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Musical Analysis Jazz Music

LEARNING JAZZ IMPROVISATION: EXERCISES ON KEITH JARRETT STYLE

Exercises Developed from Excerpts of a Keith Jarrett Improvisation on “All The Things You Are“.

Jazz educators tell students that transcribing solos will help them learn to improvise. It will certainly improve their ears if they are trying to hear the relationships of pitches in a phrase. It will do little to help their ears if they are using software to move the solo note by note and hunt and peck to find that note.

Students often ask what they should do with the solos after transcribing them. Should they learn it note for note matching articulations. I can imagine this would be very helpful. But has playing non-jazz etudes and pieces note for note with correct style helped them with improvisation? Students who focus just on memorizing other’s work, whether it is jazz solos or classical pieces are typically the least prepared to improvise, even though they may have very well developed technique on their instruments.

In order to improvise, one must get into the thinking behind the notes. That is difficult when dealing with memorizing a 128 measure solo. It might be easier when breaking apart shorter excerpts from that solo. One of my primarily classically trained students transcribed the first 36 measures of a Keith Jarrett improvisation over the chord changes to All the Things You Are from YouTube. She can probably sight read it at tempo, but is unable to improvise using the vocabulary.

I suggested taking excerpts; breaking them down, applying them several places in the progression, finding ways to connect these excerpts, and through this process, develop vocabulary. Attention should be paid to appropriate jazz phrasing, articulations, accents and good time feel.

SIMPLE EXCERPTS

Jarrett plays this simple line in the first measure of the form. It clearly lines up with the chord – a 5- 3-1 arpeggio idea with one passing tone, which could be expressed as a 5-3-2-1 pattern.

Apply this fragment to the entire progression (only the first eight measures are shown). As the pattern becomes more familiar, try different rhythmic variations.

Here is a line from m.2. It could be described as a descending arpeggio (7-5-3-1) with one pickup note or leading tone, and one passing tone.

Apply this idea to the entire progression. Some rhythmic variations and displacements can disguise the repeated pattern and make it sound more organic.

Jarrett plays this 3-5-7-9 arpeggio in m.4. In the tune itself, this chord is played as a major 7 chord.

This is a very good exercise for connecting all the chords using a 3-5-7-9 arpeggio. These arpeggios can ascend, as in mm.1-2. Eventually, you will run out of range on your instrument. A solution is to invert the arpeggios as in mm.3, 5, and 7. Repeat the exercise exchanging where you play ascending or inverted arpeggios. Several kinds of rhythmic variations can be applied, including anticipation and delayed resolutions. This exercise follows outline no. 1 (see discussion below).

Apply this arpeggio idea to the progression. Some of these excerpts may be too active to be played in every measure. It is a good idea to practice them in alternating measures. This reinforces a sense of stop and go in your phrasing. The example below plays the line in the odd measures and comes to rest on the 3rd in the even measures. (The connection of this idea resolving to the 3rd of the next chord is outline no. 2, discussed below.)

Now play the 3rd in the odd measures with the line in the even measures.

Jarrett’s line from mm.11-12 can be reduced to a simple line that connects the thirds of each chord. Jarrett also plays a 3-5-7-9 arpeggio that connects the octave leap from G to F. (This is outline no. 1, discussed below.)

Practice the line for alternating measures as shown in the previous exercises. Odd to Even:

Even to Odd:

BASIC OUTLINES

There are three common lines found in music from the Baroque period to the present. They may appear with out embellishment or may be highly figured. (I have written a book that deals exclusively with these structures: Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony, Hal Leonard, Inc.)

Outline No. 1 connects the 3rd of one chord down to the 3rd of the next.

Outline No. 2 begins with an ascending 1-3-5 arpeggio and the 7th resolves to the 3rd of the next chord.

Outline No. 3 begins with a descending 5-3-1 arpeggio and the 7th resolves to the 3rd of the next chord.

The three outlines are shown below for a G7 to C progression. The outlines are used anytime the chords progress down a fifth. Almost the entire progression for this piece is based on chords resolving down a fifth, so these basic outlines will be essential vocabulary.

OutlineNo.1 OutlineNo.2 Outline No.3

Jarrett strings two outlines together in mm.13-15. It is interesting to hear how Jarrett’s rhythmic displacement creates interest, but it is better to begin practicing them as they line up with the chords. When the lines become more familiar, experiment with displacement (both octave and rhythmic) and with various levels of embellishment.

Jarrett Line Basic Outline No. 2 & No. 1

Outline No. 2 applied to the progression using alternating measures.

Even too odd:

Jarrett Outline No. 1 Basic Outline No. 1

Jarrett outline no. 1 idea sequenced through the progression using alternating measures. Odd to Even:

Even to Odd:

Jarrett plays a 3-5-7-9 arpeggio in m.17 followed by outline no. 2 in m.18.

It may be easier to see as shown belowb. In the second setting below, a Bb replaces the An in the descending arpeggio over the D7. The B is more colorful and suggests chromatic voice-leading from the B .

The basic 3-5-7-9 arpeggios are followed by outline no. 3 in the exercise below. A very basic shape is shown on the top line. The bottom line is more embellished and rhythmically interesting and may represent how it might be in an improvised solo. It is important to be able to play the basic shapes before attempting to embellish them.

