>...
> I don't know any teachers whose intent it is to stymie students for job
> security. My idea is to teach them how to teach themselves and move them
> on. I have actually stopped teaching some, telling them it was time for
> them to put the pieces together themselves.
>
> I am not sure what the fuss is about NOT playing in all keys...
Jerome Gray was a highly regarded player in the Seattle jazz scene.
He's now a highly regarded, though eccentric, jazz teacher. John
Miller, a Seattle jazz composer whose tunes I like, told me that
Jerry figures out what a student needs to enhance their playing and
works with them on that. Each student's course with Jerry is different.
My father plays jazz chromatic harmonica and has taken lessons with
Jerry for the past six years. Jerry has evidently decided that my
father is too analytical because he forbids my father to talk theory
with him. He won't discuss chords, scales, harmonic progressions,
nada.
What Jerry and my father do at every lesson is that Jerry picks a new
tune and starts playing it. My father has to play it on his harp.
First time is best. When my father can do that, Jerry modulates up a
semitone and plays the next chorus in that modulation and has my
father play along with that. Then Jerry modulates up another
semitone and my father follows until either they get through all 12
keys or my father gets completely flummoxed.
If Dad doesn't make it, then he knows what his homework is! When
Dad takes a solo, he has to sing the whole solo to Jerry before he
plays it and the two had better be identical!
Is my father wasting his time? Well, after six years of lessons he
can play new tunes by ear after a single chorus. And when we've
jammed together, he's played some very nice flowing lines that
complement and accentuate the melody.
The 12 key work seems to helped my father develop his own musical
voice. Everybody has his own path.
Cheers,
Kevin
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Kevin "Rudi" Johnsrude, Software Design Developer
Rogue Wave Software, 850 SW 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333
Email: kevinj@roguewave.com
Voice: (541) 754-3010 Fax: (541) 754-3185
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