Indiana (Back Home Again In), Improvisation

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Welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. Hard to believe. Here we are week three of our three week exploration of the 1917 jazz standard Indiana, back home again in Indiana. Week one, two weeks ago, we took a deep dive into the harmonic foundation of the tune, followed by last week's discussion of the melody to be followed up today with a challenging look at various ways to use Indiana for developing art improvisational skills. How fun is this going to be? What's great about our three tier approach harmony melody improvisation to study in tunes is that it quickly reveals I think you would agree especially after last month, it quickly reveals our strengths and our weaknesses regarding various essential jazz piano skills needed for improvising. How important is it that we know our strengths and weaknesses that we accurately know our strengths and weaknesses? The bottom line is that there's no way to improve our plane without having an accurate understanding or assessment of our plane. The last couple of weeks podcast episode lessons and today's lesson do exactly that. They give us a what I like to say a no bars hold report card where where we stand with our ability to play critical jazz piano skills. I made a point to mention several times since the start of the year that there is a sequential order to learn how to play jazz piano, which really shouldn't surprise anyone right? After all, I cannot think of any high level skill that you can successfully develop without having a strategic game plan. I can confidently guarantee you that a scattershot approach or what I like to call a YouTube approach to trying to learn how to play jazz piano only causes frustration, confusion and ultimately, and ultimately, as I like to say a raising of the white flag right. So my goal from day one with jazz piano skills has been to not only introduce you to essential jazz piano skills discovered, but also to provide you with a way to successfully study the skills learn and a process for developing a physical command of the skills play. discover, learn play. I also mentioned several times since the started a new year that if you have been a faithful jazz piano skills listener for the past four plus years, you have become intimately familiar with the jazz piano skills needed to begin tune study. I also mentioned that if you haven't been grinding along with us over the past four years, no worries right. This is a great time to jump on board to begin developing and enhancing your jazz piano skills. The tune study that we are going to be doing every month will help you sift through and prioritize the last four years of podcast episodes so that you can begin maximizing your jazz piano skills immediately. So if you're a jazz piano skills veteran, or a jazz piano skills, rookie makes no difference at all, you are in the right place at the right time to begin a jazz piano journey that will have a profound impact on your understanding of music and of course, on your jazz piano playing. So today you are going to discover an improvisation approach for Indiana. You're going to learn improvisational zones, patterns and motifs for Indiana and you're going to play ascending and descending patterns and motifs through the changes of Indiana. So as I always like to say regardless of where you are in your personal jazz journey, a beginner intermediate player, an advanced player or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you're going to find this jazz panel skills podcast lesson exploring Indiana, an improvisational approach to be very beneficial but before or we get started I want to as I always do, welcome first time listeners to jazz piano skills. And if you are a new listener if you're new to jazz piano skills, new to jazz panel skills podcast, I want to invite you to become a jazz piano skills member. Your membership will grant you access to the premium content for this podcast episode and every weekly podcast episode. premium content will help you thoroughly and correctly discover, learn and play the jazz standard we are currently exploring. And as the old saying goes so much more. For example, as a jazz piano skills member, you can access the past current and future educational weekly podcast packets. These are the illustrations the lead sheets in the play alongs or backing tracks that I produced for every weekly podcast episode. Now these are invaluable educational resources that you want to have in your hands as you listen to the episode and you certainly want to have sitting on your piano. As you practice. You also as a jazz panel skills member have access to a self paced and sequential jazz piano curriculum which is loaded with comprehensive courses containing educational talks and interactive learning medium. There are video demonstrations and all 12 keys for the scale that we are studying, and so much more. You also have a reserved seat in my online weekly master classes which are held every Thursday evening. And if you can't attend no problem master classes are recorded. And you can watch and rewatch the class whenever and as often as you wish. You also as a jazz piano skills member have access to an online interactive Fakebook containing must know jazz standards with excellent chord changes, chord scale relationships, harmonic function analysis, listening suggestions, and historical insights. As jazz panel skills member you can also hang out with old and make some new jazz piano friends in our online