​1. Immerse yourself in jazz music. The more you listen, the quicker the journey. This is because you need to be able to identify when you’re playing correctly. Adopt the listening habits of a musician. There are numerous resources available online, such as blogs and courses, that can guide you on how to listen effectively. For instance, consider the audio lecture series “Elements of Jazz”.
2. Commit three songs to memory: a blues, a ballad, and a standard. These will serve as the foundation for applying your expanding knowledge.
3. Master the fundamental elements of Jazz. A good start is the major scales for the three songs you’ve memorized, and the jazz chords played in broken inversions. There are additional aspects to learn, but we’ll tackle those later.
4. Experiment with the melody. Pay attention to how the greats have “interpreted” the melodies on the ballad and standard. Try to emulate them.
5. Develop your instrumental skills to match the level of the jazz solos you aim to perform.
6. Identify a brief sequence, perhaps three or four notes, within a jazz solo you admire on YouTube. Listen to it repeatedly until you can sing it, then locate it on your instrument. The “licks” you learn this way will become uniquely yours. I can guide you on how to transpose these licks onto the other chords of your three songs. Here is a demonstration transposing a 3 note lick in “Autumn Leaves.”
7. Analyze the solos of other musicians on YouTube. Search for something like “Autumn Leaves Transcription” and explore the results. Try to find multiple versions of your three songs.
8. Focus on the basics before diving into more complex techniques. Ensure you can play a12 bars blues without losing your place before moving on to complex tunes.
9. Deepen your understanding of music theory. High-level jazz involves applying theory in real-time at a fast pace.
10. Invest time in ear training. It’s challenging to play what you can’t hear.

Remember, I’m here to assist you with each of these ten steps.

Call me

​David 

It's a honor and thrill to teach piano. After all these years I still look forward to going to work each day making dreams come true. 

I'd be pleased to help you find your way.

​David

​It is fun.

It’s fun if you are young and playing with your mom, it’s fun if you are older and playing with your spouse. The experience of duet playing is social bounding.

The piece teaches so many skills to a neophyte.

1. Ear training: getting the hands to play together
2. Musical memory: remembering the pattern
3. Time training: listening to the accompanist
4. Expression: the joy is infectious
5. Technique: Using the arm
6. Finger numbers are reinforced
7. Helps contribute to the positive “vibes” to learning the piano.

If you like to be part of this, call me.

​David

It might. If the instrument you play now is uneven, out of tune, and has missing notes, joy will be dampened. Chopin is reported to have said, “play the best instrument you can when learning.”

Here are other thoughts on staying in the game:

1. Revisit the reason you started this project in the first place. Are you on or off course?
2. Are you playing the right music?
3. Is your time commitment and timeline realistic when put up against your goals?
4. Is your practice space attractive and organized?
5. Are distractions keeping you unfocused?
6. Are you suffering from Covid fatigue?
7. Are you getting enough sleep?

These are problems all musicians/students must deal with from time to time or in these times.

David

Classical piano Grades 1-2

Is it possible to make progress in 10 minutes? Of course. At some point longer practice sessions will be required, but with planning and focus you can accomplish a lot in a shorter time. Remember playing an instrument is fun when we succeed at it. And can clearly see our progress over time.

What practice is:

Learning through thoughtful repetition how to play our instrument so that over time we progress towards our goal however modest or lofty that may be. The goal is to accomplish a micro step forward each time we sit to practice. The size of this micro step varies on the time available.

What practice is not:

Messing around playing stuff we know is not practicing, it is playing. This is not a negative, but the reason we practice in the first place. In conclusion don’t feel guilty messing around, just don’t confuse it with practicing. Fool around without guilt. Have fun.

Session 1

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note per click, listen back
• One short section of a piece
  • Listen first to the professional recording that comes with your book
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Play a bit from a favourite piece if time permits

Session 2

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note be click, listen back
• One short section of a piece
  • Listen first to the professional recording that comes with your book
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Do all or part of a section from the sight-reading book.

Session 3

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note be click, listen back
• One section of a piece
  • Listen first
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Sing your assigned intervals

 
Have fun. 


David

The "breakfast piano minutes" are usually created in about 10 minutes 1st thing in the morning. 

If you are feeling stale, try the following exercises.

