March 31, 2026

The Seven Facts of Music

LECTURE SERIES No Podcast Packets Summary Dr. Bob Lawrence explores the seven facts of music, providing a clear, logical framework to understand and improve your jazz playing. This episode emphasizes the importance of clarity, shapes, and rhythm in mastering music. Keywords music theory, jazz piano, seven facts of music, improvisation, harmony, melody, rhythm, music education Key Topics The seven facts of music: sound and silence, harmonic and melodic shapes, organization of chords and scal...

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Season 8

LECTURE SERIES
No Podcast Packets

Summary
Dr. Bob Lawrence explores the seven facts of music, providing a clear, logical framework to understand and improve your jazz playing. This episode emphasizes the importance of clarity, shapes, and rhythm in mastering music.

Keywords
music theory, jazz piano, seven facts of music, improvisation, harmony, melody, rhythm, music education

Key Topics
The seven facts of music: sound and silence, harmonic and melodic shapes, organization of chords and scales, movement and tension, rhythm as downbeats and upbeats

Titles
Master the Seven Facts of Music for Jazz Success
Unlocking Music's Secrets: The Seven Facts Explained

Sound Bites
"Music is organized sound, not fragments."
"Master the third, and you master music."
"Rhythm is ear and body, not math."

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Jazz Piano Skills and Reset Week
02:58 Exploring the Seven Facts of Music
05:55 Understanding Sound and Silence
09:06 The Importance of Harmonic and Melodic Shapes
11:55 The Role of Chords and Voicings
14:53 Practicing Silence and Internal Time Control
18:01 The Connection Between Harmony and Melody
21:07 The Finite System of Harmonic Shapes
24:02 Developing a Systematic Approach to Voicings
35:25 Organizing Harmonic Shapes for Practice
39:08 Understanding Melodic Construction
45:10 The Direction of Melody
49:54 Adding Interest with Tension
57:14 Mastering Rhythm in Music

Support the show

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

AMDG

00:00 - Introduction to Jazz Piano Skills and Reset Week

02:58 - Exploring the Seven Facts of Music

05:55 - Understanding Sound and Silence

09:06 - The Importance of Harmonic and Melodic Shapes

11:55 - The Role of Chords and Voicings

14:53 - Practicing Silence and Internal Time Control

18:01 - The Connection Between Harmony and Melody

21:07 - The Finite System of Harmonic Shapes

24:02 - Developing a Systematic Approach to Voicings

35:25 - Organizing Harmonic Shapes for Practice

39:08 - Understanding Melodic Construction

45:10 - The Direction of Melody

49:54 - Adding Interest with Tension

57:14 - Mastering Rhythm in Music

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills.

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I'm Dr.

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Bob Lawrence.

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It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano.

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Well, this week is going to be a little different.

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And honestly, special.

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We've got five weeks in the month, which gives us a rare opportunity to pause, step back, to reset.

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So instead of introducing new material, that comes next week with a new month.

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So instead of introducing new material, new skills, or another podcast packet to work through, we're going to do something, at least in my opinion, far more important.

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We're going to turn off our eyes and turn on our ears.

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Man, I haven't said that in a long time, since season one, but I love it.

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Turn off our eyes and turn on our ears.

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Today is a chance for us to sit back and to listen, to think, to reflect, and to deepen our understanding of how music actually works.

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Consider this a mental reset, a moment to connect the dots and tie up any loose ends from everything else we explored this month with Sweet Lorraine, from our harmonic analysis to our melodic study, improvisation development, and even our solo piano approaches that we looked at last week.

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So, yes, indeed, today is going to be a little different, and today is going to be a little special.

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Now, if you've been listening to jazz piano skills for any amount of time, you've heard me mention, I don't know, just on a few occasions, what I call the seven facts of music.

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In fact, I think I've mentioned them in every single episode.

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I reference them all the time.

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But today we're going to slow down, we're going to pump the brakes, and we're going to really explore them.

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What are they?

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Why do they matter?

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And more importantly, how do they simplify our understanding of music so that we can actually experience real consistent growth?

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Because the truth is this most students struggle not because they lack talent, not because they lack effort.

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It's because they lack clarity.

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They're trying to make sense of music through fragments.

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Chords here, scales over there, licks somewhere else, with all that without ever having a clear, unified way to think about how it all fits together.

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The seven facts of music eliminate that confusion.

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The seven facts of music give us a simple, logical framework for understanding everything we play.

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And that's why this fifth week is the perfect time to dig in.

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We've spent a month working on sweet Lorraine harmonically, melodically, improvisationally, and from a solo piano perspective.

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Now it's time to step back, connect the dots, and see the bigger picture.

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This is where everything we've studied comes together.

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So today we're not learning something new.

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Okay?

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Today is about truly understanding what we've been doing all along.

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So today you're going to discover that music is not complicated.

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In fact, everything you play can be understood through a simple logical framework, the seven facts of music.

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You're going to begin seeing that all music is just sound and silence organized into harmonic and melodic shapes, moving with direction, colored with tension, and brought to life with rhythm.

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You are going to learn how each of the seven facts connects and builds upon the next, creating a clear, unified way to think about music.

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You will begin to understand how chords, scales, arpeggios, direction, tension, and rhythm are not separate topics, but simply different expressions of the same musical truth.

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And finally, you are going to play with a new level of awareness from this day on.

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You know, as you sit at the piano, I want you to consciously be thinking about what you are doing.

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Are you producing sound or silence?

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Are you playing harmonically or melodically?

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Are you using shapes?

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What direction are you moving?

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Are you adding tension?

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Are you controlling rhythm?

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Yep.

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Today you're going to be playing from this moment on with a whole new level of awareness.

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In other words, from this day on, you're not just playing music.

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You're understanding it as you play it.

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So, as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you're going to find this Jazz Piano Skills Podcast lesson exploring the seven facts of music to be very beneficial.

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But before we get started, I want to, as I always do, welcome all of you first-time listeners to Jazz Pian Skills.

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If you're new to the podcast, if you're new to jazz piano skills in general, I want to personally invite you to become a jazz pianel skills member.

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Your membership comes with many perks.

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Number one, as a jazz pianel skills member, you have access to premium podcast content, which means you get to listen to the entire podcast episode.

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The first half of every Jazz Panel Skills Podcast episode is free for everyone to enjoy.

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I deal with the question of the week, lay out the educational agenda and the lesson rationale.

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The second half of the podcast is for members only.

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We address the lesson content, we look at uh demonstrations and also the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the backing tracks or the play-alongs that I develop for every single podcast episode.

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As a jazz panel skills member, you have access to the online courses, which are comprehensive, sound-based, self-paced, and sequential courses that focus on harmonic, melodic, and improvisation development.

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You also, as a jazz panel skills member, have a reserved seat in the weekly masterclass that I host every Thursday evening, 8 p.m.

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Central Time.

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And of course, I know this is not a great time for everyone around the world.

