Be creative at the Piano (Part 4) Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes When Improvising Mistake #1 -Thinking about what you’re going to play A lot of students think there should be some kind of preparation before improvising on the piano. They are right! There should be some thought as to the sound, tonality, and key […]
Category: Musical Analysis
Musical Analysis
Herbie Hancock: An Analysis of His Improvisional Style (1/3) Jazz music is often described as a language; in the same sense, improvisation between members of a small ensemble is referred to as a conversation. Just as children learn to speak their native language by imitating older competent speakers, young musicians learn to speak jazz by […]
Be creative at the Piano (Part 4) Paint Your Own Musical Landscapes! I don’t know why, but I find the idea of interpreting nature musically to be very appealing. Maybe it’s because I’m attracted to nature’s beauty, but the notion of communicating that beauty musically has always intrigued me.Not being a very patient person, I […]
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): A Retrospective Of the three stalwart Soviet composers who had achieved international fame during the reign of Josef Stalin, namely Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian, it was the latter who most consistently exemplified the tenets of Soviet Realism. As 2018 marks the fortieth anniversary of his passing, it is a […]
The Bach Chaconne: a concise analysis What is a chaconne? A chaconne is a set of melodic variations that occurs over a repeating chord progression. There are several famous examples of pieces that are chaconnes (even if they are not actually called that). You may know the Pachelbel Canon, which is a 3-part canon built […]
Be creative at the Piano (Part 1) Here’s the method I use every time I want to capture an idea. I draw out 8-bars (or measures) first. Why eight bars? Because it is an ideal framework to work in. Eight bars of music are enough to generate a complete musicalsentence and can usually be repeated […]
Table of Contents This monograph is an analysis of the first five pieces from an album by Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations, Volume One. The titles of the individual pieces are Noon Song, Song for Sally, Ballad for Anna, Song of the Wind, and Sometime Ago. These pieces, which form a suite of sorts, were chosen […]
Table of Contents What is Jazz Improvisation? Keith Jarrett – A musical analysis of “My Funny Valentine”(2/2) The introduction Form and Melody Rhythm Harmony Opening melody section Piano solo Form Rhythm Harmony Melody The role of the left hand Closing melody section The cadenza (see ex.98) Overview and Summary Jazz shee music download here. Keith […]