Today’s practice :

• Modern Method vol.3
  • Pages 10 through 20
  • Thorough approach for cleanness and good, full sound.
• Tunes Review : Blues for Alice and I Mean You
  • with metronome on 2&4 @ 92
  • great!
• Little 15 minutes ear training session
  • Hearing the tones “C” and “D” (upwards, melodically)
  • Trying to pre-hear the different functions
  • It works : I hear “do re”, “re mi”, “fa sol”, “sol la” and “la ti”
  • Woah!
• Some more tunes (for blowing like crazy) :
  • Darn That Dream (as med-up latin) Fun!
  • Lady Bird FAST! (also lots of fun)

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At night I went out for a movie (FRENCH movie in fact!) and then attended a jam session in the western part of Montreal. I was soooo tired…

Not much practice today, except (a very good) jam session at burritoville.

Saturday : no practice. Some more festivities for my birthday (oh my … ! )

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Sunday : teaching during the day + sleeping (I need it!)

Some practice in Modern Method Vol. 3 at night :

pages : 5-7-9-14-15 and 33.

Feels good to practice again!

Once a year, it’s my birthday. It’s today (oh my!) Too many emails and phone calls to handle!

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Today’s Practice :

• Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 3
  • p.12-13-14-15 and 17
  • The minor triads are still fuzzy in my ears and fingers

• Working on / Memorizing You Don’t Know What Love Is
  • incredible version by Sonny Rollins…

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Gig @ night. Kaza Maza BASS-less trio (sax-guitar-drums)… then we went out for drinks.

Today’s Practice :

Trying to apply some Lee Konitz concepts. He uses the melody of the song as a springboard to creating meaningful improvised lines (before completely forgetting about the whole “theme” of song and blowing scales and arps…)

I’m improvising slowly on familiar standards and try to make sense of all this …

• All the Things
  • @52 metronome as 2&4

• If I Should Loose You
  • @52, then @104 (as 2&4)

• Days of Wine and Roses
  • @52, then faster (as 2&4)

Wow! Sounds and feels great. That’s new territory for me.

Later :

Practicing and recording Solo in Bb from A Modern Method Vol.3

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Gig @ Night. Trio with Clinton. Had a great time, as usual (and an even greater time because I was mostly improvising on the melody, not just “reinventing the wheel” each time!)

… a few beers surely helped!

(-;

(tomorrow’s my birthday)

Woah. I really needed that massage Wednesday morning. I’m seeing a specialist for some neck issue (whiplash because of my workouts…); the guy is fantastic.

He’s the one who “fixed me” when I had serious left hand injuries. I’m doing all the little “exercises” again to make sure my back, arms, neck, hand, wrists, hands (etc.) are good to go when I need them.

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Practice (on guitar) :

• I Hear a Rhapsody
  • Improvisation “around the melody”
  • Metronome on 2&4 @ 48 then @ 96
  • .
• If I Should Loose You
  • Melody and Chord Melody Rubato
    • Improvisation “around the melody”
    • 2&4 @ 50 then @ 100
  • Great!

Discovery:

Just realized that in bar 12 of If I Should Loose You, the Bb dim to Bb major (to accomodate the melody) can also be seen as an A7(b9) going to Dm  (secondary dominant to IIIm…) Cool.

I’ve always had trouble hearing and outlining that “diminished resolution” when improvising; I guess seeing it as a dom(b9) (which I’m more used to) will simply sort the stuff out in my ears/mind/fingers…

So, I like to blow on the form like this : (the underlined really is Bb dim to Bb major…)

Gm / / / | ii-V / / / | Gm / Gb7 / | Fm7 / Bb7 / |
Eb / / / | II-V / / / | Eb / / / | / / / / ||

Cm7 / / / | F7 / / / | A7(b9) / Dm7 / | / / / /|
Gm7 /// | C7 /// |Am7(b5) /// | D7(b9) /// ||

Gm / / / | ii-V / / / | Gm / Gb7 / | Fm7 / Bb7 / |
Eb / / / | II-V / / / | Eb / / / | / / / / ||

Cm7 / / / | F7 / / / | A7(b9) / Dm7 / | Am7(b5) / D7(b9) /|
Gm7 / / /  | Cm7 / F7 / | Bb  / / / | / / / / ||

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Just received an email today : Charles Ellison is asking me to join his group for a short set next week. I studied in Charles’ class for 2 years and it’s an honor for me.

!

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Teaching at night. Some piano practicing on Oscar Peterson Exercises and blues in C.

Not much practicing today, but I played a great trio session in the afternoon at McGill U.

Before the session, I warmed up for about an hour blowing on tunes (All the Things, How Deep is the Ocean).

At night, I also worked a little on some Lee Konitz concepts over a few different standards.

Then worked on JazzGuitarLessons.net many hours. I love it!

Website work today. Writing newsletter and new articles.

Practicing (guitar):

• Modern Method Vol. 3
  • Solo in Bb
  • p.12-13 (major triads in one pos)

• Blowing on tunes
  • Lady Bird
  • Solar

I have to prepare for Friday’s gig : we’ll be playing bass-less sax-guit-drums. I have to tune back into that zone!

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At night, burritoville jam. It was very cool and I hadn’t been there in two weeks. I stayed late and played a lot of tunes. Feels great to play with people again.

Teaching all day Sunday (as usual). Practice 1-2 hours of piano in my teaching breaks.

• Mintzer etude on C blues
  • slowly adding RH voicings

• Rootless II-V
  • in all keys
  • 2 inversion

• Rootless II-V-I (major)
  • in 6 keys

• *New* Oscar Peterson Book
  • Practice Ex #1 and Minuet #1

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At night : Canada Hockey Team won the Gold Medal!

Let’s forget about chords, scales, jazz and songs for a moment and reflect upon this :

Music is all about perception: A single-note or a simple rhythm can be perceived as many different things. So, a shift in your perception can change your playing drastically, right?

How can we do that then?

Technically speaking, you could rationalize everything you hear and attach numerous significations to the sounds (x chord, x note, x rhythm, etc.) That’s very useful in schools and various learning situations.

But on the “human being” level…

Becoming a “better person” will impact your perception of the world in general, that’s for sure. That includes music/aural perception. Thus, adopting newer, better ways of life *will* make you into a better jazzman.

Go on and create meaningful relationships, manage your moods and mindset, get rid of addictions, sleep and eat well, exercise (etc.) and your music will greatly improve.

Practice well,

Marc-A Seguin

[On a personal note : I've been changing my lifestyle(s) for a while now. My music/playing/composing is now greatly enhanced by my nutrition, scheduling, exercising and improved mindset.]

For those who wish to grow as a person, I suggest this website : StevePavlina.com I’ve been reading Steve for at least 5 years! He has great things to say (and suggest) about a lot of different matters.]