Teach Me Tonight, Improvisation

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:33.048)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Week three of the month. And as we all know, week three of every month is when we dedicate ourselves to developing our improvisational skills. Last week we explored the melodic architecture of Teach Me Tonight. We examined the form, we looked at the musical phrases, melodic phrases.
 
 identified the melodic target notes within those phrases, and we analyzed the melodic contour as well. And we explored how melody organizes motion. In other words, we spent the entire lesson studying how great melodies communicate. This week, we take the next logical step, at least I think so, improvisation. And for many students, improvisation remains the most mysterious
 
 An elusive aspect of music. Some view it as talent, some view it as intuition, some view it as magic, and some view it as something that only gifted musicians can do. But none of those perspectives are accurate. Improvisation is not magic, it's not guessing. Improvisation is not random note selection. Improvisation is not accidental.
 
 Improvisation is organized musical thinking. And today we're going to explore exactly how that thinking develops. Because if harmony organizes sound and melody organizes motion, then improvisation is simply organized motion within organized sound. Think about that. Improvisation is not separate from harmony.
 
 Improvisation is not separate from melody. Improvisation is the natural result of understanding both, which brings us to one of the most important ideas we have ever discussed on the Jazz Piano Skills Podcast. Here it is. You ready? Melody flows from harmony. Melody flows from harmony.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (02:57.164)
 In other words, no harmonic shapes, no melodic lines. And that idea will guide everything we do today. Because before we can create melodic lines, melodic ideas, we must first learn to see harmonic shapes. And once we can see harmonic shapes, we can create melodic motion. Once we create melodic motion, we can apply rhythm. And once rhythm is applied to melodic motion, guess what?
 
 We have improvisation. And that leads directly to some very important thoughts that I want to share with you before we dig into today's lesson. You know, one of the most common misconceptions in jazz education is that improvisation begins with scales. Students are told to learn scales.
 
 Practice scales, memorize scales, apply scales, master scales, learn more scales. And while scales are certainly important, I agree, they are not where improvisation begins. Think about that. Take a moment and think about that. Scales are not where improvisation begins.
 
 It's important to think about that because it runs contrary to much of what is commonly taught. Most students believe that if they simply learn enough scales, improvisation will somehow take care of itself. But experience proves otherwise. Students often accumulate scale after scale after scale. In fact, heck, I have students come in and show me scales I've never even seen or heard before. Yet, even though
 
 They accumulate scale after scale after scale, they continue to struggle to create meaningful melodic lines. Why? Because scales do not create melodies. Musicians create melodies. And musicians create melodies by organizing motion, not by merely reciting scales. Think about the melody of Teach Me Tonight. Did the composer sit down and think,
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (05:14.7)
 What scale should I play? I guarantee you he did not. The melody emerged from harmony. The melody emerged from sound. The melody emerged from harmonic movement. And that's exactly how improvisation works. Improvisation is not the application of scales to harmony. Improvisation is the transformation of harmony into melody. And that's a very important.
 
 Important distinction. And honestly, it may be one of the most important distinctions a jazz musician can ever understand. Because once you understand that melody flows from harmony, everything begins to change. Suddenly you stop chasing notes, you stop chasing scales, you stop chasing formulas, and you begin looking for shapes.
 
 Harmonic shapes, musical shapes, the structures hidden inside every chord. And that's exactly what we're going to explore today. I want you to think about an E flat major sound, E flat major. Now
 
 Not an E flat major scale, okay? An E flat major sound. Inside that sound we find the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh, and the ninth. We also find the eleventh and the thirteenth. Right? These harmonic tones, destinations, if you will.
 
 In fact, today we're going to focus on the root, third, fifth, and seventh, and ninth. So we're going to think in terms of five pieces of musical information. Now imagine being able to see those tones instantly, instantly, not theoretically, and not intellectually, instantly, and physically, under your hands, at the keyboard.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (07:22.826)
 Imagine seeing E flat G, B flat D F, not as isolated notes, but as one harmonic shape, one musical structure, one harmonic sound. And now imagine moving through that shape, root to third or third to fifth, fifth to seventh, the seventh to ninth. Or perhaps even beginning on the ninth and moving downward, descending, or beginning on the fifth and moving up. Suddenly
 
 Something very interesting begins to happen when you see this and can think like this and instinctually play like this. Melodic motion appears. Not because you're thinking scale, not because you're thinking theory, but because you're moving through harmonic information. You're creating melodic motion from harmonic structure. Wait a minute. Let me say that again. You're creating melodic motion from harmonic structure. That's important.
 