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However, the masterclasses are recorded, so members can watch and rewatch the master classes at their convenience and as often as they wish.

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As a Jazz Panel Skills member, you also have access to the private online jazz panel skills community, which hosts a variety of educational forums.

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There are podcast-specific forums, general jazz forums, and then it's also just a great place for members to meet one another and provide some feedback and assistance, get some feedback and assistance, and to always be able to enjoy and check out our listening list that goes along with every podcast episode.

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And finally, as a jazz panel skills member, you have access to educational support, private personal professional support.

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So, you know what?

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All of these privileges, these perks are waiting to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano.

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So check it all out at jazzpianelskills.com and of course become a member.

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If you uh poke around on the site and you have some questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

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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.

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And finally, if you are not receiving the Jazz Panel Skills blog post every weekend, please take time to join the Jazz Panel Skills email list, which you can do very easily at the Jazz Panel Skills website.

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Every weekend, I publish a blog that summarizes the podcast in writing.

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It's definitely worth checking out.

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It's definitely worth reading.

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It's only about a four to five minute read.

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It will help keep you on track both conceptually and physically.

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Now, normally we would kick things off with the question of the week, but today we're going to hit the pause button on that because I want to give as much time and space to really digging into something so foundational, so important, the seven facts of music.

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These are not quick surface-level ideas, and rushing through them would actually defeat the purpose.

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So for this episode, we're setting the question of the week aside.

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Carlotta, I'll get to your question next week, I promise, so we can go deeper with these seven facts so that we can think more clearly and truly explore the concepts that shape everything we do as musicians.

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Okay, so let's let's begin by just presenting the seven facts of music as we typically do in every podcast episode.

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Fact number one, music is the production of sound and silence.

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And when I'm speaking about sound, I'm talking about the primary sounds of music: major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished.

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Fact number two, sound is produced harmonically and melodically.

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There are harmonic shapes and melodic shapes that we use to produce sound.

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Fact number three, when sound is produced harmonically, we are playing what we call chords or often refer to them as voicings.

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Fact number four, when sound is produced melodically, we are playing scales, we're playing arpeggios.

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Fact number five, when playing scales and arpeggios, we are moving in one of two directions, up or down, that's it.

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In fact number six, we like to camouflage or decorate our scales and arpeggios with tension, or what we refer to as chromaticism.

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And finally, fact number seven, to make facts one through six interesting, we add rhythm.

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I always like to say this understanding of the seven facts of music, the seven musical facts, it allows us to easily validate what we study, why we study it, and therefore how we study it.

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And that's what we're going to be dissecting today.

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We're gonna take each one of these musical facts one by one, and we are going to dig deeper.

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Okay?

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So here we go.

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Okay, fact number one.

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Music is the production of sound and silence.

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But actually, I think I should say music is the intentional production of sound and silence.

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Now, when I say sound, I'm not talking about random notes.

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As I've already mentioned, I'm talking about the five primary sounds of music: major, dominant, minor, half, diminished, and diminished.

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Everything, every everything we play harmonically and melodic melodically, everything we play harmonically and melodically lives inside one of these five sounds.

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That's so important to understand.

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Everything lives inside one of these five sounds.

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So when you sit at the piano or with your instrument, you are producing a specific sound.

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Or you're producing silence.

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Now, why this matters to understand it uh it to think of it in this way, in this manner.

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Most people, most students focus when studying music, they focus primarily on only on sound.

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They think more notes equal better playing, more chords, equal better playing, and honestly give very little attention, if any, at all, to silence.

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And the truth is this silence is not the absence of music.

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It's so important to understand that.

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Silence is not the absence of music, silence is part of the music.

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Silence is part of phrasing, it's part of space, it's part of breath, it's part of clarity, it is part of music, part of the music.

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So if I use the language analogy for a second, music is language, we we hear that all the time.

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And and that's true, right?

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Because if I speak without pausing, you can't understand me.

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Silence is what allows the message to be understood, even in language.

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Now, there's really important time connection with all of this.

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Silence is also how you express time without sound.

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Think about that for a second.

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Silence is also, in addition to sound, silence is also how you express time without sound.

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You are still playing.

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You you are still playing, you're just plain silence, and it's so important to understand that.

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So here's the key.

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If you want to get good at practicing playing silence, then you have to practice plain silence.

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So the question is, well then how do I practice plain silence?

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How do I do that?

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Well, what I do with students is this I use a drum app, or it's called drumbit.app.

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Drumbit.app.

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It's simply a web page that you can pull up.

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It's a drum machine.

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But what's nice about this is that I can actually set the drum machine to play only count one of each measure.

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Unlike a metronome that's going to give you a click every pulse, every beat.

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With this drum machine, I can say just play count one of the measure.

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Then I have to track silence for counts two, three, and four, and then play on count one again.

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The idea is I should be in unison in sync with the drum machine.

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This is much more difficult than it sounds.

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So I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a try.

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Okay, I'm gonna have my drummer play count one of the measure, and then I'm gonna take a note.

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You can take a single note, or you can take a chord, whatever you prefer.

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Take that note or chord and try to play it in unison in sync with the drummer playing count one only.

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So you have to play silence on counts two, three, and four.

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So here we go.

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Check this out.

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Alright, so here's count one.

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I want to get the time.

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Not easy at all, but you have to play silence.

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And in practicing this in this kind of way, it it illuminates the importance of silence and the importance of being able to use silence to track time, as I just mentioned earlier.

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So important.

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Again, the goal is is simple, right?

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It's not simple, but it is simple.

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It's the goal is to be perfectly in unison with the drummer on count one.

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The exercise develops internal time, control, patience, right?

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And awareness, like I just mentioned, awareness of space, right?

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It teaches you that silence is something that you play.

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So if you want to get good at playing silence, you have to practice play silence.

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Before we talk about chords, before we talk about scales, before we talk about improvisation, we have to talk about sound and silence.

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You know, you hear it often expressed that music is not just what you play, it's also what you do not play.

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That's not quite right.

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What we really should be saying is music is not just what you play using sound, it is also what you play using silence.

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Okay, so let's move on to fact number two.

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Musical fact number two.

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Sound is produced harmonically and melodically.

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I refer to this as shapes.

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Sound is produced harmonically, it's melodically using shapes, sound is produced in only two ways, these two ways, harmonically and melodically.

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That's it.

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Now, why this matters?

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Again, most students think that music is made up of many, many different things chords, scales, licks, lines, patterns, and the list goes on.

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And it feels like a lot.

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And because it feels like a lot, it also feels complicated.

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But in reality, everything you play falls in falls into one of one of two categories, harmonic sound or melodic sound.

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That's it.

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That's it.

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So when you sit at the piano or with your instrument, you are always doing one of two things.

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You're you're playing notes together or you're playing notes separately.

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As pianists, we under we get that, right?

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We're playing notes together, or we're playing notes separately.

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Now, harmonic sound is when you are playing notes at the same time.

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Playing notes together.

