Improvisation Grids

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Welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence, it's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. We started September, two weeks ago with an exploration of five primary sounds of E, E Major E dominant E minor, E half diminished, and E diminished using our five improvisation exercises for developing good jazz fingerings fingerings that help us develop hand mobility and of course, a proper and authentic jazz articulation. And last week, we dove into the altered E dominant sounds, sharp 11, flat 13, flat nine flat 13 and fully altered using five improvisation exercises again, to focus on developing hand mobility and articulation. So typically today, typically, we would be jumping into a bebop tune to illuminate some classic jazz vocabulary that we could show off our new fingerings on right. But I have made an executive decision today to push that episode to next week. So that I could introduce you to improvisation grids, an approach I use to help students transition from a vertical melodic sound to a horizontal or linear sound. This is without question one of the most challenging skills to develop and having a conceptual understanding and of course, a physical command of improvisation grids will help you make this very significant leap to a professional sound when improvising. So today, today, you are going to discover improvisation grids and you are going to learn how to create an improvisation grid. And you're going to play an improvisation grid to improvise over an isolated sound, a 251 progression and a classic jazz standard. So as I always like to say regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner an intermediate player, an advanced player, even even if you're a seasoned and experienced professional, you're gonna find this jazz piano skills podcast lesson, exploring improvisation grids to be very beneficial. But before we dig in, I want to as I always do welcome new listeners to the jazz panel skills podcast and if you are new listener if you're new to jazz piano skills, I want to invite you to become a jazz panel skills member. There are various membership plans to choose from. So when you have a moment, check out jazz panel skills.com. To learn more about each of the membership plans, and all the perks associated with each plan. There are educational weekly podcasts, which include illustrations, lead sheets, and play alongs that are developed and available for every weekly podcast episode. There's also an online sequential jazz piano curriculum which is loaded with comprehensive courses. There's an online weekly masterclass online interactive Fakebook and a private jazz piano skills community which host a variety of engaging forums. On top of all that. There's also unlimited private, personal and professional educational support that's available. All of these perks, all of them are waiting for you and wanting to help you discover, learn and play jazz piano. So again, when you have a moment, check out jazz panel skills.com And of course become a member. Once you're there, if you have any questions regarding the various membership plans or any of the perks, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm always happy to spend a little time with you answer any questions that you may have and help you in any way that I can. Okay. So now, we typically have the question of the week but today simply due to the incredible amount of material that I am hoping to present. Explain and my idle for you all within an hour, it's going to be a sprint. So we're not going to have the typical question of the week that will return next week. Okay. So now let's get busy. And let's talk about these improvisation grids. I believe that the most common approach for teaching someone to begin improvising and for good reason is to begin with a harmonic approach. In other words, we begin with plain, creating melodies, using the notes of the chord that we are confronted with, right that this makes perfect sense. If I have to play or improvise something over a C dominant seven, I'm going to use the notes C, E, G, and B flat to create some melodic idea. Right? It's clean, it's tidy. And guess what? It's also historical. If you go back to listen to the solos of early jazz musicians in the 1900s, early 1900s, you will notice a very clear harmonic approach to improvisation. So the development of jazz itself, history tells us that this is a very good approach to use for beginning to develop improvisational skills. But, but history also tells us that jazz musicians and their improvisation approaches evolved. And they began using scale tones and non scale tones, in addition to the chord tones, and did so in such a way that their melodies their improvisation, became free in a sense that the plane moved from a vertical, a vertical approach to a horizontal or linear approach, right? From a vertical sound to a horizontal, horizontal side. Well, Herein lies the challenge for all of us wanting to develop mature professional improvisational skills. How can I take my vertical improvisation melodies, which is exactly how I have been taught to think about improvisation, and bright break out of that mindset. I want to begin playing musical phrases that stretch over many chords, and many measures, just like I hear professional jazz musicians do. But how do I develop that skill? Well, I believe the answer is improvisation grits. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we will explore an improvisation grid. Number two, we will apply the improvisation grid to an isolated minor sound. And number three, we will apply the improvisation grid to a 251 progression. And number four, we will apply the improvisation grid to a jazz standard, a classic, there will never be another you one final but significant note though, before we jump in and explore these grids. If you think that the improvisation grid approach that we are about to discover, learn and play is over your head then, then I would say to you relax. Alright, breathe in, breathe out. No worries, all right. Continue to listen and grow your jazz piano skills intellectually. By doing just that by just simply listening to this podcast episode. Every new skill is overhead when first introduced by but this is how we get better, right? We place ourselves right in the middle of conversations where we are hearing things that we've never heard before hearing words that we've never heard before. Therefore, we are forced, literally we're forced to grow intellectually. And I say it all the time. All musical growth begins upstairs mentally, conceptually before it can come out downstairs physically in your hands. So what I want you to do is just simply sit back, relax. Listen to this podcast. Listen now to discover and learn the play, as it always does. It comes in time, I guarantee. Okay, so what is an improvisation grid and in privacy ation grid is an interval. That's what it is, right? It's an interval, it's two notes, some distance apart, whether that be a third, or fifth, seventh ninth or 13th. Right. And then within that interval, we have designated landmarks. So the improvisation grid that I want to begin with

