You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Play What You Hear

Episode Date: October 3, 2022

Adam and Peter answer a Speakpipe question about how to play what you hear.You can find the link to the "5 Minute Ear-Training" course right here!Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. Hey. What? Huh? Sorry. Huh. What did you say? You're talking to me?

Excuse me? You're talking to me? What? Listen. I'm Adamannis. And I'm Peter Martin. You're listening to the You'll hear it podcast. A podcast where we attempt to explain jazz or as I say jazz explained.

Oh, that was not a truncated title. What's the opposite of truncated? X-graded? Extrapulated. Extrapulated. Something like that. Yeah, you extrapolated the hell out of that timeline. Yeah.

We're having trouble getting this episode out today. You know, some episodes are easier than others, man. We don't sweat. Once we get this far into it, it's kind of like, is this going to be the one? Well, I guess if people are hearing it, this is the one. This is the one. If you're listening to this and actually we've made it through, then this is the one for sure. I know folks thinks that we are geniuses of the pod, which we are.

No one. No, because we do this unscripted and improvisationally. You don't say. But sometimes we do multiple takes. Okay. So you might have, that's all I have to say. Okay. Yeah.

Sometimes we do multiple takes of the pod because we care about the dear listeners. And so a little bit of a behind the scenes thing is sometimes one of us, usually me, will be five minutes, seven minutes, ten minutes into it. It's pretty evenly balanced the fall starts. Lately it's, yeah. But is it a false start if we're seven minutes into the podcast? No, that's just a do-over, complete do-over. Sometimes we'll get deep into it and I'll call it off.

And then Adam will look at me bitterly and be like, why, fine, sir. Speaking of multiple takes, did you know that when you go to you'll hearat.com and you leave us a message, a speak pipe, you can take multiple takes. You don't have to just record one. And then send it. You can do one. And if you don't like it, you can redo it. But why would somebody go there in the first place? Well, if they wanted to ask us a question, I'm kind of wondering if John, who asked us today's question, did multiple takes or if this was the first one. John, let us know. Here's John. Hey Peter and Adam, this is John from California. I wanted to ask you guys about playing what you hear. You know, we all hear pianists that sometimes hum along to the melody that they're playing when they're playing a solo or they'll sing along to it. It's pretty clear that at least sometimes they're playing melodies that they're hearing in their head versus, you know, a lot of other times or other pianists,

they just maybe not necessarily running their fingers, but they're playing shapes or patterns that they know we're going to sound good. good, but they don't necessarily know what exactly what it's going to sound like when they play it. So is this playing melodies that you hear in your head? Is that something that's important to you guys? Is this something that you practice? And if so, how do you do that? So thanks a lot. Love the podcast. It's a good question, John. Yeah. I actually think, Peter, I don't know what you think about this, but I think at a certain level, pianists who are at a very high level, in a certain way, are hearing everything they're playing. Yes. And whether it's pattern-based or not, you know how it's.

it's going to sound. Yeah. I know for me, like if I try to, it's really hard to do to think about what you're hearing in your head after the fact. But for me, I'm, if I'm really in the flow and I'm in the moment, I'm hearing everything, including whatever in the room with me, including whatever the drummer's playing, whatever the bass player is playing. Yeah.

Whatever I'm playing, whatever comes to me, it's all the same thing. Yeah. You know, there's no, it's, it's non-dual. It's like, it's all coming from the same place. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

what you hear is such a, you know, potentially esoteric kind of a concept. And I think it shouldn't cause anybody, you know, any players, you know, any kind of like consternation in terms of like, am I actually playing what I hear? It's a $5 word. Sorry. You know, you know, I've been reading New York Times a lot lately. I have a subscription. I'll give you the link. Yeah. But you know what I mean? It's like, you shouldn't be like, wait, am I actually playing what you hear? Because I think, you know, to your point of what you just said, once you're doing it, you'll know it. And it doesn't matter. it's never going to be like 100% or 0%. I think that if you're getting to a good percentage, you know, it will increase because

it's the kind of thing that works. It feels good. It sounds good. And both in terms of your playing and how it sounds with the bandstand and I think ultimately to the listeners. And it's such a integral part of this sort of improvisational spirit of the music that really, when done correctly, of course, combined with all the elements. though, not just like, a lot of times we think,

play what you hear is only a melodic thing, but it's very much a rhythmic thing. It's very much a harmonic thing. So I think for a lot of folks, the entry point can be on the rhythmic side because that can be the, I don't want to say the easiest part of ear training, but kind of the simplest and most obvious entry point.

