Jazz Curriculum for Beginners

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photo by Yuske Frutate at Array Studio 2017

A partial listing of tunes students are currently playing

General Outline of my Jazz Curriculum 

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Jazz Improvisation. There are no “secrets” to learning to improvise, but there are techniques and experiences that will help you down this road. In the “old days” musicians learned to improvise by playing with experienced musicians. We start there too: jamming together, learning through “call and response” with an experienced, and very patient Jazz musician: me. Depending on your current level of skill we usually start with the blues for beginners. We quickly move into learning simple “licks” to give us something to work idiomatically with. Next up improvising over chord changes in Jazz standards. Namely how to improvise on tunes you want to play. I guide beginners in choosing repertoire that is at an appropriate level to help reduce the cognitive load and up the fun.

Technique. One of the foundations of musicianship. I think of building our technique as a form of meditation. A time to explore the beauty your hands can make. Wynton Marsalis says to students, “learn to play your instrument”. I paraphrase, he put it much more colourfully.

You will learn:
  • Blues scales in the keys of C, Bb, and F and some basic licks to get your started improvising idiomatically.
  • Major scales, minor scales, formula patterns, broken chords, and arpeggios as appropriate. 
  • Basic skills on effectively using a fakebook.
  • The Jazz chords, Bebop Shells aka "Sonny's thumbs", rootless voicings, and quartal chords.

Repertoire development. Learning tunes. We work from fakebooks, by ear, and written arrangements. Students have a lot to say here, so bring your list.

Sight-reading. Strong fakebook sight-reading skills makes everything easier. Sight-reading is about pattern recognition. And, in Jazz, comping chords at sight. There are modern ways to go about this that are effective. Fun, too.

Ear training. If you can hear music analytically it is easier. Forget your preconceptions of your own skills here. It's a learnable skill. Jazz ear training will help you not get lost while improvising. As your ears evolve so will your confidence at the piano because ultimately Jazz is played by ear. I encourage students to read Jerry Coker’s jazz books to help you hear what is going on in a Jazz performance.
  • Intervals
  • Playback “lick of the week”
  • Chord Identification
  • Counting and staying in place. The play along link above is a great help. 

​Theory. Knowing what you are doing is one of the most effective shortcuts there is. A solid grounding in theory assists our ability to sight-read well and communicate with the teacher.
You will learn the Jazz chords, the various voicing systems, and modes.
You will learn how to play major, minor, tri-tones, and dominant 7th chords to accompany yourself through the tunes. We will cover the five types of Jazz chords (major 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7th, minor 7th flat 5, and diminished 7th).
We will explore song forms (AABA) and various kinds of Blues forms.
Key signatures, time signatures, scale construction, intervals, 7th chords, and the foundational Jazz harmonic patterns namely the ii7-V7 major and minor keys

Theory bonus: YouTube Jazz videos will start to make sense and so will the unread but much loved jazz “how to” books that populate so many students’ bookshelves.
 
​All students are offered the opportunity to play in our jazz trio workshops when they resume after the pandemic. 
"Sing the bass lines" Aaron Goldberg, Poland 2018

Topics and Sequencing of the Curriculum 

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I use a modified outline from Berklee College of Music, my alma mater, to organize the sequencing of the different concepts of learning in Jazz. I’ve adapted it for my adult jazz enthusiasts. You will get a link to your individual spreadsheet that charts your progress.
 
Part 1 We explore an overview of Jazz History as we learn to swing and play from a fakebook.
Part 2 How do Jazz Players think? Exploring chord progressions and melodic interpretation.
Part 3 The Blues: Boogie woogie, Swing Blues, and more.
Part 4 Creating a richer Jazz sound with chord tensions and other harmonic concepts.
Part 5 Jazz Voicings and Practice Techniques: Bebop, Rootless, and more.
Part 6 How to create walking bass lines in the left hand.
Part 7 How to play a Bossa Nova.
Part 8 Minor keys, happy or sad?
Part 9 Advanced Jazz—Modal voicings and contemporary Blues.
Part 10 How to improvise over chord changes.
Part 11 Solo Piano Techniques to create that “piano bar sound”.
Part 12 Arranging a Song: how to start and finish.
Part 13 How to Jam
"Go deeper on fewer pieces" Aaron Goldberg, Poland 2018

​​A sample jazz lesson from December 2020

Goal: Memorize and perform Mack the Knife
 
Student was a retired executive with a life long interest in jazz. He came to me able to play the piano. 

My first step would be to have the student listen to the tune over and over until they knew as it as well as happy birthday. (Good chance to vocalize.) This student already had the tune in his head. Next, he played the melody by ear. Then we transposed the melody into various keys, today the keys of C, F, G, Eb, Bb, A, and D major.
​Bill McBirnie, Jazz flutist of note, plays the melodies along with different recordings. Good idea for our homework.

We sung the bass line along with Mr. Sonny Bass. This will be usually in whole notes or half notes. 
​Preparing to improvise: We worked the basic building blocks
  • Broken chords
  • Broken chords with chromatic approach
  • Enclosures
  • Scales, including the bebop scale on the dominant
  • A Blues lick on the ii-V
  • Then we took a lick from a transcription found on the Clarke Terry Transcription above.
  • The we transposed out simple lick into different keys
 
David. 

What and how to Practice Jazz Piano

Our overall goal should be to work on our time, tone, improvisation, and repertoire. Using a metronome, recording yourself, and playing with others is very effective. For more information see the practice blog.

What to Practice:
  1. Playing from written music to keep our hands developing or to preserve the skills you have acquired over the years. I usually play Classical piano to keep my hands sharp. 
  2. Memorizing a simple repertoire of Jazz standards, perhaps a blues in F and Bb, a ballad, a standard or two, and a Bossa Nova. A suggested repertoire to begin improvising is below with links. 
  3. Playing your repertoire along with the great recordings. 
  4. Acquiring simple licks,  2 or 3 notes to start, by ear and transposing them into the keys of your memorized repertoire.
  5. Attending live Jazz events to stay motivated. This might include Jazz camp for adults.  
Autumn Leaves https://youtu.be/tguu4m38U78 
Take the A train https://youtu.be/D6mFGy4g_n8 
Blue Monk https://youtu.be/_40V2lcxM7k 
Satin Doll https://youtu.be/Gj42JotNUko 
Blue Bossa https://youtu.be/U7eOs5lERww 
C jam Blues https://youtu.be/16UIKglJ56w

How To Practice For Four Hours Click here.