Key of E Major Harmonic Workout

Dr. Bob Lawrence  0:32  
Welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day holiday yesterday, and join your family and friends. And now that you're well-rested, it's time to get back to reality and get down to business. So today, you are going to discover a key of E Major harmonic workout, you're going to learn how to think within the key of E Major harmonically. And you're going to play essential jazz piano voicings, block chords, traditional and contemporary shells plus two-handed shapes using common harmonic motion. And on top of all that, you're going to play various rhythmic comping patterns, focusing on 16th notes. 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 if you consider yourself a seasoned and experienced professional, you're going to find this jazz panel skills podcast lesson, exploring a key of E Major harmonic workout 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 indeed a new jazz piano skills listener if you are indeed new to jazz panel skills, I want to personally welcome you. And I want to invite you to become a jazz panel skills member. All you have to do to become a member is simply visit jazz panel skills.com. And once you arrive at the homepage, you can begin to explore the abundance of jazz educational resources, materials, and services that are available for you to use and to help you significantly improve your jazz piano skills. For example, as a jazz panel skills member, you have access to all of the educational podcast packets these are the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play alongs that are available for every weekly podcast episode. Now these these are educational tools that I develop every week. To go along with each podcast episode. They are invaluable educational tools that you definitely want to have in your hands as you listen to the podcast lesson. And you want to have sitting on your piano as you practice as well. You also as a jazz piano skills member have access to the sequential jazz piano curriculum. Now, this is an online curriculum that is loaded with comprehensive courses, all of them using a self-paced format. There are educational talks, interactive media to test your skills. There are video demonstrations in all 12 keys of the jazz panel skill being taught, there are play alongs and there's a ton more so check out the jazz panel skills curriculum as a jazz piano skills member. You also have access to the online weekly master classes, which are essentially an hour one-hour lesson with me each and every week. As a jazz panel skills member, you also have access to the online interactive fake book. Now, this is a fake book that gives you access to jazz standards from the Great American Songbook right and you'll be able to enjoy the chord changes, lead sheets, harmonic function lead sheets, their play along files, historical insights, inspirational recordings, and so much more. It's an ever-growing collection of tunes that you should absolutely discover, learn and play. And you also as a jazz panel skills member, have access to the private jazz panel skills community,

which hosts a variety of engaging forums or podcast-specific forums, core-specific forms of course there are just general jazz piano forums for you to enjoy. Of course you have access to all of them, and you will have the ability to contribute to them as well, which I certainly encourage you to do. I want you to share, engage and grow. And last but not least, you have access to unlimited private pay Personal and professional educational support provided by me whenever and as often as you need it. So again, take a few minutes, visit jazz panel skills.com, to learn more about the educational opportunities that await you, and how to activate your membership. Now, there are several membership plans to choose from, and I am quite certain there is one that is perfect for you. But nevertheless, if you get there, you have some questions, please let me know. I'm always happy to spend some time with you answer any questions that you may have, and to help you in any way that I can. Okay, now, let's discover, learn and play jazz piano, let's get after this key of E Major harmonic workout. All right, as all of you regular listeners know,