This exercise is the reverse of the previous one. This one begins with outline no. 3 followed by a 3- 5-7-9 arpeggio. The basic shapes are shown on the top line and more embellished and rhythmically active lines are shown on the bottom.

TRIADS & NEIGHBOR TONE GROUPS

Jarrett plays a simple triad shape in m.23. The basic idea is 3-5-1. Jarrett uses a neighbor tone group before playing the E.

Upper neighbor tones are usually diatonic and lower neighbor tones are chromatic. A simple 3-5-1 arpeggio is sequenced below for the progression.

Jarrett uses another 3-5-1 arpeggio in m.35, but begins with a neighbor tone group around the 3rd.

Apply this idea to the progression. As it becomes more familiar, try other rhythmic placements of the line.

The two neighbor tone groups could be combined in numerous other ways over any basic triad shape. Jarrett used a neighbor tone group around the root in m.23 and around the 3rd in m.35. The exercise below combines those groups and applies them to the progression.

ALTERED DOMINANT LINES

Jarrett plays an interesting embellishbmebnt #of outline no. 1 in mm.24-25. Jarrett’s embellishment calls.

Basic Outline No. 1Shape Jarrett’s Embellishment

This line is also useful resolving to major and may be applied to any of the V7 – I cadences in the progression.

Writers keep journals. Jazz improvisers and composers should keep notebooks of simple and embellished lines as a way of cataloging, fostering and keeping track of creative growth. All of these exercises can be transposed and used in other standard jazz progressions. Many of these exercises can be combined with one another in interesting ways. (For instance, try using one of the triad patterns with neighbor tone groupings to lead to the altered dominant line, then using another variation of the triad pattern when resolving to the I or i chord.)

All of these lines in Jarrett’s improvisation can be found in many other jazz solos, yet we can recognize his solos as uniquely Jarrett. As you internalize these common lines your own unique way of putting them together will emerge. Keep the metronome on and keep practicing!

Find Keith Jarrett sheet music transcriptions in our Library.

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JAZZ IMPROVISATION sheet music pdf
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Thelonius Monk's Harmony Jazz Music Musical Analysis

Thelonious Monk’s Harmony, Rhythm, and pianism (Part 2)

Table of Contents

Thelonius Monk‘s sheet music transcriptions are available from our Library.

Chords and Voicings: From Lead Sheet to Performance

In modern jazz, seventh chords specified by lead sheets may appear simply as shown in figure 4.2a, but musicians rarely follow what the lead sheet specifies to the letter. Well before Thelonious Monk came on the scene, jazz pianists vied to distinguish themselves with ingenious voicings. A kind of common practice prevailed in bebop, though we emphasize that musicians can and did step outside this practice in search of particular expressions and logics. In the main, though, four complementary techniques developed, two concerning voicing as such and two concerning chord choice—what chord to play where:

Voicing

• Extension and omission: addition of tones foreign to the chord proper, and/or dropping tones that are part of it
• Spacing and doubling: distribution of a voicing on the piano or among instruments in an ensemble.

Harmonic choice

• Substitution: replacement of one chord by another with equivalent function
• Insertion and deletion: increase or decrease in the rate of harmonic motion by adding to or subtracting from changes specified on the lead sheet.

Extension, omission, spacing and doubling

Figures 4.2b and 4.3 illustrate possibilities for extending minor seventh, dominant seventh, and major seventh harmonies, and apply them to the initial ii–V–I of ISC. In the first staff each chord is extended upward by thirds beyond the seventh to include the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth above the root. Each of the resulting seven-note stacks of thirds includes all notes of the D major scale. The fact that all three chords extend through the exact same pitch collections, in the same intervallic arrangement (i.e., a stack of thirds), demonstrates the fundamental role that harmonic function—and not chord or voicing—plays in determining tonal meaning in jazz.

The chords could in some cases even be voiced in identical ways, but their functional context would make them heard and understood differently. Here is a significant way in which, it seems to us, jazz harmony differs in emphasis from European practice.

To the extent that the distinction between ii, V, and I voicings blurs, what is it precisely that distinguishes their functions? The second staff shows which of the seven diatonic tones are directly involved in the progression toward and away from the V chord’s tritone.

Typically, these tones are necessary and sufficient to convey harmonic function. Surprisingly for anyone familiar with European harmony, neither the fifth nor the root of the chord are necessary; indeed these may be dropped (and possibly supplied by a bass player, but not necessarily). But in order to convey function and quality most effectively, the essential tones are typically arranged in the lower register of the voicing, with extension tones higher up.

The third staff of figure 4.2b distills the optional diatonic tones, which may be used without diluting function or quality, and the fourth staff shows how the tonic note (D) and the fourth scale step (G) are carefully avoided in the dominant and tonic chords, respectively, so as not to carry them over from the chords that precede them, which would impede the ii–V–I motion (see dashed arrows).

