I Got Rhythm, Harmonic Analysis

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Summary
Dr. Bob Lawrence discusses the challenges of modern music education, emphasizing the importance of structured, foundational practice in jazz piano. He guides listeners through a detailed analysis of Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm,' highlighting key concepts in harmony, melody, and rhythm, and shares effective study strategies.

Keywords
Jazz Piano, Music Education, Harmonic Analysis, 'I Got Rhythm', Practice Strategies, Music Theory, Improvisation, Jazz Standards

Key  Topics
Challenges of modern music education
Importance of foundational skills in jazz
Harmonic analysis of 'I Got Rhythm'
Practice strategies for jazz musicians
Listening skills and musical understanding

Titles
Mastering Jazz Fundamentals: The 'I Got Rhythm' Approach
The Essential Elements of Jazz: Harmony, Melody, Rhythm

Sound Bites
"Music at its core is not complex."
"Listening is a skill that must be practiced."
"Listen in two stages: macro and micro."

Transcript

Introduction to Jazz Piano Skills

Dr. Bob Lawrence 0:32

Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, well, well, here we are, the start of a new month. January, complete, February, complete, March, complete. It's been a great year so far. Stars fell on Alabama, Embraceable You, Sweet Lorraine. Great standards, fun to explore, and as always, we learned a ton. Of course we did. We always do, right? Every tune study, harmonic analysis, melodic analysis, improvisation development, solo piano approaches, fantastic. We leave no stone unturned. We pack a ton into each month, into each tune. So new month, new tune, same process. And that's important. In fact, it's very important because we are living in a time where there is more music education content available than ever before. Endless videos, endless tutorials, endless tips, tricks, shortcuts. At first glance, right? This seems like a very good thing, but there's a problem. There's a huge problem. And it's a subtle one. The modern music learning environment today rewards complexity over clarity. Everywhere you turn, there is something new to learn. A new concept, a new approach, a new must know idea. And you know what? As a result, many students find themselves constantly, as I like to put it, chasing information without ever developing a clear sense of direction. They're busy, they're engaged, but they're not progressing in a meaningful, structured way. Does that sound familiar? They are learning about music without actually learning music. How ironic is that? They are learning about music without actually learning music. And that distinction matters. At jazz piano skills, we intentionally travel the same path every single month and study the same essential skills every single month in a logical sequential manner, but always with a fresh perspective. And that fresh perspective comes from the music itself. Each new tune we study brings a new perspective. Because that is what real study and real practice looks like. A clear process, a defined approach, a structured system. One that produces a meaningful return on your time and effort. And you know why? Because we are not running around chasing information. And let's be honest, that's very easy to do today. We we're surrounded by it. New ideas, new concepts, new approaches, the latest trend, followed by the next, and then the next. And over time, it all begins to stack layer upon layer without organization. And that's where the problem begins. Because music at its core is not complex. It's built on three things harmony, melody, rhythm. Three. Harmony, melody, rhythm. That's it. Three, which, as you know, produces, gives us our seven facts of music. Everything we do as musicians traces back to those three elements: harmony, melody, rhythm. So the question becomes if music is built on three essential components, why does learning music today feel so overwhelming? And the answer is really quite simple. The answer is we now live in a world driven by constant content creation. And content, by its very nature, must continually introduce something new, something different, something uh attention grabbing. But it's unfortunate because learning does not work that way. Learning requires structure, sequence, repetition, depth, not constant novelty. So what happens? Students begin to equate new information with progress. And that is a huge mistake. When in reality, progress in music is not found in what you add next, it is found in how deeply you understand what is already essential. And that's the whole point of jazz piano skills, right? Music is not found in what you add next, it is found in how deeply you understand essential jazz skills. So if you ever feel like you are spinning your wills, like you are learning a lot, running in place, but not really moving forward, right? Then I would encourage you to take a step back. Return to the foundation. Harmony, melody, rhythm. Strengthen those. And organize your practice around harmony, melody, and rhythm. Maybe that means, I don't know, just maybe that means a harmonic analysis each month of a tune. Then I think maybe it'd be a good idea to follow it up with a