I go through this little routine every time we begin our exploration of a new key. Right? And of course, I'm gonna go through it again today, just simply because, well, I love doing it. It's fun. And it's now tradition. So are you ready? Here we go. I want to encourage you to say it along with me, especially if you've been a regular listener, you know the routine. So here we go. The key of C major is over a key of F major over key a B flat major, we did that back in March, it's over key of E flat major gone key of A flat major over the key of D flat major, long gone, the key of G flat major over and now the key of B major that we have been exploring in the month of August. It's now over. Now I don't know about you. But I always feel good about moving on. And even if I know that I do not have a complete handle on the skills that I've been working on. It's always good to move on and and I've said this many times throughout this journey that we started way back in January. It's a big deal to keep forging ahead no matter what, no matter how well you think you have mastered, or have not mastered the essential jazz piano skills in the previous keys or how shaky you may believe your jazz piano skills are in the previous case, we must always be moving forward. Forward motion is the name of the game. Without question. It is the key to developing our jazz piano skills and becoming an accomplished jazz pianist. Now, I mentioned this point last month, and I want to bring it to your attention again. If you're truly serious about wanting to improve your jazz piano playing, which I know you are, otherwise you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, then your goal should be to experience as much data as possible. In other words, you must have a plan that allows you to cycle through essential jazz piano skills in all 12 keys. Your jazz journey must always be experiencing forward motion. Because I like to say you cannot let grass grow under your feet when trying to become an accomplished jazz pianist. Now you've heard me say this before as well the number one reason why people find it difficult to improve their jazz playing his because they are always practicing the same things in the same keys over and over and over again. In essence, they are simply running in place they never push forward and move through the keys as we have been doing throughout this entire year. Right our plan for the beginning right 12 months 12 keys, essential jazz piano skills, voicings scales, arpeggios, CT scan relationships, improvisational vocabulary rhythms, right? It's such a good plan, such a good approach. And quite honestly, it's a great timeframe. One year 12 months 12 keys. So today we begin tackling new month right September. Today we begin tackling the key of E major. So as I have stressed over and over once we We move on, we move on. In other words, we do not sneak back to the key fob or the kid G flat, or the key of D flat, and so on. We do not sneak back without anyone looking to simply check out how well we remember the voicings or the scales or the arpeggios and that key, right, those keys are over, it's time to move on. And after all, by moving on, we improve the previous keys. Right? You've heard me say this as well, if you want the key of C to get better practice in the key of F if you want to get better in the key of F practice in the key of B flat, and so on. Right by moving on,

we actually improve our skills in all keys, right keys do not our keys do not function are exist within a vacuum, they all impact one another. So by moving on, even though we have loose ends, we are still improving the previous keys. So the books on the key of D major are closed as we move on to the key of E major. And as we have done with the previous keys we have explored this year C F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, and B. We begin harmonically as we always do, we are going to explore the seven chords found within the key of E major, a major seven, F sharp minor seven G sharp minor seven, a major seven B dominant seven, C sharp minor seven, and G sharp minor seven, flat five, we're going to explore these chords using four specific approaches to voicings, voicing them, right blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells and two-handed shapes. And we will then as we did in the keys of F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, and B, apply those voicings to various rhythmic patterns, which as you know, have become increasingly more and more challenging each and every month. So I want to remind you that you can take the rhythmic patterns that we have studied in the keys of F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat B, you can take all of those patterns. And you can begin using them with the voicings that we are about to get under our fingers for the key of E. That's not only okay, but but that's a great idea to do that right. And you should be carrying these various rhythmic patterns that we have been studying throughout the year, you should be carrying them forward as we move into new keys. I have throughout this year talked about improvisational vocabulary. And I want to revisit my thoughts about improvisation have a vocabulary today because we need to hear it again, right? Not just once, not just twice, three times four times we need to hear it over and over and over. Because it's that important to our musical development to our jazz development. So when jazz educators, when we talk about developing improvisational vocabulary, and whenever this topic comes up, right, it's always always always discussed from a melodic point of view. In other words, the expression improvisation vocabulary, it's become synonymous with melodic playing, which is only a third of the entire picture. Right. And in addition to emphasizing melodic development, we need to spend time discussing and focusing on harmonic development and rhythmic development. And that is precisely but all of the harmonic workouts are about harmonic and rhythmic development. So when studying a solo, a melodic transcription, we do so if if we, if we're going to do it correctly, we do so in such a way that the ideas and the approaches to melodic development is displayed by the artists serve as a launching pad or gateway to discovery of our own melodic creativity. As I said a couple of weeks ago, we don't study a Bill Evans transcription in hopes of becoming an inferior replica of Bill Evans. We study a Bill Evans transcripts and so that Bill Evans can introduce us to our creative reservoir. Now, if you have not thought about this, I strongly encourage you to do so. And think about this as well. When we focus on harmonic development voicings and rhythmic development. We should be doing so in the spirit of this covering our unique form of musical expression. And again, this is exactly what these harmonic and the melodic workouts are all about the voicings I share with you today for the key of E major. And as I've been sharing with you throughout the year, the voicings I share with you help you discover the sounds, the harmony that that you are drawn to. And the rhythms I introduced, that I've been introducing throughout the year, are done to help you develop a stronger internal sense of what I like to call expressive time. Now,

