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Nov. 2, 2022

Key of D Major Harmonic Workout

This JazzPianoSkills Podcast Episode explores a Key of D Major Harmonic Workout (Block Chords, Traditional and Contemporary Shells, Two-Handed Voicings) + Rhythmic Comping Patterns.

Welcome to JazzPianoSkills; it's time to discover, learn, and play Jazz Piano!

Every JazzPianoSkills weekly podcast episode introduces aspiring jazz pianists to essential Jazz Piano Skills. Each Podcast episode explores a specific Jazz Piano Skill in depth. Today you will discover, learn, and play a Key of D Major Harmonic Workout. In this Jazz Piano Lesson, you will:

Discover
A Key of D Major Harmonic Workout

Learn
How to "think" within the Key of D Major, Harmonically

Play
Block Chords, Traditional and Contemporary Shells, Two-Handed Voicings using common harmonic motion, AND various Rhythmic Comping Patterns

Use the Jazz Piano Podcast Packets for this Jazz Piano Lesson for maximum musical growth. All three Podcast Packets are designed to help you gain insight and command of a specific Jazz Piano Skill. The Podcast Packets are invaluable educational tools at your fingertips while doing a Key of D Major Harmonic Workout.

Open Podcast Packets
Illustrations
(detailed graphics of the jazz piano skill)
Lead Sheets
(beautifully notated music lead sheets)
Play Alongs
(ensemble assistance and practice tips)

Educational Support
Community Forum
SpeakPipe

Episode Outline
Introduction
Discover, Learn, Play
Invite to Join JazzPianoSkills
Lesson Rationale
Exploration of Jazz Piano Skills
Conclusion
Closing Comments

Visit JazzPianoSkills for more educational resources, including a sequential curriculum with interactive Jazz Piano Courses, private and group online Jazz Piano Classes, and a private jazz piano community, Jazz Piano Forums.

If you wish to support JazzPianoSkills with a donation, you can do so easily through the JazzPianoSkills Paypal Account.

Thank you for being a JazzPianoSkills listener. I am pleased to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano!

Warm Regards,
Dr. Bob Lawrence
President, The Dallas School of Music
JazzPianoSkills

AMDG

Transcript

Dr. Bob Lawrence  0:33  
Welcome to jazz piano skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn and play jazz piano. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed last week's transcription analysis. Have been Patterson's my shining hour from his blues for Oscar album. It's always a treat to have Josh Walsh on jazz piano skills. And I look forward to future transcription analysis with Josh as we seek and seek out and look for Fantastic solos and put them under the microscope scope sort of speak to illuminate all the little hidden gems right? To help us develop our own jazz vocabulary and improvisational skills. Well, transcription Tuesday was last week, and this week, we're moving on, we're going on to discover a key of D major harmonic workout. And we're going to learn how to think within the key of D major harmonically. And we are going to play essential jazz piano voicings to block chords traditional contemporary shows two-handed shapes using common harmonic motion. And on top of all that, we are going to explore various rhythmic comping pattern patterns, focusing on 16th, the 16th dotted eighth rhythm. So as I always like to say, regardless of where you are, in your jazz journey, a beginner an intermediate player, an advanced player, even if you consider yourself a seasoned and experienced professional, you're gonna find this jazz panel skills podcast lesson, exploring a key of D major harmonic workout to be very beneficial. But before we dig in, I want to take just a few minutes as I always do at the beginning of every jazz piano skills podcast episode to welcome new listeners to the jazz piano skills program to the jazz panel skills podcast. And if you are indeed new to jazz panel skills, I want to personally invite you to become a jazz panel skills member. All you have to do to become a member is pretty simple. Just visit jazz piano skills.com. And once you arrive at the homepage, you can begin to explore you can begin to poke around a little bit, and check out the abundance of jazz educational resources and materials, and services that are available for you to help you significantly improve your jazz piano skills. For example, you as a jazz panel skills member will have access to all of the educational podcast packets now these are educational tools and materials that I put together each and every week for each and every podcast episode. The illustrations the lead sheets in the play alongside these are invaluable educational tools that you definitely want to have in your hands as you listen to the podcast episode. And you also want to have them sitting on the piano as you practice as well. As a jazz panel skills member you also have access to the online sequential jazz piano curriculum, which is loaded with comprehensive courses on all of them. All of the courses use a self-paced format. There are educational talks to listen to and enjoy interactive media to help test your conceptual understanding of the jazz piano skills, video demonstrations of the skills and all 12 keys, play along, and much more. You also as a jazz panel skills member have a reserved seat as I like to say in the weekly online master classes which are in essence a one-hour online lesson with me each and every week. You also as a jazz panel skills member have access to the online interactive Fakebook which grants you access to jazz standards from the Great American Songbook you'll be able to enjoy the chord changes lead sheets that are harmonic function, lead sheets, play long files, historical insights, inspirational recordings, and much more. It's an ever-growing collection of tunes that you should absolutely discover, learn and play. You also as a jazz piano skills member have access to the online private jazz piano skills community. Now, this Community hosts a variety of engaging forums or podcast-specific forums. There are core-specific forums. And there are also just general jazz piano forums for you to enjoy. Of course, you have access to all of them and you will be able to contribute. Here Did you hear that you'll you will be able to contribute to them as well, which I strongly encourage you to do. I want you to share, engage and grow. And last but certainly not least, as a jazz piano skills member,

