I Got Rhythm, Improvisation

Introduction to Improvisation in Jazz Piano

Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, we're now in week three of our study of I Got Rhythm, which means it's time for a little improvisation work. You know, last week we focused on the melodic foundation. We transcribed the melody. We looked at fingerings, phrases, target notes within those phrases, and of course, various traditional jazz treatments like a ballad, basa, swing. And today we continue our exploration of George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm, but we shift our attention to improvisation. We're going to explore how to strategically create jazz vocabulary, how to practice, listen to this, how to practice improvisation. And when it's all said and done, we will have a process, an approach that we can apply to any sound and any chord within the sound. How cool is that? In other words, we're going to take our harmonic and melodic understanding from the last two weeks, and we are going to use it to practice creativity. I always tell students, hey, you want to be creative? Then you need to learn how to practice creativity. And that's exactly what we are going to do today. Yep, today is all about improvisation. And you know what? Improvisation is not spontaneity. In fact, it's actually organ organization in real time. It's organization in real time. You know, one of the biggest m misconceptions about jazz, jazz piano, is that improvisation is spontaneous. I hear it all the time. That it's that it's almost like it's it's random happenings. It's unpredictable. Something that just happens in the moment. Well, big news flash. It's not. It's not. Improvisation is not randomness. It's not guessing. Well, it's definitely not magic. So the reason so many students struggle with improvisation, well, first of all, because of these misconceptions, but it's because they've never been shown how to organize what they're playing. And that's what we're going to do today. Right? Students struggle with improvisation because they've never been shown how to organize what they are practicing, what they are playing. So what happens when it's time to improvise? They rely on memorized licks, which is the kiss of death. They rely on trial and error, or worse, they freeze. Not because of lack of a talent, lack of talent, because I've talked about this in previous podcast episodes, it's not because of a lack of talent, but because they lack clarity. It really, you know what, it always comes back to clarity. And that's what I'm I always stress that conceptual understanding drives physical development. That if things are foggy or confusing or fragmented or messy conceptually, then that's exactly what's going to come out in the hands. Right? So lack of clarity is the root cause of why everyone struggles with learning how to improvise. So it's important to know that improvisation works differently. Improvisation is not spontaneity, it is indeed organization in real time. Now, everything we've done up to this point matters. So important, right? Week one, harmonic understanding. Week two, melodic motion, which all preps us, leads us to improvisation. Improvisation is simply the ability to bring those two together, harmonic understanding and melodic motion. Bring those two together in real time. That's improvisation. It's the ability to move through harmonic shapes. We're going to be doing that today. The ability to move through harmonic shapes using or producing melodic shapes. Using harmonic shapes to produce melodic shapes that do what? That move up and move down. Gosh, all this sounds really familiar. Sounds like musical facts. Oh, we'll get to that here shortly. So again, improvisation, the ability to move or to use harmonic shapes to create melodic shapes that move up and down. Using what? Scale and arpeggio motion. And decorating that motion with chromaticism. Today we're going to keep it all diatonic using chord tones, harmonic shapes. But once that's in place, then we can move to decorating that motion with, of course, chromaticism or notes outside of the harmony to create tension. Alright? And we do all of this, we express all of this with what? Rhythm. And we're going to look at how to do that as well today. Having a command of downbeats and upbeats. So that's it. Really, in a nutshell, that's it. That's improvisation. It's not guessing, it's not hoping, it's not searching, it's not trial and error, right? It's organizing sound. Organizing sound in motion. If you can think clearly, right? Claire clarity of thought. If you can think clearly, you can improvise. And if you can't, well, then you do the opposite. You guess. Those are two very, very different things. So today we're we're gonna take all of these ideas and apply it directly to uh I got rhythm. We're going to move beyond simply understanding the harmony, but and beyond simply playing the melody and begin developing the ability to create to organize sound and to improvise with clarity, with purpose, with control, right? Systematically developing jazz vocabulary. And it's almost well, it's not almost impossible, it's it is impossible to do that without having a clear understanding of the seven musical facts. And again, and I stress these every single episode. And guess what? I'm gonna stress it, stress them again here today. So for all of you regular listeners, you can recite it along with me, right? The seven musical facts, so important, they govern everything that we do, how we approach our study and practicing of music. Fact number one, music is the production of sound and silence. Sound being our primary sounds major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished. Fact number two, sound is produced two ways, harmonically and melodically. Fact number three, when sound is produced harmonically, we are playing chords or what we often refer to as voicings, harmonic shapes. Fact number four, when sound is produced melodically, we're playing, guess what? Arpeggios andor scales, melodic shapes. Fact number five, when