With the Billie Bounce progression, I'd like to experiment with the metric location of the guide tones in the left hand. This texture is particularly useful for comping while soloing with your right hand. On the screen, you can see a guide on the realization of the blues using the Charleston rhythm. So we're going to play, again, just a quick reminder, the Charleston rhythm utilizes [SOUND] two rhythmic values, one on the beat and one off the beat. So one, two, three, four. One and, one and. Okay, so listen, the way the finger corresponds with the metronome on the two and four. I'm going to play it without the root, just with my left hand. Okay, one, two, a one, two, three, four. [MUSIC] Okay. So one thing, when you have two chords per measure, notice the second part of the Charleston figure anticipates the on beat three. So for instance, in measure four, you have C minor F7. [SOUND] So you notice that the second part of the Charleston rhythm anticipates F7 chord. [MUSIC] All right. So that's the very characteristic thing, you always try to anticipate the upcoming chord, to create that forward moving progression, all right? So now let us experiment with displacing the Charleston rhythm within the measure. We have four beats in 4/4 time. And these beats are subdivided into eighth notes, because in jazz, we are basically dealing with eighth note subdivisions. So we have eight different locations that you can place that Charleston rhythm. Because if you only play on beat one, after a while, it's going to be very boring, so you should be able play that figure on different metric locations and really experience how these different locations feel like and sound like. So, on the screen you can see what we're going to do. We're going to pray, just to keep things organized, and manageable. The first line we're going to place the Charleston rhythm on beat one. Then we're going to displace the figure by one eighth note through the second line, measures five through eight. We're going to start the figure on end of one but we're going to retain the same characteristic of the Charleston rhythm, so instead of when we start on the end of one, the second part of the rhythm will occur on beat two. So one, two, three, four, one, and [SOUND], right? So we have upbeat and down. One, two, three, four, one, [SOUND] and down. And finally, in measures 9 through 12, we're going to further displace our Charleston rhythm and place it on beat two. So let's see if we can do that. Again, only left hand. The point here is to be very deliberate and try to experience that figure, how it sounds, how it feels, how your body reacts to these different placements. So first on a down beat. One, two, a one, two, three, four. [MUSIC] End of one, one, one, one, one, one two. One, one, one, one okay? So it's fun. And you can create your own rubrics for improvisation, and again even though the left hand gives your right hand harmonic information, provides harmonic information. You can also think of it in a more independent fashion. You can think about kind of improvisation with your left hand as well. How you're going to manage your rhythmic figures. Where are you going to play the figure, and ultimately, you're going to have that complementary relationship between both hands. So, there are eight different locations, metric locations that the Charleston figure can occupy within a measure. So you can experimenting with different metric locations. I will strongly encourage you to spend one week on one metric location. Second week, don't rush, just really try to internalize those figures, rather than kind of doing everything at once. Focus on one thing at a time. Now, important reminder. When you play your Charleston rhythm on beat three, make sure that the second part of the Charleston rhythm anticipates the upcoming chord. So if my original progression, Billie's Bounce, the second measure goes to B flat, right? So if I play the figure on B3, so one, two, three, four, one, two. [MUSIC] And here, one, two, three, four, and, so second part, always anticipating the next chord. So now, in keeping with the main objective for this session, we can employ our existing play and sing strategies as explained in the previous segment, and add some new ones. We can play the rhythmicized guide tones with the left hand and sing the root of the underlying harmonies like this. So now, I will reduce speed to half note equals 45. And I will sing the root of the chords. [SOUND] And play the rhythmicized guide tones. And see if you can do these kind of figures, these kind of tasks. And again, the main point is to be able to internalize these sounds and work on your independence. [SOUND] That's your root one, one, two, one, two, three, one, one, one, five, one, one, one, one, five, one, five, one, five, one, one, one, one, one. And playing at that slow tempo, it's really challenging, it's even more difficult to play at a slower tempo than at a fast tempo because you have to really think about the beat subdivision. And remember from our earlier lectures, subdivision ensuing, the beat subdivision is going like a triplet beat, like [SOUND], so that's what you should really hear. And that slow tempo is really challenging to do these kinds of things, all right? And we can make things more challenging. We can sing root and a third, [SOUND] root and a fifth, and so forth. Let me see if I can actually demonstrate one of these. So I will play root and a third of the chord. One, three. [SOUND] One, two, three, four. One, three. One, three, one, three, five. One, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, five, one, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one. Okay, and the same thing with singing roots and a fifth, and so forth. You notice that when I went to two chords per measure, I was singing quarter notes, and when we went into the chord inversion in measure three. I was holding the fifth of the chord, just to capitalize on these kind of voice reading tendencies and on the natural tendency of the diminished passing chord that happened before.
