Congrats, You're Improvising!

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Jazz Piano Skills Community

Keywords
jazz piano, improvisation, arpeggios, melodic vocabulary, jazz education, music theory, jazz standards, musical patterns, jazz skills, music practice

Summary
In this episode of Jazz Piano Skills, Dr. Bob Lawrence explores the essence of improvisation in jazz piano. He emphasizes the importance of understanding harmony and melody, and how to create melodic vocabulary through the use of arpeggios and patterns. The episode includes practical applications of these concepts, focusing on improvisation techniques over major chords and the significance of practicing melodic motifs. Dr. Lawrence encourages listeners to embrace the learning process and develop their improvisational skills through experimentation and practice.

Takeaways
Improvisation is about creating melodic lines to fit a song's chord progression.
A multi-dimensional understanding of harmony is crucial for jazz musicians.
Patterns and motifs should be practiced to develop improvisational vocabulary.
Jazz is a language that requires preparation and practice, not spontaneity.
Melody flows from harmony, and understanding this is key to improvisation.
Improvisation can be simplified by using control and experimental patterns.
The importance of fingerings and hand movement in improvisation cannot be overlooked.
Listening for and playing to count one of every measure is essential in jazz. Experimenting with different motifs can lead to unexpected musical discoveries.
The journey of learning jazz piano is about discovery, learning, and having fun.

Sound bites
"Congrats! You're improvising!"
"Melody flows from harmony."
"We're learning how to improvise!"

Transcript

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:32.792)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. What a month this has been. We completed our three-week study of the George Gershwin Jazz Standard, Lady B-Good. We analyzed it harmonically, melodically, improvisationally, just like we do with every tune that we tackle at Jazz Piano Skills.

Our harmonic analysis takes a tune, determines its form, chord changes, harmonic function, common harmonic movement, and of course the voicings. Block voicings, traditional shells, contemporary shells, two-handed structures. Our melodic analysis has us transcribing the melody, in other words, learning the melody by ear. We establish fingerings, we identify the melodic phrases and the target notes within those phrases.

as well as exploring standard jazz treatments, ballad, basa, and swing. Our improvisation study had us constructing eight inverted arpeggios for each chord of the A section of Lady B Good and playing four etudes using those inverted arpeggios. What we discovered was the importance of having a multi-dimensional understanding, a multi-dimensional perspective, and command of arpeggios.

As a result, discovered that we, unfortunately, we're taught arpeggios and scales in a way that has us develop a one dimensional understanding and perspective. In other words, there's a C major arpeggio, there's a C major scale, singular. As I mentioned last week, for a musician wanting to develop jazz skills, a one dimensional understanding of harmony, a one dimensional understanding of melody,

it's the kiss of death. And last week, I devoted the entire podcast episode to the exploration of inverted arpeggios, which quickly revealed how, when approached correctly, how the study of a single arpeggio can quickly lead to an exceptional multi-dimensional understanding crucial for developing melodic vocabulary necessary for improvising.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (02:57.045)
So today is going to be big. And I mean, a very big day for everyone. Why? Because the title of this episode says it all. Congrats. You're improvising. That's right. By the end of this episode, you're going to feel fantastic. You'll be floating on cloud nine. You'll feel like you can run through brick walls.

you'll try to leap a building in a single bound. You will do all of this and more because you know how to improvise. Congratulations. So today, we are going to discover the essence of improvisation. We are going to learn how to use arpeggios to construct melodic vocabulary. And we're going to play 12 melodic

improvisational lines using control and experimental major motifs. Wow. Yep, today, we put on our capes and accomplish what we once thought was unobtainable. We learn how to improvise. 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 Panel Skills podcast lesson titled Congrats Your Improvising to be very beneficial. But before we get started, I want to, of course, as I always do, welcome all the first time listeners to the Jazz Panel Skills podcast. If you're new to the podcast or you're new to Jazz Panel Skills,

Welcome, I want to invite you to become a Jazz Panel Skills member. Your membership, number one, it keeps the Jazz Panel Skills podcast 100 % ad free, which has been my goal from day one, right? I wanted all educational content, no ads. Now on top of that, your membership comes with many educational perks. Number one, as a member, you have premium podcast content.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (05:20.723)
access, which basically means you get to listen to the entire episode. Now the first half of every podcast episode is free for everyone to enjoy. I deal with the question of the week, I lay out the educational agenda and the lesson rationale. The second half for members only lesson content demonstration, the demonstrations exploration of the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets and the play longs.

