Monthly Livestream #34!

Thanks for tuning in to today's livestream! Here's the recording:

Started out with a request for Clifford Brown's classic "Joy Spring". Then moved on to to tune that's been on my mind for a while, Kenny Kirkland's "Dienda".

Then had a bunch of great questions! First was one about playing tunes with a lot of chord changes, namely rhythm changes and Moment's Notice, for which I have some hacks I like to use. That led to the other end of the spectrum - playing tunes with very few chord changes. 

Then had a few questions about the last recording I posted of "Sonnymoon for Two". First was about walking basslines on piano in general, then a question about some specific chords from the "Sonnymoon for Two" recording. This led to a discussion of "phrasing chords" on the piano, and how to use our pinky fingers to guide this sort of playing.

Also had a question about incorporating more bebop phrasing into our playing - which is a big topic, but I offered a quick tip using an ornament that I like to use that I got from Bill Evans' recording of Oleo. (I also made a very detailed video about this on Patreon that you can see here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/cool-bill-evans-47969175?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)

Then had a question about ballad playing in solo piano, and any tips I could provide. Basically this turned into a discussion of the power of melody, and the importance of knowing how to phrase a melody properly on the piano. Then if the melody is phrased well, just about anything works underneath it - from the most simple harmonies to the most random and dissonant. This was something I had fun demonstrating on the tune "Bewitched". Actually this is a topic that I discussed in one of my more popular YouTube videos a few years ago, called "What is Voicing?", if you wanted to check this out some more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWrSFOiEpT0

Then a quick question about chord substitutions, and different ways I like to think about them, and finally a question about ear training, where I present and exercise that I can hardly do!, as well as an app I just learned about that is made by my friend Dan Tepfer called Ear Guru.

Thanks again everybody, and looking forward to next month!

Glenn