Category Archives: Improvisation Lessons
Can You Say, “I’ve Got Rhythm”? Book Review: “The Rhythm Book” by Rory Stuart
Every musician who has learned how to read music has encountered some of the basic rhythmic aspects of music. Understanding time signatures, the values of the various kinds of notes, and the importance of a steady beat, were all topics … Continue reading
Mapping Out a New Jazz Tune
What kinds of things do you do to learn a new jazz tune? Of course we learn the melody, but if you are planning to improvise on the tune and it’s chord changes, your work has only just begun. I … Continue reading
Rhythmic Scales
Jazz is one of the many languages of the musical world, and those who wish to speak it in a spontaneous way must be familiar with its vocabulary and grammar. Complete command of all the scales and chords that are the … Continue reading
Reharmonization and Arrangement: I Remember You
Only the first page is shown with the jpeg file below. For the entire four page PDF of this reharmonization, click here: I Remember You Keep reading below for commentary on the tune and arrangement. I’ve always liked the tune, “I … Continue reading
Avoiding the Dark Side of Success
The world constantly presents us with challenges. Sometimes we find their solutions quite readily, or we may struggle with a problem for years. And other times we might just give up, or even ignore the dilemma altogether. Finding a successful … Continue reading
The Second “DU Trumpet Hang” (2013)
At the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music 2344 East Iliff Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80208 Saturday, April 27th, from 10 AM-5:00 PM Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Orchestra Room 130 featuring: Al Hood, Brad Goode, Bob Montgomery, Justin … Continue reading
The Ultimate Motivic Cells
Motivic cells are a great way of adding structure and continuity to a composition or improvised solo, and to help avoid some of the cliches that spring from arpeggio or scale based patterns (for more info, click on the links … Continue reading
Oleo: Not Just a Reharmonization
Sonny Rollins is one of my favorite musicians, and I’ve always loved playing his tune, Oleo…at least the melody. It is based on rhythm changes, the 32-bar AABA form chord progression borrowed somewhat from the old tune “I’ve Got Rhythm,” … Continue reading
The Importance of Having a Mentor in Music
Today the internet has put an incredible amount of information at our fingertips (and also a vast amount of misinformation). If you want to know more about any subject, or just an answer to a single question, you Google it. … Continue reading
Reharmonization: The Girl from Ipanema
This beautiful bossa nova led the way for the greater influx and influence of Brazilian music into the world of jazz (on the left are pictures of the composer’s original manuscript, and the original girl from Ipanema, Helo Pinheiro). I … Continue reading
Posted in Composing, Composition Lessons, Improvisation Lessons, Jazz Piano Lessons
Tagged helo pinheiro
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Bob Gillis: Musician 