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And in doing so, you're producing what we call a chord.

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This is vertical, this is structure, right?

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This is support to m melody.

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Now, melodic sound is when you play notes one at a time, and that produces scales, arpeggios, melodic lines.

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And this is horizontal, this is movement, this is uh storytelling.

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We've talked about that.

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Now, the key insight here is this harmony and melody are not separate worlds, they are just simply two ways of producing the same sound.

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Right?

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I'm gonna say that again.

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Harmony and melody are not separate worlds, they are simply two ways of producing the same sound.

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Now, here's where this becomes very powerful.

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Both harmonic and melodic sound are built from shapes, right?

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Not notes, not theory, but shapes.

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And this is really important to understand.

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Because if you think in notes, which most people do when study music, it's like synonymous terms, music notes.

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Somebody wants to study music, they think they're gonna be studying notes.

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And if you think in Notes, I promise you, you will always be hesitating, you will always be overthinking, and you will always be stuck.

00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.039
That's the truth.

00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:24.720
And if you think in shapes, uh now you will begin to to produce, you will begin to move, you will begin to see patterns, you will play um with fluidity.

00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:31.599
That's entire entirely different way of thinking about and processing music.

00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:44.160
You know, I analogy I would give is that you you speak and read words all day long, and you do not think of one letter ever.

00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:54.079
Musicians play sound all day long, and they never think of notes.

00:22:55.039 --> 00:23:04.400
Okay, so examples of shapes, harmonic shapes, chords, chord voicings, shell structures, block structures, spread voicings.

00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:13.680
We're gonna talk about all that here uh shortly, but uh melodic shapes would be arpeggios or scales, motifs, melodic pathways.

00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:14.319
Okay.

00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:18.880
We've we've addressed all of those in previous podcast episodes.

00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.319
But here's the big mental shift, right?

00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:34.960
That you need to move from asking the question, what notes should I play, to really be thinking about what shape am I playing?

00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:36.160
Right?

00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:42.240
Move from what notes should I play to thinking about what shape am I playing?

00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:50.799
So now we have when we put facts number one and two together, we have what music is, the production of sound and silence.

00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.319
Fact number two, how sound is produced, harmonic and melodic shapes.

00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:57.920
Wow, that's huge already.

00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.400
We haven't even got to the other facts, but that's huge to understand this right out of the gate.

00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:11.599
Music is a production of sound and silence, and sound is produced using harmonic and melodic shapes.

00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:23.920
And just a quick side note, so important for improvisation because if you don't understand this, you mix everything together and you're trying to think notes, you're you're gonna get overwhelmed.

00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.519
You'll start guessing.

00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:40.079
And when when the opposite is true, and when you do understand this, how important shapes are, you can practice harmony separately, you can practice melodies separately, and then combine them intentionally.

00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.720
You can see those harmonic shapes and melodic shapes shaking hands.

00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:50.079
That's so important, especially for improvisation development.

00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:51.759
We'll talk about that later.

00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.519
Okay, so now let's take this idea and make it practical because understanding something conceptually is one thing, but we need to experience it physically.

00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:00.000
Okay.

00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:10.079
So we want to clearly see, we want to clearly hear that harmony and melody are the same sound, just expressed in different forms.

00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:24.240
So one of the things I have uh students do right away, uh, understanding that that the five primary sounds, all of music lives within the five primary sounds, major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished.

00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:36.880
One of the things that I have students do right away is to play, to experience these sounds harmonically and melodically at the same time.

00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.079
Again, let me say that.

00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:47.119
I want them to experience harmony and melody, the same sound at the same time.

00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:51.039
Okay, so here's what I have students do.

00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:55.279
Left hand, I want them to play the sound as a chord, a harmonic shape.

00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:00.480
Right hand, I want them, I want them to play the sound as an arpeggio or a scale.

00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.079
And or a scale, right?

00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.720
Both uh as a melodic shape.

00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:21.599
And what this reveals is that you begin to see, you begin to hear something very, very important, that that you're not playing two different things, that you actually are playing the same thing, the the same sound, but in two different forms.

00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:33.039
And the analogy that I always give is I always say, think of sound like uh um harmony and melody like uh like ice and water.

00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:36.799
Harmony is like ice, it's solid, it's structured, it's fixed.

00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:42.079
Melody is like water, it's fluid, it's it's moving, it's flowing.

00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:48.480
All right, same, the exact same substance, two different forms.

00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:52.880
And that is exactly what harmony and melody are.

00:26:53.440 --> 00:27:08.319
And why this is so important to understand, because when you don't understand this, you treat chords and scales and arpeggios as completely separate topics, separate things, which of course is going to lead to confusion.

00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:11.920
But when you do understand it, everything connects, right?

00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:16.319
Chords become chords become lines, become melodies.

00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:21.119
Melodies outline chords, improvisation becomes logical, right?

00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:23.279
Practice becomes focused.

00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:30.640
So to just demonstrate very quickly, I'm not going to use any any backing track.

00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:36.160
I usually like to do this with a backing track with students because I want them to experience all of this, of course, in time.

00:27:36.480 --> 00:28:16.720
But like for instance, C major chord in the left hand, C major arpeggio in the right hand, or C major scale, dominant, chord in the left hand, arpeggio in the right, or the scale, minor sound, chord in the left hand, arpeggio in the right, scale, half diminish, chord in the left hand, arpeggio in the right hand or scale, uh diminish, chord in the left hand, arpeggio in the right or scale.

00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:36.480
So playing the primary sounds of music harmonically, melodically at the same time, chord in the left hand, arpeggio and scale in the right hand, seeing harmony and melody as one, which they are.

00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:45.039
Harmony and melody are not different, they are the same sound, either frozen as a chord or flowing as a melody, as a line.

00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:48.880
So music is not complicated.

00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:53.200
It's simply harmonic shapes and melodic shapes producing the same sound.

00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.480
That's pretty, pretty straightforward, I would say.

00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:01.200
So what we have so far, fact number one, music is the production of sound and silence.

00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:08.640
Fact number two, sound is produced harmonically and melodically using shapes.

00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:10.160
Using shapes.

00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:15.119
Okay, so let's take a look at fact number three.

00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:20.960
When sound is produced harmonically, we are playing chords or voicings.

00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.759
And of course, voicings are shapes.

00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:30.880
And understanding that harmony is produced using shapes, as we just discussed, is a huge revelation.

00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:42.160
However, if you think there are unlimited harmonic shapes, which is very common for a student to think, well, now that becomes musically devastating.

00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.400
Unlimited harmonic shapes.

00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.640
Just think about that for a second.

00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:47.680
Right?

00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:53.680
Most aspiring jazz pianists actually think that, that there are endless voicings.

00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.279
I hear it all the time.

00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.359
And they're trying to figure out how am I going to learn them all.

00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:04.400
And that mindset, that mindset, like I said, is devastating.

00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:12.640
It leads to uh becoming overwhelmed, uh, confusion, inconsistency, and ultimately no real progress.