Outside the diatonic pitch collection remain fi ve tones completing the chromatic aggregate, which can provide rich “upper structures” to voicings. In some cases these work against important diatonic intervals; for example, using a G with the Em chord could obscure the minor third between E and G; using it with the A7 chord would weaken the C#/G tritone. But with the DM7 it sounds all right because its diatonic “shadow,” G, is already avoided. Figure 4.3 sketches the effect of chromaticism in each chordal context.

All optional diatonic and chromatic tones may be withheld or used, and they may be spaced from low to high in limitless ways. Attention is paid to the choice of lowest pitch, the registers of all others, thickness (number of notes played at once), and the use of some pitches in more than one octave doubling. This topic is discussed later in reference to specifi c instances in short excerpts by pianists Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson (figures 4.4a and b), and also at length in relation to Monk.

Chord Substitution, Insertion, and Deletion

Because every dominant-quality seventh chord shares its tritone with the dominant-quality seventh chord whose root is a tritone away, the chords in each such pair may be substituted for one another ( figure 4.2c, first staff).

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Substitutions for V are idiomatic in ii–V–I motion. In D major, this turns Em7–A7–DM7 into Em7–Eb7 –DM7 and causes the roots to descend chromatically by half step rather than by fifth, an especially characteristic marker of modern jazz sound. The second staff of figure 4.2c illustrates another kind of substitution, involving change of chord quality. In the first stage, the ii of

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the ii–V–I progression is intensifi ed by raising its third from G to G# . This makes it E7, a dominant seventh chord, that is, V7 in relation to the A7 chord, and thus “tonicizes” the root of A7 as if A were momentarily the home key. From here it is a matter of applying the tritone substitution principle just discussed to convert the pair of chords into progression from Bb7 to Eb7. Monk does just this in ISC ( figures 4.1 and 4.5 , mm. 15-16).

Harmonic rhythm is the rate at which harmonies change. A scan of the various versions of ISC in figure 4.1 shows chords changing usually every two or four beats, though Oscar Peterson achieves special intensity in mm. 1-2 by changing on each beat, and there are scattered instances of chords held longer. Since harmony’s depth of field is rich, even with these severe constraints on harmonic rhythm there can be infinite ways to realize the harmonies in a song and suggest unexpected aural routes through it.

Sometimes root progressions by fifth are concatenated, as in figure 4.1, staff 2, mm. 2-3. Here, rather than have mm. 3-4 be a repetition of mm. 1-2, as it is in Monk’s version (staff 3), the ii chord of m. 3 is treated as a local tonic and preceded by its own ii–V. The two new bass tones F and B are part of the D major scale, so the motion feels activated but the connections do not jar.

The major third (D#) of the B7 chord is the only chromatic alteration implied. In Bill Evans’s version, the bass player faithfully provides the root tones (figure 4.4b), but Evans does not reflect the change on the piano. Without the D#, the feeling of tonicization is absent, and we have labeled the chord as Bm7.

Earlier we mentioned a more deeply hued insertion, at mm. 8 and, which introduces a ii–V (Gm7 to C7) progression borrowed from F major, a key built on a tonic foreign to the D major scale. This motion is so distinctive that it might be heard as one of the strongest markers of the song as a whole. In the fake book version, after slipping momentarily toward F in this way the music slips right back to DM7 in m. 9.

Monk, however, reinterprets the C7 as a tritone substitution for an F#7, and resolves in m. 9 to Bm7 (the fake book does this too, but later, at the parallel moment in mm. 25). Another insertion in the fake book version, reflecting a mix of diatonic and chromatic moves, comes at the final measures (31-2).

This characteristic “turnaround” revs up the motion, propelling the music toward the next repetition of the form. Monk’s seeming extension of this passage and the two prior measures reflect a musical action we shall describe later; in figure 4.1 we condense his chords into the thirty-two-measure form (the actual measure numbers cor-responding to mm. 29-38of the transcription in figure 4.5 are shown below the lowest staff).

Deletions put the brakes on chord progression. In this idiom they are somewhat rarer than insertions but noteworthy for that reason. When Monk slows down the fake book chords at m. 2 he wants to focus on the very repetition of the chord progression in the initial two pairs of measures, and when he does it again at mm. 15-16 it is as if we are asked to savor the tritone substitutions selected for those moments.

Modern jazz harmonic practice often seems to be founded on the intensifi cation and complexifying of its diatonic basis in the several ways we have just described all at once—so the instances in which this process is slowed or impeded provide a special repose.

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Thelonious Monk Quartet – ‘Round Midnight LIVE

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Film Music Easy Piano Solo arrangements

Morricone: Once Upon a Time in America

Morricone: Once Upon a Time in America Soundtrack Deborah’s Theme – Amapola (sheet music available in our Library)

morricone sheet music pdf

Once Upon a Time in America (Italian: C’era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime drama film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produced by The Ladd Company, Embassy International Pictures, PSO Enterprises, and Rafran Cinematografica, and distributed by Warner Bros. Based on Harry Grey‘s novel The Hoods, it chronicles the lives of best friends David “Noodles” Aaronson and Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz as they lead a group of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence as Jewish gangsters in New York City‘s world of organized crime.

The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, together with the rise of mobsters in American society.