melodic analysis. And then maybe after that, you might want to do improvisation development that is rhythm-centric. I don't know. I think that's would be a good idea. That's a powerful approach. Because real growth in music does not come from chasing more information. I have stated this many times. It comes from developing a deeper understanding of what has already been there. And yes, and yes, that requires some good old-fashioned work. I call it grunt work. And the truth is this if you're not willing to do that work, you will find yourself chasing distractions, chasing information, chasing ideas, chasing trends, moving from one approach to the next. I see it all the time. Expending a lot of energy without building anything of real substance. So here we are. A new month, a new tune. But the same reliable, time-tested approach that accomplished jazz musicians have used for years to develop their skills, to develop their play. This month we begin a four-week deep dive into the timeless standard by George Kershwin, a jazz icon, a jazz classic called I Got Rhythm. And of course, here is how our study this month will unfold. Week one, harmonic, uh, harmonic analysis. We'll look at form, harmonic function, unique changes, voicings. Week two, melodic design or melodic analysis. We'll do some ear training, transcribing the melody. We will look at phrasing and target notes within those phrases and various treatments of the tune. Week three, we'll turn our attention to improvisation development, chord scale relationships, melodic pathways, motif development, and rhythmic vocabulary. In week four, we'll we'll spend some time with solo piano approaches, exploring stride, strum, slide approaches, bass lines, harmonic additions and substitutions, orchestration, and more. You know what I love about our monthly tune studies here at Jazz Piano Skills is that we're not just learning tunes, we're developing the skills required to play them confidently, musically, creatively. Whether you are comping or improvising, whether you're playing with a group, or whether you're just sitting at home playing the piano by yourself, telling your own story. And just as important as what we study, I stress this all the time, is how we study. Not just what we study, but how we study. And again, at Jazz Piano Skills, we don't guess. We follow a process, we have a clear agenda, a weekly cadence, a weekly rhythm, a structure that keeps us moving forward with clarity and purpose. You know, and here's what that looks like Tuesday. Every Tuesday, a new podcast episode is launched and it launches the next phase of our study. Thursday, we have a masterclass. We all gather and meet. Uh, Thursday evening, you know, every session is recorded and available if you can't attend the live masterclass. But that occurs every Thursday evening, Saturday, I uh or Sunday, sometime over the weekend, I release a blog which is a recap that reinforces uh the week's work. This structure matters, this consistency matters because great jazz musicians, great jazz pianists are not built through random practice, right? They're built through intentional study, and that's what we do. Intentional study begins with thinking correctly about music. If your thinking is unclear, your progress will be unclear. And often the most difficult part of that problem is that you don't even realize it. That's why in every podcast episode, I take time to establish what I call the seven facts of music. In fact, I just did an entire podcast about the seven facts last week. These are not options, they are foundational truths that keep your thinking clear, organized, and functional. They act as guardrails, quite honestly, ensuring that your understanding of music stays grounded and consistent, and it guides your practicing. So, as I do every episode, what are these seven facts? Fact number one, music is the production of sound and silence. Sound, of course, being, I'm talking about the primary sounds, major, dominant, minor, half diminished, diminished. Fact number two, when sound is produced, we produce it one of two ways, harmonically and melodically. Fact number three, harmonic sounds, harmonic shapes are what we call chords or voicings. Fact number four, melodic shapes, sounds are what we call the scales, the arpeggioles, our melodies. Fact number five, when we play our scales and arpeggioles, we are moving in one of two directions. That's it, up or down. Fact number six, we enhance those shapes, those scales, those arpeggies with tension, or what is referred to as chromaticism, or notes outside of the key. And then finally, fact number seven, to bring it all to life, we apply rhythm. When you truly understand these principles, music stops feeling mysterious and starts feeling logical, manageable, and most importantly, creative. So here we are, again, a new month, a new tune, a clear proven path forward. It's time to roll up our sleeves, focus, and get to work. