David Story Online Toronto Piano Teacher
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How To Practice Jazz For Four Hours!

1/25/2021

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4 hours of practice: No Grinding.

Playing
  • Repertoire retention: Review a piece each practice from your list.
  • Lesson assignments
Listening to Jazz 
  • Form analysis: Who, what, when questions.
  • Instrumentation: What, what, when questions
  • “What’s going on here?”
  • Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions
  • Suggested materials: How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia
Ear training
  • Transcribing licks. A lick a day transposed into different keys.
  • Transposing exercise
  • C jam blues in 12 keys
  • Autumn leaves learn it in another key. Try in the key of F. By ear, or by writing it out.
  • Suggested materials: Perfect ear App or Music Theory Pro
Jazz History
  • Reading jazz history and checking out the recordings on YouTube. Each month study a different decade of jazz. Research a jazz history outline online and head for YouTube. See also Jazz History by Ted Gioia.
  • Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions
General and Jazz Specific Theory
  • Key signatures, intervals, transposition, scale/chord construction.
  • Suggested materials: Music Theory Pro for drills, Alfred’s essential music theory is good as are the RCM theory books. But it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.
Jazz Sight reading
  • Piano music: play simple stuff, use a slow metronome.
  • Lead sheets
  • Chording
  • Suggested materials: Your fake book: open and play. Or RCM sight reading books. Again, it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.
 Piano Technique
  • Major scales
  • Bebop scales
  • Broken 7th chords: Major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7b5, diminished 7th in 12 keys. Play a maximum of 2 keys a day. SLOW IS FINE.
  • I play classical piano music to keep my hands in some kind of shape. You might benefit from this as well. Or, you could play written jazz arrangements for piano. The idea is to keep the hands alive, as jazz piano study is brutal on piano techniques because we spend so much time play single note lines and left hand chords. 

If you would like some help, call me. 

​David
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How I Prepare to Learn Or Teach A New Piece of Music: Haydn Sonata in C And Bourrée in F By Telemann

1/8/2021

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When I take on a new piece of music of any complexity I will go through some or all the following steps. My goal is to have a clear artistic impression of the piece before I begin. 

1. Compare the different scores available to me.
2. Seek out professional recordings.
3. Print the music as I will be marking it up. 
4. Study the form and phrasing of the work. Sometimes, as in the Telemann I will mark in the phrasing. 
5. I will consider the era in which it was written for clues on possible interpretations.
6. I translate any unfamiliar terms I find in the score.
7. I might consult other sources to explore the style and era of its creation. For the Sonata in C, I enjoyed re-reading the section on Haydn ornaments in the book below.
8. I will listen to multiple professional performances and mark on the score ideas of interest. I often will slow down a recording to hear how the artist plays their ornaments. 
9. I might consult with a colleague or my piano coach as well. 

In short, I will have a clear set of ideas, those I discovered and my own, to explore as I now start to "learn" the piece. I will share these with my students.

If I can help you discover intriguing world of classical music, please call me. 

David
Picture
View the Score Here
File Size: 1340 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

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View The Bourree Here
File Size: 881 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

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Deep Practice: Exploring behind the notes

12/9/2020

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Links: ​Sound Ways of Knowing: Music in the Interdisciplinary Curriculum : Janet R. Barrett Claire W. McCoy Kari K. Veblen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive


Know more than the notes. Exploring the questions of sociological context, compositional techniques, recorded history and more will add depth and sophistication to your playing and security to your memorization. 

Click on the picture for more, or for the "science" click the link. 

Here is a simple example:

1st Movement of Sonata in F minor op. 1

Who created it?
Beethoven, German Romantic era composer 1770–1827
When and where was it created?
1795 Vienna Austria
Why and for whom was it created?
Dedicated to his teacher Joseph Haydn. Apparently it was his first publicly published work.
What does it sound or look like?
Dramatic opening rocket type theme of the tonic, then dominant chord announces that there is a "new kid in town". Great dynamic contrasts throughout the movement keep us focused. A composition of a young man.
What kind of structure or form does it have?
Classic Sonata Form
What is its subject?
The interplay is between the 2 main themes in the exposition and their development through many key centers. 
What is being expressed?
Youthful exuberance, drama and compositional skill demonstration of the classical era style.
What techniques did its creator use to help us understand what is being expressed?
  • Sonata form
  • Tonic/dominant harmony
  • Melodic development

David
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Extreme Practice

1/25/2019

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Ten hours plus a week on your instrument. Is this possible? Yes, maybe. 

There are some adults and many teenagers who log more than 10 hours a week.

  1. J. practices drums 3 hours a day plus attends a jam or two a week. He is a business owner with a few dozen staff. 
  2. M. practices trumpet 2 hours a day. He works full time as a bar tender in NYC. He logs his practice. He is not married.  
  3. J., a teenager logs close to 20 hours a week. This includes music classes at school, afterschool bands and clubs, piano lessons and jazz jamming. 
  4. G, retired, practices piano 4 hours a day. His wife says it keeps him alive. Temporarily sidelined with some health issues, he looks forward to resuming his place on the piano bench.

They are united by an intense desire to learn and achieve. Their lives are organized around practice. They take lessons, they take responsibility, and they persevere through thick and thin. 

Some final thoughts.

If you want to ramp it up, do it slowly to avoid injury. Add a 10% to your practice time each week. Be sure to ask advice from your instructors. 

Best

David Story

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    I'm a professional pianist and music educator in West Toronto Ontario. I'm also a devoted student and teacher of the drums. 

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