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is the largest improvisation grid. So I want to introduce a grid that spans the distance of a 13th. So I want you to think right now, F minor, okay. And the F minor sound consists of seven notes, F, G, A flat, B flat, C, and E flat. Okay. And I just played that sound, I just played that F minor sound using scale motion. But I could also play that F minor sound using arpeggio motion, where I'm gonna go brute, third, 579 1113. Right. So I either have scale motion. Or I have arpeggio motion. Okay, so we're going to use the arpeggio motion as our grid. So I want you to think of F minor, this grid spanning the distance of a 13th, from the note F to the note, D, again the distance of a 13th. And each of the notes in between that F and that D, that a flat, C, E flat, G and B flat. Those are our landmarks. Okay, so let's, for a lack of a better label, we're just going to call this an F minor grid. But really, it's it's a grid that consists of starting on the note F, going to the note D, a 13th. away, okay, but let's label it the F minor grid. So what I want to do is I want to demonstrate improvising over this isolated sound, using either scale motion, or arpeggio motion between the root and the 13th. So I want to bring the ensemble in I just want to start by by exploring this grid, this F minor sound from the route to 13. And improvising freely improvising using scale and arpeggio motion between the F and the D, a 13 apart. So let's start with that. So here's the ensemble let's play this F minor grid. I'm going to play it at a tempo of 140 today for just the sake of demonstration, but if you practice this at home, again, as I always recommend nice comfortable temples, slower temples, temples that will allow you to succeed and that you can manage easily to start Okay, so here we go. Let's check out the F minor grid route to 13 Here we go.

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Okay, right, pretty straightforward Add stuff there. Nothing too alarming, right. But now we can take that same grid. But let's let's shrink our grid instead of given us the distance of a 13th from the root to the 13th. Now let's take our grid that F minor sound, and let's take it only to the ninth. So we have our F minor scale representing the ninth to the ninth, or our arpeggio to the nine. Again, scale to the ninth arpeggio tonight. So now my playground gets a little smaller, right? So I want to bring the ensemble back in. And now I'm going to use that as my grid, this distance of a ninth and I'm going to improvise freely with in that ninth using either scale motion or arpeggio motion. Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out how this sounds. And again, I'm going to be playing 140 tempo 140 So here we go check it out.

