Lullaby of Birdland

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Welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. Well, the last two weeks, we have looked at five different jazz improvisation patterns for the primary sounds of music, major dominant minor, half diminished them and diminished, plus the altered sounds deriving from the harmonic and melodic minor scales, which would be the sharp 11, the flat 13, flat nine, flat 13, and the fully altered sound which includes the flat nine, sharp nine, flat five sharp five, all from the root note of G flat, or F sharp. Now we apply these five jazz improvisation patterns to these iconic sounds. We studied and applied proper fingerings to the patterns making it possible to play with an authentic jazz articulation. The goal of our fingerings is all as always right? To allow the continuous incremental shifting of our right hand across the key so that we do articulate correctly and, and of course, so that we never run out of fingers. It only makes sense, right? That the continuous shifting of our right hand when playing establishes small movements, which are much more manageable, and a whole lot more accurate than giant leaps. I've said it many times understanding and applying this truth becomes paramount when improvising and playing melodies of tunes especially bebop tunes, and especially the Bebop tune that we're about to discover, learn and play. So today, today you're going to discover George sharings, classic and very popular lullaby of Birdland and you're going to learn the chord changes harmonic function, Melody fingerings, and a whole lot more for lullaby of Birdland and you're going to play multiple patterns extracted from the lullaby of Birdland for developing classic jazz language to use when improvising. So as I always like to say, regardless of where you are, in your jazz journey, a beginner intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned, and experienced and crusty old professional, you're gonna find this jazz piano skills podcast lesson, exploring the great George sharings lullaby of Birdland to be very beneficial. But before we get started, before we dig in, I want to as I always do welcome first time listeners to jazz panel skills. And if you are indeed a new listener to the jazz panel skills podcast. If you're new to jazz panel skills, I want to personally invite you to become a jazz piano skills member. There are various membership plans to choose from, so check out jazz piano skills.com. To learn more about the perks for each membership plan. Various plans include educational weekly podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, play alongs. There's a sequential jazz piano curriculum which is loaded with comprehensive courses, online weekly master classes, an online interactive Fakebook and an online private jazz piano skills community, which hosts a variety of engaging forums. On top of all that there's also unlimited private, personal and professional educational support. All of these perks are waiting for you wanting to help you discover, learn and play jazz piano. So when you have a moment, check out jazz piano skills.com And of course, become a member. If you have any questions once you get to the site, looking at the various membership plans, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to spend some time with you answer any of your questions and help you in any way that I can. Okay, on to the question of the week. This week's question comes from Tammy Johnson. Living in St. Charles Missouri, Tammy writes, Jess Getting started with learning how to improvise. From what I can tell After searching the internet and YouTube, there are several different ways to begin developing this skill. To be honest, I feel a little lost and overwhelmed. How do you suggest I begin? Thank you for your help. And thank you for your podcast. Well, great question Tammy. And I am thrilled that you are enjoying the podcast. The first thing I want to say is that you are not alone. In fact, I think everyone, everyone when starting to learn how to improvise, feels overwhelmed, and more so today than ever, just simply due to information overload that we have easy access to through all of our devices. So with that being said, I am going to try to keep my answer as short and as simple as possible. So the best way to begin improvising is to begin using the notes of each chord only from the root to the seventh of the sound. In other words, the root, the third, the fifth, and the seventh. That's it. Four notes for each chord, only. In fact, if this feels overwhelming, then cut it down to three notes, the root, third, and fifth. And if that feels overwhelming, then reduce your options down to two notes. The root other hand, of course, if you're still feeling the pressure, still feeling overwhelmed, then reduce it down to one note, the root of each chord. I had a teacher who used to say, if you can't improvise with one note, then why would you think adding an additional note will make it easier. Good point, right, you had a great point. And the key when learning how to improvise is learning how to create rhythms in time, I'm going to say that again. The key when learning how to improvise, is learning how to create rhythms in time. And guess what, you only need one note to play rhythmically one note. So if I were you, I would not begin using more notes than the root, third, fifth and seventh of each chord. And of course, feel free to use less. Now the other thing I would want you to pay attention to is your use of space and repetition when improvising beginning improvisers, always, and I mean, always play way too much. The beginner never utilizes silence. When playing, they play. They play, they play, and they continue to play. No silence. They're like your relative who never shuts their yapper at the family gathering. It's annoying. So be aware of the space, the silence that you are intentionally inserting Also, do not shy away from playing the same thing over and over. Right? This is how you build a vocabulary by establishing melodic muscle memory. Right too often students will complain about playing the same thing over and over. They say to me all the time I'm play that I feel like I play the same thing. Which is ironic, right? Because playing the same thing is the very thing that you should be doing in hopes of establishing language that can be used spontaneously. So to keep things simple, Tammy and to prevent any chance of being overwhelmed, I would do the following three things. When practicing improvisation number one, use as few notes as possible. No more than four and one is completely acceptable. Number two, intentionally insert silence into your plane. Breathe. Number three, embrace repetition, embrace playing the same thing over and over, so that you begin solidifying your jazz language. Now, Tammy, these three guidelines are a great place to begin. So no need to search the internet. For more information, keep it simple. And you know, I've