You also as a Jazz Piano Skills member have access to all the podcast packets past, right? Current and future. Now these are the illustrations, the lead sheets to play along. This is the educational content that I produce for every weekly podcast episode, which you certainly want in your hands when listening to the episode to get the most out of it. And of course, sitting on your piano or your music stand when practicing throughout the week as well.

As a member, you also have access to the online courses. These are comprehensive, interactive, self paced and sequential courses. You also as a member have a reserved seat in my online weekly masterclass, which I host every Thursday evening at 8pm Central Time. And I realize that this is not the greatest of time, but the best time for everyone from around the world. However, the master classes are recorded.

And as a member, can watch and rewatch the video of each class as often as you wish and whenever convenient. As a Jazz Piano Skills member, you also have access to the private online Jazz Piano Skills community, which hosts a variety of educational forums. There are podcast specific forums as well as general jazz forums for you to enjoy. It's a great place to meet new folks.

receive some member feedback and assistance whenever you have questions, and also provide some member feedback and assistance when needed as well. And finally, as a Jazz Piano Skills member, you have access to educational support, private, personal, and professional support whenever and as often as you need it. So visit Jazz Piano Skills, check out all of the perks, and once you get there, if you have any questions, by all means, please do not

Dr. Bob Lawrence (07:43.701)
hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to spend some time with you answer any questions that you may have and help you in any way that I can. I also want to take just a few minutes to introduce my YouTube channel. I'm producing educational content now videos daily that I think you'll find to be beneficial for your jazz growth. I currently have several playlists that you can check out the daily challenges harmony

melody and rhythm challenges, there are jazz talks, and of course all the podcast episodes are posted there, as well as the podcast episodes with guests. Again, you know, I'm populating these playlists with new videos every week, so be sure to subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new Jazz Panel Skills video is released. I'm excited about this new dimension to Jazz Panel Skills, and of course I'm looking forward to growing the YouTube channel.

help us all discover, learn and play jazz piano or whatever instrument that you are currently studying. Okay, so now typically, at this time, I do introduce the question of the week. But again, today, this is really more of a lecture series episode with a lot, again, a lot of demonstrations to get through. So you know what, I'm going to bypass the question of the week again this week, and it will return next week as usual.

as we usher in a whole new month, which means we usher in a whole new tune to study. So next week, the question of the week will return. But for now, it's time for us to talk improvisation. Okay, so to begin, I think it is important that we define that we take the time to define

improvisation. It's important for us to understand what improvisation is and what it is not. Because the reality is this. If you ask 10 jazz musicians to define improvisation, I promise you, you're going to receive 10 different answers. Now,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (10:04.454)
Some of the answers would contain some of the same academic jargon, while other answers would be very vague or leave you wondering, what the heck did they just say? So, you know, see, I don't know about you, but I think this is a huge problem. It's a huge problem in jazz education. You know, know, when I want to learn something, when I want to learn a discipline,

And there is not an agreement amongst the experts within the discipline as to what it is. I become concerned very quickly because I simply, I think to myself, wait a minute, I want to learn this discipline and the so-called experts in the discipline can't agree with regards as to what it is and how you should do it. Dang, I think I'm in trouble.

right? And that's, unfortunately, that's how it is with improvisation. You all want to learn how to improvise, but yet not certain as to exactly what it means to improvise. And the so-called experts in the field give you a wide range of answers. In fact, most of the answers are how I like to describe them as being very wide and very shallow.