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. It's time to discover George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm. It's time to learn form, chord changes, harmonic function, block voicings, shell voicings, two-handed voicings. And it's time to play I Got Rhythm using those voicings and to lock in on common harmonic progressions for developing our ears, ear training. So, as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you are a seasoned and experienced professional, you're going to find this lesson exploring I got rhythm to be both accessible and beneficial. Now, before we get started, I want to take a moment, as I always do, to welcome all of you first-time listeners to Jazz Piano Skills. If you're new to the podcast, if you're new to jazz piano skills, welcome. I encourage you to explore becoming a member. Membership gives you access to a structured, comprehensive learning environment designed to support your development at every level. As a member, you'll have access to the complete podcast episodes, including the demonstrations and the lesson content. You will have access to the downloadable podcast packets with illustrations, lead sheets, and play-alongs. You'll have access to a library of courses designed to be sequential, practical, and sound based. You'll have access to our weekly masterclasses along with full audio and video recordings of the class. And you'll have access to our private jazz piano skills community for discussion, questions, and support. And finally, as a jazz pianel skills member, you'll have direct access to me for guidance whenever you need it. Now, all of these resources are designed with one goal in mind to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano in a very clear, structured, and meaningful way. So check it all out at jazzpianoskills.com. And if you have any questions, let me know. I'm always happy to help. And one final note: if you are not already receiving the Jazz Pianel Skills weekly blog post, I encourage you to join the email list. You can do so at the Jazz Panel Skills website. Every weekend, I published a written summary of the week's lesson designed to reinforce what you've learned and to help you stay organized and focused in your study. All right. So before we turn our attention to our study for today and our study for the for the week, it's time for the question of the week. And this week's question comes from Carlotta Maxwell, living in Houston, Texas. And uh Carlotta is a jazz panel skills member. She's a Dallas School of Music student. I have the honor of working with Carlotta every single week, private lessons, uh, and it's a thrill. So I'm happy to uh Carlotta always has great questions, but this one is uh wonderful, so I thought I would uh spotlight it today with a question of the week. And Carlotta's question is simply this I'm always hearing jazz educators say that I need to spend a lot of time listening to jazz, but no one ever explains what I should actually be listening for. What am I supposed to be paying attention to? Carlotta, leave it to you to ask an obvious and perfect question. I could not agree with you more. Jazz educators are very good at telling us what we should be doing, but often we fall silent when it comes to how to do it. And this listening question is a perfect example. We talk about listening all the time, but nobody really ever dives into well, what am what are we listening for? So Carlotta presented me with this question. She also gave me very specific instructions on how to answer it. I I guess I have to have a bullet point here of like 10 things to be listening for. I'm gonna try to come close to that, Carlotta. I'll see. I'll do my very best to um meet the demands here. So, okay, so it's a fantastic question because again, jazz educators are very good at telling us what to do, but we we often kind of neglect the how-to. Okay, so and again, listening is the perfect example. So here's the here's the answer to the the best of my abilities. And and I'll start as I always like to do. Let's simplify this. Okay, so when you listen to jazz, the very first thing I would say to you is you're not listening for everything all at once. I think that's the mistake that everyone makes. You are listening, you're actually listening in in two stages. Think of it as a macro level of listening and then also a micro level of listening. So let's deal with the macro level of listening first. Before you analyze anything, before you think about notes, chords, improvisation, uh, I think your very first job in listening, Carlotta, is to orient yourself. In other words, understand the musical environment you are hearing. Uh think of it this way. Here's a a little analogy. Before you study a city, you need to know where you are, what what kind of place it is, what's happening around you. So, musically speaking, you do the same thing. You you ask, you focus on style, you know, and you ask your ask questions like, is this a swing piece? Is this a bebop, hardbob, cool jazz, modal, fusion? What style of music am I listening to? Because style dictates language, phrasing, rhythm, harmony, everything. So the very first thing I would say to you is listening, uh, identify, listen to and identify the style of music that you are taking in. The next thing I would turn my attention to is I I would ask uh while listening, what is the form? Can I identify the form of this piece? Are we talking about traditional jazz form, A B A, A, B, A, B? Is it a