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All right, very nice, right, very cool, but nothing again, nothing. Very shocking. Nothing very alarming here, right, we have our grid, we've just shrunk it from the 13th to the ninth. Now we're going to actually shrink our grid again. And this time, it's going to be from the root to the fifth root to the fifth. So now, my F minor sound using scale motion is this the fifth or my arpeggio. That's it right. So again, the playground just keeps getting smaller. And there's a reason for this. And you'll see this of that reason unfold as this episode continues. So let's bring the ensemble in. And now I'm going to have to improvise over this F minor sound using a very small grid root to fifth, but I still have skim scale motion to explore and arpeggio motion to explore when improvising. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's listen to this grid of a fifth as I improvise using scale and arpeggio motion over the F minor so here we go check it out.

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All right, so we have established this grid using the F minor sound is our template if you will. And we've looked at a grid and its entirety from the root to the 13th of the F minor sound we have, we then shrunk that grid to the ninth. And then we shrunk the grid again to the fifth, right? Regardless of the size of the grid, the 13th, the ninth or the fifth, we realize that we have scale and arpeggio motion that exists with inside that grid. Okay. So now let's make it a little more interesting. Let's look at the 251 progression. And of course, let's look at it the 251 progression in relationship to the key of E flat major, since we started with the F minor as our grid template, let's, let's imply the two chord, the F minor as the two chord going to the five chord, which would be B flat dominant seven, resolving to the one chord E flat major seven. Okay, but we're going to use the three grids that we just set up, right? With the isolated F minor sound, grid, one being root, the 13th grid to root the nine grid three root of five, we're going to use those three templates and apply those three templates to our 251 progression. So this is where it gets interesting, right? So if I have my F minor sound, my F minor grid from the root to the 13th. Right, I'm gonna still think that grid over the entire 251 progression. So I get to five, one. Okay, now, let me share with you the logic behind this, this grid F to D, the 13th. That's the number 13. That would be I can look at that grid and say yes, that is clearly F minor from the root to the 13th. But I can also look at that same grid and say that B flat dominant seven from the fifth to the third, same seven notes. And I can also look at that exact same grid from the F to the D and say, well, that's E flat major seven, from the ninth or the second to the seventh to the D, same seven notes. So again, we have our two we have our five and we have our one. So because I see that grid as being 100% applicable to the minor chord, the two chord 100% applicable to the five chord, the B flat seven, and 100% applicable to the one chord, the E flat major seven. Now I am freed up to create to improvise to focus on playing with in that grid over the 251 progression, as opposed to thinking to chord play something five chord, play something one chord play something which lends itself to a very vertical sound, which we're trying to break away from. And the grid will help us do just that. So what I want to do, I want to model for you, I want to bring the ensemble back in. And I want to play the 251 progression now in the key of E flat. And I'm going to use my grid from the root to the 13th. So I'm going to start with my largest playground as I play over my 251. But I'm going to stay within the grid. And of course, I can use scale motion, I can use arpeggio motion. So I'm going to start off I'm going to play the 251 progression, I'm going to you're going to hear me play the arpeggio from the root to 13. You're going to hear me play the scale from the root to 13. Then you're going to hear me start to improvise within that grid over the top of my 251 because I want to focus on linear development on my plane breaking away from a vertical mindset of I have a two play something a five play something, a one play something. Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in. And let's check it out. Here we go.

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Now it's getting interesting, right? This is something to think of think about playing that same grid working off that same grid over the top of the entire 251 progression. I don't know about you, but that's much more intriguing. from a creative standpoint, than always constantly having to shift my thought process from a two chord to a five chord to a one chord. I'm quite aware of the 251 moving underneath me, but I'm working over the top of that 251 using my grid. Now, if I shrink the grid to the ninth, okay, so now my playground just gets smaller. But within that smaller prey playground, I should be able to create, improvise very easily through my 251 progression, I might just have to be a little bit more creative because my playground again is smaller, but it's all there, the two chord is there, the five chord is there and the one chord is there within my grid to the night. So I have my F minor sound going into the ninth using scale motion. And I have my minor sound going to the ninth using arpeggio motion. I have my dominant chord, the distance of a ninth using scale motion. Also arpeggio motion, I have my one chord going to distance of a nine and using arpeggio motion right, it's all there. So now let me bring the ensemble in. And let's check out the 251 progression E flat using my grid based off the F minor sound, the distance of a ninth Okay, here we go check it out.

