You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 5 Tools That Will Help You Learn Jazz - #19

Episode Date: February 18, 2018

Peter and Adam get into albums, YouTube, big ears, and other great tools to help you become the best player you can be. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Peter Martin and I'm Adam Anus. Welcome to the You'll Hear It podcast. Today we're going to give you five tools that will help you learn jazz. Well, like hammers and nails and saws and whatnot. Exactly. Well, sort of. And actually, I said we're going to give you five tools. We're going to talk about five tools.

We're not going to give them to. You've got to go out and acquire them yourselves. But some of these I think you'll have already. So maybe it'll be a little bit of a focus for you and for us on great tools. Because it's fun to like be involved with something and then to, to find, you know, just like, you know, I guess we could do some woodworking with just our hands and stuff, but isn't it better when you've got a nice, finely crafted and sharpened tool? Oh, I don't know, man. I don't do any of that stuff.

Okay, yeah, exactly. Good stuff. Okay, so let's start out. The number one tool that'll help you learn how to play jazz, I believe, is great jazz albums. Now, if you're under the age of, what, 38 or so, you might be like, what is an album? Oh, no, if you're under the age of 38, but old, over the age of 17. That's right, man. The kids are into the albums again. That's right. So by albums, what I really mean is a complete recording.

So they used to come on LPs and then on CDs and then in streaming and now there's many ways to get them. But the concept I think is the same for all of them. It's like thinking about a record like John Coltrane's Crescent or Ella Fitzgerald Live in Rome, you know, any kind of recording as a complete performance. And I think that there's so much we can get from just listening to one track, one solo, sometimes even one phrase, but if you use the tool of a complete recording, you can learn how to put a set together, how to segue between tunes, how to create a specific kind of vibe with a kind of tune and then shift to something else, all the tools that we actually need

to have to learn jazz. So it really gives you everything within that. And I think it's just important to think about the concept of a whole recording because recordings used to be made and really still are as sort of this between 35 and 67 minutes statement, musical statement of tunes and put together in a way by the artist and the producer and everything that would really satisfy somebody that sits and listens to the whole thing. So now am I saying that you have to listen to entire recordings all the time? Of course not.

But if you do that some, I think that will be one of the greatest things that you'll have. and always listening to these albums in the context of what's happening on the whole album as well. So you might focus in on a certain tune, but make sure that you understand the whole recording two. It'll go a long way towards helping you learn jazz. It's just such a great way to listen. I like to use the film analogy, which is that, you know, a song is a scene and the album is the film. And so if you don't watch the entire film, you know, some scenes are going to be out of context. And obviously, if you watch, we hardly ever just watch scenes.

I know. It's funny how we've done that with albums. but not what movies. I mean, great scenes. I mean, you know, we're always quoting great scenes and scenes, but you're just more rewarded for the whole thing. Of course. Another great resource is a little website you might have heard of called YouTube.

Ooh. I know it's an upstart kind of thing. Can you send me a link to that? I will. I'll send you at YouTube.org. I think it's YouTube.org. Yeah, nice. They're nonprofit.

No, but YouTube is such a great resource. Of course, you probably already know this. But one thing that you can really hone in on is some things that maybe you can't find on an album. or a CD or anywhere else or a streaming service. You can find live recordings of some classic performances. You know, there were all these, like, great TV shows in Europe, in the 50s and 60s, and they always love to have American jazz musicians on. Yeah.

You know, you can go on some pretty deep dives on some of that stuff, as well as some decent instructions, some free decent instruction on YouTube. You know, shameless plug, but we like to pride ourselves here at Open Studio that we kind of go above and beyond that. But you can get into some interesting concepts, at least the start of some interesting concerts. Barry Harris is a lot of Barry Harris on YouTube. If you haven't checked that out yet, you are missing out

because it's some good free information. Yep, absolutely. The next, number three, for our tools that will help you learn jazz, is a little thing called a metronome. What is that? Well, it comes in many forms now, but it's basically an annoying device that clicks at exact time. Click, click, click, click, you know.

That sounds like torture. It can be torturous, but it can really be something that can, if applied correctly in your practice routine, can really hook up your time, basically, and even your feel in some ways. I would say that, you know, as a jazz player, a metronome is not going to teach you how to swing. It's not going to teach you a good time. But it will teach you when you're starting to push or pull the time, which is really what it's all about.