blues form? Is it rhythm changes like we're going to study today? Right. So I turn my attention to form in listening right away because this tells you how the music unfolds. Right. And this is the very first thing we do in our harmonic analysis every month is we look at the the form of the piece. So listen for form. Then the next thing I would listen to, again, macro level, uh, I would be listening for tempo. You know, it ballad? Is it medium, medium tempo? Is it up tempo? I'd lock in on the tempo of the piece. And then with tempo, I'd lock in on time. Can I identify what I'm listening to? Is this is this in four, four time, three, four time, five, four, six, eight? What's the meter? What's right? And then uh I would continue my macro listening. I would I I try to I identify the ensemble. Am I listening to a trio? Is this a quartet? What am I hearing? Is this a big band? What type of ensemble, what type of group am I listening to right now? And then after I identify the group, then I like to identify the instrumentation. What instruments are present, right? Then after I identify instruments, piano, bass, guitar, I'm hearing, you know, saxophone. After I identify instruments, I always like to see if I can identify players. You know, is this Red Garland that I'm listening to? Is this Oscar Peterson? Is this Chick Korea? Right. Every player has a style, and if I'm listening to a group, I always try to, it's kind of almost like a game I play. I try to identify the player, who's the bassist, who's the who's the drummer, who's the pianist based on what I'm hearing. So this whole macro level of listening, I think is so important, you know, to uh to be able to identify style, form, tempo, time, ensemble, instrumentation, player, this kind of stuff. I call it a macro level of listening, um, but it it pays huge rewards also with regards to your own personal development as a player, that type of listening. Now if you skip this step and jump straight into details, you're you are actually listening without context. And listening without context um more times than not uh makes no sense. Nothing will make sense without the context. So again, g this macro level listening is I think where you want to begin. Then you can turn your attention to micro listening, which is another way of saying the details. Right. Once you can comfortably hear the big picture, then it's time to go deeper. And now we listen, at least I do. I listen through this is gonna be a big shocker to everyone. I listen uh through the seven facts of music. Big shocker. So what do I listen for? Well, fact number one, sound. I love to listen and and say, oh, that's major, that's dominant, that's minor. I try to, to the best of my ability, identify the sounds that I am hearing, the sounds that I'm hearing. And then what kind of sounds, uh what types of sounds are these harmonic sounds, melodic sounds uh that I'm hearing as major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished? Um what kind of shapes am I hearing those sounds? Um, you know, like uh is the pianist using chordal voicings or content uh traditional shells or contemporary shells? Uh am I hearing herpeggio movement, scale movement? Again, kind of aligning myself with the seven facts of music. I also pay attention to direction. I love listening to solos and paying very uh careful attention to when ascending motion is being used and descending motion. And and in if I were to if I were to literally uh map that ascending and descending motion, draw it, what what would it look like? What would what would that wave look like, right? Because great solos, great melodies have an a very uh balanced um approach to ascending and descending movement. I I like to listen for tension. Do I hear uh chromaticism being used, tension being used? How's it being resolved? Again, kind of following the seven facts of music. And then I'll lock in on rhythm. I love to listen to rhythmic ideas, rhythmic motifs that are being used and be being repeated by the soloist. Uh, can I then maybe lock in on a specific rhythmic motif that I'm hearing? Can I go then to the piano and and and utilize that rhythmic motif in my own plane, uh maybe improvising over a specific chord? So again, my micro level of thinking is aligned with the seven facts. I'm listening for sound, major, dominant, minor, half diminished. I'm listening, this listening for harmonic and melodic shapes. What kind of voicings am I hearing? What kind of scale and arpeggio movement am I hearing? Um what is the use, uh the balance use of ascending and descending movement through the tune? What kind of tension, chromaticism am I hearing? And what rhythms are catching my attention that that uh I may be able to adopt and utilize in my own plane. So again, I think it's important with this macro and micro layers of listening, uh, the whole point is to not try to hear everything at once, right? Kind of separate it out from a micro a macro listening and micro listening. Focus on one thing at a time, uh, which is so important too. I I you know I rattled off several things with macro listening. I rattled off several things with micro listening in relationship to the seven facts, but it's important to state that within