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Very nice right, again the playground got smaller. However the the minor sound is clearly within that grid, the dominant sound is in that grid and the major sound is within that grid. Okay. So now guess what? Let's shrink the grid again. So now let's take our grid to the fifth. So we have a minor our F minor sounds gonna Go from RF to RC or arpeggio motion or dominant sound from F to C

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or major sound F to C

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Okay, again, it's all there, the minor sound is there, the dominant sound is there, the major sound is there within that very small grid. So I want to bring the ensemble back in now I have to improvise within a much smaller, much smaller playground. But I still have scale motion at my fingertips, I still have arpeggio motion at my fingertips to use to create. Alright, so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check it out here we go.

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Okay, so pretty cool, right? We started with an isolated minor sound. And we established three different grids, we grid from the root to the 13th of that minor sound. We did a grid from the root to the ninth of that minor sound, and a grid from the root to the fifth. And we explored improvising within each of those grids using scale and arpeggio motion, which by the way, the only that's the only two types of motion we have in music. We're doing everything we possibly can. So then we said okay, well, let's take that grid and in can we use that same grid approach? Those three grids? And can we think within those three grids as a 251 progression is playing. And so we logically said, Well, okay, let's treat that minor grid then as the two chord so therefore, we, we would be in the key of E flat with our F minor seven, go into B flat seven, going to E flat major. And sure enough, we we took those three grids, and no difficulty, no problem, using that grid to freely improvise over our 251 progression, helping us develop linear lines, kind of breaking away from the vertical approach that we are typically taught when beginning to improvise, where we have a chord, and we use the chord tones up and down, to create some kind of melodic idea. And then we go to the next chord, and we think about that chord and play something. And then we go to the next chord. And we do the same thing, right? Again, a very vertical approach, how do we get from a vertical approach to improvisation to a much more linear approach, where these grids are helping us do that. So we went from an isolated minor sound to a 251 progression. Now let's take that grid and let's apply it to a classic standard. So I selected there will never be another you which is a fabulous tune. The standard key for there will never be another U is the key of E flat, we just got done playing 251 in the key of E flat. So now I want to take my three grids that we established from using an isolated minor sound. And I want to see if I can take those that grid, those three grids and apply that grid to the standard there will never be another you. So the challenge here is that all the chord changes that exist within the standard there will never be another you I have to be able to see them with in my grid. Okay. The grid is what's going to hold my improvisation together. But I'm going to see obviously I'm going to See those chord changes within that grid. So I'm going to start with the easiest grid, which ironically, is the biggest grid from the root to the 13th. Right. So let's bring the ensemble in, I'm going to play through, there will never be another you, I'm going to do this at a, a tempo of 160, which is pretty, pretty much a standard tempo for this tune. And I'm going to play the head, and then I will improvise using my grid. And then I will play the head again, and in the two, okay, and when I'm playing within the grid, I'm going to stick with scale and arpeggio motion within the grid based upon the chord changes that I'm confronted with found within the standard there will never be another you. Okay, so let's bring ensemble in. And let's see how this grid improvising within this grid works over this standard. All right, let's check it out here we go.

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It works, it works provided that you know, your scales, your CT scan relationships. But it definitely works right. And I'm freed up to think very linear linearly within that grid, as opposed to thinking vertical. Right. Okay, so now let's make it a little more challenging. Let's shrink the grid as we've been doing throughout this episode throughout this podcast, right, so now, instead of a playground that runs the distance that interval of a 13 Let's shrink it down to the distance of a ninth. So now I have to see all those chords, the scales and the arpeggios for each of those chords. Within that grid, that smaller grid, but guess what? They're all they're all the scales of all the arpeggios for all the chords found in there will never be another you are within the grid running a distance of a ninth F A flat, C, E flat and G they're all there. The Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in I'm going to play this standard again I'll play the head improvise using my grid of a ninth and then not play the head again and the two so let's have some fun with there will never be another you using a grid of a ninth here we go.

