Improvisation, a Rhythmic Command of Time

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:32.567)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, this has been a fabulous month here at Jazz Piano Skills. It started with, as it always does, a harmonic analysis of Antonio Carlos Yobeam's standard wave, where we examine the form, the chord changes, harmonic function, common harmonic movement, and of course, as always, voicings. Left-handed shell voicings, two-handed structures. We follow that up with the melodic analysis where we transcribe the melody, established fingers for properly articulating the melody, identify the melodic phrases and the target note of those phrases, as well as exploring some standard jazz treatments, right? Not just wave as a bossa, but we look at that as a ballad and then in a traditional swing style as well.

We then turned our attention to the development of our improvisation skills, utilizing various approaches for developing jazz vocabulary. To do this, right, we looked at various diatonic shapes, harmonic and melodic, that are hidden within the various chord scale relationships found within the bossa nova wave. We then looked at those shapes rhythmically. Today, I want to finish our improvisation study with a definite statement, a definitive statement, I should say, leaving no doubt as to how imperative it is that we gain a rhythmic command of time. That is if we are serious about learning how to improvise. In fact, I'll say it now at the beginning of this episode, and I'll say it again at the end of this episode, that without a rhythmic command of time, there is absolutely no hope, zero, nada that we will develop the ability to musically improvise. It's that simple. It's the truth. So today, we are going to discover the importance of having a rhythmic command of time. We're going to learn how to use diatonic shapes for practicing the rhythmic command of time. And we're going to play a variety of patterns that will help us develop a rhythmic
command of time.

So today is going to be very significant, a very big day for all of us wanting to develop our improvisational skills. So as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner and an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you know what? You're going to find this Jazz Panel Skills podcast lesson exploring improvisation, a rhythmic command of time.

to be very beneficial. But before we get into it, before we get started, I want to, as I always do, extend a warm welcome to all of you first time listeners to Jazz Piano Skills. And if you are a new listener to the Jazz Piano Skills podcast, you're new to Jazz Piano Skills, welcome. I want to invite you to become a Jazz Piano Skills member and your membership not only keeps the Jazz Piano Skills podcast

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for everyone to enjoy. We usually lay out the question of the week, we lay out the educational agenda and the lesson rationale. The second half of the podcast members only deals with lesson content, demonstrations, exploration of the podcast packets, the illustrations, lead sheets and the play alongs. And of course, the weekly assignment rhythm assignment is always given as well. Now, the podcast packets as a member that you get access to the past, the current and

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and the future podcast packets. These are educational materials that I develop for every weekly podcast episode. Very beneficial, you should have them in your hands when listening to the podcast. And of course, have them sitting on your piano when practicing as well. You also as a member have access to the online courses, you have a reserved seat in the master classes, which are held every week on Thursday evenings. That's

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comes with unlimited educational support, private, personal and professional support. So again, all of these perks, the premium podcast content, packets, the courses, the master classes, private jazz piano skills community and the unlimited educational support. All of these perks are waiting to help you discover learn and play jazz piano. So check it all out at jazz piano skills.com. And of course, become a member. If you get to the website, you have any questions,

By all means, feel free to reach out to me. I'm always happy to spend some time with you, answer any questions that you may have, and help you in any way that I can. I also want to remind everyone to begin following my YouTube channel. I have finally decided to become active on YouTube. It's an entirely new world for me, no doubt about it, right? It's definitely an exercise in teaching an old dog new tricks, but nevertheless,

