Teaching Jazz

by Per Danielsson

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As a teacher of jazz, I'm often approached by classical students wanting to learn jazz "just for the fun of it," without realizing the amount of work and practice involved. Usually after the first couple of lessons the student realizes that learning jazz is not as easy as he or she thought it would be, and that the study of jazz needs to be approached with the same sincerity and discipline as classical music.

At most universities, jazz majors are required to study classical music which is essential in order to have an understanding of the delicate sides of one's instrument. It also teaches the jazz musician technique and control which is also important in jazz. Since jazz musicians are improvising and composing on the spot we need proficiency on our instrument in order to quickly be able to play our ideas and to be spontaneous.

So where do we start when student X walks in for his/her first jazz piano lesson?

1. Technique: Make sure the student has the technical ability to play jazz. If not, give him exercises in the form of scales and etudes. It's a waste of time teaching a student material that they can't play.

2. Basic chord construction: Check the student's knowledge of simple chord construction. Depending on the skill level, you might have to start with basic concepts like triads, dominant chords, major/minor chords.

3. Locate 3rd&7th: Before learning the standard jazz voicings, including chords with altered notes, the student must be familiar with the 3rd and 7th notes of the chord. These notes are the foundation of many jazz chords and it is important to understand their function.

4. Left Hand Voicings: The basic left hand voicings will serve as a foundation of more complex two hand voicings. These voicings include 3rd, 7th, 9th or 13th depending on the quality of chord.

5. ii-V-I progression: The ii-V-I progression is perhaps the most common chord progression in jazz and should be understood as soon as possible. There are a wide variety of exercises that can be applied depending on the level of the student. For the more advanced student more complicated voicings should be explored. Every jazz pianist should be comfortable with many different ii-V-I voicings in all the keys.