private jazz piano skills community, right, which hosts a variety of engaging forums. And finally, last but certainly not least, as a jazz piano skills member. You have unlimited, private, personal and professional educational support whenever and as often as you need it. All of these amazing privileges are waiting for you wanting to help you discover, learn and play jazz piano. So check it all out at jazz piano skills.com. And of course, become a member to enjoy premium podcast content, plus all of the other privileges that I just mentioned. Of course, once you get to the site, if you have any questions whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm happy to spend some time with you and answer any questions that you may have. All right. Speaking of questions, it's on to the question of the week. And now this week's question comes from Eileen Resnick, living in Barcelona, Spain. And it's, it's a very good one indeed. Eileen asked. I feel I have a functional command of my arpeggios and scales for each of the 60 courts. However, I still find it difficult to improvise. Basically, I feel like I have the tools but I have no idea how to use them to create. It's awful. It's like having a hammer and no idea how to use it. It's great. What I am what what am I missing? Why can I not improvise? Why does my improvisation sound like I'm playing arpeggios and scales. Thank you Dr. Lorenz for any input and guidance. Wow. There is a lot to unpack here. Eileen, a lot. Actually, you have several questions crunched into one. Now I have several thoughts running through my mind. So I will do my very best to try to present them in an organized manner so that all of your questions are answered. All right. So here we go. First and foremost. First and foremost, congratulations. on gaining a command of the arpeggios and scales for each of the 60 chords that would be 12 Major 12 dominant 12 minor 12 Half diminished and 12 diminished. This is No, Eileen, I gotta tell you, this is no small accomplishment. So you should be, you should be on cloud nine feeling great, really feeling great about where you are in your jazz journey. Now I'm assuming that when you say you have a command of your arpeggios, and scales, you mean that you are,

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you're capable of playing them both the arpeggios and scales, from the root of the sound, to at least the seventh to the south, right with your chord in the left hand. So you're playing the chord in the left hand, you're playing the arpeggio and scale on the right hand, you're playing from the root to the seventh. I'm assuming that is what you're referring to when you say you have a command of the arpeggio, arpeggios and scales. Now if you can play the arpeggios and scales to the ninth to the 11th and the 13th of the sounds, then Wow. You're rockin it's right. But But either way, congrats. This is a very huge accomplishment in your jazz piano journey. Now, as you have discovered, just because you can successfully play each of the primary sounds of music major dominant minor, half diminished and diminished harmonically as a chord and melodically as an arpeggio or scale that this does not guarantee this is not mean. Improvisation will be easy, right? Because, because now, because now you have to begin thinking rhythmically. In other words, you have to do something with those arpeggios and scales, right, you gotta, you have to do something with them. You cannot simply play arpeggios and scales up and down the piano and think this will somehow magically translate into an authentic jazz language. Because again, as you have discovered, right, it doesn't. So I would surmise that the root cause of the difficulty you are experiencing when trying to improvise is rhythm, which of course 100% dependent upon the strength of your internal sense of time. So rhythm, and time, it all comes down to rhythm, and time. So Eileen, I have to ask you, do you consciously and consistently, practice time and rhythm? If so, what are you doing to practice time and rhythm? I bet that you are not practicing time and rhythm. And the reason I say this is because the odds are in my favor, that I'm correct with my assumption. Why? Because most people do not consciously and consistently practice time. In rhythm. See time and rhythm. They kind of get lost in the sea of arpeggios scales, voicings, chord scale relationships, modes, upper extensions, altered dominant chords, pentatonic scales, blues, scales, patterns fingerings Oh, and tunes, of course tunes. I could go on, but I think you get my point, time and rhythm. Probably to the most important jazz piano skills are often left behind. So how do you practice time and rhythm? Step one. You have to discover learning play the quarter note, eighth note relationship. That's right, you have to discover learn play the quarter note and eighth note relationship. If you want to play jazz, if you want to articulate melodies of tunes and your improvisational thoughts correctly, then you must have a solid understanding of the quarter note. eighth note relationships played of course in the context of time and understanding of quarter note eighth note relationships played in the context of time. Eileen, I strongly suggest and recommend that you check out podcast episodes, called the eighth note, part one, the eighth note Part Two, the eighth note Part Three I did these three episodes back on May 12, may 19, and may 26 of 2020 May 12 May 19, may 26 of 2020. Now, these episodes will walk you through many exercises that you can begin doing