In other words, the answers try to cover a lot of ground in order to play safe while at the same time.

be in void of real substance that you can actually sink into conceptually and physically to ensure your success. Here's a sample of what I mean. I did a Google search before starting this episode. And Google search was simply this. What does it mean to improvise? Here are some of the answers. Are you ready? Number one, create and perform music spontaneously or without

Dr. Bob Lawrence (12:12.074)
preparation. Whoa. Perform without preparation. Spontaneously, without preparation, I'm out. Okay, I'm out. Number two, to make something up on the spot, or figure it out as you go. What kind of advice is that? Hey, man, just figure it out as you go. Whoa. All right.

How about this one? The spontaneous again, here we go with spontaneous, the spontaneous creation of musical ideas while performing. Whoa, wait a minute, I have to perform. And while I'm performing, I have to have the spontaneous creation of musical ideas. I don't think so. Here's another one. spontaneous invention, again, spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or

accompaniment parts, any performance. Wow. So you have to invent spontaneously invent while performing. Here's another one. Start by building a foundation in music theory, practice ear training, develop your own musical your own develop your own musical vocabulary through listening and mimicking. Okay.

do I do that? You know, and finally, here's something that is actually getting very close to the truth. Okay. Listen to this one. This is this is pretty good. When soloing a performer, instrumentalist or singer creates a new melodic, a new melodic line to fit a song's chord progression. Now we're getting closer.

But you see what I mean? Wide and shallow answers as to the all important question, what does it mean to improvise? What is improvisation? You know, another thing that I find very troubling in jazz conversations, you often hear of, you often hear on one hand, jazz referred to as being a language. But yet on the other hand,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (14:42.002)
It is the spontaneous, as we just heard, it is the spontaneous creation of musical ideas while performing. What language do you know that is spontaneously created? I'm waiting. I'll wait. You can email.

What language do you know that is spontaneously created? I do not know of any such language. So if jazz is a language, then it too must be bound by the limitations of language. And language is not spontaneously created. It's not. The bottom line, we jazz musicians can't have it both ways. We cannot claim that jazz is a language on one hand and then claim that it is spontaneously created. They don't add up.

just doesn't match. So the truth is this jazz is a language. And like language, it is not spontaneously created. Truth. Now this should be very liberating for everyone listening. We all know that we can learn languages if we put our minds to it, right? We can learn how to speak French. We can learn how to speak German.

We can learn how to speak Italian, and yes, we can learn how to speak jazz. We just can't learn how to speak these languages spontaneously without preparation. It's impossible. So the answer that I gave earlier that I credited with getting closer to remind you was when soloing a performer, an instrumentalist or singer creates a new melodic line to fit

a song's chord progression. This is 100 % correct. Jazz improvisation is about creating melodic lines to fit the song's chord progression. Melody flows from harmony. I have said this a million times, if not more. What is even more impressive about this answer is what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that the new melodic lines are created spontaneously.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (16:58.11)
This is excellent, because new melodic lines are not created spontaneously. They are practiced. Remember the quote I mentioned last week from the Jerry Coker's 1980 book, Complete Method for Improvisation, page 23? I haven't memorized, right? But if you don't remember, let me, let me quote it again. Jerry Coker says patterns and themselves are not very creative.

though they often serve as springboards for creative melodies. Yet a casual glance, again, a casual glance at any transcribed improvised solo will quickly reveal a notable presence of patterns and other common cliches that were acquired by the improviser in practice, rather than performance. That is to say the pattern was practiced apart from any specific song in

preparation for improvisation and repeated a sufficient number of times in practice, so that the pattern becomes a habitual oral memory and physical experience that carries over into performance naturally, and not as contrived practice. I've often said that is the greatest paragraph ever written in any jazz education book, because it gets right to the heart of it all. It speaks

100 % truth. So yep, patterns, melodic ideas are practiced. Again, how liberating is this? Now, I remember reading this paragraph from this book, this Jerry Coker book for the very first time I was I was so excited. I jumped out of my chair, I ran to my piano, sat down, place my hands on the keys, and then I froze.

and with my brow furrowed, I said to myself, wait a minute.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (19:02.228)
What patterns? Mr. Coker, what patterns? Where are the patterns? Where's the beef?