Dr. Bob Lawrence  5:33  
you have access to unlimited, private, personal, and professional educational support provided by me whenever and as often as you need it. Again, just take a few minutes visit jazz panel skills.com, to learn more about all the excellent educational opportunities that await you, and how to activate your membership easily. And quickly. Now, there are several membership plans to choose from, and I have no doubt there's one that is just perfect for you. But nevertheless, if you're poking around, you have some questions you need some help, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to spend time with you answer any questions that you may have and help you in any way that I can. Okay, now, let's discover, learn and play jazz piano, let's get after this key of D major harmonic workout. All right, if you have been listening for the last 10 months, then you know that when we embark upon a new key, we go through this little this little mental exercise to get us pumped up about the new key we are about to tackle. We go through this little routine every month because well, it's now tradition. And because I love doing it's fun. So are you ready? Okay, say it along with me. Here we go. The Keys of C, F and B flat are over the keys of E flat, A flat, D flat over the keys of G flat, B and E way all in the key of A major last month old news. It's over. It's time time to move on to the key of D major. Now, doesn't it feel great? Of course? Of course, it does. It always feels good. Moving on. Even if I know I do not have a complete handle on the skills that I've been working on right, I still feel there are some loose ends to tie up even so. And I've said this many times throughout this journey. It's a big deal to keep forging ahead no matter what, no matter how many loose ends you think you may have, no matter how well you think you have mastered or not mastered the essential jazz piano skills in the previous keys or how shaky you may be believe that your jazz piano skills are in the previous keys. Irrelevant. We must always be moving forward. Forward motion. Without question is the key to developing our jazz piano skills. It is the key to becoming an accomplished jazz pianist. Now, I mentioned this point for the last several months if not the last 10 months. And of course, I want to bring it to your attention again. That if you are truly serious about improving your jazz piano playing which I know you are right because you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, then your goal should be to experience as much data as possible. In other words, you must plan have a plan to efficiently and successfully cycle through essential jazz piano skills in all 12 keys. Your jazz journey must constantly be experiencing forward motion. As I like to say you can not allow grass to grow under your feet when trying to become a jazz pianist. You've heard me say this before as well. The number one reason why people find it challenging so challenging to improve their Jazz Piano playing is that they continually practice the same things and the same keys. And same way over and over and over again, in essence, right, in essence, what they're doing,

