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About Me
Schedule:
About this blog:
Since February 2010, I have been endeavouring to comprehensively wade through Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book - with variable success... I set a rudimentary timetable, for how if I was able to spend a week on each chapter, I would be able to complete the book (a once over) in roughly six months: by July 2010.
The book is dense, and at times frustrating to follow (not all the elements are revealed in a chronological order: "later explained in Chapter 7" where a symbol has been used repeatedly without explanation for the previous three chapters!). But with the little I have done, I feel I have achieved a sense of reward and satisfaction in my ambition to decipher and make sense of one of the few books of authority in the Jazz education field.
This blog is a record of my efforts to date.
Practice points:
1 - Practice Chords in all permutations using Index Cards
2 - Practice II-V-I Chord Progressions in every key
3 - Practice II-V-I Voicings in every key
Method and approach:
- Read to 'understand'
- Make detailed notes (written/notated) so it makes sense to me
- Try to acquire the 'suggested material'
- Listen to get a feel
- Choose a tune to 'practice' the technique
- Scan to Gig Disk
- Upload to blog
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- Try to acquire recordings ahead of reading the chapter(s)
Links:
Stuff to get:
- Book: 'A New History of Jazz' by Alyn Shipton
- The World's Greatest Fake Book (Sher Music Company)
Goals:
Residential courses to attend...
Notes:
- Compile 'Chapter Playlists' in iTunes.
- Compile a 'Complete Jazz Collection' so far...
- Alyn Shipton on Radio 3?...
- Keep up to date with Jamie Callum's Podcast
- Scan Index Cards
- If you don't like one version of a tune, there's usually another one that's more agreeable.
My biggest question about Levine's book.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm learning all those new voicings, and the theory behind (their construction),
What do I do to become a better pianist?
Just take fake books and apply the voicings to songs?
What are your practice ideas???
I've been doing mostly scales, arpeggios, increasing the speed progressively as I can.
And the Oscar Peterson jazz exercises, and piano comping books + the McPartland books.
What are your suggestions?
Thanks.