both the macro and micro levels of listening, focus on one thing at a time. Today it may be rhythm, tomorrow it might be uh direction, uh the next day it may be sound, major, dominant, so on. So uh think very intentional, whether you're in the macro camp for listening today or whether you're in the micro camp for listening today. Either way, with regardless of what camp you find yourself in for today with listening, um realize that listening is not passive, right? Listening is a skill, and like any skill, it must be practiced. Right? It must be practiced. So, Carlotta, that's a lot. I hope I've uh successfully met the demand. Uh, it's a great question uh because what you once you know um what you're listening for, once you know how you're listening, macro or micro, and what you're listening for, then listening stops being overwhelming as well. And it starts becoming transformational, and that's where you want to get with your listening. All right, Carlotta. So there you have it. There's my two cents when it comes to uh listening. Uh, I hope that uh again, as always, I hope I didn't create more confusion than clarity. But if I did and uh we need to dig a little deeper, let me know. Uh happy to uh discuss it uh uh with you in more detail. So, all right. So now it's time to discover, learn, and play. It's time to explore George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm. Okay, so when I study a tune, we go through this outline every week because it's that important. Uh when I study a tune, uh I approach it the same way. Genre, as you know, makes no difference. I don't care whether we're looking at a jazz tune, a country, a rock or pop or folk or RB. The process for me is always the same. Number one, I listen, right? Macro and micro listening. And I do so with multiple recordings, professionals, amateurs, um, vocalists, instrumentalist, and of course, pianist. I always then uh like to do a harmonic analysis that we're gonna do today, looking at the form, the chord changes, harmonic function, common movement, various voicings. Then always follow that up with a melodic analysis, uh, transcribing the melody, looking at phrases within the melody, target notes within those phrases, and then of course, stylistic, various stylistic treatments, typically ballad, basus, swing. Then uh always follow that up with improvisation development, chord scale relationships, motif development, melodic pathways, and throughout all of it, throughout all of it, uh harmonic, melodic, improvisation development, rhythm skills, and vocabulary are always at the heart really of harmony, melody, and improvisation. So it's a it's a very thorough, it's a very complete approach that we implement every single week, every single month. And more importantly, you know what? It's a reliable one. It's reliable. So this week, our focus, of course, with the start of the new month, week one, harmonic analysis. As always, we will listen, we will determine form, look at those chord changes, understand the harmonic function of those changes, and then of course explore our voicings. Next week we'll dive into melodic analysis followed by improvisation development. So here is the educational agenda for today. One, listen. Number two, look at the form. Number three, look at the chord changes, number four, explore harmonic function, and number five, apply voicings, traditional block voicings and inversions, our left-hand shell voicings, traditional shell voicings, our 379-735 structures, uh, as well as our contemporary shells built using uh the primary interval, of course, being a fourth, and then of course our two-handed structures. Now, if you are a jazz piano skills member, please take a few minutes right now to download and print your podcast packets. These are the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play-alongs that I develop for every weekly podcast episode. Make sure you have this material in your hands. They are designed to be used while listening to the podcast to get the most out of it, and of course, to be using them throughout the week when practicing as well. Once you have your materials, go ahead and grab your lead sheets. We'll start with those and then I'll talk about the illustrations and the uh backing tracks or the play-alongs toward the end of the podcast. So, in your podcast packet, in your lead sheets, you should have eight lead sheets. Okay. Lead sheet one, form, lead sheet two, we look at the unique uh chord changes, lead sheet three, the nice clean lead sheet of I got rhythm, lead sheet four, uh the harmonic function of I got rhythm. And lead sheet five, uh I have diagrammed the common progressions that we utilize for ear training. Lead sheet six are block voicings, lead sheet seven our left-hand shell voicings, and then lead sheet eight are two-handed voicings. So we got a lot to get through all these lead sheets, as always. We got a lot to get through. So let's begin. Thank you for listening to Jazz Piano Skills. The remaining premium content of this episode is available to Jazz Piano Skills members at Jazz Piano Skills Podcast.com. Visit jazzpianoskills.com to learn more about membership privileges and become a Jazz Pian Skills member. Thank you.