 And that's the foundation. That is the foundation of improvisation. And in fact, I would argue that improvisation begins long before scales enter the picture. Improvisation begins with harmonic awareness. The ability to see harmonic shapes, the ability to hear harmonic shapes, the ability to move through harmonic shapes. And that's why I want to introduce a concept today that I
 
 I call harmonic arpeggios. Now, when most students hear the word arpeggio, they immediately think, root, third, five, seven, up, down, right? Exercise complete. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about seeing a harmonic sound from multiple perspectives. I'm talking about being able to visualize and play the root, the third, the fifth, and the seventh, and the ninth.
 
 as melodic destinations supported by harmonic structure. I'm gonna say that again as well. I'm talking about seeing and playing the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh, the ninth, as melodic destinations supported by harmonic structure in one hand. In other words, I want the melody note harmonized. I want the melody note
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (09:48.608)
 Supported. I want the melody note understood as part of a larger harmonic shape. Because that's exactly how harmony and melody interact. And once those harmonic shapes become familiar, something remarkable happens. Melodic lines begin to emerge. Here's the key. Naturally, not forced, not manufactured.
 
 Not memorized like we discussed last week, they emerge because melody is already hidden inside the harmony. Think about that. Melody is already hidden inside the harmony. Our job is simply to discover it, to uncover it, to organize it, to shape it, to direct it, and eventually rhythmically animate it.
 
 That's why I often tell students, no harmonic shapes, no melodic lines, because if you cannot see harmonic shapes, you cannot create motion from the shape. You don't see it. And if you cannot create motion, you cannot create a melodic line, which means today's lesson is not really about scales. It's not really about licks. It's not really about vocabulary. It's about vision.
 
 Learning how to see harmonic shapes, right? I call it harmonic vision. Learning to move through harmonic shapes, learning to transform harmonic shapes into melodic motion. Because once you can do that, improvisation stops feeling mysterious. It stops feeling random. It stops feeling complicated. And instead, it begins feeling
 
 Dare I say logical, natural, musical, which leads us to what may be the most important idea of today's lesson. We want to see the shape, create the motion, apply the rhythm. That's improvisation. See the shape, create the motion, apply rhythm, improvise. How cool is that?
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (12:15.916)
 So today we tackle improvisation development. Unlike many improvisation lessons that begin with scales, we're going to begin somewhere much more fundamental. We're going to begin with harmony because melody flows from harmony. And if melody flows from harmony, then improvisation must flow from harmony as well. Which means our goal today is not simply to learn what notes can be played. Our goal
 
 is to learn how melodic ideas are created, how they develop, how they grow, how they emerge from harmonic structure. So today we discover the harmonic shapes hidden inside Teach Me Tonight. And we're going to discover the root, the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, not as isolated notes, not as theoretical information, but as harmonic structures that live beneath our hands.
 
 Structures that can be seen, structures that can be heard, structures that can be played. Because before we can create melodic lines, we must learn, we must learn first how to see harmonic shapes. And that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to uncover the harmonic architecture hidden inside every sound found within Teach Me Tonight. Major sounds, dominant, minor, half diminished.
 
 We'll identify the harmonic shapes that defined each sound. And we'll begin organizing those shapes physically at the keyboard. Because improvisation begins with harmonic awareness. Again, the ability to see the shape, the ability to hear the shape, and the ability to move through the shape. Next, we are going to learn how harmonic shapes create melodic motion. And this may be, this may actually be the most important concept.
 
 We discussed today because students often believe that improvisation begins with scales, but scales do not create the melodic lines, as I mentioned earlier. Motion creates melodic lines, direction creates melodic lines, shapes create melodic lines, and all three originate from harmony. We're going to explore what I call harmonic arpeggios, the ability to move through.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (14:40.202)
 A harmonic shape from multiple perspectives. From the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh, the ninth. We're going to learn how every harmonic tone can become a melodic destination, a melodic starting point, a melodic pathway. And as we begin moving through those harmonic shapes, something remarkable starts to happen. Melodic motion begins to emerge. Again, naturally, logically, musically.
 
