You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7-Step Syllabus to Becoming a Functional Jazz Musician

Episode Date: August 5, 2019

Today, Peter and Adam answer a listener's request for a step-by-step guide on going from beginner jazz musician to a legitimate jazz player.7-Step Syllabus to Becoming a Functional Jazz MusicianListenSwing (foundation)Blues (foundation)Roles of the instrumentsRepertoireSocializeGig, play, gig, playLike those You'll Hear It shirts Peter shows off on the podcast? Want some YHI swag of your own? Take a visit to our store! Just go to https://teespring.com/stores/open-studioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment for this episode.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey. It's just another Madden Monday. You know what I'm saying? This is how we do with seven steps, seven steps. We should wear Sunday. Humpty. I'm Adam Manus.

And I'm Peter Martin. You're listening to the You'll Hear at podcast. Daily Jazz advice coming at you. I can't control the volume of my voice. That's what post-production is for. Just making it harder on Andrew. Sometimes I feel like it's my job to make it hard on Andrew. I feel bad about that.

Well, we've tried before and we've not been able to trip them up. Yeah, that's true. Well, there have been a couple times, though, where things have slipped through. Oh, have they? Some curse words? Oh, yeah, there's some things. Okay. No one's infallible here.

That's true. That's true. Today we're talking about seven-step syllabus to becoming a functioning jazz musician. What the hell does that mean? Well, this is from a question from one of our long-time open studio members. So normally we might not put together something so organized as this. But I'll just, this was the question that came in from Oteano via. Facebook, if you were to create a chart of progression in terms of things to learn like a syllabus,

from just learning jazz to being a functional jazz musician, what would it be? Yeah, and we haven't done that. Well, we kind of have to the courses. But it's, I mean, we don't have time in 12 minutes to go through all of our piano courses. But he's really asking about the jazz musician, so we wanted to make this agnostic by instrument as much as we could. And we kind of, we kind of just made a list of things to prioritize, I would say, as opposed to like, do this, then do that, because that is literally the courses we make here at Open StudioJest.com.

But we do kind of have them. I think these are a nice little order that we got them in too. It will work. I mean, you're going to need to be learning about it and I think thinking about all these concepts as you're going through. It's not like you finish one and then you move on. They're sort of building upon one another. But I think if you go in this

general order and use this as more like kind of a guidelines and sort of a big scale map as you're going. And then you can kind of get in and get more granular with each of them. Yeah, so that's great. Now we have seven. You won't believe what number five is.

But what's, uh, we won't believe what number one is. What is number one? Listen. Oh, shocker. Yeah, so number one, we got seven steps here. Number one is listen because you have to do it first. You have to do it early often and you have to overdo it. You have to, I mean, we cannot stress this enough.

So we do stress it enough. But the idea is that we're seeing all the different ways that we can apply active listening to our development. men as artists as musicians as jazz players as improvisers there's always like there should never be a chance of like hmm how should I approach this it should be listening it's like you take a bat every time you think about doing something that doesn't involve listening somebody hits you over the head with it says listen listen listen it should be that much a part of your routine now what are we listening to recordings other people that you're playing with yourself yeah silence

what's wrong with listening to a little bit of silence nothing wrong with that um but you're surroundings. Your surroundings. I mean, but the whole thing is it's like, it's like if you're a chef, you're constantly tasting, I think. I don't know. You know more about this because your wife's a chef. You're kind of a chef, right?

You have to be tasting. You have to be, you know, A, B, T, right? Don't they? Good chefs are always tasting. Always be tasting. So, I mean, that, because that is how their artistry is manifested by how the food tastes. I mean, there's smell and there's ambience and all these things, but the, the core element

of it. So for music, it's how it sounds. So we're constantly listening and we're different. developing as listeners, and the only way you do you develop that is by actually doing it. And to lean into that chef metaphor a little bit more, but it's exactly what you talked about with how musicians, we're listening to other musicians, we're listening to recordings, we're listening to ourselves that we record, we're listening to what surrounds us. I mean, like chefs will, you know, they're always going to other restaurants, they're tasting,

