Jammers,

When we made our initial survey we asked if those attending were interested in Work Shops and would they like to conduct one. Many said they were interested and a few said they would conduct one. We would like to know prior to the event if there are going to be Work Shops so we may add them to our skeleton plan for the weekend.

If you want to conduct a Work Shop we would like to know the subject matter prior to the Jam. PLEASE E-MAIL ME.

Work Shops will be conducted after 6:00 PM, as the day will be made up of music. Keep in mind, when conducting a Work Shop, the management will not allow loud playing after 6:00 PM.

Fran in Florida

One of the most interesting subjects I'd like someone to provide me with a workshop about is the art of improvisation - I've no problem following the dots but how you play around with the melody (right hand) in relation to the chord(s) you are playing (left hand) has me entirely baffled. Is it something to do with pentatonic scales...?
Cheers Fran from Rog

Hi Roger,

Since I am working hard learning to improvise, I wanted to respond to your plea. I share your desire (obviously) to improvise and made up my mind I would do two things. First, recognize that all chords have six notes you can play without hitting a wrong one. Example: D minor 7; you can play around with the notes D, E, F, G, A, and C. Second, I probably do more listening than I do playing, so listening is actually priority #1. What do I listen to? Since I am into jazz I like to listen to Diana Krall recordings. I don't listen to her singing. I listen to her piano player in the background. I'll play a short two bars on the CD while sitting at my keyboard, then pause the CD. I try to remember the notes and rhythmic content of those two bars as played by the pianist and play the passage faithfully on my KN. I continue this process every day. To my mind, listening is absolutely crucial to learning. I have a long way to go to get where I want to be as an improvisor, but I'm happily on my way.

You mention the pentatonic scale. It is one of many scales that can be employed in improvisation. Besides the major scales, you have the minors, harmonic minors, whole tone etc. You also have modes - dorian, mixolydian etc. My feeling is that if you go down that road (learning all of those scales) you will never learn to improvise. You will be too busy learning scales!

So back to square one. Look at the chord in your left hand. You know its name. Play the six basic notes of that chord in a free and easy manner. Example again: D minor 7. In the first measure of your improvisation play D, skip a beat, then play A, D. In the second measure play E, F, E, D. That is a two bar cadence. I do understand this may seem to be an oversimplification, but it is in fact the foundation of improvisation. You build on the foundation. There is no mystery or magic to it. It is a skill that anyone can acquire if they work at it. The secret in my opinion is "Listen and play, Listen and play, Listen and play". Remember! You have to crawl before you can walk or run.

Now, after having said all of this, I agree with you that a workshop presented by someone who can improvise skillfully and who is a good teacher would be a great way to get your feet wet so to speak.


Good luck! All of you East Coast Jammers enjoy yourselves. And play a tune for this old guy if you have the time.

Best Wishes,

Chuck

Thanks Chuck and all good thoughts on this complex subject particularly the listening to others doing it, bit...
I certainly hope someone will respond to my request in Florida next month.
The other related thing is that, you know in jazz all the improvisation is apparently leading the song/melody somewhere; should one's improvisation attempts have in mind that whilst playing around with those 6 notes they should be also leading towards the next change of chord, and are we talking about a feel thing here rather than a logical thing?
Rog

Just my twopennyworth - I think that trying to teach someone the ability to improvise, is very difficult. It's a 'feeling' - almost something which you are born with - a bit like having a natural' sense of rhythm' or a natural 'sense of harmony' - some have it : some don't have it

By the way Chuck, the pianist on Diana Krall's recodings is none other than Diana Krall She is the greatest!!

Hi all of you,
The more I read the message"s on Synth.Zone about Technics and music in general, the more I realize that after two years I still don't know all the possibilitys of my KN 7000 and also the using of the right chords in making music.
Thanks Chuck and all of you.

Jack

Hi Folks,

Apart from Improvising, which is to my opinion also apart from talent, more practising, practising, spend hours playing and listening. And remember that e.g. the Chord D can be played in D as base tone, but when playing the Fis or A as base tome that same chord sounds different. Another nice experiment is creating distance between the tones. For example play the G Chord with an Es, so G, B, D, Es, G. You will hear it sounds awful harsh. Now play in the right hand the chord D, G, B and play the Es in the base, one chord lower: now it sounds jazzy and OK.

Finally I have another subject for a workshop: "Manage you SD-Cards, using the KN-SDExplorer tool." I am not financially and too busy at work, so cannot come over from Netherlands to Florida. But I know there are several users of the tool who really learnt to make the best use of it. Who will be my "ambassador"?

Hi Roger and Bill,

Roger, you suggest that improvisation has a specific purpose i.e., to lead the song somewhere, whether it be the next chord or next cadence, or next phrase. I think that is incorrect. Improvisation is an embellishment of the music, an "add-on" if you will, to give the music flavor, to give the musician an opportunity to express freely musical ideas, and to provide a colorful, musical interlude between vocals or instrumental solos. When musicians "take a ride" (improvise), they are freewheeling it within the chord structures and progressions of the tune being played. They are playing musical ideas they "hear". How do they hear these ideas? Simply from listening, listening. listening to those improvisors they admire, then copying their "licks" (the notes and rhythmic content of short passages). Those short passages you learn through listening become the building blocks of extended improvisations as you "string" them together to eventually make an eight bar improve for example. Then your eight bar improve leads eventually to a sixteen bar improve and so on. Listen, listen, listen. Build, build, build. That is the process in a nut shell.

Bill, I agree wholeheartedly with you that improvisation is a "feeling". But I believe that "feeling" can be learned through listening. I believe most of our KN musicians can acquire that feeling simply because if I were to watch them while they are "LISTENING", they are rocking to the note and rhythmic content of an improvisation. They "feel" it. I think that "feeling" can be learned through listening. It is working for me anyway.

Gotta go guys. Have KN, must play.

Chuck

Someone said to me a long time ago "Improvising is just composing 'on-the-fly', around a particular chord sequence".... Not a bad description

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Willum

So....definitely looks like a potential workshop subject for Florida then - providing we have at least one person capable of 'improvising'....
Right - here's another one then - how does one get hold of the specific rhythm for 'XYZ' song because none of the standard keyboard rhythms seem to be right for that song?
Rog