New Course By Jovino - Ideas Needed Please For Next Course

Hi PianoGroovers :sunglasses:

I have a recording session scheduled in with Jovino on the 12th Novemeber.

He wants me to send him course ideas, subject focus, specific songs.

Does anyone have any ideas/requests/feedback on the last course?

Iā€™ve just collated some requests from my inbox and other forum threads:

  • ā€œMas Que Nadaā€ in a very rhythmic way.
  • ā€œAgua De Bebeā€
  • ā€œSong For My Fatherā€
  • ā€œDesafinadoā€

My personal view is that Jovinoā€™s first course has perfectly demonstrated the basics of Brazilian grooves - bossa nova, samba etcā€¦ lotā€™s for us all to practice there!

This is how I think we should use the studio time available with him:

  • 3 or 4 x arrangements of Brazilian/Latin tunes.
  • 7 or 8 x ā€œ5 Minute Masterclassā€ lessons covering lots of different theory areas.

Of course, we should all have a say in the lesson topics and directionā€¦ not just me! :grin:

@Marco_Cristiano @anon84688975 @lucianoaita425004 @jerry379620 @Moritz_Gekeler @alexander1342212 @LoriNelson @jairo324546 @ana710667 ā€¦ I know you were all interested in the Bossa tutorials, so any input just let me know. and I will feed it back to Jovinoā€¦ Plenty of time for us to plan this out.

Just for example, some feedback could be

  • more rhythmic application to tunes

  • more application to jazz theory, chords, voicings, scales (jovino has a great knowledge of this and thatā€™s why I think it will be nice for him to make us more ā€œ5-minute masterclassesā€)

  • make it more accessible to beginners

  • make more challenging arrangements.

You guys just let me know and I will ensure it is delivered.

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If thereā€™s a particular Brazilian performances/recordings you likeā€¦ post it and we will create lessons on that exact style.

Cheers.

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https://youtu.be/4MLVU2JXQzg

I like the clean open feel of this version.

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Brilliant thanks @LoriNelson

I will forward this suggestion to Jovino.

Letā€™s agree on 3 or 4 new Brazilian standards.

And Iā€™ll leave Jovino to decide his ā€œ5 Minute Masterclassā€ topicsā€¦ Iā€™m sure he has some fantastic ideas.

Desafinado is confimed :sunglasses: :palm_tree: :cocktail:

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Apart from the latin/Brazilian standards I love the work of Marcos Valle - but also Airto Moreira is one of my favourites (and his wife, singer Flora Purim) but no standards from him - so many great songs otherwise, but this is just sublime. Not sure what style youā€™d call it, though:

Not sure if either is approaching standard-dom (probably nearer than the Airto track, I just love sharing that because it is so awesome), but these two by Milton Nascimento are I think considered pretty classic, and both been covered several times (and both are in the iReal Pro Brazilian playlist):

First, Cravo e Canela:

And Vera Cruz:

The one thing I would have found really useful is some practice exercises on rhythmic practice in 2/4. I overthought that one ad infinitum, and not sure if I got much further forward - whereas I picked up the comping rhythms in the other bossa lessons easily in comparison - so some tips for practice in the samba 2/4 would have been great.

Thanks!

Great!

How about Brasil (aka Aquarela de Brazil) by Jobim:

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Wowā€¦ seems to merge so many genres! I have no idea how to classify that either

A Latin/Brazilian undertone but also clear funky vibes and really interesting voicings.

Love the comping at 3:10.

Iā€™ll run this past Jovino.

Iā€™d love to explore more modern stuff like this myself but Iā€™m currently hooked on Wynton Kelly & Red Garland. I also think Iā€™ll work back to Bill Evans once my ears improve more and I can actually understand what he is playing! :grinning:

The diversity of your musical tastes inspire me James!


Yes! This is exactly the kind of thing Iā€™m looking for.

What I loved about listening to Jovino whilst he was recording the course, is his connection to the rhythm.

I will pass this message on. Perhaps he can do an explanation on time signatures, and how to practice them and feel the grooves.