you know, their mother's cooking, they're tasting their own cooking a bunch of as they're cooking. But that's all part of it. Yeah, yeah. So, but think about this too. Sorry, just to dovetail that last thing. they're tasting like and we're going to listen they're going to taste but they're doing it differently than we taste like when we're eating we're like socializing oh this tastes good though they're like what is the balance of this what is the what is this what is this and we have to learn to listen

in that way very active very pro level not not pedestrian level agreed okay number two is swing now swing is one of the foundational principles of jazz and it's something that you need to listen for these are one of the things we're actively listening for and and and what is it? Well, that's a great question that nobody knows the answer to, but you know it when you hear it. Yeah. And it's one of those things where it's a language

that unlike, say, harmonic elements of jazz or melodic content of jazz, swing, you can break down in a notated way, but it's hard to actually notate the way that some people swing. Yeah. And so it's one of those things that's better felt than it is red

or any experience any other way. You have to listen to a lot of swing, a lot of swinging musicians and digest, internalize, remember, be able to draw up, have your own arsenal of rhythmic vocabulary to draw from. That's the only way it works. Yeah, and I mean, it gives you confidence. For sure.

You know, you have to know this, but it's such an essential element to being able to play and understand and interact in this music, that it's just something that we're constantly putting a focus on. Now, I would just say that swing to, I don't see that just as tang, tang, tang, to tang. No, no, no, no.

As a swing beat. There's a lot of different grooves that exist within this music. music, some of which haven't even been invented or played yet, but swing is more of like an attitude with like towards group, I would say, that we bring as jazz players. Yeah, I mean, I would say there's swing in all kinds of music, and reggae and bluegrass and all sorts of stuff that to me qualifies as a swing, a swing in musician, you know what I mean? So that's what you should be listening for. Yeah, and totally foundational, which I think you said right at the beginning, very important that we that we lay this as that foundation and constantly revisit and maintain

it. Another foundational element that's very specific to jazz is number three. Blues. That's right. Yeah. And so, yeah, this is, you know, similar to swing in that it's probably for us has a much, and I think should have a much broader definition than just like, banana, na, na, nana. I'm playing the blues.

Danana, which is pretty good, though. I like that, actually. I was feeling it. So it's not just the so-called typical what somebody would think of was blues, but it's really that blues sensibility. It's that blues foundation that this music is built. upon that almost all like modern American music actually is built upon rock and roll and R&B, gospel, all these different things.

So true. So like understanding the blues, having a deep understanding of the blues, the blues influences the blues connotations, all these different kind of things is so important. Learning the different types of blues, learning how to navigate blues, learning blues inflections to put in your playing is such an important part, you know, to becoming a functional jazz musician. I mean like it's essential. All these things are essential, but blues is foundational and essential and

mandatory. Agreed. Yeah. Okay, so number four, this is one I put on that I think is actually really crucial to becoming a complete musician

and especially as your progress is learning the roles of the instruments that you're playing with. Learning the role primarily of your instrument. If you're a pianist, learning what that means.

Leader. What is typically, yeah, that's right. Getting paid a little bit more. I was just kidding. All my bass player and drummer friends are there. No, but knowing what your role is in the band, I think,

is very important so that at least from, you know, and that doesn't mean that you always have to stay within that role. No, traditionally the pianist role is to correct everybody else. But that's not the only thing we can do. But once you're comfortable knowing your role, what your role is, if that's piano or bass or whatever, to learn as much about other instruments you're playing with,

to go get some drums, go get a bass if you can. You can find some of these instruments fairly cheaply. Steal a set, come on. You know, borrow whatever. and understand the physics, understand, you know, the limitations, understand the strengths of each of these instruments that you're working with, understand what a trumpet player is going through, understand how they make sound and why you probably can't write a bunch of long tones for six minutes straight.

I'm going that the hard way. Oh, hello. Hello. But, you know, this is a problem. Can you Trump players die in that experiment? A couple did. I think this is actually an undervalued element of learning about music. Yeah, I agree.

And I think that, you know, what we've been talking about earlier has really been foundational, you know, listen, number one, two, swing, three blues. This is a little bit more specific, but this can go a long way. This is more like tactical in terms of really being a functional jazz musician. For sure. And the different ways that we actually function and operate as jazz players.