what I've just discussed here is certainly a lot to process and digest. So rewind and listen to it several times. But, but think about it. And of course, as always, if you have any questions, let me know. I'm always happy to help. So today we tackle the key of E major. And the educational agenda for today is as follows number one, we begin our key of E Major harmonic workout for the month of September. Number two, we are going to play essential harmonic voicings that you need to discover learn and play block shapes, traditional shells, contemporary shells, and two handed shapes. Number three, we are going to utilize a very relaxed rock groove of 85. Yes, you heard me correct, a rock groove. Now, I always encourage everyone all the time when practicing to explore various grooves and explore various tempos. So when I'm talking about exploring various grooves, I'm not always talking about those groups have to be authentic jazz groups. In fact, you should always be stepping outside of your comfort zone exploring a lot of different crews from a lot of different genres. So today, we're actually going to use a nice little rock groove to help us get our rhythms under our belt. Number four, we're going to explore 12 rhythms focusing on the 16th note, especially for note 16th note groupings. And number five, we will apply our rhythmic patterns as always, to the classic 251 progression in the key of E major. Now if you are a jazz piano skills member, I want you to take a few minutes right now hit the pause button. I want you to download and print your podcast packets, the illustrations and the lead sheets. Again, your membership right grants you access to all the educational podcast for every weekly podcast episode. As I mentioned every week, you should be using these podcasts, especially when listening to this episode. And you should absolutely be using them when you are practicing. So if you are listening to this podcast on any of the popular podcast directories such as Apple or Google, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, so on and so on, then be sure to go directly to jazz piano skills podcast.com To download your podcast packets, and you will find the act of download links within the show notes. Okay, and one final but extremely important note that I mentioned every week, because it's so important if you have been listening, and you think that the key of E Major harmonic workout and the various skills that we are about to discover, learn and play. If you're thinking that this is all over your head, then I would say stop it. Just stop. No worries. Just continue to listen and grow your jazz piano skills intellectually by listening to this podcast episode. Right? Every new skill is over our heads when first introduced. But this is how we get better. Right? We place ourselves smack dab in the middle of conversations where we hear things or hear hearing verbiage and words right that that we've never heard before. And we're forced to grow intellectually. So I say it all the time. All musical growth begins upstairs mentally or conceptually before it can come out downstairs physically in your hands. So if if you think these skills are over your head, so what sit back listen to this podcast listen now to discover and learn. The play will come in time. It always does.

Okay, the very first thing I want to address is the very last page of your leads Each packet it's labeled skill 17. The title of the page is copying rhythms, you will notice 12 rhythmic patterns, as has been the case throughout the entire year right 12 rhythmic patterns labeled letter A through letter L. You will also notice that these rhythmic patterns can just visually see it right. I mean, these, these patterns focus primarily on 16th notes. And you will also notice that each of these rhythmic patterns is to be played over the 251 progression in the key of E major, which is exactly what we are going to do today. Right so are 251 progression, F sharp minor seven to be dominant seven to be major seven. Now, we're going to focus on skill 17 In this podcast episode, but does not mean that you bypass practicing scales one through 16 found in the lychee packet. Right, all four voicing types should be practice first, without rhythm as outlined in skills, one through 16. And as always use the play alongs included in your with your podcast packets, and obviously, obviously right I do not have time in this podcast episode to play through all 16 exercises and then play all 12 rhythmic patterns. So I'm going to trust as I always do, that you do not get the cart ahead of the horse that you actually take the time to practice skills one through 16 to make sure that you have a handle on each of the four voicing types as applied to the chords found within the key of E major and again, that's the major seven F sharp minor seven, G sharp minor seven, a major seven B dominant seven, C sharp minor seven and D sharp minor seven flat five or D sharp half diminished. Then Then once you have a handle on all these voicings the four voicing types for the chords found within the key of E Major then turn your attention to developing your, your rhythmic skills using the voicings as you play the 251 progression in the key of E major. Right. Good game plan, right. All right. So let's dig in. Okay, so we have skill 17 out of our lead sheet packet in front of us. Let's look at letter a rhythmic pattern letter A. Again, we're going to utilize the 251 progression to play through all of our rhythms today. Our F sharp minor seven B dominant seven, E major seven. Now each one of these lines letter A through letter L I will play through six times first time through, I'll just copy using 251 Very simple. Then I will play the rhythmic pattern as notated on your lead sheet in your lead sheet. Four times I'll repeat it four times so that if you're going to use this podcast episode the practice along with you'll know that we're going to cycle through these rhythms four times. And then the last time I will go back to just plan to five one again to end in the exercise right. So what I want to do is I want to bring the ensemble in again we're going to use a nice little rock groove of 85 Comfy group and let's listen the letter A and let's check it out and see what we think here we go.