It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. It is also the third film of Leone’s Once Upon a Time Trilogy, which includes Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker! (1971).The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the film score by Ennio Morricone. Leone originally envisaged two three-hour films, then a single 269-minute (4 hours and 29 minutes) version, but was convinced by distributors to shorten it to 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes).

The American distributors, The Ladd Company, further shortened it to 139 minutes, and rearranged the scenes into chronological order, without Leone’s involvement. The shortened version was a critical and commercial flop in the United States, and critics who had seen both versions harshly condemned the changes that were made. The original “European cut” has remained a critical favorite and frequently appears in lists of the greatest gangster films of all time.

Music

The musical score was composed by Leone’s longtime collaborator Ennio Morricone. “Deborah’s Theme” was written for another film in the 1970s but was rejected. The score is also notable for Morricone’s incorporation of the music of Gheorghe Zamfir, who plays a ‘s pan flute. Zamfir’s flute music was used to similar effect in Peter Weir‘s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Morricone also collaborated with vocalist Edda Dell’Orso on the score.

Once Upon a Time in America
Soundtrack album by Ennio Morricone
Released1 June 1984
17 October 1995 (Special Edition)
RecordedDecember 1983
StudioForum Studios, Rome
GenreContemporary classical
LabelMercury Records
ProducerEnnio Morricone

Besides the original music, the film used source music, including:

  • “God Bless America” (written by Irving Berlin, performed by Kate Smith – 1943) – Plays over the opening credits from a radio in Eve’s bedroom and briefly at the film’s ending.
  • “Yesterday” (written by Lennon–McCartney – 1965) – A Muzak version of this piece plays when Noodles first returns to New York in 1968, examining himself in a train station mirror. An instrumental version of the song also plays briefly during the dialogue scene between Noodles and “Bailey” towards the end of the film.
  • “Summertime” (written by George Gershwin – 1935) An instrumental version of the aria from the opera Porgy and Bess is playing softly in the background as Noodles, just before leaving, explains to “Secretary Bailey” why he could never kill his friend.
  • “Amapola” (written by Joseph Lacalle, American lyrics by Albert Gamse – 1923) – Originally an opera piece, several instrumental versions of this song were played during the film; a jazzy version, which was played on the gramophone danced to by young Deborah in 1918; a similar version played by Fat Moe’s jazz band in the speakeasy in 1930; and a string version, during Noodles’ date with Deborah. Both versions are available on the soundtrack.
  • “La gazza ladra” overture (Gioachino Rossini – 1817) – Used during the baby-switching scene in the hospital.
  • “Night and Day” (written and sung by Cole Porter – 1932) – Played by a jazz band during the beach scene before the beachgoers receive word of Prohibition’s repeal, and during the party at the house of “Secretary Bailey” in 1968.
  • “St. James Infirmary Blues” is used during the Prohibition “funeral” at the gang’s speakeasy.

A soundtrack album was released in 1984 by Mercury Records. This was followed by a special-edition release in 1995, featuring four additional tracks.

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Beautiful Music

Nat King Cole “Smile” (1954)

Nat King Cole “Smile” – 1954 (with sheet music)

Nat King Cole "Smile" free sheet music & scores pdf

Lyrics

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky you’ll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through
For you Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear maybe ever so near
That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile- what’s the use of crying
You’ll find that…

Smile: The song

“Smile” is a song based on an instrumental theme used in the soundtrack for Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times. Chaplin composed the music, inspired by Puccini’s Tosca. John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics and title in 1954. In the lyrics, based on lines and themes from the film, the singer is telling the listener to cheer up and that there is always a bright tomorrow, just as long as they smile.

“Smile” has become a popular standard since its original use in Chaplin’s film and has been recorded by numerous artists. The song was also recorded by Jimmy Durante as part of his album Jackie Barnett Presents Hello Young Lovers. His version is part of the soundtrack to the 2019 film Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro.

Judy Garland sang a version of “Smile” on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963.

The song was included in the soundtrack of Chaplin’s 1992 biographical film, as covered by its lead actor Robert Downey Jr.

smile sheet music pdf
Sheet Music download
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Beautiful Music

Oblivion (A. Piazzolla) Two pianos – pianists Argerich and Hubert

Oblivion (A. Piazzolla) Two pianos sheet music arrangement by pianists Martha Argerich and Eduardo Hubert

oblivion free sheet music pdf
This is the solo piano version
Piazzolla-Oblivion-arr.-for-2-pianos (sample)Download

(This version for 2 pianos is not exactly the above performance).

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Beautiful Music

Astor Piazzolla y su Orquesta – Pulsación

Astor Piazzolla y su Orquesta – Pulsación (1969) (Full Album)

2021 marks the centennial of Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine composer-bandoneón master and inventor of nuevo tango, which transformed traditional tangos for the dance floor into concert works with jazz and classical music elements.

piazzolla sheet music

Piazzolla was certainly internationally known when he died in 1992, but his fame and popularity have skyrocketed since. “If he were alive right now, he would be very, very happy for that,” said Argentine pianist and composer Pablo Ziegler, who played and recorded for more than a decade in Piazzolla’s second and last bandoneón quintet.

The latest sign of Piazzolla’s soaring stature will come Nov. 18-21 when guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth with concerts featuring his Aconcagua Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra.

