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I have been reviewing the 12 tape version of the Sudnow method, which I am extremely grateful to have kept in its entirety. After the seminar recording (which covers 5 cassette tapes, both sides), Sudnow gives a very clear study method. I am providing it here in case it may be helpful to anyone here working on the method:
1. Start Misty right away.
2. While working on Misty, start listening to Tape 7 to pick out the next dot tune. Tape 7 provided discussion of each of the 6 dot tunes provided in that version of the method. On it, Sudnow plays through each tune and then talks you through playing each, in step by step detail. He recommends in this particular version of the course that you learn Misty first and then pick out 2 more dot tunes and learn those in similar manner. He originally provided Misty and As Time Goes By in the original version of the course. In this one, he added Autumn In New York, Days Of Wine And Roses, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, and Someone To Watch Over Me. Instead of learning just the original two, he changed to insisting on Misty (leaving As Time Goes By being an optional choice) and then letting the student pick out two more from these 6 before moving on to voicing our own.
3. While working on the second dot tune (of three), Listen to Tape 8, which discusses what good chord charts (lead sheets) are and what he recommends for fakebooks to work from, as well as starting work on the voicing drills in tapes 9 and 10. He says to leave the voicing irregularities section in the book until later on. Sp tapes 9 and 10 were voicing drills, which Sudnow said to go over and over until they become automatic.
4. Continue these voicing drills all the way through working on the third dot tune in preparation for the first tune that the student will voice from a lead sheet.
5. After voicing 5 tunes from lead sheets, adhering strictly to Sudnow’s voicing rules, listen to tape 11, which deals with adding rhythmic variety to the student’s typical chord by chord style of playing. This tape delves into stride on one side, and a bunch of other rhythmic variations on the other side. After continuing to drill on these rhythmic variations, all the while continuing to voice new tunes, start incorporating these techniques into the arrangements.
6. The final tape discusses how to teach yourself the blues on one side and buying a digital keyboard/piano on the other. At the end of the seminar (at least on this recording of it), if students wanted to stick around, he offered to discuss these two subjects, so this tape does just that, completing everything about the seminar. I think much of what was on that recording of the seminar was cut out in later versions of the method. An example is his extensive discussion of the history of playing songs on piano and finding a “hero”, as well as how to really listen to recordings of your hero. The last tape also served as a sample of what was to be Sudnow’s “Audio Letter” monthly series.Though other folks may not have those 12 tapes, the sequence of events may help to set up a workable study guide that is easy enough to follow. I am pretty sure that David Haynes has the rest of the material on those tapes and the accompanying book in one form or another in the various resources sections of this site.
Tony
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Hi Tony – thanks for the interesting post.
I don’t know that I ever digitized the original 12-cassette course. I probably should, just for posterity’s sake if nothing else. To some people Suds was sort of an acquired taste. His asides were often fascinating but often irrelevant to the chore of learning to play songs. He went through at least two edits of the recorded course himself. My edit was mostly rearranging things and cleaning up some editing snafus but I still took out some things I thought were redundant or disconnected from the thread of the narrative.
The issue with the additional dot songs was that Wendy (his widow) and I decided we’d secure the legal rights to use the songs in the course and the dot songbook. It turned out to be a giant headache and unreasonably expensive in the context of the course. I still think that the quicker people get to doing their own voicings the better, but that’s a topic for another time.
Some of what David recorded on topics related to the course I just transcribed and added to the “Resources” section of the web site. That allowed me to add some visual aids and make the material easier to come back to when it might be of more use to people – including voicing drills. Some of the visual aids I created myself because I thought the originals were too complicated or they just didn’t exist.
Within the Basic Resources are a number of useful bits of information, most of which Tony refers to above.
If you have an “Advanced” membership, this resources include the Audio Letters that Tony mentions, David’s “Chats” on various topics and, at the moment, two of his Song of the Month recordings. (I’ve been lazy about adding the rest of them.)