playing our arpeggios, when playing our scales, we can only move in one of two directions. We can either go up or we can either come down. That's it. Fact number six, we camouflage the fact that we are playing arpeggios and scales by decorating them or camouflaging them with tension, or what is referred to as chromaticism, notes that actually fall outside of the harmony. And then finally, fact number seven, to make facts one through six musically interesting, musically expressive, we add rhythm. That's it. Those seven facts, they govern or they should govern everything we do. Everything that we practice and how we practice. So seeing music this way or outlined within these seven facts or contained within these seven facts, seeing music this way is the key to becoming a musician. If you don't see these seven musical facts, good luck. It's just not gonna happen. If you do, then you have a shot of becoming a musician. Seeing music is the production of harmonic and melodic shapes moving up and down through scale and arpeggio motion, decorated with chromaticism and expressed rhythmically. That's the key. That's music. And once you understand that that this is what music actually is, these seven facts, you can begin to practice in a way that reflects this reality, that reflects the truth. You can your practice stops becoming random. Right? Random practicing, that is a clear indicator of a lack of clarity, clarity of thought. Right? So your practice stops becoming random, your practice stops becoming scattered, and it starts becoming what? Organized. It starts becoming intentional. And once it becomes organized and intentional, it becomes productive. Once you understand the musical, musical truth, the seven musical facts, you can finally build practice strategies that align with how music actually works. And that's what we're gonna do today. Right? So all of this is to say that we are today, we are going to discover the importance of commanding upbeats and downbeats. We are going to learn how to construct, how to compose jazz vocabulary using harmonic shapes. And we're going to play 14, count 'em, 14 melodic ideas that are rhythmically, systematically composed, that are rhythmically and systematically composed. So, as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you consider yourself a seasoned professional, you are going to find this Jazz Piano Skills Podcast lesson exploring I got rhythm, improvisation development to be extremely beneficial. But before we jump in, before we get started, I want to, as I always do, take just a moment to welcome all first-time listeners to the Jazz Piano Skills Podcast. If you're new to the podcast, if you're new to jazz piano skills, welcome. We're glad you're here. I want to encourage you to explore jazz piano skills and to become a member. Your membership gives you access to a very structured, comprehensive learning environment designed to support your development every step of the way and at every level. As a member, you will have access to premium podcast content, which means you get to listen to the entire episode. The first half of every podcast episode is free for everyone to enjoy. The second half of the podcast, getting into the lesson content and demonstrations and materials that is for members only. As a member, you also have access to the downloadable podcast packets. These are the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play-alongs that I develop for every weekly podcast episode. These are invaluable educational tools that you want in your hands when listening to the episode, and of course, you want sitting on your piano or on your music stand when practicing throughout the week. As a jazz panel skills member, you also have access to the Jazz Pianel Skills Courses. These are online courses that are sequential. They are sound-based, skill-based, uh harmonic and melodic and improvisation-based courses that you can enjoy at your pace. As a jazz panel skills member, you also have a reserved seat in the weekly masterclass that I host every Thursday evening. That is 8 p.m. Central Standard Time. I know it's not the best time for everyone around the world. However, the masterclasses are recorded and you can watch the video at your convenience and as often as you wish. And as a jazz panel skills member, you also have access to our private online jazz panel skills community, a fantastic group of folks that you can engage in discussion regarding various jazz topics. There are educational forums that are available that are podcast-specific forums, general jazz forums. It's a great place to share questions and answers with one another, to give support and to receive support. And then finally, as a jazz panel skills member, you have direct access from me for guidance and support whenever you need it. So all of these resources, all of these perks and privileges are designed with one goal in mind to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano in a very clear, very structured, and very meaningful way. So you can learn more about all this at jazzpianoskills.com. And again, once if you get to the site and you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to spend time with you and answer any questions that you may have. One final note if you are not already receiving the Jazz Pianel Skills Weekly blog post, uh, I would encourage you to join the Jazz Panel Skills email list, which you can easily do at jazzpianelskills.com. Every weekend, uh, Saturday, Sunday, sometime over the weekend, I publish a written summary of the week's lesson designed to reinforce what we've been studying and uh and also reinforce what you've learned and help you really kind of stay organized and stay on track with your study. So make sure you are part of that email list so you receive that blog post every single weekend. Okay, so let's uh move on to the question of the week. And this week's question comes from Daniel Harris. Daniel Harris living in Chicago, Illinois. Hey, my my neck of the woods. All right, so Daniel writes, uh, Dr. Lawrence, I