Exercises

Nothing drives me nuts more than paying good money for an exercise book that contains nothing but a few simple exercises that could fit on a page or two--but are "helpfully" transposed to all 24 major and minor keys, and thus fill an entire volume! "Wow, I'm glad I spent $20 for this!" I'm sure people say.

How do I play these?

The best approach is to play these slowly, keeping your eyes on the keyboard, keeping your ears tuned to the speaker, and keeping your mind focused on the voice-leading. Remember, you're not playing a piano, you're playing a living, breathing organ--each voice sustains and sings as you play. Use the volume pedal and Leslie as you go to make each exercise sound musical.

Listen to how the notes in a chord move from one to the next, and listen to how the chord movement takes place--not just in vertical chunks, but horizontally from one set of notes to the other. Don't worry about speed, that will come soon enough!

In addition to being wasteful of money and paper, it also discourages you from figuring out different keys on your own--yes, it's great to be able to read in all keys, but for the improviser, you really need to be able to see, feel, and hear where everything "fits" in a particular tonlaity. That's why the exercises below are just shown in a very abbreviated form, I'd ask you to transpose to all 24 major and minor keys on your own.

BE SURE TO TRANSPOSE THESE TO ALL KEYS!

Again, remember that most of the exercise books people purchase are simply exercises like this, methodically copied to all 12 major and minor keys. The exercises below are considered "prototypes," that you will transpose yourself while playing. This saves you money, and gets you looking at the keyboard and listening--where your attention should be, anyway.



3-Voice Harmonized Scale

This is a good exercise for keeping track of three different tones in a scale (play ascending and descending, all keys). It also gets you used to some types of stepwise chord motion (also known as 'planing') -- a special effect.

Three-voice ii-V-I patterns

These are great for the organist, the voicings are sparse and really sound good on most drawbar settings. They show how a minimul number of voices can create harmony through horizontal motion. They're presented here in two styles, the 7-3 and 3-7 (those numbers refer to intervals above the bass--you can see in the first bar the two notes above the bass are the 7th, and then the 3rd)

3-Voice Circle of Fifths

Like the 3-7/7-3 patterns above, this alternates the intervals above the bass, which follows the circle of fifths. Each time the bass drops a fifth, one of the voices (but only one!) drops a step. This makes for a very smooth progression. Note how the voice that moves alternates between the top two voices. This exercise should be repeated throughout the circle of fifths, and I'd ask you to experiment with "chromaticisizing" as well, changing the quality of the chords as you go.

3-Voice, Minor Progressions

Don't forget to study your minor keys. They're a hugely powerful tool for the jazz player, and knowing these will only help. Below there are two exercises, the first is a ii-V-i (starting with 7-3 voicing, and alternating with 5-7), in f minor (that you'll transpose to all 12 minor keys). The second is a circular exercise, going through the minor circle of fifths (alternating 5-7 with 7-5).

4-Voice, Motion from I-IV

Here we move to fuller, chunkier chords. This popular exercise builds on the principles above (namely, a "jumpy" bassline with smooth RH voice leading) to show how the circle of fifths can be used to change keys (modulate). We begin, in this case, in C, and move to F. The accidentals propel us away from C and toward F (especially toward the end, where F# disappears, and Bb appears).

2-5-1s in multiple keys example, showing transpositions

This is like the example above (with a relaxing blue background), showing how a single pattern gets copied into multiple key areas. Once you get the hang of how this works, the key is to spend your time looking at your hands, and listening to each horizontal line, not reading off the chart. The world is full of keyboardists who can sight-read an exercise like this, but the real value is being fluent in all the keys while making "musical sense" with these linear intervallic patteerns.

More 2-5-1s, pedals, LH and RH

Very few piano exercise books include organ-specific things to try. I'm working on collecting and creating a bunch of these, but here's an example of an easy way to make your own. Take an existing pattern, and put the LH bass note into the pedal. Comp with your left hand, and solo with the right. Use different manuals for the LH and RH, and choose proper drawbar settings to make the LH stand out. Alternatively, you can chord with both the RH and LH, as the example below shows.

Transpositions and Patterns

Making Your Own

There are many pattern books available for the jazz musician. Oliver Nelson has a great one (available from Jamey Aebersold's Online Store. It's important, though, to be always on the lookout for new patterns. One easy way is to pick out part of a tune (say, the first from a lead sheet) and work it through all twelve keys. You can transpose stepwise (half or whole), or go through the circle of fifths, thirds, or anything you find challenging.
You need to become acquainted with the idea of using sequences as a developmental tool.


Here's an example of taking a one-bar idea (or motive) that starts on C. In the ensuing measures, the idea (pattern) is transposed down, stepwise, chromatically. In this case, we're preserving the exact relationship between intervals (the descending perfect fourth, is maintained, which means we're changing keys as we go). Notice how the line C-B-Bb-A... forms a little melody of its own, if you concentrate on the first beat of each measure; something that becomes more obvious as you play faster:


Patterns are everywhere. Open up any fake book, pick out a measure or two and try playing it at different pitch levels. Experiment with playing it diatonically, or chromatically. Once you get the hang of this, you'll find that sequence is a powerful weapon for improvisation.

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