Dr. Bob Lawrence  10:18  
they're running in place. They never push forward and move through the keys, as we have set out to do throughout this entire year of 2020 to 12 months 12 keys, right. Essential jazz piano skills, voice it scales, arpeggios, CT scan relationships, improvisation, rhythm, Wow, such a good plan, such a good approach. And such a good timeframe. 12 months 12 keys. So today, we begin tackling the key of D major. So as I have stressed over and over, once we move on, we move on. In other words, we do not try to sneak back to the previous keys, just to check out how well we remember the voices on the scale. So the arpeggios, it's over, it's time to move on. So the books on the key of A major last month, October, the books on the key of A major over which we spent the entire month, right, exploring all the skills, all of our voicings, and of course your relationships, rhythms. They're all it's over, we march on with much excitement and anticipation to the key of D major. And as we have done with the previous keys we have explored throughout this year C F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, B, E, and A. We begin harmonically, we will explore the seven chords of the key of D major today, D major seven E minor seven, F sharp minor seven, G major seven, a dominant seven, B minor seven, and C sharp, half diminished. And we're going to do our exploration, we're going to explore these chords using for, as we've always done for specific approaches to voicing each chord, our blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells, and two-handed shapes. And we will then as we did with all of our previous keys, apply those voicings to various rhythmic patterns, which have become increasingly more and more challenging each month. Now, remember, you can take you can take all those various rhythmic patterns that we have studied throughout the years, year, throughout the year, in various keys, right, and you can play them using the voicings that we are about to get under our fingers for the key of D major. And that's not only okay, but it's a great idea to keep bringing carrying our rhythms forward with us right. And, you should absolutely be doing this, bringing the rhythms forward throughout the year as we move through all 12 keys. Now, I have throughout this year, spent quite a bit of time talking about improvisational vocabulary. And I'm going to spend a little more time talking about it again today. And I want to I want to revisit my thoughts. Because they're important thoughts that we need to hear again and again and again, so that they sink in right. It's that important. These thoughts are that important to our musical and jazz development that I want to spend some time, just a little bit of time going through them again today. Now, when we jazz educators talk about developing improvisational vocabulary. And whenever this topic comes up, it is always discussed, I can bet my bottom dollar on it, it's always going to be discussed from a melodic point of view. In other words, improvisation vocabulary has become synonymous with melodic playing, which is only a third of the equation. It's only a third of the entire picture. In addition to emphasizing melodic development, we need to spend time discussing and focusing on harmonic development and rhythmic development. When the topic of improvisation vocabulary is mentioned And that is precisely what, that's precisely what all of the harmonic workouts are all about the harmonic and rhythmic development,

Dr. Bob Lawrence  15:12  
your harmonic and rhythmic development. So when studying a solo melodic transcription, we do so right, we always do. So if we do it correctly, in such a way that the ideas and the approaches to melodic development displayed by the artist serve as a launching pad or gateway to the discovery of our own melodic creativity. Now, I've said this before, many times as well, we don't, we don't study a Bill Evans transcription in hopes to become an inferior replica of Bill Evans. That's crazy. We study a Bill Evans transcription so that Bill Evans can serve as our escort as our teacher to introduce us to our very own creative reservoir. If you have not thought about this, and the purpose of studying transcriptions, then I strongly encourage you to do so. And think about this as well. When we focus on harmonic development voicings, and rhythmic development, which is time, we should be doing so in the spirit of discovering our own unique form of musical expression as well write, again, musical expression is not just limited to melodic invention. And again, this is precisely what the harmonic and the melodic workouts have been all about throughout this entire year. The voicings I share with you help you discover the sounds, the harmony that you are drawn to, and the rhythms I introduce, are done. So to help you develop a more robust internal sense of what I like to call expressive time. This is certainly a lot the process and digest what I've just mentioned. So I want you to think about it. And if you needed to listen to it over and over again, do so think about it. And of course, if you have any questions, as always, please let me know. I'm happy to spend time with you answer any questions that you may have. So today, we tackle the key of D major. And the educational agenda for today is as follows number one, we begin our key of D major harmonic workout for November. Number two, we're going to play essential harmonic voicings that you need to discover learn and play block shapes, traditional shells, contemporary shells, and two-handed shapes. Number three, we are going to utilize a very relaxed swing groove of 90 today when working on our voicings number four, and on our rhythms. And number four, we will explore 12 comping rhythms, focusing on the 16th dotted eighth combination now last month, we focused entirely on primarily on the dotted eighth 16th pattern. Today, we begin we flip it around, and we go with the 16th dotted eighth combination. And number five, we will apply our rhythmic copying patterns to the classic 251 progression in the key of D major E minor seven, a dominant seven D major seven. If you are a jazz panel skills member, I want you to take a few minutes right now hit the pause button. And I want you to access and download and print your podcast packets, the illustrations, and the lead sheets. Your membership grants you access to all of the educational podcast packets for every weekly podcast episode. And as I mentioned earlier, you should be using these podcast packets when listening to this episode to follow along. And of course, you should be using them when you are practicing. So take a few minutes right now to download and print your podcast packets. If you are listening to this podcast packet on any of the popular podcast directories such as Apple or Google, Amazon, Spotify, there's iHeartRadio Pandora The list goes on and on. Then be sure to go directly to jazz piano skills podcast.com To download your podcast packets, and you will find the active download links in the show notes In one final, but really significant message here, if you are listening, and you are thinking that