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know what? I'm actually enjoying it. So I'm publishing new videos and shorts every week that explore essential jazz skills. One day it may be a harmonic skill, another day melodic, another day improvisation skill, yet another day rhythmic skill. So when you have a moment, head on over to YouTube and subscribe to the channel, Jazz Piano Skills, and you'll be notified every time I release a new video. Okay, so check out the channel and check out some of the videos and let me know what you think if you if you have any requests for a skill that you would like me to do a video for, then you can easily submit your request through the Jazz Piano Skills website. So if you go to the homepage of jazzpiano skills.com, you're about I don't know about halfway down the page, you'll see the button for submitting a request. And it's that easy. Submit the request and then I'll do my very best to honor your request and get a video put together as soon as possible. Okay, so now typically at this point of the podcast, I always deal with the question of the week, but I got to tell you, there's so much to get through today. that I want to spend some time talking about improvisation, what it is, what it is not, how it works, and how the development of the skills should be approached mentally and physically. Plus, I have quite a few demos to get through today as well. So I think what I want to do is bypass the question of the week this week. So I'm not rushing to get through all the material that I want to get through today. And I want to definitely successfully achieved my goal of making a definitive statement, leaving no doubt as to how imperative it is that we gain a rhythmic command of time if we hope to ever be able to improvise. Okay, so with all that being said, let's talk about improvisation. What it is, and what it is not.

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Okay, so I think it's, I think it's best that we begin with what improvisation is not. Okay, so improvisation is not the spontaneous plane of musical ideas that we have never played before. I'm going to say that again. It is not the spontaneous plane of musical ideas that we have never played before. I think that's the common belief, right? That improvisation actually is the spontaneous playing of music ideas that we've never played before. But it's not. And why? Because that's simply impossible. You know, I've said it before, in previous podcast episodes, many times actually, that your hands and your ears can never ever go where they have never ever been. Again, that's just simply that's simply impossible. You know, that would be like me all of a sudden speaking fluent French while never having studied French. again, simply impossible. know, heck, I'll tell you what, let's make, let's make even a stronger argument. It would be like me using words in the English language that I'm not aware of. And I've never spoken, right, just magically using words that I've never used before. Can you imagine speaking words just out of the

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clear blue sky when speaking and all of a sudden speaking words I've never spoken before. would be stunned. That way actually scare me. We think at home, am I speaking in tongues here or what? Again, it's just simply impossible. You hear it all the time. You hear this all the time that jazz is a language. Jazz is just like a language. You hear it all the time. People say it all the time. Well, this is true. And just like any language, you do not begin using words, notes, melodic ideas, phrases, motif, rhythms, you do not begin using words that you have never ever used before. So we can't compare jazz to a language on one hand, and yet believe it is not characteristically bound by the same requirements and limitations of language. On the other hand, it makes no sense. Right? So all of this to say that improvisation is not magically using musical verbiage we have never used before when playing. Again, it's just simply impossible. So then with this understanding the question must be asked, well, how do I get my hands and ears to go where they've never been before? How do I discover new musical ideas, new vocabulary? Well, good question. And the answer is, for you to discover new musical vocabulary, your hands and ears must be introduced to new musical ideas. And how are your hands and ears introduced to new musical ideas? Well, I like to say they are escorted. And how are they escorted? Well, they are escorted by your mind, your intellect. And in order for your intellect to do this very important job, it must study. And through study,

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properly form an understanding of how improvisation is architecturally structured. If you do not study and or you have a skewed understanding of what improvisation is and how it is architecturally structured, then you will never you will never develop improvisation skills. So with that in mind, Let's talk about what improvisation is. The short answer? Wait for it. you ready? Here it is. Improvisation is the rhythmic command of time, both harmonically and melodically. Let that sink in for a second. Improvisation is the rhythmic command of time, both harmonically and melodically. rhythmic command of time both harmonically and melodically. So I must ask, are you practicing playing harmonic and melodic shapes in time rhythmically? When I ask the question again, are you practicing playing harmonic and melodic shapes in time rhythmically? If the answer is yes, then wow. You are way, way ahead of the curve. Congratulations. If your answer is no, then I have some good news and I have some bad news for you. Let's, I always like to start with the good news. So let's start with the good news. The good news is you're normal. You're just like 99 % of everyone trying to learn how to improvise. You're normal. great. Okay, now the bad news. The bad news is that you're never going to learn how to improvise. Good news, you're normal. Bad news, you're never going to learn how to