spend a lot of time practicing scales and arpeggios. Excellent. Uh, like I'm supposed to. That's awesome. But when it comes time to improvise, I don't see how any of it actually helps. Too funny. How exactly does practicing scales and arpeggios become useful for improvisation? I just don't get it. Daniel, oh my goodness. This is a question I used to ask all the time while I was sitting there at the piano practicing scales, practicing schedule uh arpeggios, going up and down the piano, and I would say to myself, I'm not really sure how this is going to translate into improvisation. But you know what? I'm gonna continue to do it because everyone tells me that I should be doing it. So I'm just gonna trust blind faith, I'm just gonna keep doing it and hope that somehow it magically turns into improvisation. But I can tell you that that's not the case. That doesn't happen. So, Daniel, it's it's a fantastic question. And um and the answer actually the answer is actually very simple. Practicing scales and arpeggios it really that's not the problem. That's a good thing. But practicing them incorrectly, bingo, that's the problem. That is a huge problem. So let's talk about this a little bit. The reason you don't hear your scales and arpeggios in your improvisation is because the way you've been honestly, is the way you've been taught to practice them. It has nothing to do with how music which, by the way, how you've been taught to practice them, practice them how it has nothing to do with how music actually works. So I just mentioned this, I think, in the masterclass this last week, or maybe a couple weeks ago, that there are three huge mistakes that people make when practicing scales and arpeggios. And unfortunately, like I just said, it's it's unfortunate because you've been taught to make these mistakes. So let's look at each each mistake, okay? So the first mistake that students make in practicing scales is that they practice the scale from root to root, always. So it's root to root to root. So in essence, what your ear is hearing all the time is this root to root. So now your ear is asking the question, Daniel, what is it that you want us to listen for? Your ears are actually saying, we don't get it. W w what is it that you want us to listen for? See, this is a problem because when the ears have nothing to listen for, you start on the root, you end on the root, right? There's there's uh no ear training development, right? There's no uh unique sound that you are locking into. So I always stress to every student that you your entry point of the scale and your destination point always have to be different. So I always like practicing scales from the let's say from the root to the seventh. And I'm playing that against the major seventh sound. So I get this. Now listen how different the scale sounds when I practice a dominant scale. Oh, now I'm hearing dominant. So just major, my ears are hearing major, my ears are hearing dominant. So by having a specific entry point, a specific destination point, um, it engages my ear, which is absolutely necessary for growth for improvisation. So uh the fix is pretty simple. Stop practicing number one, the number one mistake, stop practicing scales from root to root. Change your entry points and change your destination points. I have students practice scales from the root to the seventh, from the third to the ninth, from the fifth to the eleventh, from the seventh to the thirteenth of the sound. That way they're covering the entire landscape of that sound from the root to the thirteenth. And they're using different entry points and destination points to help develop that ear, uh, to hear the different uh regions of the sound, and also to get familiar with the scale in a multi dimensional way, as opposed to just being one dimensional from the root to the root. So, mistake number one root to root, Daniel. You'll knock it off. Okay. Practice root to seven, third to nine, fifth to eleventh, seventh to the thirteenth. Okay? That's mistake number one. Root to root. Okay, mistake number two. I kind of already answered. I spilled the beans, right? Always mistake number two is always starting the scale on the root. So you know, C major scale, start on C. F major scale, start on F. B flat major scale, start on B flat. Do the same for the arpeggios, by the way. C major arpeggio start on C. F major arpeggio start on F. Mistake number two, starting always on the root. Again, different entry point into the sound. So the not just the root, but how about the third? How about the fifth? How about the seventh, right? Music, guess what? Music doesn't always begin on the root. So neither should you when practicing the sounds of music. So make that change, right? Make that change. Stop practicing mistake number one, root to root, stop mistake number two, practicing always launching from the root. Those are two huge mistakes. Now, number three, mistake number three, which we're really going to attack today with our improvisation development. Mistake number three is the practice uh practicing arpeggios and practicing scales with no rhythm, void of any rhythm. Huge mistake. This and really I can't think of any mistake. I can't think of anything that is more of a killer to your improvisation development than practicing arpeggios and scales void of rhythm. Void of rhythm, just practicing the same um. That's what they that's what everybody does. So no rhythm, very mechanical, very lifeless. Um scales and arpeggios are melodic lines. And lines without rhythm, melodic lines without rhythm, well, quite honestly, it's not melodic, it's not music. So you have to begin practicing scales, intentionally practicing your arpeggios and scales with using various rhythmic patterns. We're going to be looking at 14, 14 rhythmic patterns today to use for developing uh uh our jazz vocabulary. So if you practice without rhythm, you're practicing, uh you practice sounding unmusical. And that's why when you're sitting there, as I did, practicing scales and arpeggios, root the