The Jazz Piano Book
by Mark Levine
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark LevineEdition: Spiral-bound
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-01
ISBN: 0961470151
Number of pages: 307
Publisher: Sher Music
Book Reviews of The Jazz Piano Book
Book Review: A review for the Beginner
Summary: 5 Stars
My Background: I have played trombone in concert band in elementary school and high school. I could sight read for trombone. I have tinkered with the piano for years during that time. I would say no formal training in piano.
Now: After 4 years with this book I now play piano for two churches (by ear), one as a paid position the other as a volunteer. I have been playing at these churches for 2+ years. I owe a lot of where I am to the explanations, background, tips and practice suggestions in this book.
What you will need to know before being able to use this book:
* Being able to read music in both clefs (you do not necessarily need to sight-read but I'm sure it would help me).
* A decent sounding keyboard or piano to practice on
* A desire to practice (there are people who will buy this book and never practice expecting things to just enter their brains through osmosis).
This book takes you from the beginning and explains things in a concise manner. After 4 years, I have probably covered about 25% of this book in terms of things that I have internalized. The covers have ripped off because I use it so much. Things I am practicing right now:
* Upper structures
* 4th Chords
* Left hand voicings
* Chord substitutions
The best thing about this book for me, is that it has shown me how to interpret music that I see and chords that more advanced musicians play. For example, once you realize that a IV chord is so similar to a I chord (with the exception of the 4ths), then you realize that you can approach a IV chord just like you would a I chord by imitating a ii-V7-I. This would mean approaching the chord by playing a minor V, a dominant I and then IV. After buying the book and reading it, you will understand what I just wrote and also realize the beauty of that movement to spice up your older hymns (which have tons of IV chords with nothing to help you move to them).
If you are a hard working musician with a God-given talent for music and you are interested in Jazz Piano, I would advise you to purchase this book. Get a "Real Book" (search on Amazon) to help you along (I got one recently and realized that it would have helped a lot more if I knew this)
Things that made this book a great buy for me:
* Scale Theory
* Scale fingerings and how to practice scales (differs from classical practice and helps with improving)
* Adding notes to 3 note voicings
* Chord substitutions (Tritone substitution, phrygian chords, upper structures for Dominant chords)... these always impress people and are explained simply in this book.
And I'm not even done working on the other stuff.
Now, I need to learn how to sight-read.
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