1. Transpose all or some of your repertoire into other keys. Which keys? The ones you will find on recordings. I recently learned to play Cherokee in 12 keys, no kidding.
2. Sing the roots for the chord progressions from your repertoire, then transpose the progressions into another key. Strive to be in time and on pitch.
3. Play transcriptions from YouTube of your current repertoire. Notice whether they are plays scales, broken chords, enclosures, or blues licks.
4. Play along with master jazz musicians on recordings.
5. Renew your knowledge of key signatures, the circle of 5ths and intervals from a theory textbook.

David

1. Having a concise well thought-out goal before you begin lessons is critical. The goal need not be lofty. Just clear.
2. There are no shortcuts. Some folks know this, others not so much. Those who methodically do the work over an extended period generally see the results they were seeking. They don't skip steps or areas of study. 
3. Some folks understand skill is earned not bought.
4. Focused students outperform the scattered every time.
5. It is easier for some.
6. Practice works, I am living proof of that. I just regret it took to age 43 to learn how to practice.
7. The 10,000-hour rule may be a myth. But it is a good place to start.
8. We can be inspired and sustain our long-term efforts from drawing on noble and ignoble reasons. For example, love and revenge seem to be equally effective to get and keep us moving forward in life and piano.
9. Learning is more fun on a great instrument.
10. Taking piano exams is difficult, thrilling, infuriating, and stressful. Costs lots of money too. I am grateful to have had the privilege to do it in my 40s. It transformed my life.

If I can help you, let's chat. 

Best, 

David

An intermediate player can play some tunes with a band or play along track. They usually have to read the music though from a fake book due to a lack of confidence. They are keen to move it up a notch. They feel overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities in a practice session. 

Below are some ideas on how to spend your time. Yes, it is a lot, but over the course of a week and little bit of each can be worked on. Over time your experience will accumulate. 

Have fun. 

1. Listening to recordings and determining:
   1. Instrumentation
   2. Form
   3. Solo order
   4. Solo length: full chorus/half chorus or whatever
   5. Style/era: Traditional, swing, bebop, Modern, Post-modern
   6. Cool licks to learn, find at least one to learn
2. Slow Warmup playing ii-V 1 chord progressions with scales or broken chords in the right hand with chord voicings in the left hand. Select the keys from your current repertoire.
3. Technique

• Sight reading: piano music, lead sheets, whatever…
• Comping chords, if you are a beginner practice writing them out first.
• Phrasing questions: legato, detached, swing 8ths, dynamic shaping over the phrase. With the study of phrasing in jazz I suggest listening to a “master” play the phrase and then mimic it. Same phrase, different players, different approaches. You will learn a lot of interesting things with this phrase

    4. Licks

• Transposing a simple lick in multiple keys, see step 2 for keys

    5. Review old repertoire
    6. Repertoire work, your new pieces
    7. Theory work
    8. Singing intervals
    9. Jamming with tracks, apps, or original recordings.
    10. Repeat step one.

​Acquiring fluency in the “language” of Classical Music

Two presuppositions:

First: We all play what we hear in our heads. Second: Beautiful music is “heard” in our heads and our hands obey.

​What we “hear” in our mind is a combination of experience, education, and reflection. Experience includes all the listening opportunities we’ve had in life. (My advice is start early) When the our listening experiences are linked to a moment of high emotional arousal: a concert trip with a beloved family member, attending a concert with a date, the impression is going to last. Impassioned listening I call it. For links to studies click this sentence. 

Education is musical appreciation, music theory studies, ear training, analysis, and score study. Sophisticated music does not give up her charms easily. You must work for it. Piano students too often want to skip this stuff and get right to the good stuff. Believing that the score tells you all you need to know to create a beautiful performance is an unfortunate fallacy in piano education. It is just a bare minimum. Artistic insight and performance go way beyond the ink.

​Reflection needs to be deliberate. Another form of deliberate practice. It is listening with intent in the performance of a great artist and ourselves. Reading biographies, autobiographies, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube interviews, and concerts. Asking ourselves, “what is going on here?” “How did they do it?”

What we can execute is all about deliberate practice, time, patience, and access to resources including teachers.

• Bench time is real.
• Education works.
• And our effort must be equal to the depth of our ambitions.

It’s coming to peace with the notion that we are putting ourselves on the well-worn path to proficiency and patiently working and progressing. No hacks, no shortcuts.
Now go practice,
David