Because jazz is, is spontaneous composition. And social, and it's a social music. Well, yeah, but because it's, you know, think about, yourself is a composer and a composer has to know the orchestra. It has to know how these instruments function. So that's part of it. Good. Number five, repertoire.

Now I put on this, now we're getting into more like, you know, in terms of like the continuum of this, you've got your foundations, you're kind of learning what's happening. But you need to learn how to apply this and how you're going to fit in, you know, playing with other players because it is a social music. So we're learning about the roles of the instruments where we fit in with our particular instrument and the different possibilities. which are great for all instruments. But then what are we going to play?

So it's like that foundational repertoire. This is the language. It's the language of how it's actually manifested. It's like the shared stories that we have in this music. So, you know, we're learning these by listening. And, of course, swing and blues are going to be a huge part of that repertoire. They're going to kind of typify in terms of the grooves and that blues foundation. So we'll have that.

But learning those tunes, like we talked about the 17 tunes, you got to know. It goes way beyond that. But working on that is where. where we can really start to develop as we get the improv skills and the other skills that we need through repertoire. We're not learning it in a vacuum.

Yeah, no, and repertoire can teach you those improv skills. If you learn a bunch of Charlie Parker heads, a bunch of monk tunes, a bunch of cool tunes, a bunch of funk tunes, you're going to develop a knack for that language even deeper. Number six is to socialize, to get out there with other musicians, to listen and learn.

I'm a huge proponent of this. For me, this is part of a trident. if you will, of learning anything. Tried it or a three-headed monster. It doesn't matter. It's some kind of trifecta. But if you wanted to learn anything, whether it's jazz or French or tennis, but finding a community where you can learn things from,

from people who are close to you in skill level and can be like, hey, you know, you should try this or listen to this or do this with your hand. And just these little things that a community only can get you. Yeah. It's just opportunities to play, you know. Yeah. And I mean, look, I mean, if you're a pianist, Could you in theory never talk to anyone or play with anyone and become a functional jazz pianist?

Yeah, probably. Could you be a functional human? Probably not. Probably not. But I mean, it's so much more fun and so much more interesting. And your artistry and your story can be discovered, I think, so much quicker and easier, if at all, through interaction with others. Totally agree. This is a social music.

Art is social. And so when you open yourself up to that and say, okay, I'm going to get out and learn from other musicians and interact. and it gets you out of your thing of like, I want to do this, I'm this, me, me, me, me, me, me. Yeah. Into this space that's super exciting and interesting. And it's just like learning anything. I mean, it's like if you're a tennis player, yeah, you can play against the wall

and you can learn the strokes. You can watch YouTube videos or have a teacher or whatever. But then once you start playing with people, humans, not just machines, you know. It's totally different. It's totally different. Then you start to really learn. That's true. And it's fun.

Yeah. It's fun. We're supposed to be having fun, right? Ideally. Ideally. Ideally. Ideally. Okay.

What's number seven? Number seven. Oh, this is our last one. I'm sad, man. This is fun. I feel like we're fully, it's like you bring up a child and then they're grown.

What do you do with them? You can't wait for them to get out the house and then once they're grown, you want to keep them there. Number seven is to gig, to play, to do it, like to be the thing

that you've been training to be. Don't wait until you get a certificate or we tell you it's allowed. Like all these things. I mean, there is a chronology, as we said, but this is something that you're always doing. Don't wait for the perfect moment.

moment. Like, do be what you're saying you want to be, a functional jazz musician. So you have to wake up at a certain point and say, I'm a functional jazz musician. And it's generally going to be earlier than you're going to want or feel comfortable. But that's going to be that last step of your progression and your, you know, the manifestation of your artistry and story to be able to come out. Yeah, you've got to play as much as possible from as early as possible because there's just no getting around the fact that you're going to have to fail a lot in front of people before you get better. Right? We all have. That's what we did, you know, as kids, you and I, but that's what you do. And that's, and there's, there's no substitute for it. You can't replicate it in the practice

room. It's just part of it. You have to get up there. You have to play like a hundred bad solos before you have a great solo. That's right. That's right. You have to write bad tunes before you write good tunes. There's just no getting out of that one. There's none. And it's, and if you start to embrace the journey and can, I mean, look, it's never fun to sound bad, but it, it can be fun to, like, surprise yourself. And I think we all have the ability to do that even when we're in our formative developmental stages, which we're really always in. It's just a matter of what part of it you are. But I think that as you start to be able to enjoy the process of playing, and that's why, like, number six, socialize them, play with other musicians that are better than you and get out with them. Then it's fun.

