You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 4 Power Practice Ideas

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

April fools! It's the return of Peter and Adam today as they discuss some simple but effective techniques to add to your practice sessions.Catch one of our much beloved Guided Practice Sessions live today with Adam Maness! At 1:00 PM EDT, Adam will be presenting a GPS about basic chords (which you can learn more about from his new course here). Tune in by clicking this handy link.For more live Open Studio action, check out a solo piano performance from Peter Martin on Friday, April 3 at 8:00 PM EDT. There's a good chance you've been itchin' for some live music, so scratch that itch by going to Peter's YouTube channel this Friday night.In light of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, we understand that money is tight for a lot of people right now. That's why we've decided that for the duration of this crisis, we'll be running a Choose What You Pay campaign at Open Studio. Choose whichever course you want and then let us know how much you're willing to pay - that's it. For more info, click this link.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey, Adam. I'm sorry, I walked out, man. I didn't mean it. Hey, but man, look, things are starting to improve around your place and my place. That's right. I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin.

And you're listening to The You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Music Advice, coming at you remote, distributed, but we're coming at you. We are coming at you. We did not quit the podcast. That was just our annual April Fool's prank that we've been doing now. That's like the third year in a row we've quit. Right. I know. And I mean, we, we toyed with the idea of that was pre-recorded, right? Should we kind of explain what's been going on? Would this be a good time now that we're past, if anyone's still listening? Totally, totally. Yeah. So let's explain what happened. Most of our episodes, we apologize if we sounded a little bit tone-deaf certain days to what's happening in the world. But there's a couple of reasons for that. The main one is that we had to pre-record a bunch of episodes because I was going to be touring and you had different things going on. So we, for the first time ever about, what is it?

Three weeks ago? No, a month ago. We got ahead more than just a couple days on our episodes so that we could bring to you our dear listeners. Our dear listeners, that sounds creepy. That's what they call the leader of North Korea, our dear leader. They are dear to us, though. They are dear to us.

But not in the way that the dear leader is in an even better, safer way. But we wanted to be able to be able to provide uninterrupted content to you guys. So layer in on top of that, the unexpected pandemic. So we've been having, you know, kind of regular episodes, and we haven't been talking a lot about what's happening in the world. But we left those in partly because we've been scrambling to set up mobile studios at our homes. We configure the studio, open studio, which we basically can't. We can't use the pod suite for now because we're social distancing. We're flattening the curve.

That's right. That's right. All that. So we've been scrambling to do that. But also, I think they were good and interesting episodes. And correct me if I'm wrong here, Monsieur Manis, as we're called sometimes. times. But we're hoping that the podcast could continue to be a little bit of music advice, music fun, maybe a little bit of break from all the terrible things you're hearing and the

news and stuff. So that's why we wanted those episodes that didn't really mention what was going on. Yeah, it was actually really just a kind of a weird coincidence that we got so far ahead. We've never, we were a month ahead, essentially. We've never been that far ahead, ever. Ever will again. Yeah, and then that week after, you were supposed to go to Europe for a month, and then that all got canceled. So we, we've never been. had all these episodes, which was a good thing because we ended up, like you said, having the social distance here. But now we're all set up to record. We have, we're going to, we're going to test some video. So you may or may not see this video, but you'll definitely hear the audio.

Right. And thank you for, shout out to Sam and Andrew for, for being in on the April 1st quit spectacular tradition that we've had. I don't know what we're going to do next year to quit, but it's going to be fun. I know. What's great is I think, We'll see how this all shakes out, but we have so many new listeners this year. I think that the carryover from last year, oddly enough. And even last year, we were very surprised at how many people really, wait, what did we do last year? What was the schick exactly? I think we just, man, what do we do?

I think we just quit. Oh, we just announced. Oh, we just announced that it was the last one ever. Yeah. Right. It was the last one ever. This was a little more dramatic because we just had it. We played like we were fighting and then quit.

That was great. And the fun thing about that, I don't think we got a chance to explain this yet. The fun thing about the playing like we were fighting, you remember how that went down, right? I mean, yeah. We were like, let's just pretend like we're getting really upset. And it was some of the easiest acting we ever did.

We kind of scared each other. We were like, wow, that was easy. We both. They're really good actors or we had some pence up anger there. We both kind of went right to things that cut to the bone a little bit. Right. We're like, no. And then we looked at each other like,

wait, you were just kidding, right? Of course. No, no, no, this is just my joke. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. But I've got some funny messages so far today since that episode played out of just people like, no, don't quit the podcast or like, you guys should really be nicer to each other. It's great. So thanks everybody for playing along a good fun.

But we're back at it. And today, we wanted to do something that you can kind of sink your teeth into as you're sheltering from home. Yes. four power practice ideas for the piano. You know, Peter, since we started sheltering from home, I've been doing daily guided practice sessions, which has been really a fun way to practice with our members.

I do them every day. Their audio, they're part of our piano access pass, and they've been really popular and had a lot of great feedback from them. And one of the things that I've had a lot of great feedback on is that some of the techniques I was using were helping people to get stronger in their fingers and their hands on the piano. And so I just wanted to share that with our broader podcast audience some of those main things and thought, great to get your insight on this too.