In addition, the Quinteto Astor Piazzolla, a group founded by his widow, Laura Escalada Piazzolla, will perform a special Symphony Center Presents concert on Nov. 19 as part of a world tour. The group, which received a 2019 Latin Grammy Award for best tango album, carries on the traditions established by Piazzolla’s first and second quintets.

Piazzolla composed his Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra in 1979 on a commission from the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, and he served as the soloist for the premiere in December of that year. His publisher added the moniker Aconcagua, the name of a mountain on the Argentina-Chile border, saying, “This is the peak of Astor’s oeuvre, and the highest peak in South American is Aconcagua.”

Piazzolla was born in Argentina to Italian-immigrant parents. Four years later, he moved with his family to New York City — first to Greenwich Village and then to Little Italy. He discovered tango by listening to some of his father’s records, and a friend soon taught him the rudiments of playing the bandoneón, a kind of concertina popular in Argentina and Uruguay.

When he was 12, he began taking lessons with Hungarian classical pianist Bela Wilda, who taught him, among other things, how to play Bach on the bandoneón. A student of Rachmaninov, Wilda happened to live next door, and Piazzolla was entranced by the sounds that emanated from his home. “My father and I knocked at his door, and when he opened it, I was bewildered by his grand piano and the pack of Camel cigarettes he used to smoke,” Piazzolla said in an extended interview on the website Todo Tango.

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In 1938, when he was still just 17, Piazzolla joined the tango orchestra of Aníbal Troilo and later became an arranger for the group as well. During this stage of his career, he led kind of two musical lives, one devoted to tango and the other to mastering classical music. On the advice of famed pianist Artur Rubenstein, he began studying with composer Alberto Ginastera in 1941, delving into the scores of Stravinsky, Bartók and Ravel, and later took piano lessons with Argentine keyboardist Raúl Spivak.

In 1953, he won a grant to study composition with the celebrated French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, who also taught composers ranging from Aaron Copland to Philip Glass. At that time, Piazzolla had largely rejected the tango, and he presented Boulanger with a number of his classically inspired compositions.

She was impressed with his technique but felt that the works did not have a personal stamp. He finally admitted that he played bandoneón and wrote tangos. So he performed for her a tango piece he had written a bit earlier, Triunfal. “And then she told me, ‘There is Piazzolla, never leave it!” he recalled in the Todo Tango interview.

When he returned to Argentina, he formed his Octeto Buenos Aires, inspired by the octet of jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, which he had heard in Paris. It was with this ensemble — a radical break from the larger bands common in tango — that he began to write his groundbreaking music that became known as nuevo tango.

“When he started with the first Buenos Aires Octet, that music was like Bartók and Stravinsky,” Ziegler said. “Because of the huge rejection by the media and tango audience, he started to change and do something more acceptable, but he was really a contemporary composer.”

Piazzolla’s nuevo tango, which fuses Baroque counterpoint, extended chords and jazz swing, is at once earthy and elegant, seductive and transporting. It is instantly identifiable and cannot be confused with the music of anyone else.

In 1961, the composer formed his first quintet, with bandoneón, piano, violin, electric guitar and double bass, a combination that many experts believe is the most authentic and expressive vehicle for his music. He organized a second quintet in 1978 and called Ziegler to recruit him for the group.

For Ziegler, who was well-established on his own at that point as a composer and arranger, hearing from Piazzolla was a “big surprise.” The pianist asked the composer why he wanted him in the quintet, and Piazzolla told him that he was looking for someone who would bring strong improvisatory skills as well as a complementary and distinctive playing style.

“For me and for each musician, it was a big challenge,” Ziegler said, “because his music was really incredible but difficult.” He remembered a new work that Piazzolla presented him that looked almost unplayable at first, but with the composer’s encouragement and considerable study, he was able to pull it off.

Ziegler praised Piazzolla’s abilities on the bandoneón, especially his ability to shape the sound and nudge his fellow players in the direction he wanted to go. “He was like the Oscar Peterson [referring to the great jazz pianist] of the bandoneón — tremendous, tremendous,” Ziegler said.

In addition to performing with Piazzolla in the quintet, Ziegler also joined the composer in some of his larger orchestral works, including the premiere of his bandoneón concerto, which has a significant part for the piano.

According to Ziegler, Piazzolla’s approach to these concerts was simple: “We play the music, and the orchestra has to follow us.” But in fact, it is a bit more complicated. The pianist must emphasize the importance of articulations in Piazzolla’s music, especially in the strings, and tries to illustrate how they should be done.

Astor Piazzolla’s OBLIVION

Esta es una de las más hermosas obras que compuso el maestro Astor Piazzolla, esta obra la incluyen en el repertorio orquestas sinfónicas y de cuerdas de mucho prestigio. La compuso en los años 80 durante su tiempo en los EEUU, cuando Piazzolla vendia música para vivir, esta obra fue comprada para la banda sonora de la pelicula “Enrique IV” del director Marco Bellocchino de nacionalidad italaiana.

Esta es una canción que trata sobre el olvido. En francés se escribe J’oublie y en la lengua inglesa, como fue concebido, dado que Oblivion es (Olvido).