Or even just hearing the flow of the melody, like the shape of the melody. Right. You can, you know, you can do a pattern like, right? And maybe you're not hearing every single pitch, but you're hearing like, babidudud. Right. The phrasing, the rhythm, how it lays into the groove, absolutely. And I think that that's all kind of upping that percentage.

So yes, in terms of like, is it important to play what you hear? Absolutely. So the reason we, and how do we work on it? That's ear training. You know, that's really the essence of ear training. So we're not necessarily working on it in that, okay, I'm going to sit here for five minutes and only play what I hear. It's, I'm going to work on these specific ear training exercises and elements to my musicality. so that when I practice improvising,

which is really just any time that you're playing, whether you're practicing playing or playing on a gig, that you're going to be in the best position to kind of, you know, clear out your mind and just say, let me just be in the moment. Let me just be present. Let me play what I hear. You know what I mean?

Let me not. And so, but, you know, like we're always talking in terms of meditation and stuff, things are going to creep in. It's going to be like, wait, does the drummer think I'm going to play this? Or I got to impress. and then, oh, wait, what about that thing?

You know, and so you don't get frustrated when you get to there. You just say, hold on, let me just take a breath. Yeah. And really just let the music come to me as best that I can, knowing that that's an ongoing process of learning. That's the thing, John, is you got to be careful when you're trying to, quote, unquote, hear, you know, the music inside of you, whatever, that you're not blocking anything out, right? Because you think, like, well, the, you know, the bass player's doing something

that is not what I had in mind. And I'm trying to hear this bass player. Like, no, now you're like pushing out. You're putting up a wall to what's actually going on in reality. Right. And you have to take all of it in. Or if someone's talking in the table, you know, whatever, that's a drag. But that's part of what you're hearing now.

And that's got to be present with whatever you're doing. Especially if they're talking. They're like, God, this guy sucks. He's not playing what he hears. Yeah, no, totally. So like the real challenge to this is to try to hear the music that's in you, that's in your soul, that's in your heart, right? And let it come out in the clearest path as possible. That's where we're working with like ear training and scales and techniques.

can really be handy, but then the active practice that you can do when you're actually playing with other people is to allow whatever is coming up, whatever you're hearing, whether that's the other people in the room or the music, the musical ideas that you're hearing in the moment and see how long you can stay with that without trying to push anything out. Yeah. Trying to do radical acceptance of whatever's happening. You know what I mean? So because John is from California, or as we say geographically from Cali, I'm going back

to Cali. Not a 90s hip hop references. California A. California A. I thought you were going that route. But so something,

have you been surfing, Adam? No, I've been wakeboarding. All right, since John is from Cali, I'm going back to Cali. Oh boy.

I'm going, man, my 90s hip hop references are off the chain. I thought you were going to go California A. That's a good one too. The hillbillies.

But I'm just thinking, like, have you been surfing before? I've been wakeboarding. Wakeboarding. Nice. Because we are landlocked here in the middle of the country. I'm from Missouri. Of course. Well, I only went surfing once, but if you think about it like this, so of course I'm an expert. No, but if you think about like, you know, when you don't know what you're doing, you're out there paddling around, trying to find the wave and then trying to ride it. I think what we're talking about here in terms of like, which is fine. That's what you have to do when you start. And then you're like, wait, is it taking me? Is it not? At a certain point, you're surfing, but you don't even really know it. It's kind of like that with. with playing what you hear. The top level is kind of like being in that zone. You're just sitting there having a good time.

And then all of a sudden the wave comes and you're like getting up and you're riding that thing in. You know what I mean? That was not how I did it when I was in Hawaii. You looked very confident. But I saw other folks doing it like that. So I think if we think about that, knowing that you're not going to start there,

but the ear training and then the practice sort of the manifestation of that ear training into the improvisers mindset and kind of toolkit is applying that where you sort of take a breath and you're like, okay, I'm going to actually just play whatever I hear

and then start to see like, what's the percentage of that that's coming out? Like, okay, I hear something. It's okay that when you play it, you're like, wait, that's not quite what I heard. That's a good sign.