I ran back the book and I looked for the patterns. The patterns that showed melodic lines fitting to a chord progression. I frantically thumbed through the entire book saying, are the patterns? Where's the beef? And again, for those of you old enough to remember the 80s, you remember that Wendy's commercial.

that little lady shouting, Where's the beef? That's what I was doing. I was like, Where are the patterns? You know, last week, I referenced the Reese's commercial this week, Wendy's next week, who knows? I'll come up with something. I'll figure it out. So back to the patterns. Where are they?

Well, they're not there. So after much searching and coming up empty, I realize that maybe.

just maybe.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (20:17.273)
I need to come up with the patterns. Maybe my search should be about discovering the patterns that appeal to me, patterns that speak to me, patterns that resonate with me, patterns that I could use to begin building my melodic vocabulary that I could then use for improvising.

You know, and it was at that moment I realized the importance of knowing chord tones. It was at that moment I realized the importance of seeing my block chords in not only root position, but in inversions as well. And it was at that moment that I began to understand the importance of having a multi-dimensional understanding of chords, arpeggios, and that a one-dimensional approach would not be sufficient. So soon after I realized

that there must be a way to shuffle the notes of a harmonic shape. There must be a way to do this, to shuffle the notes of a harmonic shape, a chord, to shuffle those that shape around those notes around to create various melodic motifs. And this is precisely what I've been presenting in the last two podcast episodes, how to use a formulaic approach to shuffle the notes.

of harmonic shapes, chords and root position for second and third inversions to create melodic motifs patterns that can be practiced to develop improvisation vocabularies.

once I understood this process, I could begin to isolate sound, major, dominant, minor, half-diminished and diminished, to practice my newly discovered patterns, my newly discovered patterns, my patterns. Again, as I mentioned last week, not to memorize them, right? I don't practice them to memorize them, but to simply experience them so that I one day could recall them.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (22:28.386)
again, you can never recall what you've never experienced. So my goal was to experience these patterns, create these patterns, then experience these patterns so that I could recall them practice them so that I can recall them when playing. And again, another way saying that right, I've said this a million times as well, your hands and ears can never go where they've never been. So after practicing my patterns,

using isolated sound, it was time to begin connecting various chords within the sound. Now, the first time I did that, wow. The first time when I created a melodic line that went through two different chords, one melodic line that went through two different chords, I remember being overwhelmed with joy because I just discovered how to improve.

And that is exactly what we are going to do today. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we are going to tap into the 32 melodic motifs, the patterns that we created last week for all 12 major chords to begin improvising. Number two, we will establish a control pattern and an experiment pattern.

to help us maintain a logical and simplistic approach to improvisation development. And number three, we will play our new melodic lines through an entire measure, right, entire measure covering two chords to count one of the next measure. So important to count one of the next measure listening for and playing to count one is very important for improvisation development. So

how fun is this going to be? It's going to be a lot of fun. So if you are a Jazz Piano Skills member, I want you to take just a few minutes right now, I you to hit the pause button and I want you to download and print the podcast packets, the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play alongs. And again, your membership grants you access to this material. And so you want to have it in your hands when listening to this episode to get the most out of it. And of course, you want

Dr. Bob Lawrence (24:53.882)
to have it sitting on your piano or music stand when practicing throughout the week. So okay, so now that you have your podcast packets, I want to just quickly talk through them before we break everything apart today. So number one, your lead sheets, right, you should have one lead sheet today. But whoa, what a lead sheet. It's musical gold that you will use.

as an improvisation blueprint moving forward. You'll see as we go through today's lesson. Number two, the play alongs, the backing tracks. You have 12 backing tracks to use this week when practicing. One for each of the harmonic pairings that we will be using today to create our melodic lines. And finally, the illustrations. It's a beautiful template that you should use to begin creating

your patterns, your very own patterns that you will then use to develop your improvisation vocabulary. So it's pretty cool stuff. This material, when used correctly, which I know you will, will have a profound impact on your musical development, your musicianship, your ability to play jazz, your ability to improvise. Okay, so now let's get down to business. I want you to grab a lead sheet one.

And let's begin to improvise.

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