Dr. Bob Lawrence  20:12  
the key of D major harmonic workout and the various skills that we are about to discover, learn and play are over your head. And then I would say to you, please, no worries, relax, sit back, and continue to listen. And continue to grow your jazz piano skills intellectually by just simply listening to this podcast episode. Every new skill, every new skill is over our heads when first introduced. But this is how we get better, right? This this is how we grow we; we, with courage place ourselves, ourselves smack dab in the middle of conversations where we have absolutely no idea what people are talking about. Right? Where we are hearing things that we've never heard before. And we are forced, we are literally forced to grow intellectually. I say it all the time. All musical growth begins upstairs mentally, conceptually, before it can come out downstairs physically in your hands. So with that being said, Sit back. Listen to this podcast lesson now to discover and learn the play will come in time. It always does. I guarantee it. Okay, the very first thing I want to address is the last page of your lead sheets packet. It's labeled skill 70. The title of the page is comping rhythms. And you will notice that there are 12 rhythmic patterns labeled letter A through letter L. You will also notice that these rhythmic patterns focus primarily on the sixth teeth dotted eighth pattern. And you will also notice that each of these rhythmic patterns is to be played with the 251 progression, which is precisely what I am going to do today what I will model for you today. Now, with that being said do not bypass practicing scales one through 16 found in your lead sheets pack at all four voicing types should be practice first, without rhythm and as notated in your lead sheets. And as outlined right before before tackling skill 17 Now also use the play alongs included in your podcast packets. Right I don't mention these enough, but they're invaluable play alongs that you should be utilizing when practicing. Now I do not have time in this podcast episode to play through all 16 exercises and the 12 rhythmic patterns. So I'm going to trust that you do not get the cart ahead of the horse that you take the time to study and to practice scales one through 16 to make sure you have a handle on each of these four voicing types as applied to the chords found in the key of D major. Then, once you've worked on your voicings for D major E minor, F sharp minor seven G major seven, a dominant seven B minor seven C sharp half diminished, then you can turn your attention to developing your comping skills using the voicings as you play the 251 progression in the key of D major E minor seven, a dominant seven D major seven. Okay. All right, so let's get started skill seven tape. Okay, so we have skill 17 in front of us. And as I mentioned, you can see that there are 12 rhythmic wines to study and to practice each of them labeled letter A through letter L. And each of them are being played over the 251 progression in the key of D. Now I'm going to play through each exercise is going to play through that 251 progression six times, first time through, I'm just going to comp very nicely with the 251. Then the next four, four times through, I'm going to play the rhythmic line as notated on your lead sheet. Okay, now I'm going to be using two-handed voicings today, you can use any voicing that you like you can use your blocks, your traditional shells, contemporary shells, you can use a single note if you want, you can clap along. The idea here is that we start to really digest these rhythmic ideas. Okay, so I'm going to Oh, and then the last time through after repeating each line four times each shot each line four times in the last time throughout his play to five one again to