consciously and consistently. Practice time and rhythm using the quarter note, eighth note relationship. Right You will then have the conceptual understanding and physical skills to begin applying the quarter note, eighth note relationships to your arpeggios and scales, which of course, will begin to camouflage them so that you and listeners will have no idea that you're playing scales and arpeggios. Right? So just quick side note, Eileen, all melodies are constructed using ascending and descending, scale and arpeggio motion. All melodies are constructed using ascending and descending, scale and arpeggio motion. That's it. That's all we have ascending and descending scale and arpeggio motion. Musicians spend a lifetime disguising the fact that we are playing ascending and descending scale and arpeggio motion. When composing or improvising have a camouflaging process begins with applying the quarter note, eighth note relationship to the arpeggio and scale. Now of course, there are other ways we camouflage scales and arpeggios using syncopation and tension tones, which we will learn more about today. But we must begin with the quarter note eighth note relationships. So again, check out podcast episodes, the eighth note part one, part two and part three, which I did back on May 2019, and 26th of 2020 right to begin turning your arpeggios and scales into melodic ideas so that they don't sound like arpeggios and scales. Once you've had a chance Eileen to listen to these episodes and consciously and consistently practice time and rhythm. Check back with me to let me know how it's going. I think you'll I know you will be thrilled with what you discovered learn and play so I can't wait to get your update. So for now, I hope this helps Eileen and as always, if more clarification is needed, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to help you at any time. Okay, let's discover learn to play jazz piano let's discover learn and play Indiana, part three, an improvisation approach. Two weeks ago, I presented my outline for studying and learning any tune? And again, the genre makes no difference to me, right? jazz, rock, pop country folk, r&b, and so on. It makes no difference. Now, here's a quick refresher right number one we always listen. We listen to various artists, primarily vocalist than instrumentalist, and of course, pianos. When we listen, we want to determine form. Are we listening to an ABA form ABA B form some unique form like Indiana, what form does the piece use that I am listening to? Right, what is the form? Number three, we want to then turn our attention to the harmonic side of the song. What what what are the chord changes? What's the common harmonic progression progressions to 511-451-6251 excetera. All right. And then of course for study chords. We want to make sure we're playing some good voicings to play those chords right. Number four, we turn our attention to a melodic analysis right guide tones phrases, target notes, fingerings various treatments of the tune, bow, bossa nova, swing, and five we want to explore improvisation approaches, using the chord changes in the melody of the tune, right, so we're going to look at the various zones of harmonic structures, the patterns, motifs, and the insertion of tension. Right. That's it right that's my tidy, look neat and tidy. Outline, listen, determine form, learn chord changes, voicings, or melody and treatments, explore improvisation approaches. pretty thorough, right pretty pretty concise. but yet very thorough. Last week we focused on an in depth melodic analysis of Indiana right with guide tones, phrases targets, target notes, interpretation fingerings. Two

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weeks ago we looked at the the harmonic analysis of Indiana. So we listened we determined form and explored chord changes harmonic function and voicings. Our goal has been and always will be to keep things right. The keep things clean and tidy with our approach. Whether it is a skill study or attune study, again, makes no difference. Our conceptual understanding of all that we do musically must be structured and simple. So that that it can be replicated over and over and over again. Right now, y'all can attest to the fact that I have said it many times over the past four years that if your conceptual understanding of music or any musical skill is not structured, it's not simple, then it's going to be unorganized and confusing. And if it's unorganized and confusing conceptually, upstairs. The brutal fact is you have no shot at executing it in your hands on the piano downstairs, no shot. Therefore, we want to keep our tune steady, structured and simple, and replicatable. So the educational agenda for today is as follows number one, we are going to begin part three of our study of Indiana to discover learning play Indiana improvisation approach. And number two, we are going to listen to a definitive recording of Indiana. Number three we will discover the importance of simple math, three plus four plus five. Number four, we will discuss zones patterns, motifs, what are they? How are they different? And why are they important for developing improvisation skills. Number five, we will unveil two patterns that you must absolutely and unequivocally have a command of conceptually and physically if you hope to develop improvisation skills. Number six we will explore how to turn patterns into motifs that are idiomatic to jazz. Number seven, we will discover learning play patterns through the changes of Indiana. Number eight, we will discover