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said this many times. In previous podcast episodes, the difference between an amateur and a professional musician is this. The amateur is always searching for ways to complicate their plane. While the professional is always searching for ways to simplify their playing. Become a Professional today, and let those three guidelines become your mantra. Okay, Tammy, I hope this helps. And thank you for your question. And as always, as always, if further clarification is needed, do not be shy. Do not be bashful, reach out to me and let me know. Okay, let's discover, learn and play jazz piano. Let's have some fun with George shearings, lullaby of Birdland. All of us, all of us at the beginning of our jazz journeys, invest a lot of time, effort and energy searching for the secret to learning how to play jazz, right, Tammy? Right, you can relate now. We try all kinds of approaches all kinds of gimmicks, and hopes that we discover a shortcut, we're all looking for a shortcut that shaves years off of our developmental timeframe. Now, we've all done it. And as I mentioned earlier, it's today it's easier than ever with YouTube and all the other sites that are out there that allow you to search endlessly run down a million different rabbit holes in search of that secret formula for playing jazz piano. And in doing so, we, we end up with a ton of what I like to call data fragments, right? A lot of information, but it's all fragment fragmented. And we have no idea of how to connect the fragments, or even determine if they should be connected at all right? So on the other hand, right, so I don't want you to think technology is bad, because on the other hand, I am enormously grateful for the technology that's available for us to develop our musicianship, you know, various software applications that we have access to I rail pro band in the box GarageBand. I mean, there's a ton of them out there. That helps us help us create backing tracks that simulate an ensemble experience. The software today is without question, amazing. But, but, as I've mentioned before, the old fashioned ways, some of those old fashioned ways are still the best ways right? So when it comes to developing good technique, articulation fingerings, and improvisation vocabulary, the study, the good old fashioned study and playing of bebop heads, I believe, still remains the very best approach the bottom line. If you want to get good at playing jazz piano, there is no better way than studying it historically. And historically speaking, no better period of jazz will help you develop your time feel articulation, fingerings and improvisational vocabulary, then the Bebop period. Right. So for those of you who may be listening, and are new to be bop, bop, as it is often referred to it is a period of jazz that developed and flourished during the 40s. Basically, from the 40s to the 60s, and the Bebop style of jazz features tunes. fast tempos, not all not every tune, fast but typically fast tempos, challenging melodies, which certainly lullaby of Birdland that we're about to look at is is challenging. Tons of chord changes, some of them complex, and those chord changes will move in and out of numerous key centers, all within a single town. Right, so bebop is the perfect formula for developing jazz chops to the perfect eighth to the perfect practice exercise. There's no need for you to look any further. Right your internet search is over everything about jazz, you need to know about developing good articulation and phrasing and hand movement as a pianist moving across the keys. Right? That playing bebop heads bebop melodies, nothing better. And that is why he's referred to bebop tunes as jazz, gold. So the educational agenda for today is as follows number one, and we're going to explore George sharings lullaby of Birdland you know it's kind of funny because when you think of bebop George shearings named certainly doesn't. It's not one of the first names you're going to think about right. But this tune, lullaby of Birdland, I certainly throw into the Bebop repertoire. Number two, we examine the chord changes, we're going to examine the chord changes in harmonic function of lullaby of Birdland. Number three, we will, of course, play the melody of lullaby of Birdland and explore proper fingerings. And we're going to extract five, five patterns from the melody of lullaby of Birdland to us for discovering and developing our very own jazz vocabulary. And number five, we will be playing today all the examples we will be playing at a temple of 120. So if you are a jazz panel skills member, I want you to take a few minutes right now hit that pause button. And I want you to download and print your podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play alongs that go along with this episode. Again, your membership, your membership if you have a trial membership, it grants you access to all of the educational podcast packets for every weekly podcast episode. And as I mentioned, every week you should be using these podcast packets when listening to the episode. And of course, you should be using them when practicing as well. So if you are listening to this podcast, on any of the popular podcast directories such as Apple or Google, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora and list goes on and on and on. Then be sure to go directly to jazz piano skills podcast.com To download your podcast packets, and you'll find the active download links for the illustrations for the lead sheets and for the play alongs you will find those active download links in the show notes. And one final but very significant message that I include in every podcast episode. If you are listening, and you are thinking that the various skills that we are about to discover, learn and play as we explore George sharings a lullaby of Birdland are over your head, then I would say, stop it. Just stop. No worries, right? Relax. Just continue to listen to grow your jazz piano skills intellectually by listening, in fact, just by listening to some of the best practicing you will ever do. Right? So just listen. Every new skill is over our heads when first introduced. But this is how we get better. Right? We we continually place ourselves right in the middle of conversations, where we are hearing things that we have never heard before. We are hearing words that we've never heard before. Right, we are forced to grow intellectually. We may not catch all of it. But the bits and pieces that we do catch, go. So I say it all the time. Our musical growth begins upstairs conceptually before it can come out downstairs physically in your hands. So just simply sit back. Listen to this podcast. Listen now to discover and learn. The play will come in time. It always does. I guarantee it. Okay, now that you have your lead sheets in front of you, I want to walk you through them quickly. You will see that lead sheets one and two present the chord changes and harmonic function for lullaby of Birdland

