September in the Rain, Melodic Analysis

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welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence, it's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. I hope everyone enjoyed this past week, diving into the harmonic structure of the classic jazz standard, September in the rain. I love that too. As always, we tackled many essential jazz piano skills, right? We looked at the form of September in the rain. We checked out the standard chord changes for September in the rain. We looked at the harmonic function of those chord changes found within September in the rain. We also looked at common harmonic movement within the tune for ear training development, and, of course, last but certainly not least, my suggested voicings, my left hand shell voicings, as well as my two handed voicings for September in the rain, right, without question. A ton of information. But hopefully, hopefully this process, this process of studying a tune harmonically, is getting easier and easier each and every month since the start of the new year, we have,

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I think, solidified a three tier approach to tune study. Step one is always a harmonic analysis, where we study the form, the changes, function, harmonic movement, voicings.

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And step two, that we're going to do today always is a thorough study of the melody, a melodic analysis, and next week, of course, step three improvisation. So we always break down a tune three ways, harmonically, melodically and improvisationally. I think it's a logical and sequential order that allows us to successfully, successfully discover, learn and play a tune. Now, you know I mentioned it last week and the week before and the month before and the month before that that if you have been a faithful jazz panel skills listener for the past five years, you've become rather intimate and familiar with the jazz panel skills that are needed to successfully begin studying a tune. And I've also mentioned that if you haven't been grinding along with us over the past five years, well, it's no big deal. No worries. Now is a great time. Jump on board, begin developing and enhancing your jazz piano skills. And the fact of the matter is, the tune study that we do each and every month,

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the tune study will help you actually sift through and prioritize the last five years of podcast episodes so that you can begin maximizing your jazz piano skills immediately. So as I always like to say, right doesn't make any difference whether you're a jazz piano skills vet or a jazz panel skills rookie, you're in the right place at the right time to begin a jazz piano journey that's going to have a profound impact on your understanding of music, and, of course, on your jazz piano playing as well. So today, today you are going to discover a melodic analysis for the great jazz standard, September in the rain, and you're going to learn the melody, guide tones, fingerings, phrases, target notes for September in the rain. And you're going to play three different melodic treatments of September in the rain. We're going to look at a swing treatment, Bossa treatment, as well as a ballad. So regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you're going to find this jazz piano skills podcast lesson exploring September in the rain 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 piano skills, and if you are indeed new to jazz piano skills, you're listening for the first time. Welcome. I want to invite you to become a jazz piano skills member. Your membership will grant you access to the premium content, not only for this podcast episode, but for every weekly podcast episode, and the premium content will help you thoroughly and correctly discover, learn and play the jazz standard that we are currently exploring and a whole lot more. Like for example, as a jazz panel skills member, you have access to the past, current and future educational weekly podcast.

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Packets. Now these are the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play alongs, the backing tracks that I, that I design and develop every week, to help you get the most out of each jazz panel skills episode. Now you'll also have access to a self paced and sequential jazz piano curriculum, which is loaded with comprehensive courses, all of the courses containing educational talks, there's interactive learning media, video demonstrations, and so much more packed into each and every course. You also have a reserve seat in my online weekly master classes, which are held every Thursday evening. And now, if you can't attend a Thursday night, it's not a good night for you. No problem. The master classes are recorded, and you can watch and re watch the class, the video of the class whenever and as often as you wish. Now you also have access to an online interactive fake book that contains must know jazz standards, all of them with excellent chord changes, chord scale relationships. There's harmonic function analysis, listening suggestions, historical insights and more.

