Internalizing Tunes

While ‘sheltering-in-place’ this last week, I discovered a very useful process to help with soloing on standard tunes. The following outline need not be applied strictly over and over, but try doing it step-by-step for a song or two and see what seems useful to you.

LEARNING THE MELODY
1. Play the melody multiple times. Play it all over the range of your instrument until you are able to change octaves in the middle of the melody at will.
2. Do the same thing but this time embellish the melody with passing notes and grace notes, and also freely interpret the rhythms so that the melody sounds like you might have just made it up on the spot.
3. Play pieces of the melody and then improvise for a bar or two, back and forth. Use other chord notes and also passing notes between chord notes in the improvised parts.

LEARNING THE HARMONY
1. Play pieces of the arpeggios of the chords of the song using the full range of your instrument. No set number of bars on each chord here—
just play until you are comfortable with each one.
2. Play the chords in time, with the same number of bars/beats for each chord as indicated in the chart. (It is best to use the accurate charts found in Sher Music Co.’s “New Real Book” series.) Try to use chord notes only, as much as you can. For this exercise, play the chord notes with soloistic phrasing, not just running arpeggios. Do this until you have memorized the chord sequence and can play through it without looking at the lead sheet.
3. This time add scalar and chromatic passing notes to connect chord notes. (i.e., think of the chord but play anything you hear.) Do this until the chord sequence has been internalized and you can sense the next chord before it comes up. This will give your lines a feeling of forward motion because you will be heading for the next chord change, even as you are playing on the current one.

USING THE MELODY’S PHRASES TO CREATE YOUR SOLOS
Think of (or sing) the melody’s phrases to yourself while you are soloing, but use any notes, not just the notes of the melody. Thinking in phrases will help you avoid sounding like you are just ‘wiggling your fingers.’ Use either rests or longer-held notes to separate phrases. Here are some suggestions for how to start each phrase.
1. Start on the melody notes at the beginning of each bar, then play whatever you hear after that.
2. Start on the roots of the chords at the beginning of each bar.
3. Start on any chord note at the beginng of each bar.
4. Start each bar on a step-wise (including half-steps) sequence of ‘target’ notes. Work this out in advance if you want or just improvise these as you go.
5. Start each phrase on any note that you hear, but do keep the melody’s phrases in mind as you go through the song.
6. It’s fun to play a string of short phrases that all are variations of each other. By doing this, you might leave the melody’s phrasing for a while but that’s fine as long as you know where you are in the tune.

INTERNALIZE THE SONG
1. Spend some time analysing the structure of the song. For almost all standards, you can break the song up into four-bar sections---so treat each one as an independent unit in which you understand the chord movements and can therefore look at it as a single piece of information (e.g. II-V-I-VI). The chords at the beginning of each four-bar phrase create a sequence that is like the signature of that tune, so make sure you have that engrained in your mind.
2. By using these different ways of learning a tune, at the end of this process you should be able to intuitively know where you are in the song without thinking too much about it. What this ends up doing is giving you a sense that you can feel the whole tune wrapped around you, so to speak, even as you are playing on a particular part of it. At this point, “The Song is You,” to quote Jerome Kern. Have a ball! - Chuck Sher

Shelter-in-Place

Folks - Much of the SF Bay Area is under a "shelter-in-place" order because of the coronavirus. I send my best wishes out to anyone affected by the pandemic and I hope for a more competent and robust federal response soon, like last week, eh?

Meanwhile, I've been in the woodshed, learning all the standards in The New Real Book, Vol.3, bass clef version, and watching my musicianship grow by leaps and bounds. So dust off your Sher Music books and use this time to get to your next level of musical understanding - have a ball doing it! - Chuck Sher

A Musical New Year's Resolution

Intention matters­­—what I intend every time I approach my instrument matters. What am I serving, really? If it is “self-expression,” if my intention is to have my emotions expressed through my instrument, what is being served? More and more I see that my emotions are no more interesting or valuable to the outside world than my thoughts. Both are necessary parts of my ‘lower self,’ as the phrase goes, but they are of limited value—even to myself, much less the rest of the world.

So what is worth intending when I sit down to play music? How about expressing the beauty that is already inherent in a given piece of music? How about being a servant of the song, instead of visa versa?

