Three Pieces

Here are three of the pieces I have been working on in some way, shape or form towards improving my improvising;

Thelonias Monk - Straight No Chaser.

Many people in the class will be doing this, I'd imagine, as it's one we actually did in class.  With this one we simply were told to listen to it and compose a solo for it.  One would say "but composing isn't improvising!".  Composing a solo that works well over a jazz chord sequence in a specific song, then having said solo analysed by an experienced jazz player who then gives feedback is helpful as it we then know what sounds "right" and "wrong", and will use this knowledge when it comes to improvising in future.

Another piece I've been working on is Freddie Freeloader, from Miles Davis's critically acclaimed "Kind of Blue";

I've simply been learning the song so that once I start improvising fully, I'll have things to play into.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've given transcribing a brief go.  One of the songs I did was 'How Deep Is The Ocean?' by Bill Evans.
There are many versions of this song, and I couldn't find the one I used with the exact lick I transposed.  You can get an idea from this live version I found, however.  I spent ages going over 3 seconds of music, rewinding, playing, rewinding, playing (this was on my phone; my computer doesn't work at the moment) and scribbling down the notes on paper.  Eventually, I got what I thought was it and transposed it into all 12 keys.  I will start uploading any work I do soon.

An update; what I've done, and what I plan to do.

Our first assignment for improvisation class is simply to write document our current strengths/weaknesses when it comes to improvising, remind Simon, our lecturer of what we've already done, and explain what we're going to do between now and the next performance block in eight weeks time (not including holidays).

Before the course started, I thought my weakness was simply this;

 "I can't improvise.  I can hear what I want to play in my head, but I can't play it on my instrument."

This was simply because I hadn't practiced enough to be able to think about what each note on the keyboard sounded like - I couldn't go from one note to the other in half a second and be confident that it was the note I wanted to play.

Now, however, after having listened to more jazz than I previously had, having researched, transcribed and transposed music etc, I've been able to detail my weaknesses and strengths.  I will start with my strengths:

-I know what I want to play - the melodies used in improvising aren't completely unknown to me.  This has always been the case.
- Having listened to more music with improvising in it, I've started to get a feel for it; don't constantly play.  Leave space.  Repeat the rhythm of melody lines but use different notes.  Less is more.
-Due to practicing and transposing, I am starting to find it easier to play things in different keys;  tunes, modes, chords, etc.
-I know what kind of rhythms I want to play.
-I'm starting to get to the point where I can go from putting the notes in my head onto the keyboard.

My weaknesses, however:

-I need to sit down and listen to a piece over and over and over, and then be given a few minutes to work out what I'm going to play; I still can't improvise on the spot.
-When it comes to more technical improvising, using modes, etc, I know the modes and notes in them I'm to play with, I just don't know how to use them.   My head is the toolbox and my fingers are the joiner.  The toolbox has all of the right tools, but in this case, the joiner doesn't know what to do with them.
-I can't transcribe rhythm to save myself.
-If someone were to ask me to play a solo on the spot (which they have done) I can't.  Or I can, but it doesn't work.  At all.

That's not to say I am completely useless and will be for the rest of time, though.  Since I first started working on the course, I've started to feel myself improving.  

I've been transcribing pieces; Bill Evans and John Coltrane, mostly.  I've made a start on Miles Davis and some of the Esbjorn Svennson Trio's work, but not as much as I should be.  What I have is terrible, and needs work; over the next week or two, I will begin uploading and blogging more frequently, showing all of the work I do, no matter how good, bad or humiliating it may be.

Details of my past futile attempts at transposing can be found in this post; http://jhopehndimprov.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-34.html

Once I transcribe a piece, I transpose it.  Which is something else I've started doing; transcribing.  It is, as Mark Levine says, one of the most important things any aspiring jazz musician can do.  It helps your transcribing due to the fact that you're constantly looking at notes and going over key signatures; it helps your playing; playing Autumn Leaves, for example, in G minor is easy enough.  Transpose that to Gb minor, however, and it becomes a different thing altogether.  Or it was.  For I'm starting to try and transpose everything I play into the first key that pops into my head, and due to the work we've been doing in classes (Theory, improv, etc) as well as research I've been doing myself, I'm starting to find that transposing songs into another key is something I may well be good at, if I put more work into it.

