It seems I have been taking quite a few breaks from the regular writing habit I developed a few months ago. I really need to get back to it. Doing this regularly helped my sense of confidence in my writing, allowing me to get quick at blurting out a lot of words in a short period of time. In the past I could only do this on paper, but I am now getting better at producing at the keyboard.

Interesting word choice, keyboard. I’m talking here about the computer keyboard, of course, but I could also be talking about the piano keyboard. I need to get more piano playing into my music practice. If I had a steady income, in fact, I would like to take piano lessons. There is quite a bit I can learn on my own, though. Let me run down a few ideas with regard to piano playing and musical practice.

  • I don’t really want to be a piano player so much as I want to be able to use the piano for composing and arranging.
  • I need to work on jazz chord changes and being able to play from a lead sheet.
  • I need to be able to re-harmonize tunes from lead sheets in order to arrange for guitar, groups, and piano.
  • I need to be able to read scores better. Use scores for reading practice, and pay some attention to sight transposition.
  • There is quite a lot I should be able to develop with keyboard musicianship by working my way through Bartok’s Mikrokosmos.
  • Haerle’s book on jazz chords would be another book to work through slowly.
  • I need to clear away all the clutter around the piano, using that music stand for my guitar practice as well as piano.
  • In the past, when I have practiced the piano regularly, I liked playing a few pieces from Bach’s Notebook for Anna Magdalena. I’ll be more likely to practice something if I like it.

While I’m at it, let me also brainstorm a bit about my current guitar practice.

  • I should continue practicing and memorizing chord solos from Morgen’s Through Chord-Melody and Beyond as well as Mel Bay’s Jazz Guitar Standards: Chord Melody Solos.
  • Eventually work on the two books I have of Joe Pass chord solos.
  • Keep reading through the stack of lead sheets I have on my music stand. Expand the stack as I learn more standards.
  • Focus on standards for now, but eventually move on to Rick Stone’s list of bebop tunes to memorize.
  • Keep working with the chord progressions in Ted Greene’s Modern Chord Progressions book.
  • Re-dedicate myself to working at Van Eps’s Harmonic Mechanisms. Slow it down and just do some every day.

And then there is the ear training stuff I should be working on.

  • Do just a little every day.
  • Work on the one-note exercises in Arnold’s Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training until I have it solid.
  • Do the key-note exercises regularly. They work best if done directly after the Fanatic’s Guide exercises.
  • Make sure I get the key-note exercises solid before moving on to the two-note and contextual ear training exercises.
  • Ear training doesn’t need to take up a great deal of time, but it does need to happen.

I can easily spend several hours a day on musical practice as long as I remain focused. At this point I am getting a couple of hours of guitar practice almost every day, So I just need to get organized and expand my musical practice a bit. I can easily combine the piano and ear training aspects of practice, leaving the most time for guitar practice.