So I'm the only one right now that has a working MIDI piano. So I'll be playing everything. But these are definitely ideas that I know you share because I've honestly stole three of these. Maybe all four of these from you at some point. I stole them as well. These are like secondhand. This is like art that's been stolen and passed around. It's all good.

Yeah, this is like classic how to get some strength on the piano keyboard. So the first one is the chromatic scale, but it's a very specific fingering for the chromatic scale using some big muscles. If we start on C and we go up chromatically, the fingering we use is one, three, one, three, one, two, three. So basically, any time there's a black key, your third finger is playing it, any time there's a white key, your thumb is playing it, unless there's two white keys in a row, and then it's one, two, thumb, index finger. And then for your left hand, it's kind of a mirror image of that. 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3.

Same principle applies. So this is a warm-up that we use on the daily guide or practice session, and we use it on our jazz piano jumpstart course, our elements of jazz piano course, both start with this chromatic scale. I like to do it four octaves. I'd like to vary the dynamics. I like to vary the articulation staccato sometimes.

I like to give it nice crescendos. And day crescendos. Really try to practice some control. But always that that one three, one three, one, two, three, one three, one three. I think that's a, it's a foundation of power. Yes, absolutely. And I have a quick question for you because I've talked to some other pianists about this. The one three, one, the finger that you just not.

outline. I don't need to repeat it. That's what I learned from a fairly young age as like the standard chromatic fingering. But I'm always surprised when some people are like, oh, they have different fingerings on that because that always seemed like almost like major scales. Like there's one finger. Yeah, there's other ways you can do it. But it's kind of a tried, tested and true one. Well, I think if you wanted to do, it depends on the articulation. If you wanted to do something sort of delicate and legato like this. Right. That's fast.

You might go one, two, three, four. Sure, sure, sure. You know? But I mean, in terms of practicing and playing a complete, you know, multiple octave chromatic scale situation. Yeah, I think it's definitely the standard that I've seen anyway. I'm sure there are loads of other schools on it. But I love that one.

So the next one, number two of our four power practice ideas, are the first. Phillips exercises for finger independence. Now this is something I had no idea about until we became friends and I saw this laying on your piano and I actually have stolen your book. I have it here. Oh, really? I'm in my dining room. Sorry about that. I'll get it back to you. It's my book sheltering in your home. It is sheltering in my home. But if you haven't heard of these exercises and you're a pianist, go order that book right now off Amazon or wherever you get your books because it is incredible. there's nothing I've discovered better

for finger independence and finger strength of the individual fingers. And from the very first exercise, you get almost every concept you need to get. After that, it just becomes a matter of confusing your brain and trying to really get brain independence more than brain independence. But that very first one, it's very simple.

Your thumb is on middle C. And then the rest of your fingers play a diminished chord. C, E, flat, G, A, and then back up to C for the octave, right? And you go out and back in. Sounds simple, right? For your left hand, you play the A just below middle C, and you see that same diminished chord, A, G, Fla, E, flat, C, A, and then back in. So, okay, simple enough, right?

Here's the kicker. The entire time, you have to hold your thumbs down. So I just did a little staccato, but I didn't mean to. Those thumbs are locked down, right? Making, forcing your other fingers to be independent so that you're not, I mean, it really forces you to think about and your fingers to get in shape. Then you take that up chromatically. And this is where it really starts to get like level too hard.

All the way up the octave. You know, when your thumbs are. on a black key, it gets to be tricky. You got to really think about your hand position, leverage. But this, I find, has been, the people who have discovered it on the daily guided practice sessions have been flipping out about it. It's awesome. And I was actually playing along. I do have my keyboard happening. We just haven't got the output routed correctly. But I was with you there. And as I'm, you know, it's this, it's such a thing of connecting us with, I mean, definitely the independence of the fingers. I mean, that's the whole thing. And that's what it

develops but kind of corollary along with that you're getting strengthening of the fingers for sure you're getting your spacing in a way symmetry with your hands but really just like the feel of the instrument i don't think there's been any exercises and you know i love the churny i love the other phillips i love the macfarin i mean there's a lot of them that are great that show panne etudes and but in terms of of connecting ourselves with the keyboard just from a tactile standpoint i don't think there's anything that I've gotten more out of than that first exercise. And then, yeah, as you say, going on, it becomes more of a theme and variations. And then there's a lot of stuff. I mean, we can do 20 episodes on this, but as you go, as you were saying, holding, and I'm playing

it now, but you can't hear it. But it's like you're holding down that first note with the thumb in both hands. And as you go outward, paying attention to not keeping any of the other fingers out accept the thumb and then releasing them right you know control and even as between the hands and then also you can practice it where you hold all of them down which really strengthens the fourth and the third that's like one of some of those like magic yoga moves that that that does get your chord together doing that like oh yeah that's right keep everything held that yeah then your fourth feels like it's like it's disabled or something you know oh that's awesome that is awesome Okay, so that's the Phillips exercises.