00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:20.000
Here is the truth, and this is so important to know that we operate within a finite system.

00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:26.400
Our tuning system is finite, it produces 12 notes, 12 notes only.

00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:27.599
And guess what?

00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:31.759
Finiteness cannot produce infinity.

00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:36.720
Okay, it's just that's just fact.

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:48.640
So because music is finite, it means there is a system, there is an approach, there is a manageable, if you will, library of voicings.

00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:51.759
And here is the library that I teach.

00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:55.519
For all of you regular jazz piano skills listeners, you know.

00:30:55.759 --> 00:31:00.000
Number one, traditional block chords and inversions, right?

00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.480
Both played in both hands, and this is critical.

00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:08.960
And here's why this is critical, because these shapes, these block shapes, become your improvisational vocabulary.

00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:15.359
You will eventually convert these harmonic shapes into melodic lines.

00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:18.559
This is what we call chord tone improvisation.

00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:29.920
So it's important with the block chords and inversions to be practicing those in both hands, left hand and right hand, root position and inversions.

00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:37.200
Number two, traditional left-hand shells, 379 and 735 shapes.

00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:44.000
They're simple, functional, essential, standard, iconic, classic voicings, right?

00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:50.240
They defined harmony with clarity and provide for great voice lighting.

00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:55.359
Uh number three, I teach contemporary left-hand shells, chordal voicings.

00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:57.119
These are fabulous shapes.

00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:58.480
They give you a modern sound.

00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:08.799
It's kind of an open texture, very flexible to move these shapes around to create uh color, tension, and release.

00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:15.680
And then finally, two-handed structures, uh, voicing, spread, spread voicings, right, spread across both hands.

00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:28.000
These shapes provide a fuller texture, uh, allow you to orchestrate at the piano, uh, and are used in both uh ensemble and solo application.

00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.240
So that's my library.

00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:41.680
That's my voicing library, my finite voicing library, traditional blocks, traditional left-hand shells, contemporary left-hand shells, and two-hand struck two-handed structures.

00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:52.000
So the the big shift really that everybody needs to experience is instead of be thinking um what voicing should I use?

00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:57.599
You really want to get to the point where you're really kind of thinking, which system am I drawing from?

00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:02.319
Blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells, two-handed voicings, right?

00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:05.440
Which system am I drawing from?

00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:17.279
So now why this matters, this is um because without a system you're trying to just collect random shapes and you kind of guess, and you stay really inconsistent.

00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:36.319
And with a system it allows you to finally organize voices that you can actually develop and you can actually um uh gain muscle memory and be able to utilize them when you play.

00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:40.720
You know, a very quick side uh uh side story.

00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:56.079
I remember in college I I took a um a ream of paper into the practice uh into the practice rooms one day and I and I sat down and I and I w started to write out every conceivable way that I could possibly voice a major chord.

00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.279
And I was I I I went in with great intentions.

00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:06.799
I was not gonna leave any stone unturned, I was going to um map out every conceivable voicing.

00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:12.079
And I took it to a very accomplished jazz pianist when I was done, very, very proud of the work that I did.

00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:30.960
Had all these stacks of paper with all these different voicings, different ways that I could come up with with with uh playing a major sound, and took it to an accomplished jazz pianist and and handed it to him with great pride, and he uh looked with looked at it with great confusion and said, What what is this?

00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:32.639
And I said, What is this?

00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:33.840
I'll tell you what this is.

00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:45.760
You're holding in your hands every conceivable way to play a major a major sound voice in the in the world, every conceivable way in the world to play a major chord.

00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:53.679
And um he took a cigar out of his mouth and he said, uh he goes, you know, we only use a few.

00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:54.559
You know that, right?

00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:00.880
And it just took the air out of my balloon, man, like really fast.

00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:02.000
Like, what?

00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:19.199
And in other words, what he was saying is that you know there's a system and there's a there's a a way to approach voicings that you this silliness of trying to write down or uh grab every conceivable way to play a chord is is um is not gonna be very fruitful.

00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:24.880
And it's gonna and lead to confusion and frustration and uh surrender eventually.

00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:49.119
So this is why it's so important that um you have a way to organize, you have a system to organize uh harmonic shapes uh that you can practice, your blocks, your traditional shells, contemporary shells, two-handed structures, so that you uh don't end up like I said, voicings can become like fishing line very quickly, tangled up.

00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:57.679
So you want to keep things clean and tidy, you want to keep things organized so that you can develop and you can grow as a pianist.

00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.400
So, okay, all of this is great, but how do you practice it?

00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:11.599
Okay, I have I have uh four ways in which I have students practice chords, learning voicings, getting familiar with these shapes.

00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:16.639
The very first way is I have them play chords grouped by family.

00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:24.639
So, in other words, C major, C dominant, C minor, C half diminish, C diminish.

00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:28.239
And of course, I'm playing blocks right there.

00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:36.079
Um you would do this with any of the voicing types with traditional shells, contemporary shells, two-handed voicings.

00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:40.159
Okay, group them first and get familiar with them first by family.

00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:46.000
So your five C sounds, your five F sounds, your five B flat sounds, and so on.

00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:50.320
Then uh I have students practice chords by type.

00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:54.880
So we group all our major chords together, all our dominant chords together, all our minors.

00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:59.360
We use a pattern, maybe uh move through your chords using chromaticism.

00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:05.360
C major, D flat major, D major, E flat major, and so on.

00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:12.480
Maybe use the circle of fifths, C major, F major, B flap major, E flat major, and so on.

00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:20.800
So any kind of pattern will do, but the the the objective is to group all of your majors together, all your dominants, minors, and so on.

00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:28.719
Another way I like to have students practice chords is um these voicings, they're voicing types by key.

00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:39.360
So if I'm in the key of C, I want to practice C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G dominant, A minor, B half diminished.

00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:52.719
And then I want to do that uh using all four, again, all four types of voicings, blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells, two-handed structures, and practice the chords by key, all 12 keys.

00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:58.800
And then finally, the fourth way I like to have students practice chords uh by progression.

00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:08.800
So two, five, one, or maybe three, six, two, five, one, right, or one, six, two, five, one.

00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:15.360
There are many, many different patterns that you could use, harmonic patterns, progressions that you can use to practice the chords.

00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:28.719
So those are my four staples that I utilize in teaching the four types of voicings: blocks, traditional shells, contemporary shells, and two-handed structures.

00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:37.519
That is a very organized, clean, and tidy way to practice these shapes and these sounds.

00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:39.760
Remember, this is most important.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:47.519
Voicings are not infinite, they are organized, and mastery comes from having a system.

00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:49.440
A system.

00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:50.239
Okay?

00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:53.920
Alright, so let's move on to fact number four.

00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:59.360
When sound is produced melodically, we are playing scales and arpeggios.

00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:01.519
All right.

00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:07.519
No such thing as a random melodic line.

