Effortless Mastery

Been reading Kenny Werner's book, "Effortless Mastery.". What a great book. He offers some great advice which really has some practical value....master what you are doing even in small doses...go for mastery, not sloppy execution...

Thanksgiving Day, 2010

The Long and Winding Road is complete, but needs practice. Sounds very nice! Interesting how what seems very difficult at first gets easier with practice. Also playing Over the Rainbow. Looking for a new song to voice....thought of What a Wonderful World, but decided against it. I think it may be one I did awhile ago, and want to play again....another Beatles song with a beautiful melody: She's Leaving Home. Or maybe another beautiful Beatles tune: If I Fell.
Addendum....started working on She's Leaving Home....in a different key from the one I did awhile ago.

November 23, 2010

Practicing "Over the Rainbow" and working on "The Long and Winding Road."

"Over the Rainbow (2010)"

Here's how "Over the Rainbow" sounds today memorized.... Again, its not perfect, but it gives you a good idea what I'm looking for.
You may need to copy and paste into your browser:
http://www.box.net/shared/ly36cnsycp

Trying not to get ahead of myself by trying to move on too fast, but started "The Long and Winding Road." Its too easy to move quickly when the sounds sound so gorgeous using the Sudnow Method.

November 19, 2010

Over the Rainbow is coming along nicely, taking it slow. Thinking about using lead sheets with memorization as opposed to focusing on only memorization. Thinking also about ditching the goal of playing fakebook songs on the fly in favor of just having a repertoire of songs that I can play even if I need to look at the lead sheets every now and then.

Taking it Slow

Taking it slow is I think, key for me. Not playing a song at slow tempo, as much as learning the song slowly, trying to incorporate learning what the song has to offer. Trying to memorize chord configurations and closed voicings as I go. Slow, concentrated learning is better than fast and sloppy attempts at learning a song. For me, anyway. And letting go of the ego in learning the piano is also a good thing for me. Slow, concentrated egoless learning is the ticket.

Sudnow

A cool piano day. Taking my time, relearning "Over the Rainbow" but trying not to rush learning it. Thinking through the process, incorporating open and closed voicings and learning. Thanks again, David Sudnow, for demystifying the process. It's up to me to be patient with the tools he has provided.

Consolidation!

Ok. I'm definitely on to something with these ideas. However, it's not the "secret tolling the piano instantly.". Going for the Sudnow type handshapes is helping. Getting to know some good ones for the present song is helpful. But I still should not rush the process. Take the time to learn the songs. With this different track I'm taking, it's helping me in actually remembering the chords, and thus helping to remember them when I'll need them in future songs. But I STILL will have to work on getting the songs to sound smooth.

Reevaluation!

Not sure the memorization of closed voicings is the way to go. I want to play SOLO piano, and learning closed voicings may minimize the color notes used. Maybe today I'll try to figure out favorite OPEN voicings to use for low and high melody notes. Or maybe today I'll smash my piano with a hammer.... ! Using the Open voicings sounds soooo nice.... Stay tuned....

November 13, 2010; Forging Ahead With My Own Rules

I think I'm on to something cool here, and it's gonna take some work. Memorizing closed voicings to play in low/medium/high registers. Sounds like three, but it's really two fingerings for each chord (they repeat). Using closed voicings in the right hand. Going song by song, learning the chords for each given song.
Combining:
1) Rote learning out of context: The Voicings.
Going over them, over them, and over them.
2) Contextual application in the context of songs.

First Projec: Working on learning closed voicings involved in the chords in "Wichita Lineman," and applying my knowledge of those chords by playing them in the song.

Worked on this throughout the day......ITS DIFFICULT (Confusing the chords while simultaneously making them hit the melody note)...

Patience....patience....

Working on the C, Bb, Am, Dm chord voicings.....the song also has Other chords for me to learn.

Good 'ole patience needed.

Closed Voicings (Again)

Interested now in making my own piano rules. I'm now in a different yet related direction...
I'm incorporating Sudnow, a jazz voicings book I recently got, and some ideas to try something. I'm interested in memorizing closed voicings and utilizing them in the right hand.

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"

Worked today on "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Interesting how the strong desire to play piano kicks in. Here's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (copy and paste):
http://www.box.net/shared/8p0sn4z0j5

"Wichita Lineman"

Here it is with closed and open voicings, along with a run adapted from the book "Tons of Runs" by Andy LaVerne. Copy and paste:
http://www.box.net/shared/k7j3g3ov8g

Closed Voicings (Again)

Went thru "Just the Way You Are," and struggled thru it!
Working on "Wichita Lineman" with closed voicings....but here's the cool part: Sudnow made sense not emphasizing closed voicings over open voicings. Cool to play the left hand closed voicing form with the right hand open one. Also using a book to help with a little piano run during the song.

Closed Voicings

Update: I've been working recently on keeping "Just the Way You Are" in my hands. I haven't really been working on "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." But yesterday at the piano warrants reporting:

I listened to David Sudnow's teaching of closed voicings recently, and I tried to put some of it in action yesterday. I kind of surprised myself with how many I was able to get in hand relatively quickly: C, Bb, D, Gm, Dm, Am, and G. I tried playing "Wichata Lineman" using the closed voicing. interesting. One thing What ffrustrating was using the right hand to play the melody; I was fumbling with not only playing the correct right hand melody notes, but also with using a fingering that was not clumsy. The other frustrating thing was trying to get timing down correctly using these closed voicing. Sudnow calls these voicings "Stride," and for good reason; to get it sounding really good, I guess you need at least two beats per chord. It's frustrating for me trying to get my timing right.

But on the other hand, these closed voicings add a great addition to how to make sounds at the piano! Of course I've been tempted to buy another piano method, but Suds' emphasis on self-learning makes sense to me. I'm still not convinced there are any "easy" methods of learning to play the piano sophisticated out there. David Sudnow's approach (to me) offers the student ways of making sophisticated sounds at the piano, but it forces the student to put all of his pieces of knowledge together in a self-learning kind of way. Sometimes blending various pieces together in one tune (open voicings, closed voicings).

So......because these closed voicings can add to a tune, I'll keep learning them. My piano buddy has told me how they are key, and I agree.