D Blues Scale with Comping Exercise

*** Note:  I forgot to note this on the sheet music!  Please practice this exercise in swing rhythm (a long-short pattern in the eighth notes). ***

What will you get with this exercise? (LINK BELOW)

✅ D blues scale practice with proper fingering

✅  Practice comping chords WHILE playing a blues scale

✅  Practice of ii-V-i ending

✅`Practice of syncopated rhythms typical in jazz

✅ Preparation for improvising over chords in the blues scale

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I wanted one of my adult students to start comping chords in the left hand while improvising in the blues scale in the right hand, so I wrote this exercise.  Why D blues first?  Because it's a relatively easy blues scale, and only has one black key in it.  

This is an early-intermediate level exercise but can be used for more advanced levels if you're new to jazz or blues scales.  In this exercise, the right hand will be running up and down the D blues scale with a syncopated rhythm that is typical of jazz, and you will get lots of practice mastering the D blues scale fingering in the process!   Practice the right hand alone first. 

Once you have the right hand down, start adding in the left hand chords.  Once you've mastered the first half of the page, which only has whole notes in the left hand, practice the new left hand rhythm found in the second half of the exercise.  This is a syncopated left-hand jazz rhythm that is frequently used in jazz music.  

After you've mastered the second half, try to get creative!  First, improvise a melody using the D blues scale tones, but make sure you do them out of order.  Keep your left hand going in the same rhythm all the way through. Here's the pdf:   D Blues with Comping Exercise

I hope it helps you get started practicing blues!

Ethnic Pluralism in Composing? Yes!

Ethnic Pluralism in Music:  A Song's Journey from Klezmer to Hindu

(image courtesy http://www.jazzguitar.be/melodic_minor_modes.html)

I've been replacing my social media time with composing time at the piano.  A while ago I dove into a Jewish Fakebook for a Hanukkah party.  At the party, I found myself deeply enamored with the music, as my friend John sat by and translated the Hebrew for me.  But it was the energized sadness of Jewish music that stuck with me for weeks -- and apparently, its influence has infiltrated my composing.

So when a recent bout of insomnia hit, I resisted the urge to dip into the fomenting cauldron of social media addicts.  Instead, I hit the piano with a tune that was hopping around in my mind.  (I've actually cut back my social media time dramatically, an accomplishment facilitated by my investment in a "smart" flip phone.  Aye, it's pretty dumb by Apple standards, but it has helped me eliminated wasted time and replace it with artistic productivity.)

Back to the tune...

My intent was to compose something for a student.  I have always had a vision of composing a piece for every student and having the students perform my compositions in recital.  But I often get off course and the piece gets complicated; too complicated for a beginner.  This could be something I just have to accept.  But, nonethless, the piece became very interesting as I complexified it (that is one of my favorite made-up words).

My creation became a whimsical, syncopated dance of Klezmer Band meets Blues Pianist (of course, it is easy to take any Jewish minor piece for a detour into the blues scale, since the minor pentatonic is only one note shy of the blues scale).  As I allowed the piece to become a little more wild, it journeyed into some very long 7th chords stacked with 9ths and 11ths.  Finally, it landed on a very strange jazz chord (D-F#-G#-C) which gave me quite a stir!  I quickly discovered a delicious scale to marry with this chord, but I had no idea of what scale I'd stumbled upon.  I knew it looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.  Later, at a piano lesson, I explained to my student that it looked like the A melodic minor (ascending) but it started on the 5th, so maybe it was Myxolydian Melodic Minor.  

When I got back home I looked it up.  Lo and behold...imagine my suprise that the Jewish romp-turned jazz tune had led me to a Hindu scale (also called a Mixolydian b6 or Mixolydian b13 or Aeolian Dominant Scale).  My scale was an E Hindu Scale.  This scale deceptively looks like a major in the beginning but suddenly turns minor in the last few notes.  Now my Eastern European-Jewish composition was flirting with Indian and American Blues scales...how cool is that?  Actually, I am quite enjoying it and can't wait to finish and share!

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Jennifer Warren-Baker is the owner of Piano 2 Go, a mobile music service offering in-home and Skype instruction in piano and composition, as well as piano entertainment.  Her business is headquartered in Purcellville, Virginia, USA.

Spooky Halloween Classical Sampler - Level 2 Elementary

Classical music is full of spooky themes that children love!  A few weeks before Halloween, I throw out my lasso and rope in the practice slackers with some festive surprises.  If my students have a keyboard in their home, I point them to all their scary organ sounds.  I treasure the smiles on their faces when I crank up Bach's Toccata and Fugue with an organ sound!   

I arranged this medley as a classical sampler for the level 2 student.  Even a level 1 student may be taught these short themes by rote (I spell out the letter names and finger numbers on the back of their practice sheets as a back-up for memory failure). I included "spooky" themes by Bach, Chopin, and Grieg.  I put them all in A minor to minimize accidentals and utilize a familiar level 2 hand position.  If they decide they like what they hear, we can procure a more lengthy version later (often, they decide they want to play the whole song).  Add as many repeats as you like, and experiment with sounds on your keyboard!  SO FUN!!!

Download and Print

Halloween Piano Music, Level 2 - Jennifer Warren-Baker
www.piano2go.com, www.freethepiano.blogspot.com

For more information on my piano lessons in Loudoun County, VA, visit www.piano2go.com.  

Canon in D for Cello and Piano | Free Wedding Sheet Music

I keep forgetting to post this, but I arranged it a while ago.  In October, I was hired to play for a wedding at Bluemont Vineyard here in Northern Virginia.  The bride wanted to incorporate her cellist friend into the wedding.  As always, I was accommodating.  I love to play with others!  I figured that the bridal processional, Canon in D (Palchelbel), would be a nice shining moment for the cello to join me.  The bride had chosen one of my pre-set wedding programs, and this was the bridal processional in this particular program.   Not knowing the cellist well, I figured that this popular wedding classic would be a good, safe option (most strings players know it well).  I searched the internet for good duo arrangements for just piano and cello, but everything I could find was for a quartet or quintet.

So I sat down and wrote this arrangement.  It went well.  The cellist really liked it, because it gave him more to do than he was used to.  (He told me the cello part with a string quartet is very monotonous and unchallenging).  There was much more movement in his part than he was used to, and even a counter-melody against the piano!  I enjoyed it too.  I think it does take some preparation on the part of both instruments, but it is well worth it.

At the end of the piece, I decided to improvise.  The pianist should do this up high, in the upper registers, to sound like a music box.  I think there is not enough improv in classical music, and the spontaneous nature of improv lends a fresh presentation, full of sentiment.  Make sure you practice your improvisation at the end, but don't plan it too much!

   PRINT THIS FREE ARRANGEMENT NOW!

Canon in D for Cello and Piano:  www.freethepiano.com/ www.musicbyjennifer.net

Important Notes:

• You may pull out early at any of the double bars I added, to adjust to the timing of the ceremony.  Just add a D major chord right after the double-bar you choose to end on.
• Rehearsal letters have been added to help with rehearsal, or break up the piece into mini-canons.  For example, play the whole piece for the entrance of the bridal party and groomsmen, pulling out at the one of the double-bars as needed.  For a triumphant entrance, we paused the music before the bride and groom entered, and started the bridal processional (just the bride and groom walking down the aisle) at rehearsal letter C.  The flower girls/boys took an unexpectedly long time, so I just vamped from letter D to the end for them (add repeats as needed).  
• Whoever's in charge (me, in this case) should be ready to call out rehearsal letters or repeats softly so that music can be vamped (repeats added) to fill time.