Lot of fun now you notice right word Dealing with 16th notes here, grouping of 4/16 notes and letter A right I just placed those 16th notes on count one of measure one measure to measure three and measure for count one. So letter B, if you take a look at it, I'm shifting those 16th notes to fall on count two. Now we're going to practice playing our 16th notes. Starting on count two. So we have rest on count one and measure 123 and four. Again, just like letter A, I'm going to repeat the same rhythmic motif four times. All right, so let's bring the ensemble in let's check out letter B here we go.

Smell if you're thinking? How? If you're asking yourself, How am I thinking about the 16th notes articulating the 16th notes. I'm kind of old school I know there's a lot of different ways to go about it. But I'm old school and I articulate it as one e and or two E and or three e and this goes back to my beginning band days, right. So but you know people use different different syllables to articulate the 16th notes. Personally, I like I said I'm old school and I use One E and two E and a three and and four E and if when I want to practice articulating my 16th notes. Okay, so now let's look at letter C. So letter A, we placed a 16th notes on count counts one of each measure, count one of each measured letter B, we placed the 16th notes on count two of every measure. Now, we're going to place shift our 16th notes over again, we're going to place our 16th notes on count three. And again the same rhythmic motif. I'm going to repeat measure one measure to measure three and measure four. All right, so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out Letter C with our 16th notes placed on count three here we go.

You know what's coming right? Letter aid 16th notes were on count one letter B 16th notes placed on count two letter C 16th notes placed on count three letter D 16th. Notes placed on count four. And again, I'm going to play the same rhythmic motif in each measure, measure one measure to measure three, and measure four. All right So this is you know, letter A through letter D is just a way to help us get acclimated to our 16th notes, our 4/16 notes being together, use of use to that look that motif and placing it on different beats within the measure. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out letter D here we go.

Awesome, very nice. So now that we've got letter A, B, C, and D out of the way, we're moving our 16th notes around to each beat of the measure. Now, let's start shuffling the deck a little bit and having some fun. So we're going to bring start bringing in some rhythmic ideas that we have dealt with in the past. You can see right away that letter E, we have a dotted quarter eighth pattern, followed by a couple of eighth notes, I have 16th notes and measure to fallen on count to have a tied note at the end of that measure, right. Then we have our eighth quarter eighth motif that we've dealt with, in measure three on counts one and two and on three and four. And then we have some more 16th notes to deal with and measure four, on on count three. So this should be fun. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's listen to letter E here we go.