learning play motifs through the changes of Indiana and number nine we will begin or we will be playing all demonstrations. I will be playing all demonstrations today at a temple of 110. nice and comfy right 110 using a traditional swing group. Wow. That is a ton to get through today. So we got a lot to do. So let's get busy. If you are a jazz piano skills member, I want you to hit the pause button right now and you to just take a few moments, minutes to download and print the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play logs. Again, your membership grants you access to premium content for every weekly podcast episode, which includes the educational podcast packets. And as I mentioned every week I mentioned earlier today in this episode that you should be using these podcast episodes when listening to this episode. And you absolutely should have them sitting on your piano when practicing as well. If you are listening to this podcast on any of the popular podcast directories such as Apple or Google, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Pandora, and so on, then go directly to jazz panel skills podcast.com And you will find the active download links for each of the podcast packets in the show notes. Or you can as a member log into your jazz panel skills account. And from your Dashboard, navigate to this episode where where you will find one convenient link to download all three podcast packets in a nice tidy little bundle. Okay. All right. So now that you have your podcast packets, I want you to grab your lead sheets. You should have six of them. Let's quickly go through them lead sheet one provides you root position arpeggios for the chord changes of Indiana and if you'll notice on the lead sheet, I only notate the arpeggios and root position for each unique chord within Indiana. So this I think it just makes it visually it's cleaner right you can see literally the four note arpeggios for each of the unique chords. Changes in Indiana. And if you look at lead sheet to write with chord scale relationships, the same thing, right? I am literally just laying out the scales, the chord scale relationships for each of the unique chord changes within the tone. Now you'll notice on measure one on lead sheet two, the scale is written using 16th notes. Well, that is, that's just for notation purposes. I'm not suggesting that you play the scales, using 16th notes or even eighth notes for that matter, right, I'm just trying to illustrate or notate for you, the CT scan relationships. So lead sheet one has the arpeggios for each of the unique chord changes in Indiana, and lead sheet to has the chord scale relationships laid out for you for each of the unique chord changes in Indiana. Now lead sheet three, scale three provides you with us sending us sending patterns and motifs focusing on various targets and tension notes for the chords within Indiana. And the lead sheet for provides you with descending patterns and motifs. Again focusing on various target and tension notes for the chord chords in Indiana is actually not, not for every chord in the end, I'm actually just taking the first chord, the F major seven. But after you after we play through these lead sheets, three and four, we're going to be doing the same thing for each of the unique chord changes in Indian lead sheet five is an arpeggio Etude with inserted tension for Indiana and lead sheet six is a scale a tude with inserted tension for Indiana. So we we're gonna we're gonna go through each of each one of these again, here shortly but but the first thing we do always when studying and learning tune. We did it last week. We did it two weeks ago. We're going to do it again today. I stress it as probably being the most important thing that you do when learning to tune and that is to listen. Right? And again, I can't even imagine attempting to learn a tune before spending time becoming familiar with it, absorbing it through listening. Right. Now I typically as I have mentioned, listen to vocal renditions first, which we did two weeks ago with a Rosemary Clooney rendition of Indiana, followed by instrumentalists, which we did last week, right we we listened to that great Pete fountain given us a little Dixieland rendition of Indiana and this week, we're going to turn our attention to a pianist. Yes, indeed. And one of my favorite pianist of all time, doesn't get any better than Mr. Earl Gardner, right ever. And here he is playing back home again in Indiana. So I want you to sit back. Listen to the great Earl Gardner and enjoy his rendition of this timeless classic here we go.

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Yes indeed 1951 was when that was recorded. Indiana 1917 Earl Gardner's rendition 1951, both absolutely 100% timeless. As I mentioned, every week, you should listen to that rendition over and over and over again. Because every time you listen to it, I promise you, you will hear a different nugget that is just absolutely wonderful. And it will have a profound impact, a profound impact on the development of your own rendition of this classic tune, Indiana. So now, we've done our listening, it's time to explore those lead sheets. So grab lead sheet one, let's discover how to properly begin developing our improvisational skills using Thank you for listening to jazz piano skills. The remaining premium content of this episode is available to jazz piano skills members at jazz piano skills podcast.com Visit jazz piano skills.com To learn more about membership privileges, and become a jazz piano skills member. Thank you