 Not because we're forcing ideas, but because we're literally uncovering ideas already hidden inside the harmony. Now remember, melody is already hidden inside the harmony. This is a huge concept to understand. Our job is to reveal it. And finally, finally, we're gonna play directional melodic lines derived directly from harmonic arpeggios.
 
 We'll move upward, we'll move downward, we'll connect harmonic tones, harmonic shapes, melodic direction, we'll create melodic momentum. And then we'll do what transforms musical motion into improvisation. We'll apply rhythm because rhythm is the final ingredient. Harmony provides the sound, melody provides the motion, rhythm animates, rhythm provides the life.
 
 And when all three work together, bang, improvisation appears. Not as magic, not as mystery, not as guessing, but as organized musical thought. So today's lesson can really be summarized in four simple statements that I mentioned earlier. We want to see the shape, create motion, apply rhythm, play the music. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
 
 as we explore improvisation development using Teach Me Tonight. But you know what? Before we go any further, I want to revisit what we have revisited every podcast episode since the beginning of the year. I want to revisit what I believe. Maybe just my thought, I believe it should govern everything we do when studying, practicing, and playing music. Of course I'm talking about what? The seven
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (17:08.93)
 Facts of music. These truths simplify music. That's why I stress them every week. They organize our thinking, they provide clarity, and perhaps most importantly, they help us understand that music is actually much simpler than it appears. Because regardless of the tune, regardless of the style or the genre, regardless of the tempo, these facts never change. Fact number one: music is the production of sound and silence.
 
 Everything we play, everything we hear, everything we feel is ultimately an organization of sound and silence. Not sound alone, not silence alone, right? That would be odd, but sound and silence. Both are equally important. Fact number two, harmonic sound equals chords, voicings. Harmony organizes sound, as I continue to mention. Think about that. Harmony organizes sound.
 
 Harmony creates structure. Harmony creates context. Harmony creates an environment. Harmony creates possibility.
 
 Right? Improvisation possibility. Without harmony, there's no foundation. That it is the foundation we place everything on top of. So without this foundation, there, without this harmonic identity, which is exactly why we spent week one studying harmony, we do it every month. Because before we can create melodic motion, before we can improvise, we must understand the sound through which that
 
 Motion travels our harmonic structures. Fact number three, melodic sound equals scales and arpeggios. Melody organizes motion, not notes, motion, direction, travel, right? Our movement. Last week we spent an entire lesson exploring exactly how melodies organize motion, how phrases move, how phrases breathe.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (19:16.972)
 How phrases communicate. But today we take the next step. Because if harmony organizes sound, melody organizes motion, then a very important question emerges. Where does melodic motion come from? Of course, the answer is I've been stressing it this entire episode, the answer is harmony. Melody flows from harmony.
 
 Which means today's lesson is really about transforming harmonic sound into melodic motion. That's it. That's really it. Today's lesson is really about transforming harmonic sound into melodic motion. Harmonic shape becomes melodic movement. The chord becomes the line. The sound becomes the story. And that's exactly what improvisation is. Fact number four harmonic sound moves using three types of motion.
 
 Circle motion, chromatic motion, diatonic motion. These are the three ways harmony travels. These are the three ways harmonic environments change, right? These are the three ways harmonic stories unfold. Circle motion, chromatic motion, diatonic motion. Fact number five, melodic sound can move in only one of two directions. I love this. Up or down. That's it.
 
 Every melodic line, every melodic phrase, every improvisational idea is moving in one of two directions, up or down. Pretty simple yet profound, because improvisation is not really about finding notes. Improvisation is really about creating direction. Fact number six, we decorate melodic movement using tension, approach tones, passing tones, neighboring tones, enclosures, chromaticism.
 
