Monthly Livestream #71!

Thank you for tuning in to yesterday's livestream! Here's the recording.

I started off with a few tunes: first, "Little Church" by Hermeto Pascoal. I had been playing this tune with Melissa Aldana's quartet last week in South America, so I had it on my mind. She also recorded it on her brilliant new album "Filin", which I highly recommend checking out. Then I took a request for "Ruby, My Dear", the Thelonious Monk classic.

Then into some questions:

• First - what are some of your favorite piano blues recordings? I decided to highlight a few of my favorite solo piano blues recordings, and talked a bit about them. One was from Ray Bryant, and the other was from Erroll Garner.

• Then: "As a beginner/intermediate player - what fundamental things should be worked on above all else?". A hard question! But for this I decided to focus on the power of learning melodies. The song "Darn Than Dream", which was an earlier request, became kind of a theme song of this livestream, and I used it as an example of how really knowing a melody well is the foundation to more elaborate playing.

• A quick question about using the left hand in the lower register.

• And one last question about how to "work on counterpoint and put it in the musical context". This also to a discussion of hand independence, and rhythmic fluency.

  Thanks again everyone, and see you all next month!

  -Glenn