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Did you know? Musical Analysis

APPROACHING PIAZZOLLA’S MUSIC: an analysis of his music and composition styles (1/2)

Table of Contents

    APPROACHING PIAZZOLLA’S MUSIC: an analysis of his music and composition styles (1/2)

    1. Astor Piazzolla. Introduction.

    Astor Piazzolla was born 1921 in Mar del plata, a town south of Buenos Aires, where he lived his first two years. Due to various circumstances, his family moved to New York where Astor spent most of his childhood. His parents, who had emigrated from Italy, worked hard for their living in New York. Vicente, Astor’s father, loved the traditional tango music of Argentina and when Astor was eight years old, hoping that his son someday would be a tango musician, he gave him a bandoneon1 for his birthday. Astor did not fancy the traditional tango at all, but he enjoyed classical music though.

    One day he heard someone of the neighbours practicing the piano; a concert pianist had moved into an apartment and was now practising music that fascinated Astor:

    “At that age I didn’t know who Bach was, but I felt as if I had been hypnotized. It is one of the great mysteries of my life. I don’t know if it was Johann Sebastian Bach or one of his sons. I believe I have bought all Bach’s recorded works, but I could never find that music again. That pianist practiced nine hours a day: three hours of technique in the morning, three hours of Bach in the afternoon, and three at night, trying out repertoire for his concerts. He was Hungarian. His name was Béla Wilda, and soon he became my teacher.”

    As his teacher, Béla Wilda introduced classical music in Astor’s life and he helped out adapting Bach’s music to the bandoneon. Occasionally, Astor played bandoneon at school and soon he became popular; he had a great talent and playing the bandoneon was quite rare in New York back then. At this time he met the famous actor and tango singer Carlos Gardel, and because of his talent, he began to accompany Gardel at some presentations.

    Astor learned some tangos and he also participated in a Gardel movie. In 1936 the Piazzolla family moved back to Mar del plata and at this time Astor hade a new great musical discovery; it was a tango orchestra he heard on the radio. This inspired him deeply and in 1938 he moves, all by him self, to Buenos Aires to be a tango musician. After some years of playing in different tango orchestras he starts playing in one of the most coveted orchestra; the orchestra of Anibal Troilo. After a while Astor become the arranger of the orchestra and in the meantime he is studying composition for Alberto Ginastera.

    In the late 40’s Astor starts his own orchestra and by impulses from the classical music he develops his own style. All the while he continues to study composition and he also studies piano and orchestra conducting, and in 1953 he wins first prize in a composition contest that takes him to a one-year trip to Paris.

    With the famous pedagogue Nadia Boulangier as teacher he is studying counterpoint, harmony, and pastiche composition. She told him that everything he brought to her was well done but she couldn’t find the true Piazzolla in his works. Astor had not told her that he was a tango musician; knowing her poise in the world of classical music made him ashamed of his past:

    “Nadia looked into my eyes and asked me to play one of my tangos at the piano. So I confessed to her that I played the bandoneon; I told her she shouldn’t expect a good piano player because I wasn’t. She insisted, ”It doesn’t matter, Astor, play your tango.” And I started out with ”Triunfal”. When I finished, Nadia took my hands in hers and with that english of hers, so sweet, she said, ”Astor, this is beautiful. I like it a lot. Here is the true Piazzolla – do not ever leave him.” It was the great revelation of my musical life.”

    This was the great break point for him, and when returned from his study period with Nadia Boulangier in Paris he formed his Buenos Aires Octet, and it was at this time he started to develop his own composition style for real. By growing up in New York and Buenos Aires, he was influenced by the Blues and the Tango. As a result, combining this with inspiration from Bach (whose inventions he learned from Belá Wilda) and Stravinsky, he led the tango into a new era. With influences from classical music Piazzolla used techniques that were not traditional in tango music. He applied a contrapuntal way of thinking and expanded the formal structures of tango music by processing thematic material.

    From Bach’s legacy for example, he used the fugue technique, layered voices, sequences and pedal lines as compositional tools. Influenced by Bartok, Stravinsky and Ravel, he applied extended harmonies and orchestration techniques that were not in traditional tango music.7 Piazzolla collaborated with various ensembles where he explored the expression of his style, and the musicians he worked with often contributed their personal performance style. These contributions turn out to be significant components of Piazzolla’s style.

    2. Some characteristics of Piazzolla’s style

    According to Quin Link, an essential rhythmic pattern that became Piazzolla’s hallmark is the tresillo. The basic structure of this rhythm is 3+3+2 and it originates from the song tradition milonga canción where it has 3+1+2+2 as structure. The latter one is also known as the milonga rhythm, the habanera rhythm, or the rumba rhythm. The surface rhythm in Piazzolla’s music is often accentuated with the tresillo or its variants obtained by shifts. By shifting it in stages eight various rhythms is created where some of them are more common than others. Furthermore, these rhythmic cells can be paired together across two or more measures and form a 2:3 feeling, for instance 133333.

    As expected, several of the characteristics in this style are derived from the traditional tango. Some of them, like the tresillo, are more frequent than others. One that is applied repeatedly as well is the marcato technique. It is a melody line in steady crotchets, typically played by the piano and the double bass. The marcato technique provides a foundation in rhythmic terms.