Dr. Bob Lawrence  25:05  
Cleanse the palate and in the, in the exercise, okay, so basically six times through for each rhythmic line A through L, first time and last time I'm just playing to five one, the four times in between, I'm playing the rhythmic line as notated on your lead sheet. Okay, so now let's look at letter A, in fact, letter A, B, C, and D, I want you to glance at with me here, and kind of see what's going on. I'm taking this, we're focusing, as I mentioned, we're focusing on the 16th dotted eighth rhythm. And in letter A, as I have done with previous rhythms throughout the year, I'm actually placing that rhythm on count four of measure one, two, and three. And I'm resting, I'm resting on count, I'm resting on measure for just the rest. And while I like to call rest and assess, where I get a chance to have a little breather and make any adjustments that I need to make before repeating the line over again. So the last measure as a measure of arrest is intentional. I like to call it as I said, arrest and assess. So letter A, our 16th dotted eighth pattern is placed on count four, and letter B, you can see I shifted the count three, letter C, I shifted to count two and letter D, I shifted to count one. And again, each line each of those four lines ABC and D, have a measure rest at the end because we're focusing, really locking in on the 16th dotted eighth rhythm placed on each beat within the measure. Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in, and let's check out Letter A relaxed the swing groove of 90. Okay, here we go. Let's check it out.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  28:09  
What do you think? Right? pretty funky, right? The 16th dotted eighth. But hey, you know the good news here. For all of the all of you that like to rush, this rhythm is going to feel right at home, right? You just you're just rushing me. It's like a pair of eighth notes that are really horribly rushed. I'm saying that kind of tongue in cheek but there is some truth to that. Okay, it is a funky little rhythm. Again, it's just it's the polar opposite of what we did last month with our eighth with our dotted eighth 16th pattern, but we're gonna bring that pattern back then, as we move through the lines today. All right, so now we're going to play this same 16th dotted eighth rhythmic idea, but now we're going to shift it to count three. Okay, so we have a half note for counts one and two, followed by our 16th dotted eighth and measures one, two and three, followed by a measure of rest to make any adjustments that we need to make before doing it again. So let's bring the ensemble in. Let's have a little fun and play letter B. Here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  30:29  
Nice right now the challenge with that with letter B, that happening, you want to hold on to that for two entire count, don't cut that half note short, let it ring for two full counts. And then the other challenge is playing that 16th dotted eighth and holding that dotted eighth through the rest of count three but releasing it before count four. So there's a lot of detail here in these in these rhythms that we need to pay attention to, to have them actually be articulated and sounded correctly. So with that being said, let's take a look at letter C. Now again, we're just moving our 16th dotted eighth rhythm to count two, we have a quarter note placed on count one, unlike our half note, in letter B, we want make sure you hold that quarter note for its full value, followed by the 16th dotted eighth on count to hold that dotted eighth until count three because we're resting on three and four. This same rhythmic motif occurs on count measure one, measure two and measure three; again, we have an arrest and measure for us to catch our breath, arrest and assess, make any adjustments that we need to make, then we do it all over again. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out Letter C here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  32:57  
All right, right. Never as easy as it may look on the page. rhythms are always you know, they, they might look easy visually, but to play them correctly, that's a different story, and oftentimes very much more challenging than what they appear to be. So now let's take a look at letter D, we shift our 16th dotted eighth pattern to count one. So we have the pattern played on count one for measures one, two, and three. Each of those measures is followed by a quarter rest on count two and then half rest on counts three and four. And then a measure rest at the end again to make any adjustments that we need to before playing the line over again. All right. So once again, let's bring our ensemble in, we're playing at a nice relaxed swing room of 90, and again, I'm just playing it at 90 If you need to be played at a much slower tempo. Please do so I think that goes without saying. In fact, I think even slower is better. So drop it down to 80 7060. Right? Set yourself up for success Do not try to play these rhythms at a temple that is unmanageable, right? Which will will will call cause a collapse in your plane. Right? Always establish the tempo that's going to set you set yourself up for success. So here we go. Let's bring the ensemble in, and let's check out letter D here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  35:37  
Okay, so now, we've taken the time with A, B, C, and D, to take our 16th dotted eighth rhythm, and explore it by placing it on each beat of a measure on count four to count three to count to count one. So now we start bringing in some rhythms that we've explored in the past in previous months. And what better rhythm to bring in that are, are dotted eighth 16th that we explored and focused on last month. So look at letter E, we have the 16th dotted eighth, followed by the dotted eighth 16th and measure one, we're going to repeat that same rhythmic idea and measure two, then check out measure three traditional straight eights on counts one and three, followed again immediately with our 16th dotted eighth, dotted eighth 16th. So those eighth notes and measure three are placed in there so that you can really establish a very obvious compare and contrast between eighth notes played just normally with a nice swing feel, versus the 16th dotted eighth and that dotted a 16th All right, so let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out letter E here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  38:08  
