I still suck at ear training. Best I can get is 64% right. Usually, I'm in the 40% area. In fact, I think I'm getting worse. I noticed I can't even detect octaves half the time now. That's really bad.
I watched the Arturo Sandoval story, "For Love or Country", starring Andy Garcia. It was pretty good.
Spent two and a half hours today on my jazz theory class homework. It was all about harmonic minor scales and 13th chords, two more weak areas for me, and man, it was a lot of work. So when I can't play anything in the band tomorrow, I'll tell the director (who also teaches the jazz theory class) that I had too much homework. We'll see how that goes.
I've been listening to a lot of Dizzy Gillespie lately. Sometimes, you just forget how good some of these musicians are when you haven't listened to them for a while, and then when you do, you just can't put them away because they sound so fresh all of a sudden. I can honestly say, only jazz music does that to me. Or so it seems.
And it finally stopped raining in Alabama. I got some sunlight vitamin D today and it felt great!
I put out an ad online looking for a free piano. No surprise that one hasn't shown up yet. I may have to break down and spend some money on one. I should do it soon, too.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Something worth reading
Today is the 54th anniversary of Erroll Garner's wonderful work, "Concert by the Sea". So, rather than write about it, I'll just direct my readers to help themselves to this wonderful Wall Street Journal article about Garner and that recording. I'm also going to pull down my own CD and have a listen later. Y'all might want to do the same.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
My hypothesis about jazz theory
Although my failing and unfortunate efforts to improve my ears have been well documented in this space, I feel it is time to look on the bright side. Namely, my jazz theory course appears that it is going to have a profound effect on my ability to understand jazz. Although we've only had two classes, I have one clear example.
Last week we covered the modes of the scale. Now, I learned about these from my piano instructor in something like my third lesson, but I never much paid attention to them, because I didn't really understand how they were (or could be) applied. It all just seemed a lot of excessive, unapproachable, forced idiom and jargon meant to discourage the uninitiated. Which in fact, it is. I mean, the chances are really good you'll never hear a jazz musician go, "Okay, man, this is A-flat mixolydian, so let that sax solo rip!" Musicians, and especially jazz musicians are supposed to infer what notes will work and what notes won't when they hear the tune. How uncool it would be to have to actually analyze jazz before you could play it, right?
But how much easier it is if you can decipher the tune and know in your own brain that A-flat mixolydian is correct and B-flat Ionian or whatever is not, because then if you know what A-flat mixolydian is, you automatically know what notes to play.
And the 1-3-5-7 notes of the mode define the ii-V-I progression, and so, if you know the mode you know the notes, and if you know the notes you know the chords, and if you know the chords you can play a song, any song, correctly, and guess what? You're suddenly a real jazz musician! So now I'm in the process of forcing myself to learn all the modes more or less by heart, or to at least be able to figure them out in a couple of seconds so I can use them on tunes right away. I completed our class homework assignment, but that wasn't enough practice, so I developed my own chart for going through and learning the modes. I can just pick one, write it out, cross it off, then pick another, and so on, until I've gone through them all, then I can start all over again. It shouldn't take too long to program them in my brain.
Here's the chart I made, with the modes and keys altering in different patterns around the circle of fifths:
So my hypothesis about jazz theory is simply: jazz is a mental music made easier by doing the mental work and understanding the theory behind it. It is possible to be a phenomenal jazz musician without grasping the theory, but I estimate you can take one or two years off the time it takes to become virtuoso, just by taking a jazz theory course. Someday, I may even turn out to be the proof of my hypothesis.
Last week we covered the modes of the scale. Now, I learned about these from my piano instructor in something like my third lesson, but I never much paid attention to them, because I didn't really understand how they were (or could be) applied. It all just seemed a lot of excessive, unapproachable, forced idiom and jargon meant to discourage the uninitiated. Which in fact, it is. I mean, the chances are really good you'll never hear a jazz musician go, "Okay, man, this is A-flat mixolydian, so let that sax solo rip!" Musicians, and especially jazz musicians are supposed to infer what notes will work and what notes won't when they hear the tune. How uncool it would be to have to actually analyze jazz before you could play it, right?
But how much easier it is if you can decipher the tune and know in your own brain that A-flat mixolydian is correct and B-flat Ionian or whatever is not, because then if you know what A-flat mixolydian is, you automatically know what notes to play.
And the 1-3-5-7 notes of the mode define the ii-V-I progression, and so, if you know the mode you know the notes, and if you know the notes you know the chords, and if you know the chords you can play a song, any song, correctly, and guess what? You're suddenly a real jazz musician! So now I'm in the process of forcing myself to learn all the modes more or less by heart, or to at least be able to figure them out in a couple of seconds so I can use them on tunes right away. I completed our class homework assignment, but that wasn't enough practice, so I developed my own chart for going through and learning the modes. I can just pick one, write it out, cross it off, then pick another, and so on, until I've gone through them all, then I can start all over again. It shouldn't take too long to program them in my brain.