    However, it also has an important harmonic function similar to the walking bass line in jazz. Additionally, an essential rhythmical pattern in the idiom is the arrastre, which is an upbeat gesture that originates from when the bandoneon opens its bellows before a downbeat. The arrastre is imitated by the piano as an ascending scale and by the strings as a slide.2 To resemble a percussive effect, the piano’s arrastre is performed as an indefinite series of notes.

    Astor Piazzolla sheet music partitura

    Piazzolla applied the percussive gestures that had been common in traditional tango in his compositions. Effects like: lija(sandpaper); golpe(knock); látigo(whip); perro(dog); and tambor(snare drum) were often performed by the violin and occur frequently in his style. One further percussive technique is the strappato that often is played by the double base, and the strongly accented rhythmical patterns that the piano often reproduces in a percussive way.

    In Instrumental Rubato and Phrase Structure in Astor Piazzolla’s Music, Kutnowski analyses the phrase structure in Piazzolla’s music, and detects a technique that he defines as instrumental rubato. It concerns the rhythmic transformations a melody endures when it rushes towards the end of a phrase faster than required or expected. He argues that this technique origins from the song tradition in tango, in particular from the singer Carlos Gardel.

    The rubato was usually improvised by the singer. Consequently, when played simultaneously by several instruments, it had to be notated in the score. Furthermore, Kutnowski describes the phrase structure in Piazzolla’s music as an overlapping technique , where the last measure of a phrase at the same time is the first measure of the next phrase. Additionally, he argues that it creates a feeling of continuity.

    3. Libertango. Analysis.

    Published in 1974, Libertango is probably one of the most well known compositions of Piazzolla’s voluminous music catalogue. Many artists have recorded it; Gracie Jones, for instance, had a successful hit with it in the eighties (with lyrics in English) and YoYo Ma played it on his Grammy Award winning album Soul of the tango.

    There are many versions of this piece, however, I have chosen to analyse the arrangement that I believe represent the most common one. Libertango is a piece in four beat with an ABA- structure. By being present in the bass line the entire piece though; the tresillo rhythm indeed saturates the piece. With the bass line as a foundation, the piece is characterised of an ostinato gesture and various melodies that are combined in a contrapuntal way.

    The primary sections have a chord progression based on a pedal bass line and a bass line in descending motion. As a contrast, the secondary section’s chord progression is based on a fifth motion with tonicization.

    Accordingly, the harmony is overall based on regular II-V-I progressions in minor mode, and besides the short ornamental modulations that the tonicizations represent, there is no change of key area whatsoever. The primary sections reminds actually of a jazz chorus; with some variations, it is repeated over and over.

    The first subsection starts with presenting the ostinato gesture and the bass line, which rhythmically complete each other due to their accentuated rhythms; the latter has the tresillo no 1 and the former has no 7. As for the introduction subsection in Milonga del ángel, this subsection establishes the environment and is waiting for the melody to arrive.

    Astor Piazzolla sheet music partitura

    By being present the entire piece and due to their rhythmical features, the ostinato and the bass line provide the backbone of Libertango. The melodies that are added one by one as a new subsection enters, consists mainly of long note values; consequently, they form a kind of complementary to the rhythmical backbone. Although not as clear as for the bass line, the melodies have a descending motion.

    Consequently, the tonicization sequences in S are the only passage where the overall descending motion is abandoned for a moment. The bass line in the primary subsections may be defined as either pending or descending. As a complement to the bass line’s motion, it seems like the melody has a more active role when the bass line is pending; and vice versa, the melody is pending when the bass line is descending.

    Astor Piazzolla sheet music partitura

    As the illustration shows, the melodies move as triads while the bass line is pending. This implies that the motivic chord progression (t DD D), characteristic for Piazzolla’s music, is clarified. When the bass line descends, it is more or less the same chord progression; however, it is now the bass notes that clarify the chords. While the chord progression in P is based on this motivic chord progression, the chord progression in S is instead a cycle of fifths that is prolonged by tonicization. Correspondingly, this technique may be characteristic for Piazzola’s music.

    Astor Piazzolla sheet music partitura

    As illustrated above, the sequence starts by transforming the subdominant (Dm) into a temporary tonic. It is then given the role as a supertonic (Dm7b5) in relation to the new temporary tonic (C).

    (Next Post: “Milonga del Angel” and “Fuga y Misterio” and Summary)

    Piazzolla’s sheet music available for download from our Library.

    Best songs of Astor Piazzolla.

    TRACKLIST

    Astor Piazzolla – Adiós Nonino Astor Piazzolla – Tristeza De Un Doble ‘A’ ( 08:04 ) Astor Piazzolla — Ave Maria ( 15:18 ) Astor Piazzolla — Bíyuya ( 20:58 ) Astor Piazzolla — Buenos Aires Hora Cero ( 27:10 ) Astor Piazzolla — Chin Chin ( 32:43 ) Astor Piazzolla — El Penultimo ( 39:11 ) Astor Piazzolla — Escualo ( 44:44 ) Astor Piazzolla — Fuga Y Misterio ( 48:07 ) Astor Piazzolla — Oblivion ( 51:25 ) Astor Piazzolla — Jeanne Y Paul ( 54:58 ) Astor Piazzolla — Libertango ( 59:10 ) Nuevos Aires — Balada para un Loco ( 01:03:20 )

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    Scott Joplin – The Entertainer

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      Scott Joplin The Entertainer with sheet music

      scott joplin sheet music pdf

      Who Was Scott Joplin? 