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And as jazz panel skills member, you have access to the private online jazz panel skills community, which hosts a variety of engaging forums. Get out there, and you can meet some some new jazz piano friends, which is always a great thing to do. And last, and certainly not least, as a jazz panel skills member, you have access to unlimited private, personal and professional educational support whenever and as often as you need it now, all of these amazing privileges, these perks, are waiting to help you discover, learn, play jazz pianos. Take a moment check it all out at jazz panel skills.com and, of course, become a premium member to be become a member to begin enjoying premium content and all of the other perks that I just mentioned. Of course, once you get to the site, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me. Contact me. I'm happy to spend some time with you, answer your questions, and, of course, help you in any way that I can. Okay, so on to the question of the week. And this week's question comes from Robbie Olson. Robbie Olson living in Henderson, Nevada, and Robbie writes, I am currently practicing solos from the Charlie Parker Omni book, and finding it very difficult to develop my jazz vocabulary for improvising. I am approaching it like I do classical pieces that I'm learning, practicing sections of the solo, writing in fingerings, working with the metronome and so on. But I find that even when I have a solo under my fingers, it still feels awkward and honestly not very musical. What am I missing? As always, thanks for your help. I actually anxiously await your response.

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Well, Robbie, first of all, man, I gotta tell you, I admire your gumption and determination. Wow. You know, tackling the Charlie Parker Omni book is definitely, it's definitely diving into the deep end of jazz transcriptions, especially, especially for pianists.

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So let's talk about a few things. Okay. Number one,

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it's always a great idea

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to turn to transcriptions to discover melodic ideas and approaches for developing your improvisation skills. It's always a great idea. So you're spot on with that.

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Number two, it's always a great idea as a pianist,

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to study transcriptions of jazz musicians other than pianists right instrumentalists like Charlie Parker, saxophonists, Trump players, that's a great idea, so you're spot on with that as well. And number three, it's always a great idea to be meticulous with your approach, just like you're doing right breaking the solo apart,

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practicing sections, writing in fingerings, like you said, you know, it's fantastic playing in time with a metronome. These are it's fabulous, right? So all of this, all of this, your hunch is right on. You're doing the right kind of things right here, but, but you have to keep in mind, Robbie, that not all instrumental melodic lines, especially saxophone lines, for some reason, are not always going to translate seamlessly into a piano line. Right like after all these melodic ideas are being played by a saxophonist on a saxophone, not a piano.

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Wow. So when turning to an instrumentalist for inspiration, which, again, right? Again, always a great idea, then I would just say, do so cautiously and know that not everything you discover

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is going to be a natural fit for the piano again, right? We're talking about two entirely different instruments. Now. With that being said, I want to affirm your feelings playing solos from the Charlie Parker Omni book is indeed difficult. That's in all caps, difficult,

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right? Not only for you, but man, for everyone right now, the Charlie Parker Omni book is, is. It's very similar to playing Bach fugues, right? Similar in that there's no such thing as an easy Bach fugue, and honestly, there's no such thing as an easy Charlie Parker soul. So all that to say that your feelings are warranted and that you're not alone. It's hard, very hard. Funny. I can I can totally relate to you, Robbie, because I remember when I was encouraged and assuming you were encouraged as well, when I was encouraged to begin playing the solos of instrumentalists, to improve my jazz vocabulary, to improve my articulation, to improve My phrasing. You know, I, too, I, I did the exact same thing. I turned to the Charlie Parker Omni book, because, after all right, he's considered by by many people, to be the best jazz musician of all time. So why not my my thought process was, well, why not learn from the best, right? It makes sense, right? Go to the best. But I will tell you the the books that I really that, for me that really made a difference

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as an aspiring jazz pianist trying to improve my improvisation chops, right? The books that really made a difference are, the trumpet transcriptions by Ken Sloan. Trumpet transcriptions by Ken Sloan. Now there are two books there. It's called the 28 modern jazz trumpet solos, books one and and book one and book two. Now these books contain,

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they contain solos transcriptions by some of the greatest jazz trumpet players of all time. It's amazing, right? You got Chet Baker, Randy Brecker, there's solos in there by Clifford Brown, of course. Miles Davis, Kenny Durham, art farmer,

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Woody Shaw, I mean, just to name a few. And the solos, what's great, the solos can be played with or without the original recordings, okay, but, but I believe both of these books are still in print, and you should be able to find them rather easily by just simply doing an internet search. So my advice Robbie, I would actually put the Omni book down. I know that sounds crazy, but I would put the Omni book down and I would get these trumpet books to help you develop your jazz improvisation skills. Now, the solos are much more

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they're easier to learn, and honestly, they sound much more pianistic as well. So check them out and let me know if you have any questions. But again, that's the 28 modern jazz trumpet solos, books one and two.