See, now, these rhythms should begin taking on a unique sound each and every one of them, the 16th dotted eighth that dotted a 16th and then are straight eighths, right. So, now let's take a look at letter F, we have a dotted eighth 16th, followed by a quarter followed by the 16th dotted eighth, and measure one we're going to repeat that exact same idea and measure two with the five core. And we're going to repeat the exact same idea again and measure three on the one chord. Okay, so the same rhythmic motif played with our two, our five, and our one followed by a measure of silence so we can catch our breath, rest, and assess and make any adjustments that we need to make before doing it all over again. So let's bring the ensemble in, and let's listen to and enjoy letter F. Here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  40:13  
All right, we're halfway home. Now look at liturgy, we're just going to flip everything that we just didn't let her out. Right. Instead of focusing on the dotted eighth 16th pattern, we're going to focus on the dotted 16th eighth. So measure one measure to measure three same melodic motif or rhythmic motif all the way through right 16th dotted eighth, followed by a quarter note than a dotted eighth 16th followed by a quarter rest, repeat the same idea and measure to repeat the same idea in measure three, followed by a measure of rest to rest and assess, make adjustments before we start the process all over again. So here we go. Let's bring the ensemble, and let's check out letter G and see what we think here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  42:13  
Okay, fun right. Now that we're getting a handle on our 16th dotted eighth on our dotted eighth 16th on our eighth notes, right quarter notes, well, let's, let's take a look at letter H. And why not bring in some more rhythms that we've dealt with throughout the year, right. So check out count one of measure one, we have our eighth sixteenths right pair of 6/8. Note beamed with a pair of 16th notes. And we have that again, appearing again and measure two, right? Oh, we also have in measure one, we also have a tied note, you know, we have our 16 dotted eighth on count three, but it's tied to count four. So make sure you hold that through when you play. Then measure three we have quarter note triplets, making an appearance and then again appearing again, and measure four quarter note quarter note triplets. So yeah, man, we got some we got some rhythms that we've had some more rhythms that we've dealt with throughout the year. So let's bring the ensemble in. Let's have a little fun and check out letter H here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  44:31  
Right doesn't get easier, right, we keep stacking these rhythms that we've studied throughout the year we start we keep putting them side by side. Definitely doesn't get any easier. It literally is not any easier either. Either, right? Check it out. Now all of a sudden we have 4/16 notes being together, followed by a 16th dotted eighth tied to a half note and measure one. Check out what happens in measure two. We have our 4/16 notes bein together again, this time followed by a dotted eighth 16th tied to our half note. Then look at measure three about this, you knew this was coming right eighth notes, series of eighth notes follow on the backside of the beat, we have an eighth note on the backside a two on the backside of three on the backside of four. And then in measure four, we have a pair of eighth notes and then another just for good measure another eighth note on the backside of to count two, and then we just have a couple, couple rest, we have a half rest on counts three and four to kind of catch our breath before doing all this madness over again. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's check out letter I Here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  46:49  
Nine down three to go. You're hanging in there. And this was awesome. So letter J. Yep, we get some new rhythms. For today. I mean, we've dealt with all of these throughout the year. So in letter J, we start off with our dotted quarter eighth combination, followed by our 16th dotted eighth. Then check out measure two got triplets again, but this time eighth note triplets. on counts one and two, followed immediately on count three with our dotted eighth 16th. And measure three, we have our dotted eighth 16th On count one and count three followed in count four with that 16th dotted eighth on count one and then back to the dotted eighth 16th On count three. Wow, a lot to pay attention to. So let's let's check this out and see what we think here we go. letter J.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  48:53  
Very nice, wow. Okay, so letter K, we're back to measure one we're back to eighth notes that are single eighth notes that are falling on the backside account two, three, and four. Look at measure two, we got our 16th dotted eighth, followed by a quarter note then followed immediately by a dotted eighth 16th tied to count for a quarter note on count four, we have our eighth note triplets again appearing in measure three followed immediately by the 16th dotted eighth rhythmic idea with a tied note to count four. And then measure four Wow, eighth note on the backside of 1/8 note on the backside of to follow them immediately with a 16th dotted eighth, eighth on count three, and then a single quarter rest at the end so we don't have much time to catch our breath before we start this. This entire line over again. So this is this is challenging. So let's bring the ensemble in and let's take a listen to letter K. Here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  51:04  
All right, so here we are, the end of the line letter L. So, check it out, we have in measure 116 dotted eighth, followed by a 16th dotted eighth, followed by a dotted eighth 16th measure to I'm going to flip it, I'm just going to flip it over, we're gonna go dotted eighth to 16th, dotted eighth 16th, followed by 60, dotted eighth, and then a quarter wrist and measure three, who were to do the same kind of flip flop again, we're gonna start with our 16th dotted eighth, followed by a dotted eighth 16th followed by a quarter note and a quarter rest. And we're going to then flip flop that we're going to do dotted eighth to 16th 16th, the dotted eighth followed by a quarter note. So if you haven't picked up on this by now, I think it's when I think you probably have right that practicing letter A through L, you're gonna get a really good handle on plain 16 dotted eighths and dotted eighths sixteenths, right. These are two rhythmic motifs that should become very, very comfortable for you. Okay, so let's bring the ensemble in, and let's check out letter L here we go.