Yes brilliant, i will suggest this.

I know Jovino loves all of Jobimā€™s work, and so that would be a good choice for him.


Thanks again for this brilliant feedback James, Iā€™ll send this thread to all students to get more insights too, and then collate everything and send it to Jovino.

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Just to keep track, tune suggestions are:

  • ā€œMas Que Nadaā€ in a very rhythmic way.
  • ā€œAgua De Bebeā€
  • ā€œSong For My Fatherā€
  • ā€œDesafinadoā€
  • ā€œAquarela de Brazilā€

and also a potential study of Marcos Valle.

Iā€™m working on a new idea similar to this, where we break down the styles, nuances, and ā€˜musical personalitiesā€™ of key musicians. Leave this with me.

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Thanks for including us in the process. This is amazing. I would like to emphasize the wish for ā€œBrazilā€, ā€œMas que nadaā€ and ā€œAqua de beberā€.

A song which I really love is also:

Sergio Mendes - The Joker. (https://open.spotify.com/track/2GjI6wSfJRUpoCkJi31sw3?si=2zjiehjHTJ-VkijGZBSRZw)

and

Vinicius de Moraes ā€“ ā€œa felicidadeā€ (https://open.spotify.com/track/0Tzc1rokAc22qc3aF2xn2Q?si=zUAsF2iMQ7eSg8-e0v6PCw)

And a little bit more modern, but maybe difficult (!?!)

Bebel Gilberto ā€“ ā€œTanto Tempoā€ (https://open.spotify.com/track/4g5owRO2njEREYIlyb5XUl?si=QteUPpWhR7GAXVdLwiMIKg)

But I guess, once we understand things better we will be able to learn them by ourselvesā€¦

I am so much looking forward to getting back to the piano. Unfortunately I am travelliung so much at the moment.

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My pleasure Moritz.

Brilliantā€¦ I will send every suggestion over to Jovino and he will decide the best way to teach these lessons.

Thank you for taking the time to send the links and info :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes I understand the feelingā€¦ just make sure you are listening to lots of jazz, and that certainly counts as practice.

Use your travel time wisely and every spare moment, listen to jazz.

Make note of the bits you like, then when you get to the piano, try to transcribe little bits of the record.

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Iā€™d also love to learn an arrangement of Manha de Carnaval aka Black Orpheus.

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Speaking of Black Orpheus - what about this? Funny, I was thinking about Bola Sete earlier today and thought I would go see what was on youtube - look and golly shucks oh gosh: This is utterly lovely. :slight_smile:

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Updated list of tunes to send to Jovino:

  • ā€œMas Que Nadaā€ in a very rhythmic way.
  • ā€œAgua De Bebeā€
  • ā€œSong For My Fatherā€
  • ā€œDesafinadoā€
  • ā€œAquarela de Brazilā€
  • ā€œManha de Carnaval aka Black Orpheus.ā€
  • ā€œBola Seteā€

and also a potential study of Marcos Valle.

I want to let Jovino pick the tunes that he thinks are best, and that will allow him to share the most of his insights and expertise.

Again, thank you all feedback and suggestions, Iā€™m excited to get our latest Brazilian course moving and we now have lots of our suggestions, we have all played a role in shaping the courses content, theme, and direction.

Beautiful!

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Joao Donato love his groove sweet and flexible " Amazonas " song is so cool.

and Tania Maria with her energy and the ability to melting styles ā€œTranquilityā€

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Brilliant thanks, Pierre - lovely suggestions.

Updated list of tunes to send to Jovino:

  • ā€œMas Que Nadaā€ in a very rhythmic way.
  • ā€œAgua De Bebeā€
  • ā€œSong For My Fatherā€
  • ā€œDesafinadoā€
  • ā€œAquarela de Brazilā€
  • ā€œManha de Carnaval aka Black Orpheus.ā€
  • ā€œBola Seteā€
  • JoĆ£o Donato - Sambolero
  • Tania Maria - Tranquility

Coming along nicely guysā€¦ thanks for all the input.

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Well, this is not nearly as complex as previous suggestions, and it may not be appropriate for Jovino.

