LESSON 1: Randomized Minor 3rds Echo Game with the Vibes
In this video lesson, we’ll play the echo game with minor 3rds in the four directions, but also, they’re randomized.
This was one of my main ear-training strategies in my early 20s as I was developing my teaching method. It’s challenging but fun, and it will yield great results.
Why the vibes? The vibes provide a clear, bell-like tone that rings for a long time. I have found this to be excellent for helping players internalize the sounds of the pitches….The notes will still be ringing while you try to match the pitch.
This will allow your ear to compare the ringing pitch of the vibes with the sounds coming out of your horn, and you’ll learn to adjust to match the vibes very quickly.
In this video lesson, I explore the opening phrase of Cannonball Adderley’s classic solo on Autumn Leaves. It’s a iimi7 – V7 phrase – Ami7 to D7 in alto key.
This is a masterpiece of melodic efficiency and beauty. Follow the video by ear and play along with me to learn this essential phrase of classic jazz vocabulary from Cannonball.
Includes PDF Practice notes for Bb, Eb and C instruments.
LESSON 3: Escaping the Conscious Mind of Theory
In this video, I share my thoughts about escaping the conscious mind of theory and playing at the speed of sound. Many aspiring players seem to only play as fast as they can mentally calculate the correct notes for a scale, chord, or phrase.
I’ve even encountered pro players who have come to me for help, telling me that they just can’t stop thinking about theory as they play. I used to play that way, but it was very limiting and musically frustrating.
However, I discovered that if I played very fast, my conscious mind couldn’t keep up and didn’t even try. This freed me up to focus on the sound I was hearing, as opposed to the theory I had been thinking.
Once I felt what it was like to play by ear, with my fingers responding to the sound, it felt like I had an aural awareness of the chords as I played (at any tempo), without having to think mechanically through the spellings and theory.
This is not to say that you don’t need to know music theory. You do need to know your scales and chord spellings but think about this in terms of spoken language…You’re not spelling out words in your mind and diagramming sentences while you have a fast conversation with a close friend.
The music should be the same way…you need to break free of those chord and scale spellings and play by sound (ear). Since this involves high-speed playing, I also discuss some of my concepts of hand and finger relaxation so that you can learn to play at high speeds without injuring your hands, wrists, and arms.
LESSON 4: Major 6/9 Chord Voicing with 4ths
I’ve had many questions from students about major 6/9 chords, versus C maj7 chords. In this video, I discuss the differences between the two chords, as well as the similarities.
This chord voicing utilizing 1-3-6-9 is a piano voicing that I like. It has a fresh, open sound when played on the saxophone, and it’s a nice contrast to hearing the more common chord voicings in thirds used by most saxophonists. Includes two echo games — one with maj7 and major 6/9 chords for your ear to compare the two sounds, followed by an echo game with just the new voicing.
