Brilliant, I’m going to get this Extensions Course Practice Plan finished, and then let’s start a new forum category where we can discuss how this practice group will work.
I feel that it needs to be simple and straight-forward for us all to participate. That’s the key in my opinion.
I look forward to discussing more ideas on this soon.
Hi Pierre, As I’m retired I have plenty of time to practice. Usually, I practice 5-6 times a week, for a minimum of 1 -1.5 hours. My problem is that I’m never quite sure what to practice !?
I want to increase my list of tunes and my improvisation. I only really got into jazz piano theory some 2-3 years ago, although many years ago I played piano and trombone in amateur/semi-pro groups. Piano is my only instrument now and my true jazz love ! I do play with a small trio / quartet now from time to time, but I still feel that my playing lacks a great deal of “positiveness”. Sometimes, after practice I get rather depressed at my own feeling of little progress !
Hi @john1156589 Thanks sharing some of your journey. Myself I play Doublebass full amateur on a trio and now in duo with a nice pianist playing only his own lovely composition . But despite a busy job and a large family I keep playing quite a lot until 1-2 hours. Bass and piano. But mostly playing and not working enough to improve. So this last month I try to find a practice routine …But still only though nothing written…all in gestation 
…
So a practice routine on piano may be a nice way to begin…and doing it with someone may help me keeping it . Let’s do it !
I Will be home. tomorrow. We wait for Hayden or we can already begin. I have some gaps on basics ,
What about
Rootless 251 major all keys in 12 keys in half step.in 4th . In whole tone. A post of our playing it before next saturday. Ok ?
Maybe one day ,It will be cool to meet our three instruments piano trombone bass together on a tune! It may be another cool challenge
Best wishes!
Hi @Pierrot!
That is a great idea. My problem is: I am not intermediate, but unfortunately still a bloody beginner and I feel a little intimidated going back to the piano and reading some of the other students ambitious practice plans. I practiced quite regularly for 3 months but now didn’t practice for another 3 months. My new years resolution is to get back to playing! But for me it’s more about commiting to actually practice (even the basics) in order to see some humble results.
Therefore, I am looking for 2 -3 beginners, with whom to do a PoL-Group (Practice out loud – similar to a work out loud circle).
My goal would be to set weekly goals for the group (e.g. via email/whats’app or here in this forum) and then meet regularly online (maybe once or twice per month) for an hour or so and motivate each other to practice. Maybe even play for each other over skype.
I hope someone would be willing to join.
I think I wouldn’t be the right person to join your group @Pierrot and @john1156589, since I am still at the beginning of my jazz journey.
Looking forward to everyone’s comments!
Cheers,
Moritz
Hey Moritz
I am sure it will be a great idea … maybe begin, like i do, your own practice plan so another beginners pianist could join you… and sure you would have more sucess than myself 
(more beginners students seems active on forum)
P.O.L. thats a great idea
and i alredy encourage Hayden to organize some groups with some monthly live lesson … he was prettty interested . I dont know if the idea have evolved ?
but like you say some students little groups will be great too.
unfortunatily @john1156589 never join my group, and dont answer email neither , never hear from him since his post here…
Come on Moritz . create your practice plan !
best regards
Pierre
My issue is that I don’t really “practice”. I just work hard to learn a tune 2 measures at a time…(takes a long time too) … then I struggle again on another tune. I like the idea of meeting other students and hearing how they are doing, but I get overwhelmed with a formal practice pattern notion. When nice weather comes, I leave the piano for a bit to be out hiking. So I also have gaps.
I think a beginner support group would feel less intimidating to me and possibly others.
@LoriNelson, yeah I can relate to that. Maybe we can start with that and then see, where it takes us. Should we set up a skype call and maybe even @Pierrot would like to join us. I have a small challenge, because I am based in New Delhi, India, at the moment. So timewise, we would have to see, what works. Where are you all based?
Great idea Moritz.
We have many beginner jazz students and so I’m hopeful some of our students will take you up on your idea.
Yes regular and consistent practice is key Moritz.
I remember you mentioned that this can be difficult with your travel and work commitments - I can relate to that too! - But really try to keep a consistent practice routine and you will see much better results.
I agree that working in collaboration is a great way to stay focused and add accountability to our plans and goals. It’s an exciting prospect that this could be facilitated digitally, over the web, with students from around the world!
This is a public forum, and so please remember to share contact details via private messages if anyone wished to do this.
Another idea could be to share your practice plans and recordings via the private message functionality of the forum. That way, it may also be more comfortable - as beginners - to share your results and recordings in private messages. Just an idea 
Our forum allows us all to set up group private messages by tagging the username of students.
First click the message icon in the header here:
The private message feature has the same functionality of regular threads, so we can share private YouTube URLs of our performances, upload practice plan and images/notation etc…
Perhaps some of our students would find that a more comfortable way of collaborating than sharing their private contact details.
Wishing you a musically-productive year ahead Moritz and it’s wonderful to see your enthusiasm to collaborate.
Cheers!
Hayden
Yes this is on my agenda Pierre… I will speak with our teaching team and create a separate post to get this idea moving forward 
Maybe you didn’t get the notification when i tagged you @Hayden so now maybe you’ll get it. Where can we set challenge to ourself, like in my case start arranging with Tune up, and take the other members as witnesses like a promess and maybe get some advice on the process, and also motivate others to start new projects as well
Hi Guillaume,
I moved your post into this thread as it seems the most relevant to your questions.
Our practice inspiration section would be the place to post anything practice related. Here you can add your own challenges and then post updates if you like. Our teachers and students would be happy to give you feedback on anything you are working on.
We can share our performances in this thread for tunes we are working on.
@Pierrot also created a practice group with exercises and assignments.
Something to be aware of it that we have students of many different abilities and so it can be difficult to set a practice task/exercise that is the right level for everyone.
Myself and the rest of the teaching team will always give our feedback on anything posted in the forum so you always have us here for support and guidance. Cheers, H
“Something to be aware of it that we have students of many different abilities and so it can be difficult to set a practice task/exercise that is the right level for everyone.”
Im well aware of that, i just want to setup this challenge, to have no excuses and just do it ! Also motivate others to set their own challenges at their own level !
Awesome. I think sharing things we are working on is a great idea Guillaume. Exactly as you say, it helps to motivate ourselves and inspire others.
On a related note, I saw you shared this Parker recording of “Billie’s Bounce” … I’ve been working on transcribing Parker’s solo from that recording. I’ll be creating a study to share what I learnt and I’ll post it here in the forum 
I also found this alternate take which I thought you might like. There’s some great phrases in Parker’s solo 
I’ve been working on that solo too for two weeks and currently really starting to analyze it deeply. Can’t wait to see your study on the subject !
Also thank you for the other version of Billie’s Bounce, ill check that out
What do you folks think about the following idea: meet up on google hangouts or discord, where everybody can hook up / play their piano, and then do some ear training exercises. One person plays a melody or intervals or chords, and the people in the hangout get to transcribe / hear. One of the big disadvantages of not being in jazz school is that you don’t get the long in-person sessions that you can have as students, but they make practicing those things so much more fun, and move you away from prerecorded material or apps with canned sounds. I am happy setting up a schedule and a hangout / group.
HI Manuel
Yes good idea .
We can try a meeting on discord … i let you create the group and we will try to meet each others there , ok ?
the content of the meeting could be discussed there too i think.
Cy soon
That sounds cool. I will create a fresh discord, where we can use voice chat I guess. Because of schedules and all that I wonder how well it will work in the long run. What timezone are you in? I can usually hang out in the evenings around 8-9 pm EST.