You know, it's just like playing tennis. Even if you're not very good, try to find somebody that'll tolerate you that's better than you. I mean, their game's probably going to be knocked down because they're playing with you, but it's great for you because you get to kind of rise to the occasion. And always remember the music is there to help all of us rise. Like that's the real, you know, boat that bring the water, the tide that pulls up all the boats. And even higher. It's rising. Yeah, it's rising.

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, thank you, Oeteno. Oteano, yeah. Thank you. Longtime member. Always, you know, has asked questions for the last several years. Thoughtful.

thoughtful and intelligent questions. Really appreciate. Love you. And we are sponsored. Okay, I'm not going to do as sloppy of a segues yesterday because you laugh. Was that yesterday? Two days ago. Two days ago.

Man, that was hilarious. Man, you had trouble. Like, you had some physical, you had some tears coming. I mean, we were talking about such a heavy subject, and it was such an abrupt segue into a sales pitch that I just really stuck. It turned my head around. Well, today's going to be a little easier because we're functional jazz musicians now. So it makes sense that we're sponsored by Open Studio, the home of much better than even just functioning.

Professional jazz musicians, we are jazz lessons from jazz legends. Did you know that? You might say we're functioning jazzaholics. We are functioning jazzaholics, exactly. We love jazz here. We love to help others, you know, discover ways to grow in their musicianship. That's really what we're all about.

And we're at an all-new platform. It's a very exciting time. I mean, you know, for me personally and for the whole team, team for all of us together to be able to present this great new home. Open StudioJazz.com is the place to go. And we have, you'll hear at Premium, which is really just, you know, still taking off nicely. We got a bunch of charter members already in the mix. We thank you guys for that.

If you want to jump on that charter bandwidth and you like to save money. If you don't like to save money, don't worry about it. Wait until next week. But if you like to save money, jump on this soon because this is limited time offer, charter membership, $5 a month. I mean, that is, what did you say the other day? It was less than your cappuccine. So I go to Blueprint almost every morning for a cappuccino.

What is that? A $7 cappuccino? It's a $5.50 cappuccino. I mean, it is spectacularly delicious. I don't feel bad about it. Well, you'll hear a premium is spectacularly delicious, I might say. So you shouldn't feel bad about that either. And it's going to get you bonus episodes.

We've already got a couple queued up there. A couple already on the site available. Access to the archive. So if you ever want to binge listen to our early episodes, you know, 100 or so or more. I guess are only available this way because you can't get them on the regular feed. The Facebook group, which is available. This is the easiest way to get into our secret private Facebook group. It's the only way to get in there except for all access paths or whatever.

We've got a bunch of things coming. Q&A's exclusive, some behind the scenes content we're going to do. Speak pipes. Speak pipes. This is the only way to lead to speak pipe. Henceforth, you get a nice discount on you'll hear it's swag. So you can get your T-shirts. We're looking at some coffee mugs.

I thought coffee mugs would be fine. If somebody asked for a coffee mug, we're going to do that. Can it be a good coffee mug, though? Can it not be a crappy one? I mean, our shirts? Our shirts are quality. It's called You'll Hear Premium. It's not called You'll Hear it crappy.

Maybe we should have. This is You'll Hear at crappy. No, no. Yeah, no, no, no. We should do it off. We should offer one where we pay people. Right, for a crappy experience. That's right.

So anyway, join us there. You can go to You'll Hearat.com or Open Studio Jazz. Either one. to get on that. And we hope everybody has a great Monday. We love you. You'll hear you.