Playing "on the fly" from fakebooks

[Angelo]

Hello All!

I’ve been using the Method on and off now for years. I do know how to voice a cluster (by “voice” here I mean getting a nice sounding chord cluster under my fingers for a particular note/chord combination).

One of my biggest frustrations, though, is that I cannot seem to play a song unless I practice it over and over (and over). If I don’t play a song for a bit, it’s out of my memory. Gone. I have voiced and played quite a number of songs through the years, but unfortunately I can play none of them now.

What I’m thinking might be nice is if I could learn how to play songs Suds style by looking at fakebooks. Now that would require carrying written lead sheets around with me, but at least I might have a plethora of songs from which to play.

Would love to hear how students who have obtained the skill of playing songs Sudnow style on the fly from fakebooks have obtained the skill.

Thanks!

– Angelo

[David Haynes]

Not to sound facile, but by voicing a lot of songs and being lazy about writing fractions all the time. And finding the dots way too tedious.

Your hands just have to learn a lot of patterns. If you’re still working through fractions note by note and thinking about each one, you just can’t think and then consciously direct your fingers fast enough. When you see a Cm7 with a Bb melody, for example, the chord has to appear as a single shape to you, not as a collection of individual notes.

In that sense it’s not really different than reading traditional notation.

A few suggestions:
1. Actually write out the fractions for at least a couple dozen songs, even if you ‘know’ the chord. The repetition will help you see the patterns.
2. If you’re struggling with a song pick a different one. For various reasons some songs will be easier for you.
3. You’re not trying to memorize the song (a different sort of task, a different discussion) so quantity of songs is more important than retention at this point. You’ll need at least a couple good fakebooks. Full size lead sheets.

D

[nick]

Interesting thread. If I think about it, I think this is probably my goal too, this time round. Last time round I learned a lot of dot songs, then voiced a whole load of songs myself which I then committed to memory. I was spending the lion’s share of my time on the ‘on time and perfect’ side of things. Which was right — my hands just needed to learn to move around a keyboard in a certain way. (I remember when I’d being doing Sundow for about 3 months, having a one-off lesson with a really good jazz pianist. He was amazed by the sounds I could play, but our lesson couldn’t really go anywhere: he’d say ‘try this’ and I just physically couldn’t get my hands to alter their positions quickly enough in real time. Forget voicing ‘on the fly’ — i couldn’t even move my fingers ‘on the fly’.

But it does feel different this time round: there are a bunch of familiar shapes (hello the ‘zig zag’ of Fm7, the ‘on-off-on-off’ of Dm7 and Em7, the crunchy little squashed-up Bb7 turnaround…); I feel more ‘anchored’ around certain ‘home’ positions on the keyboard.

So – I’m thikning out loud here – I thought my return to Sundow would necessitate me getting a few dot songs back in hand, to convince myself that I was ‘back again’. But perhaps I don’t worry about that*, and all the remembering/forgetting malarkey. Perhaps I just dive straight into voicing on the fly, not worrying about anything other than being immersed in the doing of it for 20-30 mins a day.

* Except for ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’, the dot song of which is straight up one of the most beautiful bits of piano music I’ve ever heard.

[nick]

David – to your point about ‘shape+melody note’ — it’s true, isn’t it. I sometimes try to visualise a ‘chord’ not as a single chord but as a scale. All you’re doing is playing the melody note and whichever notes on the ‘scale’ fall under the rest of your hand.

Works well for Maj7 and Min7. Works less with for Dom7th obviously, as there are way more choices.

[David Haynes]

Nick – I agree but I wonder if language affects this process. I don’t really think of ‘scales’ because that implies – to me – a pattern over time. I’m thinking more of, as you so cleverly put it, the ‘zig-zag-zig-zag’ of the Fm7. If I’m thinking, in this case, of the Eb major scale I’m not sure what happens. Interesting thought. I’ll have to sit down in front of a keyboard for a while.

The majors and minor sevenths don’t change much except as dictated by the melody note (although, it’s worth experimenting with the sounds, ignoring the ‘rules). The dominants really require facility with playing the chords before and after. You can’t make good voicing choices out of context. Eventually you learn (at least I did) to adjust dominants and with a couple passes your hand remembers a new shape – if you look at it that way. Not individual notes but a new shape. It’s startling when it first happens because you’re not sure how it could happen. Takes a while.

One thing the dot songs are good for is seeing David’s voicing choices. If you’ve developed your own voicing habits you’ll soon find that you can go back and learn some new patterns.

[nick]

Yeah, scales is the wrong word. I’m thinking more of, say, the ‘master’ zig-zag-zig-zag pattern, one enormous Fm7, going right along the keyboard. You reach in and grab whichever section of it you need.

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