-know for jam sessions.

I will also join you on this, around Feb/March time.

Thanks Hayden keepin in touch … i feel so lonely in the forum …

yes try creating transcription thread and try to challenge other members to post their playing after 2 weeks of just 2 measures of some interesting part could be a nice exercice. For joining most of the member in transcribing this 2 measures challenge could be interesting. Very small so maybe very achievable. And i will join it with pleasure and interest ,so already one member :slight_smile: .

waiting what you are discussing on this applying what you transcribe in your soloing. A
nd your transcribe of wynton kelly autumn leaves solo too :wink:

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Yes I’m sure others will join.

I fully support your initiative here Pierre, I think it’s a fantastic idea to document our practice plans and talk about what we are working on and what we are trying to achieve.

Simply by talking about the “Sassy” recording with @smole in your thread, it has made me work relentlessly on transcribing from the record… which I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

By making our intentions known, it gives us a sense of accountability, which for me has resulted in some of the most productive practice time of my life.

I’m going to transcribe every note of that recording, and create explainer videos throughout to encourage others to get started with transcription.

So thank you Pierre for creating such a wonderful addition to our community area. One thing I’ve noticed is that the forum is gradually evolving, and the different sections take time to develop and it doesn’t happen overnight.

I fully support this practice inspiration category. It’s awesome! :star_struck::+1::+1:

“Thanks Hayden keepin in touch … i feel so lonely in the forum …”

Hello Pierre: I do not comment frequently but I follow this thread every day since it is full of very (for me) useful information. And it motivated me to really look at my poor technical skills to see if I can also video-record some of my playing and post it here. Alas, I am not at that point yet but will keep at it.

On practice strategy: when I get into a lull (no progress on a new tune) for a few days I usually revert back to doing tunes from some way back and am pleasantly surprised how much better I play them. So, there is learning in this old head of mine. For example, before I joined PG one of the tunes I discovered and spent a good deal of time with was My Foolish Heart that Hayden posted on Youtube for free (and that led me to PG subscription, at least in part). So, I do not recall any more what kind of troubles I had with it originally but I do remember that I simply committed to memory Hayden’s lesson, almost as is. Now I like the way I play the tune and know all the chords by heart. Relearning is fantastic, I find. Best, Smole

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Hayden’s transcription of “My Foolish Heart” is more difficult than some others, but it’s definitely a beginner’s version. The only part that throws me is the tritone substitution in bar 19. It sort of seems out of place since it’s the only instance in the transcription (and my arthritic hands don’t quite reach :sunglasses:). Listen to the activity within the chord changes on this version. Way more complicated than what we have in Hayden’s quite well-done arrangement.

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Exactly my sentiment Smole.

Yes that’s one of the fun things with jazz. There’s so many tunes to go through, literally thousands.

My task now is to go back and truly learn a good number of medium/up-tempo so that I can play them effortlessly at jam sessions.

I’ll will always love, and will always continue to play them solo, as I find it such a fun way to explore harmony, but jamming with others is the next step for me with my aspirations. So lot’s of work cut out for me!

Yes Bill Evans’ playing never ceases to amaze me Scott.

His rendition of My Foolish Heart in particular was very unique for it’s time. If we think of the era that came right before… the fast-paced, hard-swingin’ sound of bebob and hard bop, this was such a shift in jazz trio performance.

Despite Evans’ being a prominent ‘post-bop’ player, his downtempo recordings such as this one served as huge inspiration and motivation in my early days of learning jazz.

To be clear i have never complaining about Hayden version … just complaining about my foolish memory :slight_smile: … and saying i will never give this tune for a beginner to remember , there’s so much more easier song .

The way i now try to remember song is to more going inside and rembering 251 and the analysis of it . all the song i just play long time ago only remembering
the fingering never come back under my finger . So i experiment a different way to remember songs… hoping they will stay longer i memory … and hope they will help me remembering other songs too. This way is a bit longer to keep in mind and are probably less cleaner than the sweet way Hayden had arranged them … but they are more myself. But i dont at all criticise other way of learning … just my nowadays way.

Thanks @smole to follow this thread … but please just add some sound or video of you playing … for making my lonelyness less unsustainable :grin:

:grinning:

Yes I agree. I think one of the benefits is that it’s well known, and for me was a tune that I really wanted to learn from the start,

I agree that more of these kind of tutorials are what we need for our beginner students:

and so with all of my future arrangements, I’m going to create 2 versions:

  • Firstly a simple R-3-7 version, clearly highlighting the 25s 251s and other common progressions.

  • Secondly, a more complex version with reharms, substitutions, and other stylistic embellishments.

I think this will be nice to demonstrate the core of the harmony, and then in part 2 we can then demonstrate where we can take things… Instead of diving straight into the deep end with the complex arrangement.


That’s a great way of learning Pierre, understanding the functional harmony is the next step up from memorising the arrangements.

Also Pierre, my arrangements take time to put together, for sure I’m getting quicker as I do more, but some of them are really challenging to arrange and play. I put a tonne of work into listening to other versions before arranging them so it’s not something that comes to me purely in the moment.

There will be more Pierre.

Many of our students are total beginners, and so that’s something to keep in mind too.

A number of our students have said they will be posting, and I’dd do some more performances too so slowly but surely we will get there with this.

My poor Lonely Pierre, I recorded Laura on my iPad, but I can’t figure out how to post my video here. How do ya do it?

so coooll :champagne:

:grin: I am really a windows guy but it should not be such complicate you can download it in youtube or just on some dropbox or icloud and just paste a link to it .

heres a link to post it on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJmvXujqHNE

cant wait hearing your version !

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24 posts were merged into an existing topic: Share Your Music, Recordings, & Performances :musical_note:

I moved @LoriNelson’s awesome performance into the student performance thread, as to keep this thread focused on @Pierrot’s practice routines.

Cheers!
H

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Already a month without sharing

My "straight no chaser " is ok but not sastifying me … need to share a version though :blush:

So this week i begin Oleo
exercice ust on dominant

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Right now I’m focusing on quartal voicings and rootless LH voicings on songs I can play as a ballad but actually lack real understanding… Stella and I fall in Love too easily.
I had been able to play the ballad, but really didn’t know the chords and so I’m studying the chords and rootless LH.
I am listening to Chet Baker and. Miles Davis (but actually REALLY listening to the simple comping behind them on piano)

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Hi Lori, Pierre, Hayden. I want to join the practice group / document my own practice and progress. Would this thread be a good place? I plan to make a tumblr with a video of practice and some notes every time I sit down, and then maybe make weekly reports. I don’t want to impinge on your space :slight_smile:

Cheers, manuel

Hey Manuel ! Welcome to our (amazing) community !

I don’t know about that but, you can post yours challenges right here:

https://community.pianogroove.com/t/lets-create-a-practice-group/

–Guillaume–

2 posts were split to a new topic: Post Your Blues Improvisations & Transcriptions