My personal bias is that too many students got distracted by all the “stuff” to the neglect of just sitting down and practicing consistently and with care. The long slope of the initial learning curve just serves to convince all but the most stubborn that they can’t really learn this piano thing.
That being said, I agree with Tony’s quote about learning more than one song at once – it does help relieve some monotony. On my too full plate is dreaming up a way to create dot song information in a way that doesn’t create copyright issues. It will make for a more difficult translation by students, but maybe that’s not all bad. We’ll see. Thanks Tony.
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My original post in this thread was give a study plan that Sudnow provided step by step in the 12 tape course. The 12 tape course is not required to follow that plan, since all the materials are here in one form or another. However, here is my own story. I was already well along by the time I got the 12 tape course, so rather than adhering to Sudnow’s study plan, I availed myself of the drills and later tapes in that course. I do find listening to Sudnow talk about the history of jazz piano, about study habits, etc. to be very inspiring because of his obvious love and enthusiasm for the subject matter. I do listen to these from time to time for that reason. Sudnow was unique and very motivating. To some, he is probably a distraction. I have certainly heard that enough. But for me, he is inspiring. different strokes for different folks, I guess.
My first experience with the Sudnow course was an earlier one than the 12 tape course. My first had 5 tapes, and the audio on them kept fading in and out, but I was used to that because I had spent so many years listening to shortwave radio. Anyway, Sudnow presented two songs: Misty and As Time Goes By. He did not play either one on those earlier tapes, so I just listened to performances of both that I found on various albums, and then figured out how to work from the dot songs. It really was not hard or confusing to me at all. After that, I started voicing my own tunes. I found that a lot of answers to my voicing questions were to be found in those first two “dot” songs, just spending time looking at how Sudnow handled various situations.
That first year, I worked by myself and did fine. It was when I came into contact with other Sudnow students who had previous lessons and seemed to question much of Sudnow’s wisdom that I began to feel that just maybe there was a better way, and that was when I let myself get off track. I worded it that way on purpose. It is nobody’s fault but my own to have done that.
I purchased the 12 tape method when Sudnow came to town to give a seminar at a piano store in Roseville, MN. I did not attend the seminar, but showed at the end. I got to meet Sudnow, play Misty for him, and purchase the 12 tape course. I find listening to him to be motivating. I enjoyed the voicing drills on the tapes and in the book, as well as the stride tape.
However, I personally find working with dot songs to be downright tedious, and therefore agree with Sudnow’s original premise to get away from them as soon as possible. It is much more interesting to be creating my own voicings, and there is a feeling of accomplishment that goes with doing so.
To me, the 12 tape course was the most complete, but obviously even that first 5 tape course with nothing more than the seminar itself and a 3 ring binder with several pages in it was enough for me. The key is desire. As Sudnow points out: “You have to want it”. The question and bottom line is how badly we want it. It is as simple as that. Sudnow brings the “horse” (the student) to water, but can’t make him or her drink.
If thee ever was a course that brings the student directly face to face with his or her true motivations, it is the Sudnow method.
We really truly do not need any more than the original two dot songs Misty and As Time Goes By and the voicing rules. All the rest is a distraction. When you find your own individual “rhythm” for the course, let NOBODY else distract you. It is a colossal waste of time to go running off in some direction that promises faster results or tells you that you are not doing it right because it takes a long time to find your way back to that original rhythm you had going through it yourself. I am living proof of that, but I am back.
Tony
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‘All the rest is a distraction. When you find your own individual “rhythm” for the course, let NOBODY else distract you. It is a colossal waste of time to go running off in some direction that promises faster results or tells you that you are not doing it right because it takes a long time to find your way back to that original rhythm you had going through it yourself.’
Couldn’t agree more. There is more than one path but wandering off looking for the ‘magic pill’ is fruitless. This is not a chore of understanding, it’s a chore of doing.
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