 Notes outside the harmony, color, right? All of this creates energy, personality. Tension transforms simple movement, diatonic movement, into compelling movement. Right? And then finally, fact number seven, rhythm. We add rhythm to all of this, facts one through six, to make it interesting. And this is where today's lesson ultimately arrives. Harmony provides the sound, melody provides the motion, rhythm provides
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (21:39.32)
 The energy, the life, the animation. Without rhythm, harmony becomes very static. Without rhythm, melody is boring. Without rhythm, improvisation, well, honestly, it doesn't exist. Because improvisation is not merely harmonic movement. Improvisation is not merely melodic movement. Improvisation is rhythmic, melodic movement flowing through harmonic sound. Wow, I got it.
 
 Saying that again. Improvisation is rhythmic melodic movement flowing through harmonic sound. And that brings us directly to today's central idea. Once again, I'm gonna pound this home all day. We see the shape, we create the motion, we apply the rhythm, we play the music. We call it improvisation.
 
 All right, so before going any further, I want to take just a a minute to welcome all new listeners to the Jazz Piano Skills Podcast. I am very glad that you're here. I want to personally thank you for joining us as we continue the exploration of Teach Me Tonight. And if this happens to be your first Jazz Piano Skills Podcast episode, you may be thinking, Wow, this doesn't sound like most jazz lessons. And honestly,
 
 That's great. And and it's intentional because most jazz education focuses heavily on information, right? Scales, modes, patterns, licks, vocabulary, theory. And while all of those things have value, we touch upon but and and they all have value. Information alone does not create understanding. It doesn't. Understanding comes from organization. Understanding comes from clarity. Understanding comes from seeing how
 
 All the pieces fit together. And that's honestly, that's exactly what jazz piano skills is designed to do. My goal is not simply to teach you what to practice, my goal is to help you understand why you are practicing it. My goal is not simply to teach notes, my goal is to teach music. And you know what? There's a difference. A very big difference, which is why every month we study a tune using a four-week educational framework.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (24:04.566)
 Week one, we study harmony, again, because harmony organizes sound. Week two, we study melody. Why? Because melody organizes motion. Week three, we study improvisation because improvisation is organized motion within organized sound. And week four, we study solo piano, where everything comes together into one complete musical experience. So every week builds upon the previous week.
 
 Nothing is isolated, nothing is random, nothing is disconnected. Everything is designed to help you understand how music actually works. So as a jazz piano skills member, you have access to the entire podcast episode, plus all of the educational materials designed to support you in your efforts to discover, learn, and play jazz piano.
 
 Podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play-alongs. I design this educational material to go along with every weekly podcast episode. You have access to those. You have access to the live masterclass that I host every Thursday evening in the video archives of the master classes. You have access to the interactive online courses, the community forums, and much more. Everything
 
 is designed to help transform information into understanding and understanding into musical growth. So check it all out at jazzpianelskills.com and if you have any questions about membership, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm always happy to spend some time with you answering any questions that you may have. I also want to encourage everyone to join the Jazz Piano Skills email list. Every weekend I publish a detailed
 
 Written recap of the week's podcast lesson. The blog is designed to reinforce the concepts discussed throughout the episode, highlight the most important educational takeaways, if you will, clarify the key ideas is what I try to do every weekend. So and and in doing so, help help organize your practice throughout the week. So think of it as an opportunity to revisit the lesson from a different perspective.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (26:16.716)
 You know what? Sometimes hearing an idea is helpful. Sometimes reading an idea is is helpful. And often doing both dramatically improves understanding and retention. So the weekly blog has become a favorite educational resource for many jazz panel skills members because it it provides an organized summary of the lesson while also serving as a a valuable
 
 practice guide throughout the week. So if you're not already subscribed, be sure to join the Jazz Piano Skills email list and receive the weekly blog directly in your inbox every weekend. It's just an another great way to to continue to discover, learn, and play. Bottom line, jazz pianel skills program is for everyone, whether you're a beginner, an intermediate, advanced, or professional, because ultimately, right, the goal is is not
 
 simply learning tunes. The goal is becoming a musician. The the tune is the vehicle, the musician is the destination. And that's exactly what we're working on today. So again, welcome to all you first time listeners. I'm delighted you're here. And now you know what? Let's let's move on to the question of the week. All right. this week's question comes from Michael Parsons, living in Phoenix. And Michael asked
 
 Dr. Bob, I've been a longtime listener to jazz piano skills and thoroughly enjoy the weekly lessons. My playing has greatly improved. Thank you. Awesome. So happy to hear that. My question is this. When I'm improvising, how do I know what note I should play next? Am I overthinking this? Yes. I just want to make sure I am approaching my improvisation practice correctly.
 