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to help you truly discover and learn the changes in harmonic function for lullaby of Birdland I strongly recommend that you use the templates that I've included in your illustrations podcast packet, okay. Now lead sheet three, that has the chord changes, along with the melody of lullaby of Birdland and lead sheet four check that out includes the melody as again, but also includes the fingerings Alright, these are the fingerings I use when playing lullaby of Birdland So spend some time playing the head playing the melody over and over, especially at slower tempos. Use using these fingerings which will illuminate all the hard work that you've been doing throughout this started the year with all the various fingering same patterns and exercises that we have been doing in the different keys. Okay. Now lead sheets five through nine deal with five patterns that I have extracted from the melody of lullaby of Birdland. Right. And I want to use these melodies as launchpads for developing jazz vocabulary, which I will model for you here shortly. So we have a lot to get through today. A lot. So let's get busy. First things first. This is so much fun, right? First things first, we're just gonna sit back and enjoy Mr. George Shearing playing lullaby of Birdland and this is a very early if not, if not the original, but maybe not, I don't know, but but very close to be in the original recording of lullaby of Birdland played by George Sheeran. So once you grab your lead sheet, lead sheet, three with the melody written out, and I want you to just follow along right we're gonna listen it's only a couple minutes so we're gonna I'm gonna let the whole thing play let's so let's just sit back and start things by enjoying the great George Shearing playing lullaby of Birdland check this Out.