Yeah. Because that shows that you're actually starting, I mean, because we all have stuff that we hear. Even like a fan of the music, they can't play an instrument. Here are some different melodies and voices in their head,

as we would say. But also, you know, this is, think about what great improvisers teach us to do, right? say what's the number one thing that they tell us to do for practice, it's to listen. Listen.

Right? And that's so that you get the music into your head so that you have something to listen to as you're playing through the music. And then what's the number one thing they say to do when you're performing? Listen. Listen to what's going around you. Yeah. And that's so you can be with what it is.

You don't have a plan going in. It never works out when you plan out what you're going to play beforehand. I mean, it's a whole other part of your brain, actually. Right. It's the sort of like pre-written, pre-composed thing. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just not what we do when we improvise. And so to do that, you have to really train yourself to be a really present listener who's there with the rest of your band, who's there with the audience. We were just talking to Gregory Hutchinson.

And, you know, I mentioned, like, his big skill, I mean, of course, like he's got chops for days and swings and ideas and everything. But I think his greatest skill is listening, as most great musicians' greatest skill is. about how that's kind of missed in this age of like, excuse me, of like breaking down, like, oh my God, look at this incredible brush technique. Yeah. Oh, look at this press roll that he did. It's like, yeah, but what you have to really appreciate, that's one thing and that's amazing. And but like you're not necessarily going to ever be able to do that like he does.

Yeah. But you can be as present and listen, you know, but that really doesn't happen overnight. In fact, some of the technical stuff is so hard. but it's easier to get to that than to get to that ability to be able to listen and listen and push-ups and sit-ups. Yeah, that's like a lifelong thing.

Totally. And it's so nuanced and so exciting. And it's really where the best music comes from. There is no kind of blue. There's no love supreme. There's no entire Keith Jarrett catalog without deep, deep listening. Yeah.

And even the solo piano. I mean, it's just as just as... One of the thing with this that John from Cali mentioned that I think we should address is, you know, this idea of like if you're just playing patterns or shapes specifically at the piano. Although you think about saxophone, you think about trumpet,

you think about... Guitar, for sure, shapes. These, like, those, that way of playing and kind of interact, it's not even a way of playing, that way of interacting with your instrument and interacting with music, does not need to be diametrically opposed

to what we're talking about playing what you hear because, yes, if you only play patterns in shape that feel good and have no connection, you don't have a connection to how they sound, which would really be hard to do. You'd have to just stop listening. said man if you hear a shape of like and then you associate that with how it feels

yeah how's a powerful thing am i hearing and able to sing every individual pitch here no I'm singing along though because I'm able to hear but did you hear how and hopefully folks check this out the way what Adam just did how he varied it up at a certain point because he was listening to the music of it right what you can tell is when people are only attached to how something feels like the the the the

sensory feeling of the instrument is when they're like nothing is ever altered and it's just like a machine. Yeah, shaking bake, you know. Come on, baby, shake bake! But I mean Ricky Bobby up in here. But I think that, not to say that there might not be a place to just go

straightforward like that, but you got to make sure you're connected with the music when you do that. So there's nothing wrong with like shifting over and going in and out of these very technical sensory connections with your instrument. That's some exciting stuff. And we think about all of our favorites to do that and that's fun to do but think about how does it sound how does it fit into and that's

where ear training really comes in yeah and speaking of ear training if you want to be able to hear the things that are in your head and kind of translate to them to your instrument a little more at open studio we do have a whole ear training course it's called five minute ear training it's 30 sessions so a month every day a month of sessions yeah um great course and there's they're just five minutes long and it literally starts out with what interval is this yeah you know that's the that's the And then we go on to things like identify the triads, you know, things like that too. Can you pick out cadences? And that kind of training, being able to hear root movements, being able to hear the quality

of chords, being able to hear shapes, all super important for getting the music that's in you out. Yeah. And I mean, this type of ear training, the course is fantastic. And that's some of the best feedback we've had from any course in terms of like applying to the skills folks need for improvisation. you know when you when you are talking about ear training you want to go very very basic you want to go under where you think absolutely a lot of people be like i know tries i know the scales no no no you want to really dial that in

repetition they got to be how it sounds how it feels upside down and all those kind of things it's got to be every time it can be one of the biggest um door openers to your improvisational development for sure totally totally so uh we'll put a link here for that course absolutely good stuff or become a member then you get that and everything else That's our dirty little secret. You're going to work on your rhythm. You want to work on your transcription. It's all there. That's all good.

Well, until next time, you'll hear it.