Top articles
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Five tips and reflections on Rythm Changes.
Here are some thoughts and tips on the famous rythm changes. Playing Rythm changes can be quite challenging due to the number of chords in every bar and the speed at which it is usually played, so it might be a good idea to check out what great musicians...
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Variations on Polkadots and moonbeams (Chord melody)
A great way to expand your chord vocabulary is to experiment and focusing on trying to come up with different version of the same few bars. Here's my take on the beginning of "Polkadots and moonbeams" and the transcription of the first three bars of each...
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The diminished scale (1/2 step/whole step)
In this lesson, i'd like to share with you some of the ideas i've been working on these days. You probably know that you can use the diminished scale on altered dominant chords.It creates nice tension that are close to those of the altered scale. If you...
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Technique/Tim Miller
As the winter gets near, it's time to shred a little bit to get our hands warm. Today's lines are reminiscent of guitar extraordinaire Tim Miller,using the concept of playing two notes on one string, then one, then two again etc.... The first example...
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Practicing lines on II-V-I
I'll share with you excerpts of a lesson on II-V-I. Once again, the idea is to transcribe lines so as to apply the concept behind each line. Given that the II/V/I harmonic progression is one of the most commonly used in jazz music, it is widely recommended...
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Transcribing Kurt rosenwinkel's lines
Transcribing is obviously an important part of lots of jazz musicians' daily practice. Although I strongly recommend it to my students, i personnally do not remember having ever learnt en entire solo by heart from beginning to end. I much prefer transcribing...
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The diminished scale in Scriabin's music
Even though Scriabin's early work was heavily influenced by chopin,his language would become more and more abstract by the end of his life. Scriabin is famous for the use of what is called the "Prometheus" or mystic chord.Scriabin himself referred to...
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Variations on "All The Things You Are"
As explained in the last video, an exercice i like to practice is to come up with as many versions as possible of the same few bars of a standard tune. This time, i'd like to share with you some ideas on "All the Things You Are"... You all know the chord...
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Working with a metronome (5 against 4)
The metronome is a great tool to practice rythm.You are all familiar with putting the metronome on "2" and "4", but what about putting it on a completely different part of the beat? In this exercice, i suggest experimenting with the 5:4 feel (Five against...
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Chord appoggiatura with the diminished scale
When playing a IIm-V7-Imaj7, it may be nice to find a way to embellish the Imaj chord. One possibility is to use the concept of chord appoggiatura. what is it all about? what does it mean ? Simple! when playing a melody, an appoggiutara is a non chord...
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Bach...the Vm(7) chord...non-chord tones and Bill Evans
Today we'll look at the Vm(7) chord. Often times,the scale degree V will be harmonized with a V7 dominant chord (V7 of major scale or V7 of harmonic minor scale),but it is possible to find a Vm(7) chord built on the 5th scale degree of the natural minor...
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Analysis of Eugène Ysaÿe's "Harmonies du soir"
I recently stumbled upon this great piece of music by Belgian Composer and conductor. The beginning of "Harmonies du soir" features some gorgeous harmonic movements,here is a short analysis i did. Measures 1 to 10 go from Eb7 to G7 and back to Eb7.That...
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Endings...
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Jazz writing with the help of Puccini ("Crisantemi")
Once again,the classical composers are a great source of inspiration when you write in the jazz idiom. I was recently listening to "Crisantemi",written for string quartet in 1890 and found a very nice passage in the very beginning. So let us delve into...
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Working with a metronome/Jonathan kreisberg line
I was talking to a former student of mine the other day, who was telling me what he was practicing these days as far as rythm is concerned. It reminded me of a transcription i had made of one of Jonathan Kreisberg's lines on "Falling Grace" Pretty tricky...
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Bach's voicings
Let us delve into into the genius of J.S. Bach. Here are a few notes to harmonize in the key of Dm/FM Here is a simple version with basic chords Maybe we can add a few non-chord tones... Here is now Bach's version analysed. Notice how he uses multiple...
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practicing lines on Donna lee
The idea here is to improvise lines on the first 8 bars of donna lee and then transcribe them to see how different they may be. Will i come up with totally different lines or are they going to be similar in many ways? Here is the transcription of the...
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Rhythmic study of "Eleven wives" by Avishai Cohen
The fisrt time i heard "Eleven wives", i thought the beginning was in 7, with the usual long-long-long-short clave.(2+2+2+1).In fact the subdivision was 3+3+3+2 which add up to eleven. The tricky part is that the left hand of the piano plays two 11/8...
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Analysis of a composition
The melody of this composition is based upon a twelve-tone row which is repeated three(and a half) times. In order to deceive the listener, the melody does not start at the same place when it is repeated and the rhythm may also change.As far as the harmony...
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Lage Lund's solo improvisation on "Peace" (Horace Silver)
Nice solo improvisation by lage Lund.As far the rhythm goes it is pretty much played rubato... The 32th notes of any tuplet(10, 11 etc...) may have the same duration. Measure 1:Use of the locrian natural 9th on the Am7(b5) Measure 2:Gm triad and Gm(maj7)...
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Writing music with REAPER
Happy owner of a new laptop since mid-july, i am now able to take advantage of my sound libraries (which were useless on my former PC). So i am spending my summer expanding my knowledge on this fantastic DAW. I wrote a short piece that has some cinematic...
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Ravel's string quartet: The locrian natural 9 mode
In this excerpt , the harmony is Fm7(b5) . Ravel uses ine VIth mode of Ab melodic minor (F locrian natural 9). The melodic material is taken from one the themes of the beginning of the piece and is played by the 1st violin and the cello. The 2nd violin...
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Schubert and the diminished chord.
With the romantic period, the music becomes more and more chromatic with the use of ambiguous chords. The diminished chord is one of them.Here Schubert uses the A°7 chord to go from the key of Bb(VI) to the original Dm key. It can function as VII°7 of...
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fichiers son harmonie
c b a a# b c# d - c b a a# b c# d 2.mp3 - everything happens to me analyse 1.mp3 darn that dream - darn that dream.mp3 - séquence feuilles mortes.mp3 - chopin op 28.mp3 - bach 369.mp3 - 6te augmentée.mp3 - 6te augmentée2.mp3 - 6te napolitaine.mp3...
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Re-harmonizing a tune
Here's a re-harm of" wave"(Jobim) i did recently. We'll try to get deeper into the process later on, in the meantime, you can check out the video and the chords! Reharmonized version of "Wave" "Original" chords