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Good How good is that right? I mean, holy moly, that is fantastic. What a great Tim. And now if you're if you're not familiar with little bird line a little by Birdland now you know why I've chosen right. It's a great tune. Great melody. So let's begin breaking this classic tune apart. So grab lead sheet one and lead sheet two and I want you to place those side by side. So skill one, skill two or lead sheet one's lead sheet two, we have the chord changes and we have the harmonic function that you can look at side by side and you know this is this is a clever little composition. I tend to look at this composition as kind of like an autumn leaves expanded. You know with autumn leaves, Autumn Leaves deals with a Major 251 minor 251, right relative major minor relationship, and so does lullaby of Birdland. If you look at the first two measures that we have, the standard key, by the way, is key of A flat. And this is a classic A, B, A form. But if you look at the first two measures, we have what would appear to be a 1625 in the key of F minor, right, which is the relative minor of a flat, so we have that six half diminished, we have, we have a two dominant with a flat nine, no, so it's not a minor, half diminished, but it is a two, flat nine sound going to a C, I like to play a C altered C seven altered sound there. So clearly, if I were to be looking at these first two measures, I would be thinking, wow, we have a little F minor groove going on here. But now right beneath that, I want you to look at measures five, and six. Now we have A flat major F minor, B flat minor, E flat seven classic 1625. In the key of A flat, so measures one and two, we have a 1625, F minor measures five and 61625, A flat major. So you see where make that comparison to autumn leaves that major to, you know, the major relative major minor relationship going on. So it's very clever. So this takes place, of course, a b a form. So in Section A there, section B, and then Section D, same thing occurs, right. And then in our bridge, we have classic, basically 251 movement in a flat, or I should say, six to five, one movement and a flat with a six chord being a dominant. Now, on lead sheet two or skill two, you have all the harmonic function. Again, harmonic function, the study of harmonic function is not the same as chord scale relationships. harmonic function is the study of root movement through the piece. So it's always done in relationship to the relative key, the primary key in the primary key in this case is a flat. So this harmonic function is done in relationship to the key of A flat, we want to get good at hearing root movement, and then being able to attach one of the primary sounds to that root movement, whether it be major, dominant minor, half diminished, or diminished. Okay, so I just want to make that distinction, our monic function, chord scale relationships, to different skills to different analysis. Okay, so now I want to play I'm gonna go ahead and play through lullaby Birdland, I'm going to play it a couple times just that 120 Not as fast as George. And I'm going to play it twice. So maybe the first time through, you can follow lead sheet one with chord changes, and try to be thinking harmonic function. As you see the chord changes the second time through as you're looking at the harmonic function. Try to be thinking core changes. So in other words, you want to get good at being able to see or think you want to be getting get good at thinking the opposite of what you are seeing. So when I see chord changes, I think function. When I see function, I think chord changes. So I'm going to play it through a couple times. See how you do with that. Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in. Let's have some fun with lullaby Birdland, here we go.

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pretty cool too, right? You know that skill is something that you can absolutely practice, you can take any lead sheets that you have, right, and as you stare, stare at the chord changes, be identifying the harmonic function of that lead sheet, okay. And then likewise, if you have software with standards loaded into that software like a real pro or band in the box, where you can convert the lead sheet to Roman numerals, it's great to be able to look at those lead sheets written in a harmonic function and practice identifying the chord changes. Now doing that in time, like I just suggested doing as I was playing 120, that's a tall order. And that's a very high level skill to be able to do that. So I would recommend actually doing this kind of practicing without any time. In other words, take your time. To do that. Take your time to stare at chord changes and identify the harmonic function, take your time to look at our harmonic function and identify the chord changes. Okay, so now let's grab lead sheet three and lead sheet four, scale three and scale four. Here's where I have the melody of lullaby of Birdland written out for you on lead sheet three, and lead sheet four is the melody again, but with fingerings included, so you have a clean copy without the fingerings, you have a copy with my fingerings included, okay, so I want to bring the ensemble back in this time, I'm going to play the melody through. If you're sitting at your piano, you can play along with me and play and try to utilize these fingers. If not just sit back and watch and follow the fingerings as you listen to the melody. And you'll notice a lot of hand shifting going on with these fingerings. You'll also notice with this key, there's times where I'm using my thumb on the black note. On a black note, I know it I know all the classical musicians out there right now are shuttering, but it's true. Sometimes it's necessary. So here we go, lullaby of Birdland melody I'm just gonna play through a couple times again, Temple of 120 here we go.

