Cocktail Piano Improvisation Course

New Lesson Updates
15

Hi Hayden. Will the new course (tune) be in a different key signature?

16

Yes exactly @John_A

I was planning on the tune “In A Sentimental Mood” for the next course. The A Sections are in D Minor and so the harmony module would cover the diatonic voicings and progressions in minor keys which we haven’t covered in much detail on the website.

The B section then modulates to Db Major and is comprised mostly of the 1625 progression. I think this would work well as we can repurpose lots of the material that we applied in the A Section of ‘Misty’ to show how this can be used in other tunes which is important.

We can also dive deeper into soloing over minor progressions such the minor line cliché and the minor 251 which are both present the A Section of “Sentimental Mood”.

The top level plan is to create new 3 courses:

I think that those 3 courses, each with around 20 lessons would be great to give new students more structure and direction when starting to build out their repertoire both from a harmonic and melodic/improv standpoint.

The nice thing with this style of course is we can incorporate lots of more advanced theory without it being too overwhelming in the sense of “learn this in all 12 keys”. Instead we learn to apply the concepts to 1 tune, and then provide links to the related theory lessons where we can learn more about the theory and start to drill around all 12 keys (which takes time!).

You will notice that I added both of the above courses in the beginner section of the website even though as the courses progress they cover some intermediate/advanced concepts. My view is that once we have a strong foundation from analysing and understanding the harmony and voicing options, it then becomes much easier to apply more advanced theory, arranging techniques, and experiment with improvisation.

Let me know what you (or anyone else) think(s) about using “In A Sentimental Mood” for the 3rd course and I will get started on it this month.

5 Likes
17

@Hayden That sounds perfect. Another familiar tune from the beginner courses. Gets my vote!

1 Like
18

Sounds good to me. When making a solo piano arrangement for Georgia, I noticed I have a hard time harmonizing/improvising over simple triads and slash chords so IASM would be a great tune for the next lesson!

1 Like
19

Hayden
Thank you for the clear presentations. Really good material.

1 Like
20

Here are a couple of solo piano recordings that I like for “Misty”.

The first is by Kenny Barron. His improvised solo incorporates lots of the topics that we have covered in this course such as targeting chord tones, arpeggios, approach patterns, targeting alterations, and altered licks/altered scale passages. Check out the recording here:

and here is a YouTube video which shows a transcription of Kenny’s solo:

The second recording I like is by a pianist called Simon Mulligan. This recording is very different to the Kenny Barron version. I like Simon’s simple yet elegant melodic ideas, often just rephrasing the original melody and targeting chord tones as strong landing points. He develops lovely motifs which is something I’d like to discuss in the seminar on Wednesday, check out the recording here:

Cocktail Piano Improv Seminar

In the “Cocktail Piano Improv Seminar” on Wednesday we will delve a little deeper into the topics covered in this course and examine the melodic material in the above recordings.

Here’s the seminar page for those interested:

Hope to see you there!

5 Likes
21

Thumbs up for In a Sentimental Mood for the 3rd course.

2 Likes
22

@Hayden,

I’ve been enjoying your new class. However, I just hit a snag. When I try to open the section on “Reshaping the Melody,” I get the following error message:

html5: Video loading aborted
This video does not exist.

Thought you’d want to know. Cheers. :musical_keyboard:

1 Like
23

Hi Scott. Just accessed ok via my iPad and iPhone

Cheers

Paul

24

@paul1523727
Thanks for that. I just checked it again, and it worked. Maybe there was a server glitch when I tried earlier.

25

Hi @scott1 :wave:

I actually had the same issue when I tried 30 minutes ago, sometimes this can be fixed by lowering the video quality.

At the moment the videos in this course are being pulled from our Vimeo account but we also have a self-hosted solution for the videos. I have changed this video to the self hosted source and used the Vimeo source as the backup.

I’m slowly working through all of the lessons on the website to add 2 sources so that if one doesn’t work, then there is always a backup source. The self hosted solution is more reliable in terms of playback, but Vimeo is great for working with the editors and transcribers and making changes to the videos before they are finalised.

26

On a related note, there are many PDF downloads for the cocktail piano course being created by our transcriber. He’s working on these now and they will be finished in the coming weeks.

A few students have asked for PDF notation for the course and so my apologies for the delay with this, we are working on it.

Spread Voicings

  • Notate demonstration at 8m14s

Chord Extensions:

  • Notate opening demonstration
  • Notate pickup bar harmonisation options starting 12m35s

Stride Left Hand:

  • Notate opening demonstration
  • Show the 1625 and 3625 in separate graphics with repeat symbols so students can see the harmony fragments to cycle around

Changing Chord Colours:

  • Show 1625/3625 variations using dominant chords instead of minor chords
  • Notate performance in final chapter

Chord Melodies:

  • Notate chord melodies (chapter 4 and chapter 6)

The B Section:

  • Notate IV minor transition (2nd chapter)
  • Notate V7 and 1625 transitions (3rd chapter)
  • Notate minor line cliché options (4th chapter)
  • Notate the B Section voicings (chapters 5 and 6)

Turnaround Options:

  • Notate basic 3 note voicings (chapter 1)
  • Extended chords (chapter 2)
  • Echoing (chapter 3)
  • Tritone sub options (chapter 4)
  • Inner voices (chapter 5)
  • Arpeggio fills (charter 6)

Targeting 3rds:

  • Notate diatonic approach above/below
  • Chromatic approaches above/below
  • Enclosures

Targeting 7ths:

  • Notate diatonic approach above/below
  • Chromatic approaches above/below
  • Enclosures

Melody Inspiration:

  • Notate altered lines (chapter 3)
  • Anything else you think could be useful - this lesson actually touches upon the next lessons so the notation could be re-used from the next lessons.