00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:20.880
Every melody, every melodic line is built from arpeggios, chord tones, scales, pass arpeggios with passing tones.

00:39:21.039 --> 00:39:21.920
That's what a scale is.

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:23.920
It's an arpeggio with passing tones.

00:39:24.400 --> 00:39:24.719
Right?

00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:29.440
So every melody is built from arpeggios and scales.

00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:50.719
So the big mental shift here that I want to have happen for you is that instead of thinking what scale do I use, which is very, very common thinking, chord scale relationships, instead I want you to think what chord tone am I targeting and how do I get there?

00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:53.119
How do I get there?

00:39:53.360 --> 00:40:00.320
Right now, here's the part that m most folks never learn, most students never learn.

00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:07.360
There are only three ways to approach a chord tone or a target tone, right?

00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:10.719
There's only three three ways to do it.

00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:16.079
Number one, you can approach a chord tone with another chord tone.

00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:20.719
Number two, you can approach a chord tone with a scale tone.

00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:28.719
Number three, you can approach a chord tone with a non-scale tone, or chromaticism, tension.

00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:29.760
That's it.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:38.320
Three ways to approach any note that you're trying to get to with another chord tone, with a scale tone, or with a non-scale tone.

00:40:38.480 --> 00:40:39.039
That's it.

00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:51.519
So think of this improvisation is not about choosing what notes, it's about choosing the note that you're going to approach, uh, your target note, and then how are you going to approach it?

00:40:51.840 --> 00:41:03.039
And so instead of thinking, again, instead of thinking what scale, what note, I want you to start thinking in terms of where am I going and and how am I going to get there?

00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:05.119
How am I going to get to that note?

00:41:05.519 --> 00:41:12.480
And what this does, when you start thinking that way, you start thinking in terms of direction, intention, phrasing, right?

00:41:12.719 --> 00:41:15.440
Musical logic, as I like to call it.

00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:31.199
So we have to talk about before we leave fact number four here, we have to talk about how students practice scales and arpeggios because this is where this is where everything really breaks down.

00:41:31.599 --> 00:41:44.000
We are all taught, typically, we are all taught play C major scale, start on the note C, play an F major arpeggio, start on the note F every time.

00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:50.000
This is what this is how we are taught to play scales and arpeggios.

00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:59.119
And again, it's musically devastating because it's conditioning a one-dimensional approach to playing music.

00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:00.639
Right?

00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:08.880
If you only have if you only know one way to enter a sound or to play a sound, I I'm telling you right now, you are in trouble.

00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:12.800
Because music doesn't always begin on the root.

00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:16.239
It doesn't always begin on beat one, right?

00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:17.679
The obvious place.

00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:19.280
It just doesn't work that way.

00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:21.119
So you must practice melody.

00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:28.159
You must much you must practice scales and arpeggios in a multidimensional way.

00:42:28.719 --> 00:42:40.639
And when I speak, when I'm talking about a multidimensional approach, I'm talking about playing a sound from various what I call entry points, the root, the third, the fifth, the seventh.

00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:45.679
And this changes everything when you do this because now your lines don't always sound the same.

00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:52.400
Your phrasing improves, your flexibility increases, your improvisation becomes musical because you're multidimensional.

00:42:52.480 --> 00:42:54.239
You're not, you're not a one-trick pony.

00:42:55.039 --> 00:42:55.360
Right?

00:42:55.519 --> 00:43:00.239
You're beyond C major scale, starting on the note C.

00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:07.760
Now, when I practice my scales and arpeggios from various entry points, I really have two ways in which I approach it.

00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:32.960
I either I either approach it um playing the scale and arpeggio to mirror the in the shape, harmonic shape, meaning the root position, root position uh from first inversion, second inversion, third inversion, or I approach playing the scale and the arpeggio using the the full uh the full sound.

00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:42.239
So to give you an example, if I took uh C minor, root entry, root to the seven.

00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:55.360
Now maybe I'll are I'll enter from the third, but I'll play it in first inversion or second inversion or third inversion.

00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.760
So I would do that with if I'm doing the scale, I would do the scale.

00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:01.039
The same way.

00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:03.679
Or I would do root to seven.

00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:06.000
I like doing that.

00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:07.840
Or third to the nine.

00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:12.239
Or fifth to the eleventh.

00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:16.159
Or the seventh to the thirteenth.

00:44:18.400 --> 00:44:33.920
Right, so those are two different ways in which I practice uh melodic uh motion, the melodic sound using arpeggio and scale motion, various entry points from the root, the third, the fifth, and the seventh.

00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:39.280
You know, I could I could be as bold and I can be bold and say this.

00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:45.760
If you only know one way into a sound, you don't know that sound.

00:44:46.079 --> 00:44:48.480
So, okay, so here's what we have so far.

00:44:48.960 --> 00:44:53.519
Number one, music, what music is, it's it's the production of sound and silence.

00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:56.800
Number two, how sound is produced harmonically and melodically.

00:44:56.960 --> 00:45:02.000
Number three, how harmony is organized, shapes, voicings.

00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:06.320
Number four, how how is melody constructed and approached?

00:45:06.400 --> 00:45:09.519
Again, shapes, arpeggios, and scales.

00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:14.000
This obviously then leads to the very next question.

00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:18.559
Well, how does melody actually move?

00:45:19.199 --> 00:45:19.840
Hmm.

00:45:20.079 --> 00:45:21.920
That's fact number five.

00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:27.840
When playing scales and arpeggios, we are moving in one of two directions.

00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:29.440
Up or down.

00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:39.119
Every melodic line, every phrase, every idea is moving in one of two directions, up or down, that's it.

00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:40.320
That's it.

00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:49.840
But here's the problem practicing up and down in isolation, again, how we're taught to play scales and arpeggios, up and down.

00:45:50.960 --> 00:45:54.880
Um that does not sound like music.

00:45:55.920 --> 00:45:56.239
Right?

00:45:56.400 --> 00:46:00.079
So to make direction musical, that's the challenge, right?

00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:02.000
We have to make direction musical.

00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:05.440
We must place it into harmony.

00:46:05.679 --> 00:46:06.960
That's how we do it.

00:46:07.199 --> 00:46:08.639
And what do I mean by that?

00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:18.159
Well, what I like to have students do is practice direction, intentional direction, um, uh using harmonic movement.

00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:34.000
So, for instance, like with the two, five, one progression, I may have uh a student say, okay, we're gonna arpeggiate up the two chord, we're going to descend down the five chord, ascend up the one chord, right?

00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:43.039
So maybe we get something like this up our two, down our five, up our one.

00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:59.599
So I get this nice this nice shape of ascending and descending melodic motion, right?

00:46:59.920 --> 00:47:04.000
Or we could do we could go upscale, downscale, upscale.

00:47:04.239 --> 00:47:10.400
We can mix and match our peggio and scale motion, we can begin with down uh descending motion, then ascending.

00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:28.559
Again, you we can mix and match this however we want, but what we're doing is we are uh consciously aware of direction, and we're placing that direction within a musical context by playing it through harmony.