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All right, very cool. Now that we got what I call the grunt work out of the way, right, we've looked at the chord changes, we've looked at the harmonic function, we've looked at the melody, we've looked at the fingerings, for that melody, and allows time to have a little fun and begin extracting, dissecting the melody melody a little bit for some of the golden nuggets that are in there that we can utilize that we can extract and utilize to help us begin developing some jazz vocabulary. So I want you to grab lead sheet five, skill five. And the very first, the very first pattern that I want to draw your attention to is measure four with the B flat minor, E flat seven, A flat major. So we have our 251 progression, right. And let's take a look at the two chord, he starts with the D flat, so the third of the B flat minor seven. And he resolves it up on the A flat major on the E flat to the to the E flat, which is the fifth of a flat, E flat major. So I always like to pay attention to the entry point of a melodic phrase or melodic idea, and the destination point of that melodic idea. And that kind of gives me the playground if you will, that I can use in order to begin developing vocabulary. So I'm going to bring the ensemble and I'm going to play the 251 progression for a couple measures just to get the feel and the groove under my hands and in my in my mind. And then I'm going to play the motif and then I will start to expand the motif and play around with a little bit to see what I can come up with but I'm going to keep everything within those boundaries that George Shearing has established from the third of the B flat minor up to the fifth of the A flat major I'm going to stay in that neighborhood and see what I can come up with Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check it out. You'll you'll get it once you hear here we go.

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All right, see it makes sense, right? We're extracting an idea from the malady, we pay attention to the entry point, the destination point of that phrase that sets our boundaries. And we can begin using those boundaries that George has already established. Mr. Sharing, I should say has already established that we can use to begin developing our own melodic ideas based on his framework. Okay. So now I want you to grab lead sheet six skill six, the second pattern is going to come from measure six, measure six. So in measure six, you're going to see again, B flat minor seven, E flat dominant seven, A flat major seven. So we have a 251 relationship. But this is a really neat little motif, right, because he's got a flat nine sound against that E flat dominant seven, we're starting on the fifth by the way of the B flat minor, we are hitting a flat nine sound on that E flat seven, and then it finally resolves to the fifth of the A flat major, interesting, we're back on the fifth of a flat major again. Right, so let's bring the ensemble in. Again, I'll play the 251 up top, just to get into the field. And then I will state the motif a couple of times. And then I will start to play around with the motif, again, honoring the boundaries that Mr. Shearing has established. Okay, so here we go. Let's check it out.

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Great little motif and there's, you know, I could sit there and do something like that for hours, and come up with ideas and play around with it expand my my vocabulary by literally using an idea that that, that I find within the melody of attune something that Mr. sharings already set up and established, I'm going to take that again and use it as my Launchpad. So now I want you to grab a lead sheet seven, skill seven, this is going to be pattern number three for today. And I want to draw your attention to measure 19. And guess what we have there, we have another 251 progression in the key of A flat major 251 key of A flat major. So now our B flat minor is the entry point on that is the root. And we go to the A flat major and the destination point there with the A flat major is the third the C the notes C. So this is a great little line doesn't travel very far does it. But it has some nice tension tones in there with that be natural. And so again, I'm going to stay within those boundaries. After I state the melody. I'm going to stay within those boundaries and see what I can come up with. This is very remnants of the chunks that we've been talking about and exploring throughout the last several podcasts right. Thinking in these thirds note these little short geographical regions major and minor thirds. So we have there you know from the B flat up to that D flat on the E flat seven, we have that minor third. And we have these passing tones happening in between so there it is. So let's bring the ensemble in. And let's listen to measure 19 This to five one. Let's listen to the motif and then I'll play around with it and see what I can begin developing. Here we go

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All right, so now we've looked at three different ways in which George Sherry has treated the 251 and a flat. So now let's look at a couple other relationships, two, five ones, but not in a flat. So I want to draw your attention to measure seven tene. This is the beginning of the bridge. Okay, so we have a C minor seven, F seven, well, we have an F seven, but I'm placing a C minor in front of it, because I'm going to create a to five. So we have a C minor f7, to the B flat minor seven. So we're thinking it's going to sound like a two five go into major. But that five takes us to the minor, right, so I'm setting this up as a 251 sound. Even though in the progression itself, it's kind of a, it's six to five, one, going through the first four measures of the bridge. But I'm going to treat it just a little bit differently and played over the top of a two five with a resolution to a one minor. So we have the same kind of idea that we just got done playing or in the key of A flat, but now we're going to play it in the key of B flat, but B flat minor as the resolution as opposed to major. And one of the thing that I failed to mention, in these lead sheets as I have done throughout the entire year, you can see that I've transposed it to a couple of different keys, the melodic motif that I did to a couple of different keys and I made mention there on those lead sheets continue moving around the circle of fifths. And once you do that, right using your ears once you get the pattern in your under your fingers, and once you get your pattern in your ears, then move that pattern around through all 12 keys. Okay, so now let's bring the ensemble in and let's listen to measure 17. I'm inserting a two in front of that f7. So I have a C minor seven going to f7 and resolving it to a B flat minor seven. All right, so let's bring the out of sample line and let's see what I can do with this motif in developing some jazz vocabulary here we go.