Dr. Bob Lawrence  53:34  
Well, we've done it again. As always, we have unpacked in an amazing amount of information in one very short and very fast hour. Do not again I want to stress do not underestimate the importance of being able to play rhythmic patterns in time. All right, do not underestimate that you need to spend time developing your rhythmic vocabulary. As with all the rhythmic patterns we have studied throughout the year. We have we have been focusing on developing your ability to track and feel time. So often when students struggle with playing jazz is because of their inability to successfully track time. In other words, knowing where count one is, whereas count to count three count for and not gas. Right. You know with all that being said do not do not underestimate playing four quarter notes over and over again in time. I cannot stress how important that is. I give that assignment to every single student and every single student kind of wants to roll their eyes as if that is just way too fundamental way too simple because They're capable of playing so much more complicated rhythms. But yet being able to play four quarter notes in time, and then to be able to place a melody on top of those four quarter notes being played in time. A melody or improvisational line Yeah, right. Not so basic. So do not underestimate the importance of the most simplistic rhythmic idea for quarter notes for to the bar as they call it, right. But all of these rhythms are very important, and all of them should be studied, and all of them should be practiced, right. In reality, you have a greater chance I've said this before you have a greater chance of winning the lottery being struck by lightning or leaping tall buildings in a single bout. If you do not understand rhythms, you have greater chance of all of that happening then becoming a jazz pianist if you do not understand the concept of rhythm and time. Now next week, we are going to jump into the key of D major melodically, and of course, I will introduce some new rhythmic twist for that workout as well. And once again, I want you encourage all of you jazz panel skills members to use these packets right? Have them in front of you the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play alongs. To guide you as you study and practice these rhythmic the voicings and these rhythmic ideas. These are educational tools that will help you I promise help you gain a mastery of the jazz piano skills conceptually physically, musically, right musically. So maybe even most important and I mentioned this every week as well. Be patient right developing mature professional jazz piano skills takes a lot of time, and begin structuring your your practicing after the plane demonstrations that are modeled for you in this podcast and in previous podcast episodes. 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 less than exploring the key of D major harmonic workout to be insightful, and of course, I hope you find it to be very beneficial. And don't forget if you are a jazz panel skills ensemble member, I will see you online Thursday evening at the jazz panel skills masterclass at 8 pm Central time to discuss this podcast episode lesson exploring a key of D major harmonic workout in greater detail and of course to answer any questions that you may have about the study of jazz in general. Again, use those educational podcast packets, your illustrations or your lead sheets and play alongs also check out the jazz piano skills courses they will maximize your musical growth. And also make sure that you are an active participant in the jazz piano skills community. Get out there, get involved and contribute to the various forums, and most importantly, make some new jazz piano friends. Once again,

Dr. Bob Lawrence  58:15  
you can reach me by phone 972-380-8050 my extension is 211 here at the Dallas School of Music. Or you can reach out by email Dr. Lawrence, drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com, or by SpeakPipe, which is a handy nifty little widget. I love it that is found throughout it's laced throughout the jazz piano skills website. Well, there it is. There's my cue. That's it for now. And until next week, enjoy the key of D major harmonic. And most of all, have fun as you discover, learn and play jazz piano