December 15th, 2022

​Learning Blue Bossa in 6 Keys

Materials required:

1. Fake book
2. Recording from YouTube
3. Piano 😊

Knowledge required:

1. Strong knowledge of musical rudiments. This lesson was written for a student who has his Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 8 piano and advanced rudiments.
2. Knowledge of at least one jazz chording system.  Rick used these chords in his left hand.

Lesson to play in 6 keys:

1. Learn and memorize the original melody and chords in C minor as written in the fakebook. Being able to play from memory is imperative. Here are some tips to help you.

• Note the melody is in C natural minor and that the third phrase modulates up ½ step into the major key of Db.
• Note that the first phrase starts in the fifth note of the minor scale, jumps an octave and walks down. Then the melody jumps up a 7th and down a 2nd to complete the first phrase.
• The second phrase starts on the last note of the previous phrase and repeats the same shape in this new starting position. This is called a diatonic transposition.
• The third phrase starts on the last note of the previous phrase and plays down the major scale a half step above the original minor key, in this case C minor. This is called modulation.
• The last phrase is back on the original key of C minor.

     2. The harmony: The harmony is notated using Roman numerals. This facilitates the transpositions to come. Minor chords are marked lower case and major chords in upper case.

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    3. Play the melody in the following keys: Cm, Am, Em, Dm, and Gm. Follow the instructions in step 1 after you review the natural minor scales and the major scales ½ step above these minor scales. 
    4. Now add the chords. To transpose the chords, you must do the following steps. Write out the c natural minor scale: C D Eb F G Ab Bb C. Directly below these letters write the scale of the new key, say f minor: F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F. Be sure the letters line up. C is directly above F and so on. Then, C minor chord becomes F minor chord, F minor chord becomes Bb minor and so on. Write out the scale of Db: Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db and then the scale ½ step above f minor, in this case Gb: Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb. The chord qualities, of course, remain the same. 
    5. What do we learn?

• We reviewed our intervals, key signatures, relative minor, transposition.
• We are transposing by combining ear, skill, and knowledge.
• Most importantly, we are learning visual pathways on the keyboard of chords and melodies, which will help us to transpose and visualize our jazz “licks.”

Call me, I can help.
 
David