I have been after this very interesting looking publication for sometime now and recently I finally got it in my dirty little mitts along with three other useful books including:
Tons of Runs for the Contemporary Pianist
Intros, Endings & Turnarounds for keyboard
berklee Jazz Piano
Metaphors for the Musician has turned out to be everything that I hoped, distilling the complex world of jazz piano into easily understood chunks. For instance there is a wonderful section called Voicings 101 for solo, duo, trio and quartet situations in the chapter titled, Incomparable Comping.
I have a reasonable handle on the use of rootless voicings if playing with a bass player for duos, trios and quartets but for some reason I have had a mental block about what to do with the left hand if playing solo and Randy explains it beautifully. So now I feel a lot better equipped to play the Real Book tunes and to actually produce something that sounds reasonable on my own.
There are many great chapters including:
Picturing Jazz
In the Practice Studio
Painless Piano
Ways to Develop Your Improvising
Theory Demystified
Incomparable Comping
At the Gig
Paths To Success
A great companion to Mark Levine's The Jazz Piano which gets plenty of mentions throughout Metaphors. Get it!
I haven't posted for awhile as all sorts of musical things have been happening or are about to in my life. I have just started work on this classic tune with the help of rounder2u. Apart from the video above he has also created three others that detail the bass line during the famous opening chords intro, the right hand part and the bass line during the solo section. He also plays lots of other great tunes too.
Caroline and I have been meeting regularly and our differing approaches to what we like to play on the keyboard has provided both of us with the inspiration try new things. We have even pulled out our old flute and guitar duets to play which has been a lot of fun.
I have also decided it is time to get out there and gig again but I am determined to make sure it happens on my own terms as I am not interested in playing beyond 10.30pm so will be looking to restricting to gigs during the day or late afternoon to early evening. This has essentially knocked out the possibility of joining an existing line up as most seem to do the late gigs.
So I am on the hunt for a like minded bass player and drummer for a blues based trio. This time around I will also be playing keys which is a very exciting thought. I have also retrograded from a Line 6 Variax 500 guitar and Pod XT Live amp simulator based rig back to a Fender 72 Telecaster Deluxe and Deluxe Reverb valve amp. A terrific combination with the DR providing bags of luscious and quality clean tone from the humbucker equipped Tele. I am also looking forward to the addition of a modded Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer although I may still find a way to incorporate the POD XT Live in to the signal chain somewhere. Ultimately, I want the band to be versatile enough to invite other musos, including Michelle who has just equipped herself with an Alto Sax, to play with us on the odd occasion.
Following a successful meeting with proposed piano teacher friend Caroline last week, it turns out I have gained myself a piano buddy instead. We have agreed that the best arrangement for both of us would be to meet every week to play for each other. This way we both get the benefit of a regular session for which we need prepare a piece/or pieces thereby ensuring the establishment of a solid and properly learned repertoire.
I have gained such a lot more confidence from having successfully played for Caroline and also thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity just to talk piano with someone. I was stoked that she took home 2 of the pieces I had played for her as she liked them so much. A really positive step to have taken and and I am so looking forward to this weeks session.
After more than a year of directing my piano journey alone, I have approached a former flautist musical duo partner and colleague from the now defunct Fremantle Music School, Caroline Blumer, to give me some guidance. Interestingly, I found her pic on the Simply Music website. This seems to be a most successful approach to teaching piano and funnily enough mimics, to some degree, the way I have approached it myself over the last year. However, I think I need to be reined in a little to be honest and to get some fundamentals in place. I am a bit nervous to tell the truth and am currently preparing 3 disparate pieces to present to her so she has some basis from which to decide what to do with me. Been such a longtime since I have been a student that although I am looking forward to it, I am also feeling some trepidation. I'll let you know how it goes for sure!
Whilst researching clavichords, I discovered Ryan Layne Whitney had created a video playing Telemann Fantasias on an Epinette.
As I am trying to improve my keyboard sight reading, I am always on the look out for what I call sight reading fodder and the Fantasias looked ideal. So as is my way, I went on a search for them and lo and behold found that a wonderful person known as Philidor on the Brightcecilia forum had been painstakingly re-engraving an original 1923 Urtext publication. You can get the first 12 without joining the forum but if you want to get your grubby little mitts on the rest of them you will have to register.
I was cruising around on the internet recently when I came across teafruitbat's youtube site. He has created a wonderful array of videos (258) of his playing many of which are on original keyboard instruments. It is the clavichord that particularly caught my interest as it has such a unique sound and is portable. I would really like to have a non electrified keyboard instrument but a piano is too loud for my current living circumstances so a clavichord fits the bill beautifully as the 61 note version can play all of Mozart's work and Beethoven's up to 1801! I am particularly fond of Renaissance and Baroque music and on the clavichord it sounds wonderful.
So I am thinking "One could probably build a clavichord so there have got to be plans/kits available?".
Amongst the many fascinating sites I found, my research discovered the Renaissance Workshop Company that sells kits for all manner of original instruments and another that shows step by step pictures of Kenneth Sparr constructing a clavichord at the now discontinued annual instrument building course in Marholmen in Sweden.
