What Time Is It?

Once, at a school where I was teaching piano, someone asked all the teachers to write down something they were good at doing. After thinking this over for a few minutes, I wrote down “I know how to learn.” This is true. I know how to learn. And a big part of learning is asking … Read More

I love giving myself musical projects! They’re inspiring and give me a lot of energy to learn more about music and become a better musician. Therefore….. Each month, I’ll now be featuring a “Musician Of The Month” on my blog. I’m doing this for both you and me, as a listening project and so we … Read More

McCoy Tyner (1938 – 2020) influenced just about every jazz pianist since he revolutionized jazz piano in the early 1960s. Incredibly, he even influenced many of those pianists who had already developed mature styles before then. For example, I heard some McCoy in the playing of my own jazz piano teacher, Billy Taylor, when I … Read More

It’s fascinating to study a specific musical genre and see how it’s evolved over time. Learning about music in this way is fun, exciting, and we begin to understand how each style within the genre relates to everything else that came before as well as after. I first got the idea for this from my … Read More

I’ve just posted a new Journey Through The Real Book video on YouTube. It’s #146, which is the early jazz standard “Heebie Jeebies” which was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. This week, I’ve begun listing a play-by-play of each new video, as well as going back and gradually doing this for the … Read More

Hey everyone! Thanks to all of you have started my 10-week Skype Intensive “Mastering The Modes” mini-course. We’ve begun with exploring the difference in sound and musical uses of the Ionian and Lydian modes and already some of you have emailed me to say how you’re experiencing the Lydian mode in a whole new way. … Read More

We hear about binge-watching all the time: “How was your weekend?” “Great! I binge-watched 4 seasons of Game Of Thrones.” That can be fun, but as a musician, have you ever binge-listened? “How was your weekend?” “Great! I binge-listened to every Billy Joel album from The Stranger through The Bridge!” “Great! I binge-listened to the … Read More

I learned a new term the other day: “360 degree learning.” Have you ever heard that? Until one of my students used it, I hadn’t. It’s a great expression! “360 degree learning” means learning in a whole way. From all angles. Learning on different levels and in various ways, all at the same time. Here’s … Read More

Hey everyone! From the emails I receive, it looks like the biggest stumbling block to playing jazz piano is the whole subject of modes. People get stuck at: 1. What exactly are modes? 2. When are modes used? 3. What modes to use for each chord? and 4. How to use modes to improvise fluently. … Read More

Hey everyone, This is my 1,000th blog post. Just as a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, a journey of a thousand blog posts begins with a single word. And so, on July 10th, 2012, I sat down at my computer and typed the word “the.” This is significant, because we … Read More