That's All, Harmonic Analysis

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:32.685)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, here we are again, the start of a new month. And as all of you regular jazz piano skills listeners know, the start of a new month means we begin studying a new tune. But as I like to say, a new tune, but the same familiar and comfortable approach.

an approach that's thorough, organized, structured, logical, and of course, skill-centric, all of which are needed for studying and learning a tune correctly. Skill-centric is the key because that is exactly what tunes expect us to be. Those of you listening that have been through our monthly process can attest to the fact that

It doesn't take very long when trying to learn a tune the jazz piano skills way to discover the skills needing more attention to successfully play a tune. know, tunes have a funny way, a very funny way of illuminating our weaknesses very quickly. So what are the essential skills needed to play a tune? Such a good question. It's a question that we all should be able to answer.

And I'm happy to say that we answer that question every single month as we execute our three-week tuned study. You know, and not only do we answer this all-important question, we organize our answer into three categories, categories that govern our tuned study. And what are these categories? That's another good question.

Category number one, harmony. Our ability to determine form, harmonic function, common harmonic movement, and of course, our ability to play the sounds of music using various voicing approaches, blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells, and two-handed structures. Category number two, melody. Our ability to hear, determine, and properly articulate melodies and phrases

Dr. Bob Lawrence (02:59.633)
using various treatments, which of course requires some good technique. And finally, category number three, improvisation, our ability to formulate and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns in time based on the proper chord scale relationships. So it makes no difference

what tune you want to play, if you're incapable of executing the essential jazz piano skills found within each of these categories, I promise you, you're going to have a difficult time playing tunes. That is why at Jazz Piano Skills, we use tunes to illuminate and validate the skills needed to play jazz piano. And then we attack those skills. We start with a new tune every month.

simply to gain a new perspective on the essential jazz piano skills. Different tune, same skills, new perspective. And these distinct categories, musical cams, allow us to organize and methodically practice essential jazz skills. And that is the key, right? How we practice. Once we know

and have organized the essential jazz skills, we need to know how to properly practice the skills. Proper practicing begins with a proper conceptual understanding of music. And there is no way you can have a proper understanding of music until you can, with confidence, verbally articulate what music is to study of.

And this is precisely why I stress over and over and over and over again, the seven facts of music. The seven facts of music give us a very clear understanding of what music is. So what are the seven facts of music? Fact number one, music is the production of sound and silence.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (05:17.664)
Fact number two, sound, major, dominant, minor, half-diminished, and diminished, is produced harmonically and melodically. Shapes. Fact number three, harmonic shapes are chords, or what we call voicings. Fact number four, melodic shapes are the arpeggios and scales. Melodies. Fact number five, when playing melodies,

arpeggios and scales, we are moving in one of two directions, up or down. That's it. In fact, number six, six, we decorate or we camouflage our arpeggios and scales with tension or notes that fall outside of the key or chromaticism. And then finally, fact number seven, to make all of this musical facts one through six interesting, we add

rhythm. So everything we do should be framed by the seven facts of music. I have stressed in every episode since the beginning of the year that if you are unable to see the essential jazz piano skills framed by the seven facts of music, then there is a very high probability that you're running in place. You have a skewed perspective of music.

And if you have a skewed perspective of music, then your practice is skewed. And if your practice is skewed, then you are not accomplishing what you think you're accomplishing when you are practicing. Now here at Jazz Piano Skills, we prevent that from happening. We take an essential skill, we examine it harmonically and melodically, and then use it to develop our improvisation abilities.

through the study of rhythmic and melodic patterns. Now with all that being said, today we continue our study of essential jazz skills organized into three camps harmony, melody, improvisation, using another classic jazz standard. As always, we will begin with a harmonic analysis. So today you are going to discover one of the most beautiful standards of

Dr. Bob Lawrence (07:46.016)
all time. The 1952 Gym, that's all. And you're going to learn form, chord changes, and harmonic function for that's all. And you are going to play that's all using my suggested voicings. Plus, we'll look at common harmonic movement for ear training development.

So as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner and intermediate player and advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you will find this Jazz Panel Skills podcast lesson exploring that's all to be very beneficial. But before we get started, before we dig in, I want to as I always do welcome all of the first time listeners to the Jazz Panel Skills podcast.

And if you are indeed a new listener, if you're new to jazz piano skills, I want to welcome you and I want to invite you to become a jazz piano skills member. Your membership grants you many perks. Number one, you receive premium podcast content. In other words, you get to listen to the entire podcast episode. The first half of every podcast is free for everyone to enjoy.

we deal with the question of the week, I lay out the educational agenda and the lesson rationale. The second half of the podcast for members only, lesson content, demonstrations, and we talk about weekly goals and assignments. You also, as a member, have access to all of the podcast packets. Now these are the educational materials that I design and develop for every weekly podcast episode, the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play alongs.

