Re: My Romance

rodseth ( rodseth@wolfenet.com )
Sun, 25 May 97 14:01:04 -0800

I'm not trying to prove you wrong, Reed, about either the value of
transcription or the evils of chord/scale zealotry. I thought maybe the
experience I described suggested there was a middle ground that says
there is value in learning chord/scale relationships even if applying
them chord by chord isn't the road to good melodic improvisation.
>
>It's not a matter of being able to prove things or "disect" things.
>
>It's a matter of producing something that sounds beautiful.
>
Actually, it IS "dissect". My spelling is better than my jazz. All I
meant was, if I'm going to solo in a few keys rather than chord by chord,
I need to know what they are. Maybe My Romance never leaves Bb, even with
interesting chord substitutions.

>Solo piano is the most difficult thing to transcribe (the only thing more
>difficult is a big band or orchestra).
>
>There is no solo piano for the novice to transcribe.
>
Thank you for acknowledging that. It often seems that the people who are
most gung-ho about transcribing are horn players. One thing I think I've
learned from your reply is that even though
1) I'm playing solo piano most of the time
2) I'm reasonably content just embellishing a good melody, and
harmonizing it nicely.
3) I'm reasonably good at writing melodies for my own compositions
4) I feel like I have a long way to go in learning voicings,
substitutions and supporting left-hand styles
5) The solo piano or trio recordings I listen to seem to have a lot more
going on in terms of pianistic devices than just single note melodic
lines over left-hand comping.
6) Transcribing is time consuming

it would still be a good idea in your opinion to devote a significant
proportion of my limited time to transcribing other people's melodic
lines. Is that correct?

Thanks

Richard