 Michael, fantastic question. Of course, it fits beautifully with our topic for today, which is all about improvisation. Your question is maybe the the most common improvisation question ever asked. And interestingly enough, the question itself reveals one of the biggest challenges students face when learning to improvise, because most students approach improvisation literally one note at a time.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (28:43.97)
 They think, what's the next note? Literally like what you're asking, Michael. Then what's the note after that? And then what's the note after that note? And before long, improvisation feels overwhelming because there's simply too many notes, right? There's too many choices, too many possibilities, too many decisions. And eventually the entire process begins feeling random.
 
 But here's the good news. Great improvisers are not typically thinking one note at a time. They're thinking shapes. Think about that. They're not asking what note comes next. That's not at the forefront of their mind. They're asking what what shape am I moving through? Now that's a very different question. And it's a much more
 
 Musical question, quite honestly, because music is not really created one note at a time. Music is created through motion, direction, organization, structure, all the things we've been talking about today. Which brings us directly to today's lesson. The note you play next is often determined by the harmonic shape you're currently seeing. If I'm playing an E flat major sound, I keep referencing E flat, that's the standard key for Teach Me Tonight, but if you keep
 
 If I'm playing an E-flat major sound, I already have a musical, I have musical destinations available to me, the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh, the ninth. Those harmonic tones immediately provide melodic possibilities. They provide direction, structure, organization. And once I begin moving through those harmonic tones, melodic lines begin to emerge naturally. Notice what happens.
 
 I did not ask what notes should I play next. I asked, what harmonic shape am I moving through? And again, that is a very subtle shift that changes everything. Because improvisation is not really about, again, it's not about it's not about finding notes. Improvisation is about creating motion. The notes are simply the results of the motion. Think about driving, for example. Here's a, you know.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (31:09.632)
 I think it's a pretty good analogy. When you're when you're driving across town.
 
 You don't focus on every inch of pavement. You focus on the destination. You focus on the route. You focus on the direction. The individual pieces take care of themselves. Improvisation works the the same way. Great improvisers focus on direction, targets, motion, shape. And the notes reveal themselves naturally, which is exactly why we spend so much time studying harmony.
 
 I spend so much time talking about it because harmony provides literally the roadmap. Harmony provides the destinations. Harmony provides the structure. And melody emerges from that structure. Remember, melody flows from harmony. No harmonic shapes, Michael, no harmonic shapes, no melodic lines. It's really that simple. So the next time you find yourself asking, hmm.
 
 What notes should I play next? I would suggest asking a different question. In fact, I would say, ask, here's the question you need to ask. What harmonic shape am I seeing? What destination am I moving toward? What direction am I creating? Because one of those questions, because once all those questions, not one, all but because once all those questions are answered.
 
 The notes become much easier to find. And eventually you you discover something very remarkable. Improvisation stops feeling like note selection, which it is for you right now, painful, right? So improvisation stops feeling like note selection and starts feeling like musical storytelling. You hear people talk about that all the time in jazz education.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (33:09.222)
 And rightfully so, because great improvisation is not the result of choosing random notes. Great improvisation is the result of organizing musical motion, one harmonic shape at a time, one melodic line at a time, one rhythmic idea at a time, which again brings us right back to today's central idea. By the end of the day, I I want you to be thinking like, man, I need to see the shape. I need to create motion with the shape.
 
 Need to apply rhythm. I need to play the music. I need to improvise. Okay. So I hope that helps, Michael. That's really a quick answer to your question. And again, what you I think your question will be answered even in more detail as we move through today's lesson. But anyway, great question. And again, if further clarification is needed, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to spend
 
 more time with you and and help you dive into your exploration of improvisation. All right, I'm starting to run out a little run out of time here today, so I'm just gonna jump to the educational agenda. And the educational agenda for today is as follows. And unlike many improvisation lessons that focus primarily on scales, right, today we're gonna focus on on process because improvisation is not the memorization of vocabulary.
 