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But again, you are spot on with your approach. I would simply suggest starting with some other instrumentalist other than the great Charlie Parker, to explore the art of improvisation. It's great question. Robbie, I hope, I hope this helps a little bit. And as always, if further clarification is needed, please let me know. Do not hesitate to contact me. I'm happy to happy to spend some time discussing this with you and help you in any way that I can. Okay, so every week, I present my outline for studying and learning a tune.

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And again, I stress that genre makes no difference to me, right? It could be a jazz tune, rock or pop tune, country or folk or R, B makes really it's no difference. And the way I approach it is always the same number one I listen. I love listening to various artists, not just jazz musicians, various artists, performing a tune. In fact,

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September in the rain. Can you listen to the Beatles? I mean, Beatles record in September in the rain. So check it out, right? So I like to listen to various artists. I tend to turn.

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To vocalist first, then I like to turn my attention to instrumentalist, and then, of course, I'll spend time listening to pianists. So number one, I always listen after I listen or while I'm listening, right? I'm determining the form of the tune.

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You know, every every song has a form, whether it's the standard jazz form, like a, a B, A or a B, A B, A B, a C. Every, every tune has a form. I want to know what that form is.

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As a pianist, they then turn my attention to the chords, the harmonic structures of the piece, and then, of course, the the voicings. So I'm looking at the chords, common harmonic progressions like 251145,

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so on. And then I

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I explore my voicings.

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Number four, I learned the melody. I transcribe the melody, right? I transcribe the melody. Always transcribe the melody using your ears. Do not turn to a fake book or a collection of music. You know, written music to learn the melody, always transcribe it, learn it by ear. And then finally, I like to explore various treatments of the tune, like we'll do today for September in the rain I typically do. I like to play through a tune using a traditional swing groove, a boss, a groove and a ballot. And we'll do that today, and then finally, like we'll do next week, I turn my attention to improvisation, improvising through the through the two. So

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that's it, right? I listen, determine form, learn the chords, voicings, learn that melody, explore various treatments, and improvise. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Right now, last week, we focused on gaining a harmonic familiarity with September, no rain,

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and so what did we do? We listened. We determined the form. We explored the chord changes, harmonic function and voicings. This week, of course, we're turning our attention to a melodic analysis of September in the rain. So our goal, as it was last week, as it is every month, right? Every week, is to keep everything really clean and tidy with our approach, whether it's skill study that we're doing or whether it's tune study, makes no difference. We want our conceptual understanding of everything that we do musically to be very structured and, quite honestly, to be simple, so that it can be replicated over and over and over again. And you all that are familiar listeners to jazz panel skills, you can attest to the fact that I've said it

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countless times right over the past five years, that if your conceptual understanding of music, or any musical skill is not structured and simple, then it must mean that it's unorganized and confusing. And if it's unorganized and unorganized and confusing, right, conceptually upstairs, you have absolutely zero shot of executing it in your hands downstairs on the piano. Therefore, it's so important that we keep our study, whether it's tune study or skill study, to be very structured, to be very simple and be very replicatable. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we begin part two, a melodic analysis to discover, learn and play September in the rain. Number two, we are going to, of course, listen to a definitive recording of September in the rain. Number three, we're going to learn the melody of September in the rain. Number four, we're going to discuss the melodic fingerings for September in the rain. Number five, we're going to discover and learn, learn and play the melodic phrases. We're going to look at the phrases found within the melody of September in the rain, and then we're going to discover, learn and play the melodic target notes of those phrases. So we're just going to continue to drill down a little deeper and deeper with this melodic analysis. And then, of course, we will play the melody that we have learned, that we have transcribed. We will take that melody and play that melody with the voice scenes that I introduced last week with the harmonic analysis of September in array. And then finally, we will explore three different treatments of this standard, a swing treatment, bossa nova treatment, and, of course, a ballad.