00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:36.000
So what we're controlling in essence, we're intentionally controlling direction up or down.

00:47:36.719 --> 00:47:47.199
We're intentionally controlling content, scalar arpeggio motion, and we're intentionally playing it through harmonic movement, two, five, one.

00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:50.880
That's that's pretty good.

00:47:51.039 --> 00:47:56.960
And when you do that, when you actually control direction and content and harmony, guess what?

00:47:57.039 --> 00:47:58.880
It should sound pretty familiar.

00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:02.719
Yep, it should sound like music.

00:48:03.280 --> 00:48:04.559
Pretty cool.

00:48:05.519 --> 00:48:08.480
Bottom line, what it develops when you practice this way.

00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:16.320
It develops melodic control, harmonic awareness, phrasing, improvisational vocabulary, biggie.

00:48:16.719 --> 00:48:17.119
Right?

00:48:17.199 --> 00:48:19.119
So there's a lot going on here.

00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:20.639
There's a lot.

00:48:21.440 --> 00:48:31.760
So again, pointing all this pointing toward improvisation in a way, it's it proves that improvisation is not random.

00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:32.960
Right?

00:48:33.199 --> 00:48:36.880
It's just not it's really organized movement.

00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:44.320
Uh organized movement through harmony using direction using shapes.

00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:45.920
Wow.

00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:52.000
So I guess we could actually say music is simply direction and shape moving through harmony.

00:48:54.079 --> 00:48:58.320
Music is simply direction and shape moving through harmony.

00:48:58.559 --> 00:49:00.559
Direction and shapes moving through harmony.

00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:01.119
I like it.

00:49:01.440 --> 00:49:03.360
I like it, it makes perfect sense.

00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.760
So now we understand this.

00:49:06.480 --> 00:49:08.880
What music is sound and silence.

00:49:09.119 --> 00:49:10.239
How is sound produced?

00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:11.840
Harmonically and melodically.

00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:14.239
How is harmony organized?

00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:16.960
Shapes, chords and voicings.

00:49:17.360 --> 00:49:19.840
How is melody constructed and approached?

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:22.880
Again, shapes, arpeggios, and scales.

00:49:23.440 --> 00:49:30.880
How melody moves up or down through harmony using scale and arpeggio motion.

00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:32.320
Wow.

00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:37.519
This is some pretty, pretty organized thinking indeed.

00:49:37.840 --> 00:49:38.480
But you know what?

00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:46.719
All of this literally begs begs the question how do we make all of this movement interesting?

00:49:47.360 --> 00:49:51.199
Well, welcome fact number six.

00:49:51.440 --> 00:50:09.199
To make all of this interesting, all of this harmonic uh this arpeggio and scale movement, ascending and descending through harmonic uh movement, well, we we camouflage our scales and arpeggio with arpeggios with tension or what we call chromaticism.

00:50:09.599 --> 00:50:10.880
And why does this matter?

00:50:11.039 --> 00:50:17.840
Well, I'll tell you why, because everything that we've discussed up until this point has been very clear, very structured, very logical.

00:50:18.079 --> 00:50:18.800
But you know what?

00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:32.800
If you play only chord tones, arpeggios, scale tones, in a very logical, structured, and clear way, your playing will sound correct, but it will sound very plain.

00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:35.679
It's correct, but it will be very plain.

00:50:36.159 --> 00:50:41.360
So, you know, students often think that if I play the right notes, I'll sound like jazz.

00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:44.639
If I can just play the right notes, I'll sound it will sound like jazz.

00:50:44.800 --> 00:50:45.440
But you know what?

00:50:45.519 --> 00:50:50.159
Playing only the right notes or the correct notes does not create jazz language.

00:50:50.480 --> 00:50:52.960
What makes jazz sound like jazz?

00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:54.079
One word.

00:50:55.119 --> 00:50:56.000
Tension.

00:50:57.119 --> 00:50:59.199
Jazz is filled with tension.

00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:01.039
And what is tension?

00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:05.920
Well, tension is any note that is outside the basic scale or chord.

00:51:06.480 --> 00:51:12.320
And we often refer to that, that note that's outside the scale or chord as chromaticism.

00:51:13.119 --> 00:51:15.119
So here's the big insight.

00:51:15.360 --> 00:51:20.000
And remember this from fact number four that there are only three ways to approach a chord tone.

00:51:20.239 --> 00:51:25.920
Number one with another chord tone, two with a scale tone, three with a non-scale tone.

00:51:26.239 --> 00:51:37.039
Well, fact number six is the intentional use of that third option, the approaching of a chord tone with a non-scale tone.

00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:41.039
So why do we use why do we use tension?

00:51:41.280 --> 00:51:51.599
Well, to make things interesting, first and foremost, we add it adds color, it adds movement, it's there's personality, there's expression that comes with that tension.

00:51:51.679 --> 00:51:56.320
And without that tension, everything sounds uh, I always say it sounds like elevator music.

00:51:56.400 --> 00:51:59.760
It's very, it's very safe, it's very bland.

00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:05.599
So uh tension is not is not random either, right?

00:52:05.679 --> 00:52:10.800
It it must tension is intentional and it must be resolved.

00:52:11.280 --> 00:52:13.360
That's what makes music so enjoyable.

00:52:13.440 --> 00:52:18.239
It's always a balance of tension and resolution, tension and resolution.

00:52:18.639 --> 00:52:21.840
So our goal is to add tension to direction.

00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:28.320
We're moving up and down, we're using shapes, melodic shapes, scales and arpeggios.

00:52:28.400 --> 00:52:33.440
We're moving through harmony two, five, one, and so we want to add tension.

00:52:33.840 --> 00:52:49.360
So the big shift that I want for all my students, you know, most students come initially start studying lessons with me, and they have the idea that I just I help me find the right notes, the correct notes.

00:52:49.599 --> 00:53:01.679
And what I'm really wanting them to get to is how can I how can I utilize tension to make my melodic playing, the lines that I play interesting.

00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:08.320
That's really where I'm trying to get every single student that I work with to the to this point.

00:53:08.559 --> 00:53:10.159
Now here's the key.

00:53:11.519 --> 00:53:16.079
If you understand shapes, honestly, if you understand shapes, you understand music.

00:53:16.159 --> 00:53:18.880
But if you don't, everything else feels complicated.

00:53:19.119 --> 00:53:24.400
And I'm gonna tell you the most important shape of all is the third.

00:53:24.639 --> 00:53:30.079
And we've talked about this in previous podcast episodes, I've mentioned it in previous podcast episodes.

00:53:30.239 --> 00:53:41.760
I know we've talked about it in great length in the master classes, but that third is the key to learning how to play arpeggio, scale, motion, and tension.

00:53:42.000 --> 00:53:45.599
The the major and the minor third is the key.

00:53:45.920 --> 00:54:00.000
For example, if you just take C to E, that third, major third, if I put the passing tone between the D in there, now I have scale motion.

