Here is an Etude written over “I Love You”. Three of my trombone students at KU learned the etude by ear and memorized it for…
Read Full Blog PostZoom or Skype Lessons
Having taught thousands of Zoom/Skype lessons over the last ten years, I’ve come to believe that Skype is a great way to both teach and…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 163: Blues For Alice Etude
This is an etude I wrote for Alto saxophonist Keegan Kaiser. It’s one chorus of 8th notes and uses the bebop scale, chromatic approach notes,…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 158: Cycle 5 – Harmonic Major
This lesson covers one possible pattern using the Cycle motion concept through the modes of Harmonic Major. This is a short excerpt from a new…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 157: 96 Melodies from any 4 Notes.
In this lesson I explain how to find and practice the 96 melodies for any 4 note structure or 7th chord. In this example I…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 154: Major 7 b9 Melody
The b9 is not commonly over a Major 7 chord. This melody is one a wrote to help me incorporate it’s use into my melodic…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 153: Minor Pentatonic Warm Up
Pentatonic scales are amazing 5 note sets that are comprised of stacked perfect 5th or stacked perfect 4ths. They can be used in a variety…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 152: Maj Triad add #11 Tetrad
The 4 note cell or Tetrad using 1, 3, #11, 5 has many harmonic contexts and can be used for creating voicings, improvising melodically and…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 148: I Hear A Rhapsody – Etude
Etudes are a great way to work on new material, vocabulary, phrasing and a whole host of positive musical skills. Here’s a one chorus etude…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 167: Giant Steps – Cycle 5 Melody
As a creative educator in improvisor, I often enjoy working on Cycle 4 and Cycle 5 melodies. This Etude is a vertical melody over the…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 142: Dominant Shell add #11
The 4 note structure or tetrad made up of 1, 3, #11 and b7 is a very useful note set for voicings and improvising over…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 141: Major #9 Melody
This is a short melodic phrase that I wrote that includes use of the #9 on a major chord. I often think of this sound…
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