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So as always, wow, we have a ton to get, get done in a very short, very fast hour. So if you are a jazz panel skills member. I want you to just take a few minutes right now, hit the pause button and I want you to download and print your podcast packets again. These are the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play alongs that as a member you have grants you access to this content each and every week. So

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take the.

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Right now. Hit the pause button. I want you to download those podcast packets. You want to have them in your hands as we listen to this episode today. And of course, we want to you want to have them in your hands when practicing. So if you're listening to this podcast on any of the popular podcast directories, such as Apple or Google. I mean, there's a million of them, right? Pandora, Amazon. I Heart Radio.

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Then I would suggest just going directly to jazz piano skills podcast.com

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jazz panel skills podcast.com and you will find the active download download links for each of the podcast packets in the show notes, or you can log into your jazz panel skills account and from your Dashboard, navigate to this episode, where you're going to find one convenient link to download all three podcast packets in a convenient bundle. Okay, so now that you have your podcast packets in your hands, I want you to grab the lead sheets, and you should have six lead sheets in your packet. Lead sheet one provides you a great template for learning the melody of September in the rain using, of course, your ears, right? We're going to transcribe this melody, but lead sheet one is kind of a template with some cues

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from the lyrics to help you with your transcribing of the melody, right? And then lead sheet two, if you take a look at that real quick,

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provides you with the melody of September in the rain. So now you have the the answer guide, right? So lead sheet one is kind of fill in the blanks, if you will, between the the melody notes that are given to guides to help you. And then lead sheet two is a way that you can check your work, so to speak, right? The answer key. So lead sheet two, nice. Lead sheet, clean, lead sheet with the melody written out. Lead sheet three provides the fingerings, right? I have notated the fingerings that I would recommend for playing the melody of September in the rain. Lead sheet four highlights the phrases that we're going to lock in, lock in on today to help us developing our phrasing and articulation of the melody for September in the rain. And lead sheet five illuminates the target notes for each of those phrases, right, especially the entry point and the destination point of those phrases. And then finally, lead sheet six combines the melody of September in the rain with the left hand shell voicings that I introduced last week with our harmonic analysis

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so right, no doubt about it, we have some invaluable tools in our hands that help us today, discover, learn and play September in the rain. So what's the very first thing we do? You got it? Right? We listen, and, you know, last week we listened, and again this week and again next week, right? You know why?

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Because it's the most important thing to do, right? I've stressed it week after week that I cannot. I can't even imagine trying to learn a tune without spending a lot of time listening to that tune. Again, it's the most important step of the entire process. Now, I mentioned earlier that I like to listen to, you know, vocalist, first, then instrumentalist and then pianist. So last week, you know, we checked out a couple great vocal renditions of this standard, Julie London and Joe Williams, right? Just perfect. And this week, we're going to turn, turn our attention to an instrumental treatment. And I've selected a version of of this tune by one of my all time favorite jazz musicians, musician, tenor saxophonist, Mr. Scott Hamilton. Scott Hamilton, and this is from the album, Live and burn burn Switzerland recorded, I believe, 2015

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and he's with the Jeff Hamilton trio, which features Tamir hindleman on piano. Tamir hindleman, who is absolutely terrific. So as always, what I want you to do is I want you to grab your favorite beverage. I want you to sit back and enjoy this swinging group. This is wonderful. This again, Scott Hamilton, tenor saxophone with the Jeff Hamilton trio performing September in the rain. Check this out. Hey.

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hoo,

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very, very tasty, right? Always Scott Hamilton, always tasty. So if you are not familiar with Scott Hamilton, then I would encourage you to spend some time listening to Scott Hamilton. Everything he does is terrific and incredibly tasteful. In fact, he's swinging so hard, he's one of the hardest swinging jazzers that I know, right? I.

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Okay, so now let's explore those lead sheets. So I want you to grab lead sheet one. Let's discover how to properly begin learning the melody of September in the rain, of course, using

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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

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Visit jazzpanelskills.com to learn more about membership privileges and become a jazz piano skills member. Thank you.