Here's the chart I made, with the modes and keys altering in different patterns around the circle of fifths:
So my hypothesis about jazz theory is simply: jazz is a mental music made easier by doing the mental work and understanding the theory behind it. It is possible to be a phenomenal jazz musician without grasping the theory, but I estimate you can take one or two years off the time it takes to become virtuoso, just by taking a jazz theory course. Someday, I may even turn out to be the proof of my hypothesis.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
When your ears abandon you
Here are ten things to do when you are practicing your ear training and you become completely unable to identify anything that isn't an octave or a tri-tone. (Believe me, it happens to me, ... a lot!)
1) Have a glass of wine
2) Listen to some music
3) Play a couple of hands of poker online
4) Have another glass of wine
5) Log into Facebook and check up on your Mafia Wars character and see if you have enough energy to do a job in Cuba or not
6) Play with your cat (here's one of the two I'm apt to play with)
7) Have another glass of wine
8) F....o....c....u....s.....
9) Cry, throw a tantrum and bash your keyboard against your computer tower
10) Switch to whiskey
Here are the expected results of each action, based on what happened when I tried each of them during a recent ear training session
1) Feel a little better, still can't hear crap
2) Feel a little better, wish hearing intervals was as easy as listening to Bill Evans
3) Feel better if I win, skip to #9 in above list if I lose
4) Feel even a little better, begin thinking interval training is a waste of time
5) No, it's only been fifteen minutes and you still can't do anything in Mafia Wars yet
6) Causes me to think about ears, but nothing really constructive
7) Alcohol doesn't improve anything, including my hearing, but at least I don't give a damn
8) Continue to be wrong only now with much more intensity
9) Causes some minor excitement in the house, but could be a potentially expensive and seriously regretful activity (I was lucky nothing broke this time)
10) No longer able to see the computer screen, I only hear ocean sound in my ears, and anyway, I can't click a mouse accurately enough to continue (it was bedtime anyway)
For those who missed the comments in my previous entry, I am training my ears using the fine free application available at Good-ear. And for the record, none of the above was good-ear's fault. I just suck at identifying notes with my ears, and that's that. Maybe someday I'll be able to report progress, but I've been down this frustrating road before and I recommend my readers not hold their breath for that (undoubtedly) joyous day.
1) Have a glass of wine
2) Listen to some music
3) Play a couple of hands of poker online
4) Have another glass of wine
5) Log into Facebook and check up on your Mafia Wars character and see if you have enough energy to do a job in Cuba or not
6) Play with your cat (here's one of the two I'm apt to play with)
7) Have another glass of wine
8) F....o....c....u....s.....
9) Cry, throw a tantrum and bash your keyboard against your computer tower
10) Switch to whiskey
Here are the expected results of each action, based on what happened when I tried each of them during a recent ear training session
1) Feel a little better, still can't hear crap
2) Feel a little better, wish hearing intervals was as easy as listening to Bill Evans
3) Feel better if I win, skip to #9 in above list if I lose
4) Feel even a little better, begin thinking interval training is a waste of time
5) No, it's only been fifteen minutes and you still can't do anything in Mafia Wars yet
6) Causes me to think about ears, but nothing really constructive
7) Alcohol doesn't improve anything, including my hearing, but at least I don't give a damn
8) Continue to be wrong only now with much more intensity
9) Causes some minor excitement in the house, but could be a potentially expensive and seriously regretful activity (I was lucky nothing broke this time)
10) No longer able to see the computer screen, I only hear ocean sound in my ears, and anyway, I can't click a mouse accurately enough to continue (it was bedtime anyway)
For those who missed the comments in my previous entry, I am training my ears using the fine free application available at Good-ear. And for the record, none of the above was good-ear's fault. I just suck at identifying notes with my ears, and that's that. Maybe someday I'll be able to report progress, but I've been down this frustrating road before and I recommend my readers not hold their breath for that (undoubtedly) joyous day.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Blind and dumb in both ears
I always loved that episode of The Little Rascals where Buckwheat, who can't believe what he's seeing, exclaims: "I thought I was deaf and dumb in both eyes!" That's how I felt Monday night in jazz theory class - blind and dumb in both ears - as the three music majors, the music graduate student, and me tried to determine intervals just by listening. It seemed everybody could do it, except me. Same for naming the intervals of chords, types of chords, everything. It is true that I do know and understand my chords, and I actually hear them pretty well too, but when it comes time to actually name the chords in their proper, non-enharmonic form, I struggle a bit.