Major & Minor Arpeggios:

  • Triad arpeggios (1st chapter)
  • 7th chord arpeggios (3rd chapter)
  • Minor chord arpeggio patters (chapter 4)
  • Turnaround arpeggio patterns (chapter 6)

Altered Arpeggio Patterns:

  • Vanilla arpeggio patterns (chapter 2)
  • Altered scale notation (chapter 3)
  • Altered lines (chapter 5)
  • Notate homework exercise (chapter 6)

Targeting Alterations:

  • Notate the lines which target each alteration
  • Replicate the lesson notation that has been added

Chromatic Lines

  • Notate chromatic lines similar to lesson notation
  • Create a transcription of the A section with voicings used and chromatic lines

B Section Improvisation:

  • Notate transition options (chapter 2)
  • Notate static harmony improv techniques (chapters 3 and 4)
  • Notate turnaround improv techniques (chapter 6)

Blues Scale Improv:

  • Notate C minor blues scale and Eb Major blues scale
  • Notate demonstration (chapter 3)
  • Notate blues licks and links (chapters 4 and 5)
  • Notate the New Orleans lick in fragments and all together (chapter 6)
5 Likes
27

Excellent Hayden.

The notations and supporting PDF’s will help immensely. I must say this course is fantastic in that it (to me) seems to encapsulate most of the material in PG and allowing reference to deep dive within the PG materials (i.e., UPS, tritone substitutions, etc.). You may like to add targeting the 5th as well.

Just looking at what you have outlined above, I wonder if this could be an approach that students like me could also use when approaching tunes (especially ones we have learnt previously to add color)…seems like a useful framework to incorporate.

I’d also be interested to get input or feedback from students on the course given you could spend 1-2 months easily on this course per tune/song depending on one’s skills, etc. How long should one spend do you think…do you need to be proficient in all aspects or just understand the concepts, approaches, and pick and choose, etc., (i.e., be able to apply parts).

Keep up the good work and pass on our thanks to the transcriber!!! :laughing:

Paul

3 Likes
28

Yes thanks for your patience with the downloads, my original plan was to do them myself but I realised there are a lot of demonstrations and things to transcribe. My notation skills are not the sharpest and I figured the job would be in better hands with our transcriber.

Yes that was exactly my intentions with this course; to show some ways that we can interpret the harmony and find different voicing styles and options, and then also a detailed melodic/improv module to help develop the more spontaneous aspects of jazz performance.

If you take the course outline as a template and apply to other tunes I’m sure you will see great results.

It’s difficult to answer exactly. I’d say that for beginner jazz students 1 or 2 months would allow you to understand the concepts and gain a basic level of proficiency. I have been drilling the concepts and creating the lessons for the last few months and I can still make lots of improvements.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere we are playing these tunes for all of our lives and so our knowledge and familiarity with a tune, with the arrangement, and with the improv, is constantly evolving. I find that is the best mindset to have.

Remember that everything we apply here can be applied to other tunes and the more tunes that we apply these concepts to the more familiar and comfortable they become. So there is a lot of overlap and mastering the drills over Misty will then improve your improvisation and soloing over the other tunes in your repertoire and vice versa.

Above anything else, be patient and enjoy the journey. Playing jazz is very tricky which is what makes it so rewarding when all of the hard work pays off!

3 Likes
29

@Hayden Hayden, you are a brilliant a brilliant teacher. You know how to break down the most complicated sounding concepts into easily manageable bite size pieces. If only every student of music could have this kind of exposure!! I’m loving the hell out of your lessons! BTW What happened to the November challenge???

2 Likes
30

The first batch of notation for the Cocktail Improv Course has been finished.

These PDF files contain both transcriptions of the demonstrations and also shorter transcribed sections showing the voicings and drills covered in the lessons. Where applicable time stamps have been added for easy reference to the exact point in the video where the demonstration occurs.

Here are the PDFs:

I have added these PDF downloads to the first 7 lesson pages in the harmony module.

The notation for the improvisation module is in progress and will be finished soon.

More to follow.

2 Likes
31

Thanks @Ngallure - I’m glad you are enjoying the course and the step-by-step structure. I agree it’s more digestible in this format where in each lesson we keep the theme and topic focused and then gradually layer in more complexity. The first of many courses in this style! I’m working on the next one.

The monthly challenges are always posted in the “Community Challenges” section which you can see in the left hand sidebar menu (5th option down).

32

The remaining PDF notation files for the cocktail improv course are now finished. Thanks for everyone’s patience as I know many students have requested this notation.

In total we have 47 pages of supplementary notation for the course covering all of the key theory areas and demonstrations from the lessons.

Each PDF contains time stamps and headings so that it’s easy to find the exact part of the lesson where the concept is being discussed and demonstrated.

I’ve have copied the files below and these are also available on the course page and in the “Downloads” section of each lesson page.

If anyone has any questions or comments just let me know and enjoy the lessons and learning materials!

2 Likes
33

Thinking about it, it would be cool to create a ‘cocktail improv handbook’ with all of this notation in one place, organised into chapters with additional text and explanations.

Perhaps each notation example could also be clicked to link directly to the lesson in question at a specific start time in the video. That way the handbook could be used on touch screen devices for students to quickly reference the section of the lesson that is being referred to in the notation examples.

I have a few more lessons to be added to this course and so I will keep this idea on the back burner for now.

6 Likes
34

Fantastic idea Hayden. A practical workbook or handbook would be a great addition and resource to also study offline. :blush:

It may also be useful to colour the chord tones in an improvisation example or elsewhere as an illustration. Not sure if this would be too much effort to incorporate.

2 Likes