 Again, we talked about memorization last last week out quite a bit. Improvisation is the development of vocabulary, right? And vocabulary develops naturally when harmonic shapes are transformed into melodic motion and animated with rhythm. So rather than exploring dozens of ideas today, we're going to focus on one idea extremely well. We're gonna take
 
 A single melodic phrase from Teach Me Tonight and use it as our improvisational laboratory, if you will. Specifically, I'm going to use the first phrase of the bridge, which is an F minor seven going to a B flat seven, E flat major seven to a C dominant seven. Okay, all right. I'm gonna take the first two measures of the bridge, that musical phrase, four sounds, four harmonic environments, if you will, four opportunities to discover how improvisation is structured.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (35:29.388)
 how it is constructed. First, we are going to review the melodic phrase itself. We'll revisit the phrase that we studied last week during our melodic analysis. We'll identify the harmonic sounds supporting the phrase. We'll establish the harmonic environment from which our improvisational ideas will emerge. Because before we can create any melodic vocabulary, we must first understand the harmonic sound from which that vocabulary is derived. Second,
 
 We are going to isolate each harmonic sound and organize its harmonic arpeggios, right? So we'll examine the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh, and the ninth. And we'll learn to see those tones as one complete harmonic structure, one complete harmonic shape, because again, improvisation begins with harmonic awareness, the ability to see the shapes and the ability to hear the shapes.
 
 And the ability to physically organize the shapes beneath our hands, so important. Third, we are going to explore multiple perspectives of each harmonic shape. Again, the root, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth. And we'll discover how each starting point creates a unique melodic pathway through the harmonic sound. Because again, every harmonic tone can become a melodic destination, and every destination.
 
 Creates new melodic possibilities. Fourth, we are going to connect those harmonic shapes, not mechanically, not randomly, but musically. We'll learn how harmonic sounds connect naturally to one another. And we'll learn how harmonic motion creates melodic motion. And we'll begin discovering that melody is actually already hidden inside the harmony. And our job, our job is to simply
 
 Reveal it. Number five, we are going to transform harmonic motion into melodic lines. This is where improvisation begins to surface, right? We'll convert harmonic structures into melodic movement, we'll create ascending motion, descending motion, we'll create directional pathways through the harmony, and we'll begin hearing musical lines emerge naturally from harmonic sound because again.
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (37:55.49)
 Melody flows from harmony, right? No harmonic shapes, no melodic lines. And six, we're going to apply rhythmic treatments to our melodic lines because melodic motion alone is not improvisation. Rhythm. Rhythm brings melodic motion to life. It's the rhythm that creates the energy. It's the rhythm that creates personality. It's rhythm that creates vocabulary. And we'll explore how
 
 Different rhythmic treatments immediately transform, literally transform simple melodic motion into compelling melodic ideas, improvisational ideas. And then finally, we're going to extract improvisational vocabulary from the process itself. Think about that. We're not memorizing vocabulary, we're creating vocabulary, and that's a
 
 very important distinction because today's lesson is not about mastering one phrase from teach me tonight. Today's lesson is about learning a process, a process that can be applied to the remaining seven melodic phrases we identified during last week's lesson. A process that can be applied not to just teach me tonight, but to every tune, every harmonic environment, every improvisation, improvisational situation. And by
 
 The end of today's lesson, I think you'll begin hearing improvisation differently. Not as random note selection, not as scale of application, not as mysterious musical magic, right? But as harmonic shapes transformed into melodic motion and and brought to life through rhythm. In other words, you'll begin hearing improvisation for what it truly is: organized musical thought, one harmonic shape at a time.
 
 One melodic line at a time, one rhythmic idea at a time. Okay, so if you are a jazz piano skills member, I want you to take just a few moments right now, hit the pause button, access, download, and print your podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play-alongs. Again, we want to have this material in your hands when listening to the remainder of this lesson to get the most out of it. And of course I've
 
 Dr. Bob Lawrence (40:15.966)
 have this material sitting on your piano or music stand at home during the week while you're practicing. So once you have your podcast packets downloaded, let's as always we we begin with the lead sheets. I'll talk about the illustrations and the in the play-alongs or the backing tracks toward the end of today's lesson. But let's grab lead sheet one and let's take a look at this and let's get started. Okay, so
 
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.