You have access to the podcast packets, the past, the current and of course, the future. You also as a Jazz Panel Skills member have access to the online courses. These are comprehensive sound based, self paced and sequential courses. In addition to that, you also have a reserved seat in my weekly masterclass, which I host every Thursday evening at 8pm Central Standard Time, which of course I know

Dr. Bob Lawrence (10:06.151)
is not the best of times for best of time for everyone. However, all of the master classes are recorded so you can watch and rewatch the video the class when convenient for you and as often as you wish. As a Jazz Piano Skills member, you also have access to the private online Jazz Piano Skills community, which is becoming more exciting each and every day.

The community hosts a variety of forums. There are episode specific forums as well as general jazz forums for you to tap into. It's a great place to meet new folks, receive some member feedback and assistance to help you along with your journey. And it's an opportunity for you to provide some feedback and assistance and help others as well. And finally, as a Jazz Panel Skills member, you have access to educational support.

private, personal and professional support whenever you need it. Now all of these amazing perks, these privileges are waiting to help you discover, learn and play jazz piano. So check it all out at jazzpiano skills.com. And of course, become a member. Once you get to the website, of course, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to always happy to spend some time with you and answer any questions that you may have.

I also want to take just a few moments here to plug my YouTube channel. I'm producing educational content videos now daily that I think you'll find to be beneficial for your jazz growth. I currently have several playlists for you to check out. There are the daily challenges, quick tips, and jazz talks. And again, I'm populating these playlists with new videos every week. So be sure to subscribe.

and so that you are notified every time I release a new video. So check it out and again let me know if you have any questions. All right, so we are on to the question of the week and this week's question comes from Ken Miles living in Columbia, South Carolina. And Ken writes, I am happy to say that I have a good handle on the 60 chords. Hey, fantastic.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (12:33.0)
I can play them in root position and inversions even better. But when it comes to playing a lead sheet, I struggle to get through the chord changes from beginning to end without stopping. It drives me crazy. What can I do to fix this problem? Well, great question, Ken. And I have some great news for you too.

your problem is an easy fix. Let's start by clearly identifying your problem. And your problem is, I guarantee it, your problem is that you are seen and playing the lead sheet as if it is one big progression. You're not seeing form. And all of the little progressions

that are contained within the form. This is like trying to read an entire book as as one long sentence. Wow, how fatiguing would that be? So the best advice I can give you is to begin practicing common progressions that are found in tune after tune after tune in as many keys as possible. The goal, of course, all 12 keys.

So let me give you my top dozen progressions that I would begin practicing in as many keys as possible. Some of these progressions I'm sure you know, but I'm going to go through my top dozen for you. The first one, of course, two five one, right? Two, five, one. Major key. Two five one major key. The second progression would be

two five one minor key so you can be dealing with half the minute going to dominant resolve it

Dr. Bob Lawrence (14:37.386)
So you have your 2-5-1, two minor, five dominant, one major for your major key. You have your two half diminished, your five altered dominant, and your one minor for your 2-5-1 in a minor key. Without question, those are your two most important progressions to tackle right away. They are laced within the tunes you are wanting to play. All right, so

Next, I would recommend the two minor going to the flat two dominant going to the one major. So we have half step movement, right? Again, two minor, flat two dominant to the one major.

Then I would turn my attention to a two minor, go into a five dominant, go into a one major, go into a six minor. Or you could alter that, make it a six dominant if you wanted to. Either one is fine. Again, two minor, five dominant, one major, six minor. Okay? Likewise, I'd follow that up with a two minor.

a five dominant, go into a one major, go into a sharp one diminished, back to your two. Five, one, sharp one diminished. Right? That makes a nice little turnaround. And very similar to that, I would also recommend doing two minor to your five dominant, to your one major, to your flat three diminished.

then to your two minor again and repeat right five one flat three diminished okay so so far we have the minor and major two five ones we have a two flat two one two five one six two five one sharp one diminish and two five one flat three diminish

Dr. Bob Lawrence (16:47.434)
those progressions alone take care of all the sounds major dominant minor half diminished and diminished. Alright so moving on I would go to a three minor next to a six minor to a two minor to a five dominant. A classic three six two five progression. to that I would go to three flat three dominant

to two minor, to a flat two dominant.

So, 3-6-2-5-1, 3-flat-3-2-flat-2-1. One circle movement, one chromatic movement. After those two progressions, I would recommend a one major, go into a six minor, go into a two minor, go into a five dominant, 1-6-2-5. Very similar to the 3-6-2-5.

except you're starting with the one major as opposed to the three minor. So that takes us up to nine progressions. Number 10, I would start with sharp four minor, going to a seven dominant, going to a three minor, going to a six dominant. Sharp four, seven, three, six.