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So guess what we are going to do today? we are going to begin the process of gaining a rhythmic command of time, both harmonically and rhythmically. Right? That way we'll be able to answer yes to the question, are you practicing harmonic and melodic in time rhythmically? So that is what we are going to do today. Okay, the last three weeks, have been rather interesting. You three weeks ago, we did our improvisation development with the standard wave. And the thrust of that episode was to outline, to determine the chord scale relationships needed to be determined so that we can begin extracting diatonic shapes from the scale to use for improvising. big job. And then two weeks ago, we stepped back from that and illuminated how to extract and begin practicing the harmonic and melodic diatonic shapes found within those chord scale relationships. And then last week, we took another step back to look how we can begin to

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think of those harmonic and melodic shapes rhythmically and mathematically, how we can place them on various beats within a measure. And today we're going to take another step back to isolate sound and use it to help us gain a rhythmic command of time, both harmonically and melodically. So after today, we're going to be in very, very good shape to begin stepping forward again using the knowledge that we have obtained in the previous two, three week, last two, three weeks of podcast episodes. Wow. So the educational agenda for today then is going to be as follows. Number one, we are going to isolate a sound in a chord to begin practicing time rhythmically, harmonically, and methodically, methodically, about melodically, that would be better than methodically harmonically and melodically. Number two, we will experience why it is important to be able to play sound and silence. Number three, we will gain a very by the end of the episode, we will gain a very accurate assessment of how well we feel time and how well we can track especially when playing silence. And number four, we will finally, finally have a very strong understanding of what improvisation is and how to begin developing this essential jazz skill.

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Wow, how fun is this going to be? I'm saying it's gonna be a lot of fun. It's gonna be challenging, but it's gonna be a lot of fun. So 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. These are the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play on play alongs that I mentioned earlier, right? Again, your membership grants you access to this material. So use it, right. And I like I mentioned earlier as well, you want this material in your hands as you listen to the podcast episode, and you certainly want this material sitting on your piano when practicing. Okay. Alright, so now that you have your podcast packets, I want you as always, we're going to start with, I'm going to walk you through all three. But let's start with the lead sheets packet first. Okay, so grab your lead sheets. Now this lead sheet may look familiar to you because I recently did a YouTube video titled, Don't Neglect This Essential Skill. If you haven't watched that video, it may be worth a visit to my YouTube channel to check it out. All right. And now what we're going to do today is much more in depth than what I presented in the video. But nevertheless, it will still be very beneficial for you to check it out. If nothing else, it will serve as a very nice introduction to what we are tackling today. Now, the illustrations, if you take a look at your illustrations, you will find these are a nice worksheet that allows you to do some prep work. You can take the rhythmic patterns that we are going to play harmonically and melodically today, and you can write in the counting and or the note names of the sound, the chord that you are using to practice rhythm harmonically and melodically. Again, we're starting with one today, but the goal here is that you can swap in that isolated, swap in and out that isolated sound, that isolated chord with whatever chord that you want to utilize, right?

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So as always, right, it's a great idea why I love the illustrations. It's always a great idea to think, to think through the skill first, to think through the sound, the chord that we're going to use today, the rhythms that we are going to practice before we actually go to the keys, right, before we go to the piano. And I've stressed it over and over and over again, the past, over the past six years that paper practice, what I like to call paper practice pays huge dividends, right? Conceptual understanding drives your physical development through a well thought out practice agenda. Okay, so that's the illustrations. And then the play alongs. Finally, the play alongs provide you with several backing tracks of various tempos to use when practicing the harmonic and melodic shapes that we are going to tackle today, practicing them rhythmically. Okay, so a variety of tempos to challenge yourself. So, all right, I believe we are ready to begin our journey. So we're ready to improve our improvisation skills by gaining a command of rhythm, harmonically and melodically using some straightforward but harder than you think. patterns. All right, so let's grab lead sheet one. Not only is lead sheet one lead sheet one, but it's the ...

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