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love it I love it, I in fact, the smaller the grids, I think, the better. It challenges you to really see the scales and the arpeggios for each of those chords within a specific geographical region. Okay, so let's continue that thought just a little further right. Now let's shrink our grid to a fifth. So now I have F to C scale F to C arpeggio. And can I see within that grid of a fifth? Can I see all of the scales and all of the arpeggios for the chord changes of there will never be another you guess what? They're all there. They are all there within that fifth, right? You have to know the scales well enough that you can see the fragments of those scales found within the tune within that grid within that interval. Okay. So let's see if I can do that. This is a challenge right? To be creative, within that small playground, right using scale and arpeggio motion and finding the fragments that fit within that. That playground that coincide with the chord changes found within there will never be another you. So let's bring the ensemble in. And let's do this one more time. Here we go.

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What's up?

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Wow, right, so now hopefully, this makes sense to you why improvisation grids are so very important. The grids, honestly, can be any distance between any two notes I happen to use and students always ask me, why did you pick the minor sound the producer grid? And the answer is quite simply, well, it's the first chord of the 251 progression. And I practice my improvisation using these grids, first and foremost, over to five ones. So because it was the first sound, I use that to base my grid off of, but you can create a grid off of the dominant sound if you wish, or off the major sound, if you wish, I would just encourage you to do it to develop your grids in such a way that it makes sense to you conceptually, and makes sense to you visually, and it makes sense to you physically, okay. And if you do that, and if you can see your chords and your scales and the arpeggios for the chords within your grids, whether they'd be the distance of a 13 or a ninth or a fifth, or even a third, right, then you are well on your way to establish a very linear sound to your improvisation to your play. Wow. We've done it again, right we've unpacked a ton of information in a very short and very fast hour as always, improvisation grids, right, it's time to begin developing improvisational lines, melodies that are linear. Time is always present when you're playing time is always present. But our creativity is dependent upon our ability to play through the bar lines as if they are not there at all. And likewise, our creativity is dependent upon our ability to be aware of key centers, like two five ones, key centers, and chord changes, but not play as if we are chained to them. In other words, we want to play over them, not in them. Hope that makes sense. And if you conceptually understand this, then you are on the right track to developing a mature and professional jazz improvisation approach. As always, though, especially with improvisation grits, as always Be patient right there. Developing mature and professional jazz piano skills takes time. It takes a lifetime. So begin structuring your improvisation development. After the plane demonstrations that I modeled for you in this podcast episode and I guarantee it, you will begin to see feel and hear your progress. Okay, so next week we will tackle attune and see if we can pull pull this entire month together right our primary e sounds are altered E dominant sounds are improvisation grids and of course the Bebop tune of the month. Wow. Next week should be a very exciting episode. Well, I hope you found this episode The Jazz Piano Skills podcast exploring improvisation grids I hope you find it to be insightful and of course to be beneficial. Don't forget if you are a jazz panel skills ensemble member I'll see online Thursday evening at the jazz panel skills masterclass. That's gonna be 8 pm Central time to discuss this podcast episode, exploring improvisation grids in greater detail. And of course to answer any questions that you may have about the study of jazz in general. You can as always, reach me by phone 972-380-8050 My office extension is 211 if you prefer email, Dr. Lawrence, drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com. Or you can use the nifty little SpeakPipe widget that is found, I believe on every single page of the jazz piano skills website. Well, there's my cue. That's it for now. And until next week, enjoy exploring improvisation grids and most of all, have fun as you discover, learn, and play jazz piano!