to similar to that, the next progression would be a four minor, going to a flat seven dominant, going to a three minor, going to a six seven, six dominant. So you have a sharp four seven three six, and you have a four flat seven three six. And then finally, number twelve, something diatonic, right? So like a C major, going to a D minor, going to an E minor.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (18:40.682)
to four major.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (18:49.866)
12 progressions, very common progressions, that again are laced through the literature, through the standard that you are wanting to play. So Ken, I think that's a good list to begin with. If practiced in all 12 keys and practiced using inversions to move from one chord to the next using minimum motion, good voice leading, I promise you playing through a lead sheet from top to bottom

in time will not be a problem. So instead of practicing entire lead sheets right now, I would turn my attention to practicing these smaller progressions and as many keys as possible. It's a great question, Ken, and I hope my answer is helpful. Please keep me posted. Let me know how practicing these common progressions is helping, are helping you. And, and as always, let me know if you

have any additional questions or if further clarification is needed. All right, let's discover, learn, play jazz piano. Let's discover, learn and play. That's all. All right, y'all know that when studying when learning any tune, I approach it the same way every time.

And again, genre makes no difference. I don't care whether I'm trying to learn a jazz tune, a rock tune, pop tune, country tune, folk tune, R &B. Again, makes no difference. I go through the same paces every time. Number one, I listen and I listen a lot. Various artists from various genres. don't listen to just jazz musicians, various artists, various genres.

vocalist, instrumentalist, and pianist. I will lock in first, maybe because I'm a pianist, I lock into harmonic movement, harmonic motion. I like to hear the form, I like to hear changes, function, and then I'll study voicings. Again, maybe it's because I'm a pianist, but that's where I tend to lean first. After I have a harmonic grip of the tune,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (21:06.674)
I turn my attention to the melody. I'll learn the melody always transcribed. I never read it from a lead sheet. I like listening to those various artists interpretation of the tune and then taking from those artists what I like and I create and transcribe the melody accordingly. After I have the melody under my fingers,

I pay attention to the phrases and the various target notes within those phrases, the entry points and destination points of those phrases. And I'll always enjoy various treatments, playing various treatments of that tune. Typically, ballad, bossa, swing, the standard jazz treatments. And then finally, after I have the harmony under control, melody under control, I turn my attention to improvisation.

And that's where I'll start doing pattern development rhythmically, melodically, based on chord scale relationships, exploring, like I said, rhythm, and also notes outside the harmony, tension, chromaticism, approach tones, and so forth. So it's a pretty thorough, it's a pretty complete approach from listening to a harmonic analysis, melodic analysis, improvisation development.

just like we do here at Jazz Piano Skills every month with a specific standard. Okay, so this week, of course, will be our harmonic analysis, which of that's all, which will have us listening, determining form, learning the chord changes, harmonic function, and of course the voicings. Next week, we'll focus on the melodic analysis, and in two weeks, we turn our attention to improvisation.

So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we are going to listen to definitive recordings of that's all. Number two, we will discuss the form of that's all. Number three, we will discover, learn and play the chord changes for that's all. Number four, we will discover, learn and play the harmonic function for that's all. Number five, we will discover, learn and play my suggested voicings for that's all.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (23:26.41)
these are going to be your block voicings, the left hand shell voicings, the traditional shells, as well as the contemporary shells, as well as the two handed structures. So if you are a Jazz Piano Skills member, I want you to take a few minutes right now to download and print your podcast packets. So hit the pause button and download the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play alongs. Again, right, your membership grants you access to

this these materials, these educational packets for every podcast episode. So as I always stress, you should have these in your hands when listening to the episode to get the most out of it. And of course, you should have this material sitting on your piano or music stand at home when practicing throughout the week as well. All right. Okay, so now that you have your podcast packets, I want you to grab your lead sheets as always, we're going to

walk through those today. And you should have eight lead sheets, eight in your packets. Lead sheet one diagrams the form of that's all. Lead sheet two identifies unique chord changes in the tune. Lead sheet three gives us a really nice clean lead sheet for that's all. And then lead sheet four provides the harmonic function analysis of the tune.

And five, sheet five, I highlight the common progressions that we want to be aware of when we want to practice really for ear training purposes. And then finally, six, seven, and eight, lead sheet six, seven, and eight are all voicings. Lead sheet six, the block voicings. Lead sheet seven, the shells. And then lead sheet eight, the two-handed voicings.

So it's quite a packet and we're going to go through each of these lead sheets today. So needless to say, we have a lot to get done. So let's get busy. All right. So the first thing we want to do is listen. And typically in the past, you know, I would play a single, a definitive recording of the tune. But this year we have changed it up a little bit and we have moved the listening to our forums to the online Jazz Panel Skills community.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (25:51.69)
And again, there are couple reasons for doing this. Number one, we want to be able to suggest more than just one tune to check out, right? And number two, we want to preserve as much of the podcast time for educational content. So right now, again, hit the pause button, head over to the Jazz Panel Skills community and spend some time listening to the recordings. It's quite a list and

you are in for a treat. So check it out, spend some time relaxing and listening to that's all in the Jazz Panel Skills community. And then once you've done your listening, head on back here to the podcast, grab your lead sheets and grab lead sheet number one. So now let's take a look at the form of that's all, which is a standard jazz form.

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