This requires several things, I’ve found. It requires never leaving the pulse as a prime focus. Counting while playing may very well turn out to be essential here, as Peter Erskine says he does in his book, “Time Awareness.” It requires a commitment to be aware of the underlying chord structure of the tune at all times, and to uncover ever-new ways of realizing that structure. It requires being a transmitter of the beauty of the particular song being played, not having the song serve my needs.

The little way I’ve traveled down this path in recent weeks has shown me that, in fact, I can’t help “expressing myself” as I play. The music is coming through me and so what I play, of necessity, will reflect who I am, including my emotional realities. But playing music in order to “express myself” is miles away from intending to serve the music as best I can. And I believe, as it says in the Good Book, that one cannot simultaneously serve two masters.

To me, this is a New Year’s resolution worth sticking to, and I hope it proves to be of some value to you as well. Have a swinging New Year! - Chuck Sher

November Holiday Overstock sale!

Well, the Holidays are approaching and Sher Music is having a 1/3 off sale on selected books for horn players that we have overstock of. These include some transposed versions of The New Real Books (Vol.1-3), the Standards Real Book and several method books. If you are a horn player, these are the lowest prices we've ever had on these world-class books and they also would make great presents for your horn player friends. The sale last the whole month of November - see https://www.shermusic.com/sale.php for details and have a great Holiday season! -  Chuck Sher & the Sher Music team.

40th Anniversary sale!

In case you haven't heard, Sher Music turned 40 years old this year and we are having a big sale to celebrate -  50% off on all digital downloads, starting August 15 and running through September 1st. All of our method books are available in digital form and some of our fake books too. Spread the word & thanks for making Sher Music the most widely-respected jazz and Latin music book publisher in the world since 1979! Peace - Chuck Sher

New for 2019 Election season - Lester Young for President T-shirt

Being a political junkie, I spend a chunk of every day keeping up on the news of the bizarre situation on our planet here and the attached t-shirt idea came to me.

I gave the idea to my artistically talented daughter, Ani, and we now have t-shirts for sale at www.shermusic.com.

Speaking of crucial decisions, I wrote the following letter to the editor which has now been printed in 23 newspapers, nation-wide. I hope you find it useful &/or enlightening. If so, please pass it on. Peace - Chuck Sher

"What Will Our Children Say?" 

The last year or two has seen an unusual number of U.S. natural disasters: major hurricanes, massive Midwest floods, way too many deadly tornadoes, severe wildfires, subzero cold spells, some of the hottest years on record, etc. The rest of the world has likewise suffered increasing droughts, desertification, melting glaciers, typhoons, flooding, heat waves, etc.

These phenomena are not unrelated. The vast majority of climate scientists say they are the beginning effects of 'climate disruption' that will, without question, get significantly worse in the foreseeable future. For the next 11 years, according to the latest reports from scientists at both the UN and the US government, we have the chance to ensure that the worst case scenarios do not come to pass, by de-carbonizing our economies. (For more information, see David Wallace-Wells on YouTube.)

Each additional degree of global warming will make the extreme weather we've already seen many, many times worse for future generations (as well as creating untold millions of climate refugees). But it can be turned around, and must be, starting now.  This is no joke, no hoax, but rather a deadly serious, long-term, life-threatening emergency.

Instead of denial, we need to ask ourselves one serious question: What will our children and grandchildren say about us 30 or 50 years from now? Will they curse us for willfully ignoring the clear signs of the impending destruction of a reasonably livable planet for them? This question requires our active attention.

Chuck Sher's end-of-the-year jazz radio show

For over a decade now I have been presenting high-quality recorded jazz on our local public radio station, KRCB-FM, generally the first Saturday of each month.

Coming up this Saturday, December 1st, from 7 pm to 11 pm, Pacific time, I'll be playing the best tracks of 2018 (or at least new to me this year). To listen in, just go to radio.krcb.org. Enjoy! - Chuck

New book from Randy Vincent!

I think it is safe to say that Randy Vincent has become the world's foremost authority on learning to play jazz guitar. With his latest release, "The Guitarist's Introduction to Jazz," he has created a reference book that someone who plays guitar but wants to learn jazz will find most useful. His book's webpage gives all the particulars but here I would just like to say that Randy is a unique kind of genius, if I may use that sometimes abused term. Randy is a practicing fool and his personal submersion in mastering the craft of jazz guitar makes him a pleasure to play music with (which I have had the honor of doing for many years now) and also an invaluable member of the jazz guitar community, via the medium of his method books and his personal one-on-one teaching. Out just in time for Christmas or Chanukkah presents this year, it will be of great use to guitar teachers as well as individuals for self-study. Many thanks to one of the great musical minds of our time, Randy Vincent, for giving us the honor of publishing his books!