Now I'm using just so you know, I'm using two hand voicings to play these rhythmic patterns today for all 12 exercises letter A through letter L. You can use any of the voicings that you are working on whether they be your block shapes or your traditional shells, contemporary shells, feel free to use any of the voicing types that you'd like or that you feel most comfortable with also, not a bad idea to just clap through these rhythms as I'm playing them, clap through them or take a single note, you know, F sharp, B, E and play the rhythms using a single note, right? I even in lessons have students I have a pair of rhythm sticks like yellow drumsticks that we tap together when we're practicing rhythms. Right or maybe you got a hand drum at home played on a hand drum right there. Right So there's various ways to practice rhythmic motifs and rhythmic ideas and rhythmic patterns other than just playing on the piano, and in fact, I encourage you to do so. Okay, so now let's take a look at letter F. And wow, what do we see right away we've dealt with this before right quarter note triplet, quarter note triplet on counts one and two, and measure one and check out what we got and measure two we have our eighth 2/16 notes being together and then we have another quarter note triplet and measure three and you can also see there we have our 16th notes, our 4/16 notes being together and measure one and measure three and then we have our 16th notes being to an eighth note in measure four so wow, we we have a lot of a lot of different rhythmic patterns that we have dealt with throughout the year all all crunched in here, and letter F so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check it out here we go.

All right six down six more to go. So look at letter G. All right, we have to deal with these single eighth notes that fallen on the backside of the beat. So in measure one we have eighth notes on on the backside account one backside account two backside account three and backside account for going right into 4/16 notes being together and measure to 4/16 notes being together back together in measure three and then we have this familiar eighth to 16th notes being together and measure four. So this should be fun. So let's let's bring our rock band back in and let's check out letter G and see what we think here we go.

It's a lot of fun right there. So okay letter H. Well here we go Right, right right from measure one we have eighth beam to get an eighth note beam together with two sixteenth, and then two sixteenths beam together with an eighth note counts one, and to measure two we have another 4/16 notes beam together and then check out measure 3/8 note triplets on counts 123 and four. Tricky, tricky especially coming out of all these 16th notes that we're playing at. So let's not let's not put this off any further. Let's let's bring the ensemble back in and let's check out letter H here we go.

tricky, right? Very tricky. I had the practice that that's, that's tricky. You know all the 16th notes and then sliding into the eighth note triplets. So Alright, so now let's attack letter I and man visually Whoa look at measure one 4/16 notes being together followed by an eighth two sixteenths being together followed by two sixteenths and an eighth being together, counts one, two and three. Wow count carefully measure two, four sixteenths being together and then check out measure three, the backside eighth note on count one going into a quarter note on count two, and then a backside eighth note on count three, going into a quarter note on count four, then 4/16 notes being together on count two and measure four. So again, you know, this is not this isn't any easier. So let's go ahead and do it. Let's check out letter I Here we go.

Onward to letter J, what is it that I've I've said before, you know the hardest thing for a jazz pianist to play. The hardest thing for a jazz pianist to play is nothing. Nothing. So look at letter J always challenging, you have three beats of nothing before you come in with 4/16 notes being together. Right? So measure two pair of eighth notes. Then we have some more nothingness on counts two and three followed by 4/16 notes being together, followed by two more eighth notes followed by to two counts of nothing, followed by 4/16 notes being together. And then we get the whole note on measure forward just sit tight, right? We're not really moving, no motion. And then we come at circles back around with three more beats of silence. So you know what's challenging about letter J? You know, yes, we have the 16th notes that we're dealing with in letter J. But you know, quite honestly, it's the silence that I think is challenging. As I said, it's hard for jazz pianists to play nothing. So let's check out letter J. Let's count carefully. And here we go.

All right, let's okay, we're we're looking at some more traditional rhythms that we have dealt with throughout the year, we have our eighth quarter eighth combination, we have eight notes. In measure one, we have eighth notes that follow them appear the backside of counts one and two and measure two. Right. So we've dealt with, we've dealt with these rhythmic patterns before. And then we have, of course, our 16th notes for 16th notes being together and measure one, measure two, and measure three. So this should be fun, too. So let's bring let's bring our rock band back in, and let's check out letter k here we go.