I mean, for any style of music, it will give you a sense of, well, let's put it this way. Whenever you're practicing with the metronome and the metronome starts to slow down, like because the battery's going bad or that you have some kind of Wi-Fi problem. Believe me, it's not the metronome slung down. It's probably you speeding up. So that's sort of your clue. And on the more micro level, as you're going, that push and pull, it'll start to get you to feel that. So it's not about you have a metronome and then you practice with it all the time and you play metronomically. No, it's about helping you to regulate and using it to kind of challenge you in your practice. You know, I mean, if you had somebody that was standing there whispering in your ear as you

practice, you're slowing down. You're speeding up. I'm going to hit you on the head. if you, you know, that would be nice too. Yeah, I've had a couple band members like that. Right. But I would just say that like in terms of a physical item to help you with your practice, a tool, the metronome can be used, you know, just almost every day in many ways. Super important. Yeah.

All right. The next thing we're to talk about of a tool that will help you learn jazz, and this one seems obvious again, but it's great ears. And we can't harp on ear training enough here in this podcast. It makes or breaks you, I think, as a jazz musician. And as a musician in general, we need to be able to hear these things to not only come up with our own ideas, but also to interact with the people that we're playing with. So developing your ears, ear training on a regular basis is an incredibly important tool

that will not only help you learn jazz, but help you play jazz at a very high level. So, you know, in your daily practice routine, you got your scales, you're playing, through some chord changes. Maybe you're working on some voicings if you play the piano or the guitar. But always include some ear training, always include some transcribing, always include some testing of your intervals or testing of your relative pitch or your perfect pitch if you're so lucky to have worked on that and develop that. Always make sure that your ears are just as sharp as the rest of your chops. Good. I like that one. Okay, number five and our final tool to help you learn jazz is a great instrument.

This is, you know, this is an area where you, the cost can go from zero to, I guess, millions of dollars for certain violins and things. It's pretty bad as a pianist, right? Yeah, and for pianos, we can really throw down some money. But I would encourage you not to just think about, you know, what you can afford. Of course, you need to be within that. But I think for all instruments, there are, you know, special instruments and used instruments. and I mean, look, it's not even like a car. Sometimes the used instruments are much, much better.

But, I mean, if you're a drummer, it could be that symbol that really is the sound that you want. You might find it at a pawn shop or something. But, I mean, putting some time into getting those great tools that personalize things for you. I mean, I'm always envious of drummers because, you know, it's like the piano and that you can show up at a gig, and a lot of times I'll have a drum set there.

So you have to play that. But as pianist is the same thing. There's a piano there. Of course, we're not going to bring our piano. But drummers can kind of personalize things by bringing a symbol, maybe bringing a high hat, or at least bringing their sticks. I mean, that's an important part of it. So, like, anything you can do to really get a great instrument. For pianists, I think, you know, you just have to look, look, look.

I mean, I've had many different pianos over the years and some great instruments and some dogs, but you want to get the best instrument you can. Saxophones, I mean, there's a big rabbit hole to fall down in terms of new, used. Notorious gearheads. Yeah, yeah. It's all about getting a great instrument for you, too. It's not about you have to have this brand or this. You have to have one that makes your voice come out in your playing, and your jazz playing, because it's such a personal thing what we're doing,

telling our story in jazz that I think having a personalized kind of instrument is even more important than, say, classical music. Yeah, I think if I could just speak on the pianos behalf here, a lot of pianists might not put a priority on getting a real piano if they have a keyboard or something or investing in that. Because it's like, you know, and I understand it's like you can't bring it on the gig. You know what I mean? You can't take it with you.

But I will say that like there's nothing more inspiring than having a piano that you're connected with in your home or in your practice space that you can work out your sound. And really an instrument that you understand and that you love the way it sounds. It can make a huge difference in your development. Yep. And don't, you know, when we say get a great instrument, that doesn't mean if you're a millionaire listening to this podcast, first of all, could you send me a quick? email and Peter at the podcast. But this is the thing. It's not about getting, you know, Steinway and Sons, Fazioly, some Yamaha's.

I mean, there's some great pianos out here that you can spend $350,000 on. But you want to get an instrument that is also at your level. I mean, I think about this like in terms of, you know, if you're going to take up skiing or something and you're like, okay, I got to go get the best skis. No, you don't because you can't even get down the hill yet. The best skis might be dangerous for you. They're going to be too fast and too smooth. You got to get something with you.

And it's the same thing with pianos. You know, you want to get, you know, an instrument that matches your level that you feel good with, that you can take advantage of all that it has to offer. And then you'll get a chance to move up or whatever. Yeah, and when in doubt, you know, get a Yamaha upright. That's right. That's right. Nothing wrong with that.

Hey, that's what I learned on. Exactly. You'll hear it. Awkward pause. Option for edit. That's it for today's episode of the You'll Hear It podcast. For more information or to hear more of these podcasts, go to openstudio network.com slash podcast.