00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:16.719
So the third itself is arpeggio motion, the D, the passing tone placed in between the C and the E, scale motion, the C sharp and the D sharp, tension.

00:54:17.199 --> 00:54:23.840
So we have everything right there: arpeggio, scale, and tension.

00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:38.800
You should practice improvising, you should practice improvising using arpeggio, scale motion, and tension using the third and the third alone.

00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:40.880
And the same applies with the minor third.

00:54:41.039 --> 00:54:42.480
C to E flat.

00:54:44.320 --> 00:54:54.400
C if we put the passing tone, the D, our scale, and then the C sharp is our tension.

00:54:57.199 --> 00:55:13.519
So taking just any major third, any minor third, you want to get to the point where you quickly recognize the third as arpeggio motion, scale motion, and tension, all in one.

00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:16.239
Now here's why this is a big deal.

00:55:16.400 --> 00:55:32.079
Um, because every sound in music, from the root to the thirteenth, every sound, major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished, every sound is constructed, is built stacking major and minor thirds.

00:55:33.199 --> 00:55:34.400
I'm gonna say that again.

00:55:34.559 --> 00:55:45.440
Every sound, major, dominant, minor, half diminished and diminished from the root to the thirteenth is built, is constructed by stacking major and minor thirds together.

00:55:45.840 --> 00:56:01.920
So if you can easily improvise with major and minor thirds using arpeggio scale and tension, you are accomplishing a great deal.

00:56:02.239 --> 00:56:06.559
In fact, let me be bold again and simply say this.

00:56:07.119 --> 00:56:11.440
If you master the third, you master music.

00:56:14.320 --> 00:56:16.320
That right there is a mic drop moment.

00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:20.000
If you master the third, you master music.

00:56:20.800 --> 00:56:58.320
So here's what we understand now what music is sound and silence, how sound is produced harmonically and melodically, how harmony is organized in shapes, chords and voicings, how melody is constructed and approached, again with shapes, arpeggios and scales, how melody moves up or down through harmony using scale and arpeggio motion, and how melody is enhanced with tension, revealed through our understanding of the third.

00:56:58.880 --> 00:57:02.239
Again, if you understand shapes, you understand music.

00:57:02.400 --> 00:57:07.440
If you don't, everything else, well, everything will feel complicated.

00:57:08.159 --> 00:57:14.800
All right, so now this leads us to fact number seven.

00:57:15.679 --> 00:57:27.039
To make everything that we've discussed up to this point, sound, shapes, direction, tension, to make all of that interesting, we add rhythm.

00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:37.199
And to really get a handle on rhythm, if we really want to master rhythm, we need to take it out of math.

00:57:37.360 --> 00:57:47.599
We need to take rhythm out of notation, we need to take rhythm out of visual grids, and we need to put rhythm back where it belongs.

00:57:48.559 --> 00:57:51.199
In the ear, in the body.

00:57:51.920 --> 00:57:54.960
That's where rhythm is mastered.

00:57:55.519 --> 00:58:02.079
Most rhythm is taught mathematically, theoretically, visually.

00:58:02.320 --> 00:58:03.039
We do it all the time.

00:58:03.119 --> 00:58:04.400
I'm guilty of it too.

00:58:04.639 --> 00:58:08.559
We map it out, we count it out, we explain it.

00:58:10.079 --> 00:58:11.679
Very interesting, right?

00:58:12.480 --> 00:58:18.719
Because music is not a visual art form, but boy, we like to make it a visual art form.

00:58:18.800 --> 00:58:21.840
We map it out, we count it out, we explain it.

00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:28.639
And the problem with this approach, it makes rhythm eye-driven, not ear-driven.

00:58:28.880 --> 00:58:32.239
And again, music is not visual, music is aural.

00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:41.039
The truth is this if you want to develop rhythmic skill, you must train your ears, you must train your body.

00:58:41.519 --> 00:58:42.639
It's a feel.

00:58:43.599 --> 00:58:50.400
And every pulse, every pulse in music, here's a huge revelation.

00:58:50.559 --> 00:58:55.199
You that every pulse in music has two parts.

00:58:56.239 --> 00:58:59.119
It has a downbeat and it has an upbeat.

00:59:00.480 --> 00:59:05.360
All rhythm, every rhythm is simply a combination of downbeats and upbeats.

00:59:05.440 --> 00:59:06.559
Think about that for a second.

00:59:06.719 --> 00:59:11.679
Every rhythm is a combination of downbeats, downbeats, and upbeats.

00:59:12.159 --> 00:59:25.199
So the goal then must be to hear downbeats, hear upbeats, feel downbeats, feel upbeats, play downbeats, play upbeats, and be able to control both.

00:59:25.920 --> 00:59:30.639
And if you can't, it's gonna be very difficult to play music.

00:59:31.440 --> 00:59:35.039
If you can't, you won't be playing rhythmically.

00:59:35.760 --> 00:59:40.480
So let's talk about how do we practice rhythm?

00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:44.159
How do we take rhythm, take the math out of rhythm?

00:59:44.320 --> 00:59:48.480
How do we take notation or rhythm out of notation and visual grids?

00:59:48.559 --> 00:59:49.599
How do we do that?

00:59:50.239 --> 01:00:13.840
Well, what I like to do, again, going back to this drum bit app or web page that I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I like to take that same drum application and establish uh a drum beat on now, not just on all four beats.

01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:17.440
You know, earlier I set it up to where you're just hearing count one.

01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:20.960
Well, now I want to hear count two, three, and four as well.

01:00:21.119 --> 01:00:24.000
I want to hear all the downbeats of the measure.

01:00:27.039 --> 01:00:28.719
So you can hear that, right?

01:00:29.519 --> 01:00:32.000
One, two, three, four.

01:00:32.159 --> 01:00:37.519
So take any note, take a chord or take a note, play it on the downbeats.

01:00:37.679 --> 01:00:48.320
All right, so we get just like that.

01:00:48.480 --> 01:01:00.719
Okay, so now what's interesting there is I always have students play a measure of downbeats followed by a measure of silence, just like you heard me do there.

01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:04.400
A measure of downbeats followed by a measure of silence.

01:01:04.960 --> 01:01:12.000
Again, this is a great way to practice silence because you have to track time when playing silence.

01:01:12.639 --> 01:01:19.199
Now, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna start the drummer again and I'm gonna play uh four beats on the down.

01:01:19.440 --> 01:01:28.719
I'm gonna play four downbeats followed by a measure of rest, followed by four upbeats, four downbeats, four upbeats, always with silence in between.

01:01:28.880 --> 01:01:30.559
So check this out.

01:01:31.679 --> 01:01:33.519
Two, three, four.

01:01:33.679 --> 01:01:43.599
So down, rest, upbeats, rest.

01:01:44.559 --> 01:01:45.599
Let's do it again.

01:01:45.840 --> 01:01:56.960
Down, rest, now upbeats just like that.