      Born in the late 1860s somewhere along the border between Texas and Arkansas, Scott Joplin took up the piano as a child and eventually became a travelling musician as a teen. He immersed himself in the emerging musical form known as ragtime and became the genre’s foremost composer with tunes like “The Entertainer,” “Solace” and “The Maple Leaf Rag,” which is the biggest-selling ragtime song in history. Joplin also penned the operas Guest of Honor and Treemonisha. He died in New York City on April 1, 1917.

      Musical Family

      Scott Joplin’s exact date of birth and location is not known, though it is estimated that he was born between the summer of June 1867 and January 1868. Born to Florence Givens and Giles Joplin, Scott grew up in Texarkana, a town situated on the border between Texas and Arkansas.

      The Joplins were a musical family, with Florence being a singer and banjo player and Giles a violinist; Scott learned how to play the guitar at a young age and later took to the piano, displaying a gift for the instrument. Julius Weiss, a German music teacher who lived in Joplin’s hometown, gave the young pianist further instruction. Joplin was also a vocalist and would play the cornet as Joplin left home during his teen years and began work as a travelling musician, playing in bars and dance halls where new musical forms were featured that formed the basis of ragtime, which had distinct, syncopated rhythms and a fusion of musical sensibilities.

      Joplin lived for a time in Sedalia, Missouri in the 1880s and in 1893 he fronted a band in Chicago during the World Fair. He later settled in Sedalia again while continuing to travel, with the waltzes “Please Say You Will” and “A Picture of Her Face” becoming his first two published songs.

      Writing Huge Hit: ‘Maple Leaf Rag’

      Joplin studied music at Sedalia’s George R. Smith College for Negroes during the 1890s and also worked as a teacher and mentor to other ragtime musicians. He published his first piano rag, “Original Rags,” in the late 1890s, but was made to share credit with another arranger. Joplin then worked with a lawyer to ensure that he would receive a one-cent royalty of every sheet-music copy sold of his next composition, “The Maple Leaf Rag.” In 1899, Joplin partnered with publisher John Stark to push the tune. Though sales were initially slight, it went on to become the biggest ragtime song ever, eventually selling more than a million copies.

      Joplin focused on composing more ragtime works, with the genre taking the country by storm and Joplin earning acclaim for his artistry. Some of Joplin’s published compositions over the years included “The Entertainer,” “Peacherine Rag,” “Cleopha,” “The Chrysanthemum,” “The Ragtime Dance,” “Heliotrope Bouquet,” “Solace” and “Euphonic Sounds.

      Opera Ambitions

      Joplin was intensely concerned with making sure the genre received its proper due, taking note of the disparaging comments made by some white critics due to the music’s African American origins and radical form. As such, he published a 1908 series that broke down the complexities of ragtime form for students: The School of Ragtime: Six Exercises for Piano.

      Joplin also aspired to produce long-form works. He published the ballet Rag Time Dance in 1902 and created his first opera, A Guest of Honor, for a Midwestern tour in 1903. The production was shut down due partially to the theft of box-office receipts, with Joplin ultimately dealing with great financial losses.

      By 1907, Joplin had settled in New York to work on securing funding for another opera he had created, Treemonisha, a multi-genre theatrical project which told the story of a rural African-American community near Texarkana. A precursor to George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Treemonisha was presented in 1915 as a scaled-down production with voice and piano, but would not receive a full-stage treatment for years to come.

      Final Years and Legacy

      Joplin continued to work on various musical forms and formed his own publishing company with his third wife, Lottie, in 1913. By 1916, he had started to succumb to the ravages of syphilis, which he was thought to have contracted years earlier, and was later hospitalized and institutionalized. Joplin died on April 1, 1917.

      Ragtime would enjoy a resurgence during the 1940s, and then in the ’70s became a hugely popular classical genre that also entered the U.S. consciousness via film—”The Entertainer” became the theme song for The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Joplin’s Treemonisha was also fully staged in 1975 on Broadway. The following year, Joplin received a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize, honoring the man who shaped a genre that influenced decades of music.

      “The Entertainer”

      is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin. It was sold first as sheet music, and in the 1910s as piano rolls that would play on player pianos.The first recording was by blues and ragtime musicians the Blue Boys in 1928, played on mandolin and guitar.

      As one of the classics of ragtime, it returned to international prominence as part of the ragtime revival in the 1970s, when it was used as the theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting. Composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch‘s adaptation reached #3 on the Billboard pop chart and spent a week at #1 on the easy listening chart in 1974. The Sting was set in the 1930s, a full generation after the end of ragtime’s mainstream popularity, thus giving the inaccurate impression that ragtime music was popular at that time.

      The Recording Industry Association of America ranked it #10 on its “Songs of the Century” list.

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