Check those out. The next thing that I love to practice are double octaves, whether scales or arpeggios, but double octaves give you a sense of spatial awareness of the keyboard that's hard to replicate anywhere else because you're literally throwing your whole hands at the keyboard and you have to know where they are. Wait, hold up, hold up, hold up.

Jeff Kees are called. He wants his double octaves back. I know, right? So, like, I like to do these on chromatic scales because on the outside notes, right, for the top note for the right hand, the bottom note for the left hand, you can work on that pinky fourth finger,

pinky fourth finger. So all the black keys are played on the top with the fourth and all the white keys are played with the fifth, and you can get a nice legato sound. But what's great about double octaves like this is, like intuitively you think like, okay, for control, I'll keep real close to the keyboard. But really, if you are able to lift up a little bit, especially get your wrists kind of pulling the note out.

Yes. You're going to find that you actually are a lot more accurate. Let your finger, let those fifth and fourth fingers stay there as long as possible. But if you're not practicing double octaves, man, give it a go and you will find that you have a lot more awareness of where your hands are in the keyboard. Absolutely. I mean, this is truly a power move both in terms of, you know, powerful technique, but also just, as you say, being able to, you know, get the expression, the powerful kind of stuff that we need out of the instrument that can even be applied

beyond just the double octaves, you know, because getting the power is not going at the instrument and bang and then staying in it. It's going into it and pulling it out. And so this is like one of those repeated physical moves in which you do that. It can't be just a it has to be a boom, boom, boom, where you're pulling it out because those hammers are hitting the string

and if they go, it, it, it has to be doon, and you got to get that resonance going. You got to get the evenness between all of them is a lot of good stuff. And I would just say if some people, I don't know, maybe everybody can kind of, I'm not sure, but if there's people are saying,

what if I can't reach the four, the one four as you go to the black, I mean, obviously you're going one, five on all those, but you're still listening for making those same kind of connection and phrasing, which is really what the whole reason we go to the trouble of going back and forth in any situation at the top with four or five or at the bottom of the left hand of course. Yeah, if there's any reach that I think is doable even for small hands, it's that octave on black keys one four.

Yeah, I would think so. Give it a shot. Because the fourth finger is normally, unless you're an orangutan playing the piano, is normally longer than the fifth, right? That's right. Yeah, yeah. And because it's kind of deeper into the key bed, it should work. But if it doesn't, like you said, just one. to five, but just, again, try to hear it. You'll hear it, as they say. As they hear. So number four, our last one, this is the jazz arpeggia. This is the favorite of yours, and I love this too.

So that's simply a dominant seven chord broken here in C, C, E, G, B, flat, and then E, G, B, flat, D to the nine. And then just repeat that. So I love this because I love talking about, like, so far we've gone from chromatic, to diminished and now to major thirds, minor third combinations like broken chords. I think a solid part of your practice routine has to be, you know, changing the scope, right, from small movements to larger movements, arpeggios to chromatic scales. And I love this one because of how applicable it is to our jazz playing. So practicing these jazz arpeggios in octaves, double octaves with both hands,

hands apart. I think it's very important. Yeah. And it's as much for the da-da-da-da-da. I'm going to sing as I play because I can't hear my keyboard. Do it. Do-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. That shift from the ninth to the one for the second octave going up because we're repeating it, right?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's very important. Boom, shifting the hand, you know, it's like, well, do-do-de-do-da-do-da. And you're shifting up and getting into position. That's something that, especially for more velocity-driven kind of, you know, linear playing is very important for accuracy. Getting your hand into the...

I mean, we can't state enough how important hand position and being able to judge distances is for accuracy and able to play fast with velocity on the piano. We always think about the fingers. Of course, the finger is important. But knowing how to move your hands and where they're going, letting the wrist lead is massive. So important. Yeah, I love that. All right.

Well, hopefully you guys have... gotten something out of these four power practice ideas. Again, we're not going anywhere. We've been doing this now forever. And we've not yet run out of great ideas. And we love hearing from you. So go to you'll hearat.com and leave us a message. Is the speakpipe open? Speak pipe is always open right now. We're taking we're taking voicemails. So hit us up. Yeah, go to yelhear.com leaves a voice message via speakpipe, especially if you're a new listener. We'd love to hear from just tell us what's going on. It doesn't have to be a question. right?

And yeah, no, it does. Just tell us what you like about, you'll hear it. And also, just so you know, if you're listening to this on Thursday, April 2nd in the morning, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, I'm doing a live guide of practice session on basic chords over on the Open Studio Facebook page. We're going to leave a link to that here in the description. And then on Friday night, Peter Martin here is playing a live solo piano concert at 8 p.m. Eastern. Live from our studio solo, solo, solo, solo. Solo, sheltered solo. The only person in the room.

Yeah, we had a lot of fun with that last week. And very nerve-wracking because I'm kind of operating everything. The cameras, the streaming and everything. Oh, man, it was awesome. It was awesome. So check for those two links here down below in the description. That's right. Until tomorrow.

You'll hear it.