Really nice So believe it or not, we're here we are at letter alpha last rhythm of the day. And of course, it's you know, kind of like fireworks on Fourth of July, we always like to save the big bang for the last the very last the very end, right. So, letter L if you look at it, nothing but 16th notes flying at you. Right so and now back to back. Measure one, we have 4/16 notes being together, followed by four follow I'm sorry, followed by 2/16 notes and a quarter. I mean that's a big bang. Alright. So let's try this again measure one 4/16 notes being together, followed by 2/16 16th notes and an eighth beam together. Then we do the same thing in measure two however, we shift the rhythm from counts one and two to counts two and three. Then we have 4/16 notes beam together and on count one and measure three followed by 4/16 notes being together and on count three. Then we get the count for, I mean measure four. Wow. I'm butchering this, but you got it you're following along, which is great, thank you. And then a measure four we have 4/16 notes being together on count two. So what I was trying to do there right measure three and measure four. You got 16th notes on counts, one counts three and then measure four counts to count two. Okay, now, let's just bring the ensemble in, and let's just listen here we go check it out.

Well, as always, we have unpacked an amazing amount of information in one very short and one very fast our right so do not underestimate. Do not underestimate the importance of being able to play rhythmic patterns in time using correct jazz voicings. Do not underestimate the importance of this, in fact, this, this is the area in which I think jazz musicians practice the least. And quite honestly, I think it's the most important. So be honest with yourself always right if you cannot play these rhythms, right, these 16th note patterns which are not easy if you are having difficulty, then continue to practice rhythmic ideas that we have explored in previous harmonic workouts throughout the year, and just remain patient. The rhythmic development will come right now. The patterns we use today, while playing our four voicing types allow you to allow you to develop your ability to track and feel time. And now again, when you're practicing these rhythms use the voicings that you are most comfortable with, okay? Because the objective really, quite honestly, the objective is the development of time in field, not the voicing when you're doing these rhythmic exercises. So so often when students struggle playing jazz, I've said this before, so often it's because of their inability to successfully track time. So I know this is the objective of doing these rhythmic patterns. So in other words, knowing where count one is important, knowing where count two is important. count three, count four important, do not guess, right? If you do guess, you have a greater chance, as I said, winning the lottery being struck by lightning, or leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Right, I guarantee it, if you guess you're gonna guess wrong. You're just simply going to guess wrong. So next week, next week, we jump into the key of E Major melodic workout. And of course, I will also introduce some rhythmic twist for that workout as well, focusing on 16th notes. So as I have been stressing every month, hang in there, just hang in there with me this year, and you will experience of ton of jazz piano growth, right you will love where you are musically by the end of the year, and you're gonna feel great getting through all 12 keys in 12 months. Now, once again, I want to encourage you use especially you jazz piano skills members use the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play alongs. To guide you as you study and practice. These are educational tools that will help you gain a mastery of the jazz piano skills conceptually, physically, and of course, musically, as always, always be patient. Developing mature professional jazz piano skills takes time. I say that all the time, but I'm not sure everybody hears that all the time. Developing mature professional piano skills takes time. So begin structuring your practicing after the plane demonstrations I modeled for you today in this podcast episode, and I guarantee you will begin to see feel and hear your progress. Well, I hope you have found this jazz panel skills podcast lesson exploring the key of E Major harmonically to be insightful and beneficial don't forget if you are a jazz panel skills ensemble member, I will see you online Thursday evening at the jazz piano skills masterclass at 8 pm Central time to discuss this podcast episode lesson exploring a key of E Major harmonically to discuss it in greater detail and of course to answer any questions that you may have about the study of jazz in general. Again, use the educational podcast packets for this podcast lesson, and of course, check out and use the jazz panel skills courses to maximize your musical growth. And make sure you're an active participant in the jazz panel skills community. Get involved, contribute to the various forums and make some new jazz panel friends. It's allways is a great thing to do.

Now you can reach me by phone 972-380-8050 My extension here at the Dallas School of Music is 211 You can reach me by email, drlawrence@jazz piano skills.com. Or you can use the SpeakPipe widget that is filed throughout the jazz panel Skills website to send me a message as well. Well, there is mine. That's it for now. And until next week, enjoy the key of E Major harmonic work. And most of all, have fun as you discover, learn and play jazz piano.