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Just wanted to add my two cents here. This is great advice for classical piano (or any other instrument) practice. It does not apply to Jazz Piano playing at al

Just wanted to add my two cents here. This is great advice for classical piano (or any other instrument) practice. It does not apply to Jazz Piano playing at all though, in Jazz you should avoid falling into the trap of repetition. Playing slowly and clean, yes, repetition? Not so much.

mmcconnell1618 5y ago
The author's advice is fantastic for learning a specific song, note for note as written. @MrGrando is smart to point out that Jazz and other forms of music are much more about free expression and improvisation. A level above the author's practice would be to start understanding the structure of the piece from a music theory standpoint. The relationship between the notes becomes the important element and you begin to see things like a II V I chord progression. By understanding the structure, you realize you can improvise on implied scales, transpose to other keys and harmonize with new chords to add your own creativity.
- MrGando 5y ago
  That's exactly it. I have to say that the highest-level classical performers reach that level, but through different means. Not the improvisational part, but harmonically, understanding what the voices are doing in a counterpoint Bach passage for example. In classical you're an interpreter, and that's very challenging. In Jazz, you're an interpreter of an improvisation, which is like composing in real-time. I also have to point out that the great classical composers did improvise a lot, and that trend was lost with time but is documented if you research Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin for instance.
j7ake 5y ago
I thought most jazz pianists start out classically trained and then branch out into jazz later in life. Is the training methods for classical not a good foundation for jazz?
- MrGando 5y ago
  Hey, I would say that it's a mix, and now things have been formalized a lot in the realm of Jazz (that's a whole subject on its own). I would say that classical training can definitely help a lot from an interpretation standpoint, there are many technical and harmonic concepts that definitely hold. Some classical repertoire probably helps more and has more parallels to Jazz too. Something that I have to emphasize though, is that you can be quite proficient at playing classical piano and also have a not very sophisticated harmonic understanding ("interpreter v/s composer"), that understanding is required if you're doing Jazz. Some examples of non-classically trained Jazz pianists that are incredibly relevant: Thelonius Monk, Art Tatum. On the other hand, many important Jazz Pianists had extremely relevant classical training. Jarrett being one of the greats and I would mention Brad Mehldau as someone who's extremely influenced by classical as well, and who's still alive and expanding the language of Jazz. Regarding the "training methods", I would say that the classical training methods are problematic if they're tried to be applied to learning jazz. The successful student will have to adapt and drop a lot of them to learn improvisation, which in the end is the essence of the jazz language.

mmcconnell1618 5y ago

The author's advice is fantastic for learning a specific song, note for note as written. @MrGrando is smart to point out that Jazz and other forms of music are much more about free expression and improvisation. A level above the author's practice would be to start understanding the structure of the piece from a music theory standpoint. The relationship between the notes becomes the important element and you begin to see things like a II V I chord progression. By understanding the structure, you realize you can improvise on implied scales, transpose to other keys and harmonize with new chords to add your own creativity.

MrGando 5y ago
That's exactly it. I have to say that the highest-level classical performers reach that level, but through different means. Not the improvisational part, but harmonically, understanding what the voices are doing in a counterpoint Bach passage for example. In classical you're an interpreter, and that's very challenging. In Jazz, you're an interpreter of an improvisation, which is like composing in real-time. I also have to point out that the great classical composers did improvise a lot, and that trend was lost with time but is documented if you research Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin for instance.

j7ake 5y ago

I thought most jazz pianists start out classically trained and then branch out into jazz later in life. Is the training methods for classical not a good foundation for jazz?

MrGando 5y ago
Hey, I would say that it's a mix, and now things have been formalized a lot in the realm of Jazz (that's a whole subject on its own). I would say that classical training can definitely help a lot from an interpretation standpoint, there are many technical and harmonic concepts that definitely hold. Some classical repertoire probably helps more and has more parallels to Jazz too. Something that I have to emphasize though, is that you can be quite proficient at playing classical piano and also have a not very sophisticated harmonic understanding ("interpreter v/s composer"), that understanding is required if you're doing Jazz. Some examples of non-classically trained Jazz pianists that are incredibly relevant: Thelonius Monk, Art Tatum. On the other hand, many important Jazz Pianists had extremely relevant classical training. Jarrett being one of the greats and I would mention Brad Mehldau as someone who's extremely influenced by classical as well, and who's still alive and expanding the language of Jazz. Regarding the "training methods", I would say that the classical training methods are problematic if they're tried to be applied to learning jazz. The successful student will have to adapt and drop a lot of them to learn improvisation, which in the end is the essence of the jazz language.