However, It might be nice to get some simple suggestions / examples of adding an improv to a jazz standard without becoming an expert on improv first. Maybe some examples (I emphasize EXAMPLES) of using just chord tones in a manner that has a jazz sound to it without being ā€œvery difficultā€. This would give the early intermediate players a chance to incorporate improv into jazz standards sooner. Thanks.

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Brilliant suggestion Don.

I will pass this onto Jovino. I think he will have some fantastic insights to share on developing improvisation skills.

In the meantimeā€¦

Check out this chapter he demonstrates in the Improv lesson - chapter 4 ā€œPlay Less Notesā€ the key message is that improvisation does not have to involve lots of notes :

The key is that your ideas are logical, in-time, and repetitive. Repetition develops motifs. A motif is something that gives your improvisation structure, cohesion, and ultimately, sounds like a melody.

Nextā€¦

Check out chapter 6 ā€œImprovised Notesā€ in Jovinoā€™s lesson on Wave: Wave Tutorial: Chords, Voicings, Comping Rhythms, Basslines, PDF Transcription

Here again, he is demonstrating that improvisation does not need to be complex. The key is repetition and motif development.

Let me know what you think of those chapters above ā€¦ anything that you think could be improved, anything that is missing, or anything that could be explained/demonstrated in more detail.

Just let me know and I will ensure it is delivered.

Cheers!

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Hi teacherļ¼ŒI want to ask if the blues and bossanova intermediate advanced piano tutorial is updated later?

Hi FooChi :wave:

Yes, if you read above you will see that I have a recording session scheduled with Jovino on the 12th November - that will be the 3rd Bossa course on the website.

Jazz Piano has always been the main focus of PianoGroove, but we will soon be expanding the Blues and Bossa sections in the same way.

If you have any ideas for Bossa lessons, just let us know and we will create them.

Also some of the lessons in Jovinoā€™s course are Intermediate/Advanced:

For example, these lessons cover some advanced concepts and applications

Check them out and let me know what you think.

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A post was split to a new topic: Translations Into Other Launguages

Hi All,

The next recording session with Jovino Santos Neto - our Brazilian piano expert - has been scheduled.

I decided to move forward with the following split of lessons:

I feel that this will be a nice combination of jazz standard studies, and also incorporate a good selection of short, concise, and actionable theoretical studies with a Brazilian flavour.

The 3 Jazz Standards - Thanks For Your Suggestionsā€¦

I provided Jovino with the list of jazz standards that we have all requested and asked him to choose 3 of them.

Jovino chose the following 3 tunes:

  • Ɓgua de Beber
  • Desafinado
  • Sambolero

Jovino chose these tunes because they are all very different from each other. Jovino feels that this will provide our students with 3 unique arrangements and insights into Brazilian Music.

10 x ā€œ5 Minute Masterclassā€ Lessons

I also asked Jovino to create 10 x ā€œ5-Minute Masterclassā€ Lessons.

The list of topics Jovino has provided look brilliant. Take a look below.

I am excited to get started on these short, concise, and actionable 5-minute lessons:

  • The multiple dimensions of music

  • Intervals as orbital vectors

  • The Lydian approach as a starting point for harmonic development

  • Triads as fundamental building blocks of harmony

  • Using triads for melodic construction

  • Efficient, elegant and economical chord voicings

  • Connecting triads into tetrahedra

  • Quartal triads

  • Power chords as flexible structures

  • The Arboreal concept of chordal harmony

  • Carbon as a crystalline model of musical entities

  • Chords as clouds, chords as trees

  • Toroidal models of pedal-based harmony

  • Pitch as rhythm

  • Non-linear rhythmic patterns

  • Tools for improvisation, composing and arranging


And finally, there is also a short tuorial on ā€œhow to feel 2/4 timeā€ - thanks @anon84688975 for this great suggestion.

Iā€™d estimate that these lessons will be available on PianoGroove within 1 month. Updates to follow.

Thanks again for everyoneā€™s input and suggestions :sunglasses:

Hayden

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