root, right? Always root the root, and always never different entry points, and always practicing them void of rhythm. That's why I was sitting there, just like you, Daniel, sitting there thinking, I don't get it. I really don't get it. I'm going up and down these arpeggios and scales, but I'm not seeing how this translates over into improvisation. Well, it doesn't if you make those three big mistakes. It will never ever result in your development of improvisation skills. So, Daniel, I hope this quick uh reflection on the practicing of arpeggios and scales and why, as they are typically practiced, why they result in in uh no improvisation growth. I hope that you I hope you find that I hope you have found this to be helpful. And again, as always, if I've caused more confusion than clarification, please let me know. Always happy to dive into discussions on improvisation. So uh let me know. Make changes to those three big mistakes, and I think you will start to get it. I think you will understand the importance of having a command of arpeggios and scales uh for developing improvisation skills. All right, so let's review before we start the lesson. Let me r review once again our approach to studying tunes and why we do it. Okay, and and again our tune study approach that we utilize every month would be the same approach if we were studying other genres, not just jazz. I mention it every week that it it really doesn't matter. Rock, pop, country, folk, RB. Regardless of the tune, regardless of the genre, we would approach it the very same way. Number one, utmost importance, listen. This is why we have a killer listening list every single week that is part of our study. And this list is found in the online jazz pianel skills community. Uh, that list helps us uh get acclimated to various uh treatments, various renditions of the tune by listening to various artists, whether they're vocalist or instrumentalist or pianist, whether they're professional or amateur, makes no difference. Uh this our efforts to listen to anything, to everything uh regarding I Got Rhythm, for example, this month, is so vitally important in helping us uh helping us grow and develop our musicianship. After we listen, we always turn our attention to either our harmonic analysis, melodic analysis, improvisation development. Basically week one, week two, week three. Our harmonic analysis, we what what do we do? We look at form, we look at the changes, harmonic function, common harmonic movement, and of course, voicings. With our melodic analysis, always transcribing the melody to the best of our ability, identifying the phrases within the melody, looking at the various target notes within those phrases, and then of course, exploring various treatments ballad, basa, swing, forcing us to interpret and reinterpret that melodic line various ways to stylistically fit the treatment. And then finally, improvisation development, which we're going to be doing today, always a study of melodic pathways, developing jazz, vocabulary, motifs, chord scale relationships, uh, tension, all that, all that goes along with improvisation. We touch on various aspects of it every month when we get to our improvisation week. So our our whole approach to tune study, listening every week, harmonic analysis, followed by melodic analysis, followed by improvisation, uh, is is very thorough, it's very systematic, it's very intentional, and it comes with clarity of thought, which you put all that together and it equals progress, it equals success. So again, I can't cannot stress the importance of having this kind of organizational blueprint, organizational outline to follow, uh, to guide your what, why, and how of studying, and then to have this all wrapped within the seven facts of music. It's powerful stuff. And uh without it, we are simply grasping at straws and hoping for the best. Not a good plan. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we are going to, of course, listen to various recordings of I Got Rhythm. Number two, we will use harmonic shapes and rhythm to compose 14 melodic lines for developing jazz vocabulary. And number three, we are going to practice these lines using ascending and descending motion. And then number four, we're going to apply our new approach to I Got Rhythm, playing a solo using these harmonic shapes that have been used to create melodic ideas. So if you are a jazz panel skills member, I want you to take just a few minutes right now, hit the pause button. I want you to access, download, and print the podcast packets. Again, these are the illustrations, the lead sheets to play alongs. Your membership grants you access to this material, and you should absolutely utilize it and take advantage of it. I mentioned every week that these podcast packets, these podcast packets should be in your hands when listening to the podcast episode to get the most out of it, and of course, sitting on your piano or your music stand when practicing. Okay, so now that you have your podcast packets, I want you to grab your lead sheets. We always start with our lead sheets, and I'll talk about the illustrations and the play-alongs toward the latter part of the podcast. But you should have, you ready? You should have one lead sheet. One lead sheet this week. But you know what? Oh, this lead sheet is packed with great information. On that lead sheet, or in that lead sheet, you will find 14 essential jazz patterns, melodic patterns or melodic lines, melodic ideas, jazz vocabulary that we will use to develop our improvisational skills. So believe it or not, one lead sheet, but we have a ton to do today. In fact, you're gonna practice along with me as we go through these essential jazz melodic lines. So, grab your lead sheet one, let's get started. Thank you for listening to Jazz Piano Skills. The remaining premium content of this episode is available to Jazz Piano Skills members at Jazz Pianoskills Podcast.com. Visit jazzpianoskills.com to learn more about membership privileges and become a Jazz Piano Skills member. Thank you.