Then again, that's what I took this course for. That's where I'm weak. That's where I need to improve, where I need to be stronger. Get the technical stuff down, hopefully the music will follow.
Really, I don't see how a jazz theory course would not help me, if for no other reason than I have to write, listen, read, and think about music, purely in an intellectual fashion. It forces me to spend time on music. I have music homework. Application follows but is irrelevant, at least for the time being. It's bound to have a positive effect.
My presence on Facebook will be scarce for the next thirteen weeks. I'm going to be sitting at the piano playing various exercises, sitting at the computer doing ear training, and sitting at the sunroom table writing out chords and intervals.
Then again, that's what I took this course for. That's where I'm weak. That's where I need to improve, where I need to be stronger. Get the technical stuff down, hopefully the music will follow.
Really, I don't see how a jazz theory course would not help me, if for no other reason than I have to write, listen, read, and think about music, purely in an intellectual fashion. It forces me to spend time on music. I have music homework. Application follows but is irrelevant, at least for the time being. It's bound to have a positive effect.
My presence on Facebook will be scarce for the next thirteen weeks. I'm going to be sitting at the piano playing various exercises, sitting at the computer doing ear training, and sitting at the sunroom table writing out chords and intervals.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Providing no links to a bunch of losers
As the title suggests, I will be providing no links in this post, because I'm going to be complaining about a group that would benefit the jazz community, and probably the entire world, by just going away. They deserve no customers, and I shall not provide them any.
Sometime back, I wrote about the inefficiences of the Jazz Heritage Society. Their antiquated ordering scheme, their profligate fee structure, their amateurish letters and forms. At the time I wrote about them, however, I continued to be a member, because I felt they were still a decent option for obtaining good jazz music CD's at a reasonable cost, provided one worked within their limited and restrictive system.
Well, not anymore. You are not going to believe this story, but I assure you, it is true.
I recently went to the JHS web-site to decline the monthly offer (which you have to do if you are a member, unless you want the stuff shipped to you automatically), and I happened across their $3 and $4 CD offer. They had a couple of titles in there that I'd been wanting to buy cheap for some time, and a couple more that I was willing to buy if they were cheap, and still more that, though marginal, would be worth a couple bucks. Now, the thing you have to keep in mind is that they charge a shipping and handling fee PER SHIPMENT, plus handling charge PER CD. If you think of the per CD handling charge being included in the price, then all you have to do is order a decent quantity of CD's to amortize the per shipment fee down to a manageable amount, thereby saving you money on brand new jazz CD's.
So, I ordered 13 CD's, one a three CD set, and I was going to get them all for about $80, or just a little over $5 a CD.
NOT!
One week after placing my order, I received seven individual letters telling me that "Unfortunately, this item is unavailable and we are cancelling your order". That's right. They generated one letter for each CD they couldn't deliver. Well, that's $2.64 wasted right there, mailing seven letters instead of one. No wonder they have to charge so much above the cost of CD's to make ends meet. Dumbasses.
Then the next day (here it comes), a box arrived containing (guess how many...) a, as in one, CD and an itemized list. Amazingly, all of the CDs I received letters for were listed as "backordered" (not "cancelled"), and the remaining five undelivered CD's were listed as no longer available. Huh! So in the end, I ordered thirteen CDs, received only one, which I paid $4.98 for (because it was the only one that was not part of the $3-4 offer), and guess what? I paid $5.94 for shipping and processing for the $4.98 CD. Damn near $11 for one CD, that you can get for less than a third of that if you shop around on e-bay or Amazon.
I was beside myself with anger. Livid. I started to think of all the names I could call those idiots at JHS. But, I composed myself and wrote a terse, vaguely polite, extremely demanding email - containing no swear words - to the JHS demanding all of my money back and demanding that they pay return shipping. I told them I'm going to report them to the attorney general of the state of Alabama for their borderline fraudulent bait and switch tactic, as well as to the Consumer Protection Agency (which, in fact, I will do). I'm still waiting for a reply to my email as I write this.
Whatever you do, stay the hell away from the Jazz Heritage Society. They are little more than a poorly operated, not so thinly disguised scam operation, and you can do better elsewhere to add to your music collection without also having to deal with their poorman's form of extortion. They are a bunch of simple-minded dumbasses, and you'll be no better a dumbass than I if you do business with them.
Sometime back, I wrote about the inefficiences of the Jazz Heritage Society. Their antiquated ordering scheme, their profligate fee structure, their amateurish letters and forms. At the time I wrote about them, however, I continued to be a member, because I felt they were still a decent option for obtaining good jazz music CD's at a reasonable cost, provided one worked within their limited and restrictive system.