Until now, I've made a start on transcribing, transposing, reading up on Jazz Piano books, practicing licks and playing along with songs; made a start.  I will admit, I am in no way doing half as much work as I could be doing.

I'm getting a flat in the next 2-3 weeks, cutting travelling time by about 10 hours in a five day week.  It will mean I'll be able to practice at home. I won't have to rely on college practice booths being available for me to practice properly, on a piano that works well enough.  I'll have time to reformat my computer, so that I can install/download musical applications and programmes.

With this in mind, my goal between now and the next improv block is simple; practice more.  Transpose more.  Transcribe more.  Study more.

Instead of practicing for two hours at college, I will practice for two hours at college and two hours at night.  I aim to learn all of the 'basic' jazz chords (basic as in not added 9ths and 13ths) so that I can play any of them, in any key, without thinking about it.  This goes for all of the modes, as well.

I also aim to transcribe two phrases from at least three different songs a week, in every key, until then.  Instead of one every two weeks.  And I don't mean on a computer; I mean on manuscript paper, with a pencil and eraser.

I aim to practice any tune I try to play in at least two keys other than the original (to start with).

I aim to finish reading Mark Levine's jazz piano book, even if I'm not at the stage where I'm playing half of the things he mentions; I'll read it all, and then refer back to it when I start to get further in depth with playing jazz.

I also aim to download an Apple app which I will post about here once I get it working; in short, it allows me to play along to any genre in any key in whatever tempo I set it at.

I plan to actually work and do more than I'm asked, rather than just do what I'm told to do and leave it at that.

This all comes into effect once I start living in Edinburgh, which, as I say, will be in the next two weeks. Once I start living here, I'll have more than enough time on my hands to do all of the above.

Hopefully.

My Other Blog and Website

Here's a quick link to the other general blog I'm doing for everything else course related;

http://jhopemusicalprogression.blogspot.com/

I need not explain it here, as there's a description there.

Also, here's a link to my Weebly website: http://jhopemusician.weebly.com/

In time, that will hopefully become a .co.uk site, once I get finances sorted.  And, I suppose, once I start doing enough work to warrant paying for a website under my name.

Week 3/4

I was ill last week so I missed the class.  An update on what I've been doing, however;

I purchased "The Jazz piano Book", written by Mark Levine, a renowned jazz pianist.  It's probably the best thing I've ever bought.  If you know your theory and all 12 keys in both major and minor, the book is perfect for any wannabe jazz pianist.   It goes through the circle of fifths, the II V I chord progression, modes used for improvisation, and many other things I haven't yet covered.

Along with reading that, I've been listening to a lot more jazz lately.  Since my phone's been cut off due to lack of bill paying, I can't use spotify on my phone.  And my computer needs reformatted, so I can't download anything new.  This means I can only listen to the little jazz I have saved to my phone when not at home.  Meaning all I have to listen to is Bill Evans.  Which I have no complaints about at all.  I've started transcribing some of his songs.  I've made a start on some of the licks in "How deep is the Ocean?".  I've nothing to slow it down, though, so my transcribing basically means me sitting at a table listening to the same three seconds of music over and over and over and over again, and even then I'm likely getting the wrong notes because he plays so bloody fast.  However, it's helping me realise that I can't actually write rhythms down very well.  I will take what I do into Simon for analysis.  Hah.

Once a lick has been written down, I transpose it into every single key possible.  Which is a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I've not tried playing any yet, but I will eventually.  I'm not seeing a difference in my improvising yet, but once I start learning the licks I'm transcribing on the piano, I'll be able to use them while soloing.  Maybe.  Hopefully.