Archive for the ‘Jazz Education’ Category

The most commonly asked question I get emailed to me is “What mouthpiece should I get?”.  The second most common question would be  ”I looked at all your jazz improvisation lessons and really want to start but I have no idea where to start or what jazz lessons to get.  What do you suggest?”

To answer this question and help someone out I have to know the answer to certain questions:

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“Approach Note Velocity” by Steve Neff

Approach Note Velocity is a book that I created for myself so that I could master all the different approach notes in every key.  I have divided the book up into sections by key and have written out the exercises so that you can practice them and read them if you need to. I added the word velocity to the title because as I practiced these approaches I found that I could play faster and faster over chord changes. Below is the intro to the book and a little more detail into it’s genesis and creation.

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To get most out of my NeffMusic Online Lessons I would suggest a few simple ideas.
1. Focus on one topic like Blues scales, Approach Notes, Pentatonics……..etc.
In my mind it’s always better to focus on one topic at a time and master it.  Working on bits and pieces of 10 different lessons and not mastering any can be tedious and frustrating.  Read through the online lesson descriptions, watch the sample of the videos and then pick a topic that you think would be a good place to start for you. Try to stay within that topic until you feel you have a good grasp of the concept and it is coming out in your playing. If you would like more online lessons on the topic or would like to know how to use it over a specific tune feel free to email me and I can make another video lesson for you.
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Here are two short transcriptions of solos Chris Potter did on a March 8, 2008 masterclass that he did somewhere. The bootleg was floating around the internet (www.dimeadozen.org) and I was lucky enough to grab it. In these two examples Chris is showing the differences in his playing style from when he was younger to now. The first solo is pretty straight forward rhythmically and he is sticking pretty close to the changes and a standard bebop type approach. Read the rest of this entry »

I get asked this question quite often by concerned parents. What I usually recommend for fourth grade beginning students is 3 15-20 minute times a week. I find that if students do this they will make steady progress during the first year with no problems. Of course, if a student is really excited and wants to play more than this that is great. Usually, as the student makes progress more practice time is needed if they want to continue to improve. Here is what I generally recommend although each student is different: Read the rest of this entry »

This is the title of a new pdf book that I have written. Basically, it is a step by step introductory approach to learning all your major 7th, minor 7th and dominant 7th chords. I take you through the basics of playing just the roots and then add the 3rds, 5ths, 7ths, 9ths………. The goal of this pdf book was to give my students a starting point where they could start to really learn their chords. Once the chords are really memorized then the student will have the freedom to improvise in a greater way. In the same way that an extensive vocabulary will help a person to communicate better.

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For the past 3-4 months I have been experimenting with doing online lessons using Skype. It has been working great so far. It is amazing that you can sit down at your computer and have an in person lesson with someone on the other side of the world. Once in awhile I have run into problems with the speed of the connection slowing down, the video freezing or a session getting dropped but so far 95% of the time it has worked great. The way it works is that you need a computer with a video camera, mic, skype software(this is free) and a high speed internet connection. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this article to all my Neffmusic members to help them get the most out their lessons at Neffmusic.
In order to really get the most out of my lessons there are some skills that you need to develop. These lessons are a bit different than going to a teacher and taking one on one lessons. In those types of lessons you get immediate feedback and there is an interaction between the teacher and student. If the teacher sees the student do something wrong he can immediately correct it and teach about it. It can be tailored to the students needs at the moment. Finally, specific direction and homework can be given based off of the students abilities and level. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t seen these yet, here are a few tips from the great Jerry Bergonzi. Jerry is an amazing player who is very well known up here and in NY. Even though I studied with him for a few years off and on we never really talked about sax stuff. It was all improvisation. It’s great to hear him on these video’s talking about sax related tips like artriculation and breathing. If you haven’t hear Bergonzi play you need to!

Here’s a lesson I found with George Garzone on the artisthousemusic.com site. It’s great hearing George talk about some of these concepts. I took lessons with him my second semester at Berklee and sad to say I had no idea what he was talking about. I should have waited a little bit until I was ready…….