Simpedia

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

I believe Neil says somewhere on the video that the scale conversation is not one that you would have with students. I might consider it if my students had previous experience, wanted to know, and I knew it wouldn’t confuse them. But generally, I just have a setup conversation about the Jazz program and then start in with JC1.

Cindy B., Illinois

I approach it similarly to Laurie. Though Neil goes into detail about the scale formula, and because it’s easy to miss parts of the information once you’re 30 minutes into the training videos he does actually say to avoid this scale conversation with the students!

Project 1 of the Jazz program can be introduced without much fanfare – I usually encourage my students when they’re learning the final Danny Boy in ACC 1, that they’ve nearly graduated to the jazz program, without spending much time talking about what the jazz program represents other than to cover the elemental differences between it and ACC. The jazz program actually represents a huge leap for the pianist. Up until now, the students has either been accompanying someone else’s melody, or playing a foundation solo piece that doesn’t involve chord symbols. The two are combined now.

The 1st project, playing 5ths of the chords in the left hand, could be applied to supplemental sheet music that has accompanying mp3’s or CD’s, especially if the student is slow in reading and remembering the melodies of the jazz songs. By the time a few of the melodies in the jazz book have been learned and can be played with both hands, and are on the playlist, they could have applied the 5ths LH to many other songs where the recording provides the melody.

Cindy B., Illinois

My favorites never seem to match what the students want to play. I have a collection of modern worship music that they’ll play unless they bring something of their own choosing. That usually gets them to bring in what they are motivated to play with. I personally love to play along with CD’s/mp3s, and find that most pop music is really simple to help the students figure out, since it almost always involves no more than 4 or 5 chords that repeat all through the song. Whenever I hear a song I really like, I try to find the lead sheet for it, and then the mp3 single at Amazon. Even when it’s not in the same key, it’s a great way to reinforce transposition skills.

The only song I can think of off the top of my head is the Chris Tomlin version of Amazing Grace, a new and interesting version that’ll wow the students who think that Amazing Grace is old and used up. It has a refrain about “my chains are gone…. I’ve been set free”. I think the key is to get the mp3s for music that YOU love.