Your “pep talks” are great. Staying with it even if we don’t understand it, living with it and eventually the logic will reveal itself; this applies to so much learning. The poem “When You Know a Fellow” by Edgar Guest seems to apply here.
Fascinating insights, Ron. Pleyed with a beautiful feeling. Btw many years ago I came across a recording Keith did of Donavan folk songs, just on steel string guitar and voice. Very authentic stuff, not at all the Keith Jarrett the jazz pianist we know. I really regret not buying it, never saw it anywhere again.
Wow - I'd love to hear that! I'm not surprised, though, since I know he likes Bob Dylan and this side of him comes through in albums like Spirits. Thanks for sharing!
The point that you absorb/feel the music for some time before you can improvise tunes that have unconventional progressions. For me as a beginner, I think the issue with improvising is sometimes not knowing what to play when I encounter an unexpected chord. But after some time of noodling around, humming along the melody and listening to people playing it, my brain starts constructing coherent melodies. I think it has to do with your mind getting used to/anticipating the chords in a progression. Great vid!
You are so right that I could not "see" this tune or work out what to do with it. Ironically, me shifting from classical to jazz was precisely not to have to "stick with" pieces that didn't have that initial appeal, as if jazz was a more throwaway, lightweight endeavour (which it isn't). Hey have you got any idea why the format in the Real Book is so different with this piece? The chords symbols are written below the melody (treble) stave in a "pretend" left-hand stave, and not above as on every other tune. Is that just a cheeky way to fill up the page? PS Thanks Ron, it's really good you do this.
The original Real Book was written by undergraduate students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and was inconsistent. Perhaps the new publishers just kept some of the original stuff in there because it was easiest to do.
Your “pep talks” are great. Staying with it even if we don’t understand it, living with it and eventually the logic will reveal itself; this applies to so much learning. The poem “When You Know a Fellow” by Edgar Guest seems to apply here.
Thanks for mentioning this poem, Mike, which I hadn't seen before. Yes, I'd say the analogy holds.
Thanks Ron, for lesson as well as the background info.
I'm glad you liked it!
Fascinating insights, Ron. Pleyed with a beautiful feeling. Btw many years ago I came across a recording Keith did of Donavan folk songs, just on steel string guitar and voice. Very authentic stuff, not at all the Keith Jarrett the jazz pianist we know. I really regret not buying it, never saw it anywhere again.
Wow - I'd love to hear that! I'm not surprised, though, since I know he likes Bob Dylan and this side of him comes through in albums like Spirits. Thanks for sharing!
The point that you absorb/feel the music for some time before you can improvise tunes that have unconventional progressions. For me as a beginner, I think the issue with improvising is sometimes not knowing what to play when I encounter an unexpected chord. But after some time of noodling around, humming along the melody and listening to people playing it, my brain starts constructing coherent melodies. I think it has to do with your mind getting used to/anticipating the chords in a progression.
Great vid!
Well said, Donald! That's exactly right - as you've described it. Also, you always use chord tones. By definition, they'll sound good.
You are so right that I could not "see" this tune or work out what to do with it. Ironically, me shifting from classical to jazz was precisely not to have to "stick with" pieces that didn't have that initial appeal, as if jazz was a more throwaway, lightweight endeavour (which it isn't).
Hey have you got any idea why the format in the Real Book is so different with this piece? The chords symbols are written below the melody (treble) stave in a "pretend" left-hand stave, and not above as on every other tune. Is that just a cheeky way to fill up the page?
PS Thanks Ron, it's really good you do this.
The original Real Book was written by undergraduate students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and was inconsistent. Perhaps the new publishers just kept some of the original stuff in there because it was easiest to do.