New Sher Music books for 2018!

Folks - Sher Music Co. now has four new books that have been released in the past month. Many thanks to the authors and each of the members of the Sher Music team for 'beyond the call of duty' efforts to get these books ready for publication! A little 'behind the scenes' description of their publication follows:

1) "Decoding Afro-Cuban Jazz: The Music of Chucho Valdes" by Chucho and Rebeca Mauleon. My esteemed colleague Rebeca Mauleon approached me and asked if I would like to publish her 'magnum opus.' I said, 'Sure,' but was not really prepared for what a masterpiece she had created. To my informed eye, it is the most definitive treatise on both Latin Jazz and the origins of Afro-Cuban music in general that has ever been written. If you are a lover of Latin music, don't miss it!
2) "New Orleans Trumpet: A Down-Home Conservatory Method" by Jim Thornton. I gave Jim's manuscript to Doug Morton, the excellent trumpet player in my band,  to review and he gave it back to me saying it was the most enjoyable trumpet method book he'd ever read. And, in fact, after reading through it myself I was in total agreement. Jim is such a personable guy and the story of how he became a trad jazz trumpet player by moving to New Orleans and totally immersing himself in the music and the lifestyle of the Big Easy is completely engaging (even for a non-trumpeter). Along the way he explains some crucial music theory concepts and technical information that will benefit anyone reading the book, I'm sure. Another unique Sher Music publication!
3) "Jazz Scores and Analysis, Vol.1" by Richard Lawn. Rick sent me his manuscript and the sheer magnitude of this 'labor of love' bowled me over. In 433 pages Rick presents the fully annotated scores for six masterpieces of contemporary large ensemble jazz writing, one each by Vince Mendoza, Bob Mintzer, Jim McNeely, John Hollenbeck, Darcy James Argue and John Fedchock. He then dissects each one and shows the inner workings of the piece by explaining numerous characteristic passages and showing how the piece is constructed overall. It also includes interviews, a discography of each composer and more. Every arranging student or professional needs to have this in their library and I am super-proud to be the publisher of this landmark work.
4) "Jazz Songs for the Student Violinist" by Joanne Keefe and Kevin M. Mitchell. An old acquaintance of mine, Kevin approached me with the idea for this project saying that his kids had grown up in the Suzuki method but that there was nothing resembling jazz in any of their recitals. So he decided to create that additional repertoire himself, and this book is the result. We hope it will create many life-long lovers of jazz by exposing them to our unique art form at an early age. We are honored to have pianist Larry Dunlap and violinist Jeremy Cohen perform the audio for each piece, available on our website.

You can see details on all of these books at the top of our home page at www.shermusic.com. More coming later this year so stay tuned and keep swinging! - Chuck Sher

New - 3-Horn Arrangements for "The Real Easy Book, Vol.2"!

When we turned The Real Easy Book, Vol.1 into a three-horn version two years ago, band directors were thrilled by the possibilities that the expanded arrangements opened up for their ensembles. The three-horn version contains two extra harmony parts to be played during the melodies, as well as three background parts behind soloists and 'shout choruses' before the out heads.
So we are now offering the same sort of three-horn arrangements for eight selected tunes in The Real Easy Book, Vol.2.

Available on our website only (http://shermusic.com), they are being offered as a single digital package consisting of:

• Two extra complete horn parts for all eight songs.
• For the melody player, we have included background parts for use behind soloists and also 'shout chorus' parts for each tune. (The melodies themselves are not included here, but remain the same as in the printed book.)
• Each of these horn parts are given in C, Bb, Eb and bass clef versions.
• All this at a minimal cost of $24, which comes out to $3 per song.

Songs included in this upgrade are:

1. “Barbara” by Horace Silver
2. “Black Orchid” by Cal Tjader
3. “Fantasy in D” by Cedar Walton
4. “Jeannine” by Duke Pearson
5. “Jubilation” by Junior Mance
6. “Peace” by Horace Silver
7. “Sky Dive” by Freddie Hubbard
8. “Whisper Not” by Benny Golson