Tag: Mixo

Piano day (1h 40m)

  • Technical
    • Dohannyi: continuing to try out exercises
    • Hanon: back to book 2
    • 7th chord 2-octave arpeggios: all keys, LH
  • Modal studies
    • Harmonising Mixo with shells in RH & 2-octave stride patterns in LH

Observations

Although Dohannyi looked cool at first, it turned out to be a little too complex for me. Also diminished-based exercises are really very “classical music-y”, and that’s not exactly what I’m going for. Playing that kind of stuff only makes you realise how much you suck in comparison with classical pianists. My goal is essentially jazz comping and more freedom in left hand patterns, so I might not need to go in this direction. This is why I picked up Hanon book 2 again that I put to the side back in 2017, and I must say it felt just right now. So I’ll stick to it for a while and go back to my voicing studies.

Piano day (1h 40m)

  • Technical
    • A Dozen A Day
      • “Stretching”
      • “Going Down Stairs”
      • “Flinging Arms” in all keys
      • “The Push-Up”
      • “Deep Breathing” in all keys
    • Oscar Peterson — Jazz Exercises
      • Exercise No. 1 (recap)
      • Jazz Menuet No. 1 (recap)
      • Tried out some other exercises and decided to use this book only for reading; quite boring, really
    • Hanon (ran a couple of random exercises from memory)
    • Dohannyi: checking out the book
  • Modal studies
    • Harmonising Mixolydian mode
      • LH: stride patterns: 1 — 1st inversion
      • RH: 7-3-5 shells

Observations

It seems like there are a lot of technical exercise books that might not be good for everyone. So it really is useful to take your time and go through some exercises to figure out whether they actually suit your goals. My goal right now is more freedom in left hand, so Peterson unfortunately didn’t work for me (although some minuets are very beautiful, so I’m going to go back to them time after time to practice sight reading). Dohannyi, on the other hand, seems to be my thing — it’s not as boring as Hanon, but technical enough to keep you challenged.

Piano day (2h)

  • Jazz voicings
    • Dominant to major in 2 versions
    • Dominant to minor in 2 versions (recap)
    • Minor to dominant in 2 versions (recap)
    • Cycling all 7ths chords in 7-3-5 to 3-7-9 and backwards at 120bpm
  • Improvisation
    • Blues scale in all keys + minor chords in shell voicing (without voice leading) in LH
    • Mixolydian scale in all keys + dominant chords in shell voicing in LH
    • Dorian scale in all keys + minor chords
    • Mixing Dorian and blues over minor chords

Next time focus: II — V — I — VIs, try nine tone scales in a couple of keys, back to Hm modes, add voice leading to LH pattern while improvising. Optional: pick a lick from “Tons of Runs” and run in a couple of keys

Piano day (1h 20m)

Yo! A couple of sleepless nights, score submitted 10 mins before deadline, now back to practice.

  • Improvisation
  • Blues in shell voicings in LH + improv with modal & blues scales in RH
    • I — IV — V in C
    • 12-bar major blues
    • 12-bar minor blues
  • Cycling dominant chords + Mixo scales

Piano day (1h 40m)

  • Improvisation (Dan Haerle — Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players)
    • Lesson 12: Cycling progressions of 5ths in shell voicings + improv with corresponding Mixo & Dorian scales
      • Dominant chords around the cycle of 4ths in 7-3-5 & 3-7-9 — click at 80bpm
      • Minor to dominant around the cycle — click at 80bpm
      • All Mixo & Dorian scales with both hands