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All right, well sadly we're down to the last little nugget that I'm going to explore today from lullaby of Birdland. So I want you to grab a lead sheet nine or skill nine which is pattern five. And this is coming from measure eight, measure eight where we have a G half Dominik Should the G minor seven flat five, go into a C seven, I'm altering that seven, I'm playing as a C seven ALT and then resolving it to F minor, which it does in the form of the tune. So we basically have a minor 251. Okay. So the entry point is the fifth of the G half diminished, and the destination point is the fifth of the F minor. So that's my, my, those are those are my boundaries that I'm going to stay a stay within as I begin exploring some melodic ideas based upon this motif taken from George sharings lullaby of Birdland measure eight so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check it out here we go.

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Too much fun, right so many golden nuggets just taking the melodies of great tunes like lullaby of Birdland so many little nuggets that you can extract from the tone and utilize as a schematic as a little blueprint to establish some boundaries from one chord to the next chord to the next chord, whether it be a 251, and major or minor 2516251 will help you start to play melodic ideas and lines that sound like jazz, because you're actually taking them from the very best that jazz has to offer. And George Sharon's lullaby of Birdland certainly falls into that category. So, anyway, we have done it as again, as we always do, we have unpacked a ton of information in one very short one very fast hour. And I cannot stress the importance of practicing bebop heads like lullaby of Birdland for developing fingerings and technique, time articulation and improvisational vocabulary. There are simply no better etudes that exist on the market today than these bebop melodies that have been composed by the greats. So do not skim over studying and learning the chord changes for lullaby of Birdland right that the learning the harmonic function, the chord changes before tackling the melody, because after all, right, it's the chord changes understanding that a harmonic function, it's the foundation that the melody rests upon. So what needs to be a song needs to be solid needs to be nailed down. So use your illustrations, the illustrations in your illustrations podcast packet to help you do that right to gain a command of this essential skill. And then once you have a command of the changes in the harmonic function, then begin practicing the melody and, and of course using the fingers fingerings that I have notated. And, of course, doing it at slower tempos, right, so as always, as always, I love to take apart bebop melodies to find invaluable melodic ideas and then convert, convert those ideas to jazz improvisation. And then use those patterns as I like to say to discover, learn and play my own vocabulary to discover, learn and play me. So important. As always, on top of all this, and probably the most important as always Be patient. Developing mature and professional jazz piano skills takes time and takes a lot of time. So begin structuring your study and be begin practicing and structuring your practicing after the plane demonstrations that are modeled for you in this podcast episode and I guarantee it that you will begin to see, feel and hear your progress. Well I hope you have found this jazz panel skills podcast lesson exploring George sharings lullaby of Birdland to be insightful and of course to be beneficial. Don't forget if you are a jazz panel skills ensemble member, I'll see you online Thursday evening at the jazz panel skills masterclass. That's going to be 8 pm Central time to discuss this podcast episode, exploring lullaby of Birdland in greater detail and of course to answer any questions that you may have about the study of jazz in general. If, if you have any questions between now and then or even after, then, any questions do not hesitate to reach out to me, I can be reached by phone 972-380-8050 My office extension is 211. Or if you prefer email, I can be reached at Dr. Lawrence, drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com. Or you can use the nifty little SpeakPipe widget that is found and located on every page within the jazz piano skills website. Well, there is my cue. That's it for now. And until next week, enjoy George sharings a lullaby of Birdland and most of all, have fun as you discover, learn and play jazz piano!