Root Systems (root position voicings) – BirdFeed : Recent Episodes

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a blog by pianist, composer and teacher Tom Cleary about improvisation, piano, and the Jazz tradition (comments and questions welcome in the comment section of each post, or email tgcleary@uvm.edu)

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To conclude this series of posts on root position voicings of the major ii-V-I progression, here’s a tune I composed called ‘Elijah’s Bounce‘.  I borrowed the chord progression from the Charlie Parker tune ‘My Little Suede Shoes.’  At the risk … Continue reading →

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The name of this post is a variation on the phrase, ‘Give it up for The Roots!’, that Jimmy Fallon often uses to introduce his house band on his late night show. (I made an appearance on the show in … Continue reading →

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Once you have become familiar with playing ii-V-I progressions in all keys in at least one voicing using your list of six tunes from the first post in this series, a possible next step is to practice the 7th scale … Continue reading →

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This post is in response to questions often asked by my students.  ‘What tunes should I practice during my summer break from lessons?’, they ask. Or: ‘How can I get better at learning tunes from a fake book chart (i.e., … Continue reading →