01:01:57.760 --> 01:02:03.039
Playing downbeats, playing upbeats with a measure of rest in between.

01:02:03.199 --> 01:02:05.360
What a great exercise.

01:02:05.599 --> 01:02:19.599
Now, what I'll start doing after that, once somebody has a command of downbeats, upbeats, then we will start mixing and matching the uh the downbeats and upbeats.

01:02:19.679 --> 01:02:25.199
So we might do something where we play three downbeats and then on count four, play an upbeat.

01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:32.960
On count uh maybe switch the upbeat to count three, then switch the upbeat to count two, switch the upbeat to count one.

01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:36.800
So um let me just demonstrate that real quick.

01:02:38.719 --> 01:02:44.400
So down on the end of four.

01:02:44.480 --> 01:02:45.679
Let's do it again.

01:02:48.880 --> 01:02:51.760
How about move it to upbeat to count three?

01:02:55.039 --> 01:02:55.920
Count two.

01:03:01.119 --> 01:03:05.039
So you can just move the upbeat around.

01:03:05.199 --> 01:03:12.800
Count four, count three, count two, count one, count three and four, count one and two, count two and four, count one and three.

01:03:12.880 --> 01:03:14.239
You get the idea, right?

01:03:14.400 --> 01:03:20.639
It's a great way to practice downbeats, upbeats, use a single note, use a chord.

01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:25.199
Eventually, what you want to do is use an arpeggio.

01:03:25.599 --> 01:03:33.840
So play a C major arpeggio, upbeat on count four.

01:03:34.159 --> 01:03:46.159
So uh it's just a fabulous way of practicing rhythm without getting mathematically wrapped around the axle, as I like to say.

01:03:46.480 --> 01:03:55.280
And instead, you start developing time, control, rhythmic awareness, which is going to lead to better phrasing, your feel.

01:03:55.599 --> 01:04:02.880
So if again, if you if you cannot hear and control downbeats and upbeats, you can't play rhythmically.

01:04:03.119 --> 01:04:06.639
I mean, that's just that's just the brutal fact.

01:04:06.800 --> 01:04:11.199
And if you cannot play rhythmically, you uh you cannot be musically expressive.

01:04:11.360 --> 01:04:12.320
Impossible.

01:04:12.639 --> 01:04:21.519
So again, all rhythms, all rhythms, no matter how complex, are simply combinations of downbeats and upbeats.

01:04:21.760 --> 01:04:29.599
So your rhythmic mastery must begin with a control of downbeats and upbeats.

01:04:29.760 --> 01:04:35.280
Master the downbeat and the upbeat, and you're on your way to mastering rhythm.

01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:40.320
So now, after today, we now understand this.

01:04:41.440 --> 01:05:23.679
What music is sound and silence, how sound is produced harmonically and melodically, how harmony is organized, with shapes called chords and voicings, how melody is constructed and approached, again with shapes called arpeggios and scales, how melody moves up or down through harmony using scale and arpeggio motion, how melody is enhanced with tension, chromaticism, and how everything becomes music through rhythm.

01:05:24.079 --> 01:05:27.440
So you see, music is not complicated.

01:05:27.519 --> 01:05:36.480
It's organized sound, shaped, directed, colored, and brought to life by rhythm.

01:05:36.800 --> 01:05:52.320
And here's the truth everything you have ever struggled with in music, every bit of confusion, every moment of frustration, every feeling of being overwhelmed, it doesn't come from a lack of talent.

01:05:52.800 --> 01:05:54.800
It comes from a lack of clarity.

01:05:55.360 --> 01:06:05.519
Because when music is presented as isolated fragment fragments Which it often is, chords over here, scales over there, licks somewhere else.

01:06:08.719 --> 01:06:10.000
It feels disconnected.

01:06:10.079 --> 01:06:12.480
It feels impossible, quite honestly.

01:06:12.800 --> 01:06:17.199
But today hopefully you've seen something very different.

01:06:17.440 --> 01:06:21.360
You've seen that music is not a collection of random ideas.

01:06:21.599 --> 01:06:23.760
It is indeed a system.

01:06:24.480 --> 01:06:29.840
A simple, logical, beautifully organized system.

01:06:30.960 --> 01:06:39.199
Sound and silence, harmony and melody, shapes, direction, tension, rhythm.

01:06:39.920 --> 01:06:40.800
That's it.

01:06:41.920 --> 01:06:46.639
So from this point forward, I want you to stop chasing more information.

01:06:46.880 --> 01:06:47.440
So important.

01:06:47.599 --> 01:06:53.840
Stop chasing more information and start deepening your understanding of what you already know.

01:06:54.320 --> 01:07:04.159
Because everything you need to know, everything you need to grow as a musician is already, honestly, it's already in front of you.

01:07:04.239 --> 01:07:05.119
You don't need more.

01:07:05.280 --> 01:07:06.800
You need clarity.

01:07:07.199 --> 01:07:24.079
And once you truly see these seven facts in the music you play, once you hear them, once you recognize them, once you feel them, music will never look complicated again.

01:07:24.639 --> 01:07:31.840
Instead, it will feel natural, it will feel connected, it will feel inevitable.

01:07:32.239 --> 01:07:39.280
And that's the moment when you stop chasing information and you finally begin to understand it.

01:07:39.920 --> 01:07:42.159
You finally begin to understand music.

01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:49.679
You truly begin at that moment to discover, learn, and play.

01:07:50.559 --> 01:08:03.920
Well, I hope you have found this marathon covering the seven facts of music to be insightful, and of course, I hope you have found it to be extremely beneficial.

01:08:04.320 --> 01:08:10.480
Don't forget, I will see everyone online Thursday evening at the Jazz Piano Skills Masterclass.

01:08:10.559 --> 01:08:11.920
That will be 8 p.m.

01:08:12.239 --> 01:08:23.359
Central time to discuss this podcast episode, to discuss the seven facts of music, and to explore and discuss any questions that you may have about jazz in general.

01:08:23.520 --> 01:08:36.800
And remember, if you cannot make the class, it's no big deal because you, as members of Jazz Piano Skills, can access the video and watch the class at your convenience and watch it as often as you wish.

01:08:36.960 --> 01:08:44.319
If you have questions for me before the masterclass on Thursday, feel free to uh reach out to me.

01:08:44.479 --> 01:08:50.319
My number here at the Dallas School of Music is 972-380-8050.

01:08:50.960 --> 01:08:53.359
And then uh, if you prefer me, email Dr.

01:08:53.520 --> 01:09:05.039
Lawrence, drlawrence at jazzpianoskills.com, or you can use the speakpipe widget that is found on the home page of the Jazz Piano Skills website.

01:09:06.000 --> 01:09:08.880
Well, there is my cue.

01:09:09.039 --> 01:09:10.079
That's it for now.

01:09:10.159 --> 01:09:22.560
And until next week, enjoy the seven facts of music, and most of all, have fun as you discover, learn, and play jazz piano.