Well, not anymore. You are not going to believe this story, but I assure you, it is true.
I recently went to the JHS web-site to decline the monthly offer (which you have to do if you are a member, unless you want the stuff shipped to you automatically), and I happened across their $3 and $4 CD offer. They had a couple of titles in there that I'd been wanting to buy cheap for some time, and a couple more that I was willing to buy if they were cheap, and still more that, though marginal, would be worth a couple bucks. Now, the thing you have to keep in mind is that they charge a shipping and handling fee PER SHIPMENT, plus handling charge PER CD. If you think of the per CD handling charge being included in the price, then all you have to do is order a decent quantity of CD's to amortize the per shipment fee down to a manageable amount, thereby saving you money on brand new jazz CD's.
So, I ordered 13 CD's, one a three CD set, and I was going to get them all for about $80, or just a little over $5 a CD.
NOT!
One week after placing my order, I received seven individual letters telling me that "Unfortunately, this item is unavailable and we are cancelling your order". That's right. They generated one letter for each CD they couldn't deliver. Well, that's $2.64 wasted right there, mailing seven letters instead of one. No wonder they have to charge so much above the cost of CD's to make ends meet. Dumbasses.
Then the next day (here it comes), a box arrived containing (guess how many...) a, as in one, CD and an itemized list. Amazingly, all of the CDs I received letters for were listed as "backordered" (not "cancelled"), and the remaining five undelivered CD's were listed as no longer available. Huh! So in the end, I ordered thirteen CDs, received only one, which I paid $4.98 for (because it was the only one that was not part of the $3-4 offer), and guess what? I paid $5.94 for shipping and processing for the $4.98 CD. Damn near $11 for one CD, that you can get for less than a third of that if you shop around on e-bay or Amazon.
I was beside myself with anger. Livid. I started to think of all the names I could call those idiots at JHS. But, I composed myself and wrote a terse, vaguely polite, extremely demanding email - containing no swear words - to the JHS demanding all of my money back and demanding that they pay return shipping. I told them I'm going to report them to the attorney general of the state of Alabama for their borderline fraudulent bait and switch tactic, as well as to the Consumer Protection Agency (which, in fact, I will do). I'm still waiting for a reply to my email as I write this.
Whatever you do, stay the hell away from the Jazz Heritage Society. They are little more than a poorly operated, not so thinly disguised scam operation, and you can do better elsewhere to add to your music collection without also having to deal with their poorman's form of extortion. They are a bunch of simple-minded dumbasses, and you'll be no better a dumbass than I if you do business with them.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Saving jazz
There was an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, about how jazz appears to be dying and what might be needed to “save” it. The basic crux of the argument is that the clientele which listens to live jazz is not only shrinking, but also growing older, the presumption being, jazz is now akin to classical music in that it is pursued more as an art form and less as a type of music.
I’m not sure I get the distinction, because when I’m playing the piano, I don’t really feel like I’m “doing” art. Maybe somebody passing by my window might be struck by my “art”, but I doubt it. As for jazz passing into the realm of classical music with an aged, presumably affluent, fan base, well so be it. Hell, this entire blog is about the fact that I got to jazz late and now I’m trying to make up for lost time. I can’t help it if I’m in the “old” demographic. Give me a break!
For what it’s worth, I think it is way too early to push the panic button. If I can “discover” and enjoy an entirely different type of music that I never enjoyed before, it could happen to anybody at any time. Who knows? Maybe when the younger generation reaches my age, they won’t be nostalgic for the rappers and grunge and whatnot that clutters their music sphere now. And even if they are, a person’s passion is their own. I’ll not question that.
Jazz does not need to be saved, because it will never die. Trust me on that.
I’m not sure I get the distinction, because when I’m playing the piano, I don’t really feel like I’m “doing” art. Maybe somebody passing by my window might be struck by my “art”, but I doubt it. As for jazz passing into the realm of classical music with an aged, presumably affluent, fan base, well so be it. Hell, this entire blog is about the fact that I got to jazz late and now I’m trying to make up for lost time. I can’t help it if I’m in the “old” demographic. Give me a break!
For what it’s worth, I think it is way too early to push the panic button. If I can “discover” and enjoy an entirely different type of music that I never enjoyed before, it could happen to anybody at any time. Who knows? Maybe when the younger generation reaches my age, they won’t be nostalgic for the rappers and grunge and whatnot that clutters their music sphere now. And even if they are, a person’s passion is their own. I’ll not question that.
Jazz does not need to be saved, because it will never die. Trust me on that.
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