Styles of Piano Music

[jidus]

Hello all.  My name is Matt, and I am a "student" of sorts from Indiana.  I started playing piano when I was very young (around 5 years old), and fell in love with the instrument.  Early on, I had some issues with lessons because I did not enjoy the things that I was learning.  I had other styles and practices that I felt more drawn to, and my teacher did not agree with my style of learning.

Just to clarify, I play almost exclusively by ear.  It's not that I am unable to read sheet music. I just happen to have  a particular talent for quickly and efficiently picking out individual notes, chords, progressions and scales by ear.  Needless to say, this has its limitations.  I have decent technique, but far from perfect.  Also, rhythm seems to be a bit of a weak point for me.

I have a grasp on much of the beginning/intermediate piano theory, as well as a few different styles of playing.  Jazz/Blues piano is/are my favorite style(s) of play.

Now that you understand where I am coming from, here is my issue.  I want to broaden my musical repetoir by learning new techniques.  However, it seems that if I want to learn something new, most methods of learning envolve going back to the basics.  I don't need to learn major scales, minor scales, or basic chords. Does anyone have asuggestion or two on how I should go about learning a new style of music?  I am particularly interested in early jazz, bop, swing, and "coctail piano". 

I would also be greatful for any tips/tricks on improving my fingering and rhythm.


Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[soitainly]

 Well, you say you have a well developed ear, there should be few problems figuring out a lot about the styles you mentioned. I suspect your ear isn't as good as you think since you have to ask about forms of music that are largely learned by ear and intuition. Regardless of technique, to play jazz it would be a good course of study to really learn all there is to know about music theory. Not only the book learning but hearing the harmonies and intervals. In some ways learning jazz improvisation can be more difficult than more formal music, it's not just about the dots and where to put your fingers. (I am by no means implying classical music is about dots and fingers). You have to be able to hear whats going on around you and react to it creatively.

 So much of jazz music is about swing feel and rhythm. If you struggle with this playing straight time then it will be compounded trying to play jazz. You just have to live that kind of music until it becomes natural. In my opinion, the whole idea of traditional jazz styles is improvisation on a certain set of harmonic ideas, and usually the swing feel is a big part of that. Thats not to say more modern forms aren't jazz, but the styles you mentioned are largely a factor of the ryhthm and harmonies. Hopefully, a combination of talent and hard study will allow you to play any style you wish. Most of the originators of jazz learned anyway they could, by ear and often on the bandstand. I guess you could fake jazz by being a really good copycat, but the greats were all very individual and innovative.

[jidus]

While I thank you for your reply, I find your post to be quite condescending.  I was not intending to say that I have obtained the best ear imaginable, nor do I desire to copy anyone.  If you will notice in my previous post, I said that Jazz/Blues are styles that I enjoy to play.  I also said that I can play almost everything (if not everything) that I hear.  I do this in my own way, without regard to any "standard" fingerings, or otherwise.  This means that I can already play much of the types of progressions, scales, and chords that are generally involved in jazz music. 

It might help you to understand that I am not at all a book learner.  I feel in many ways that music is a personal mode of creative expression, and that reading music is counter intuitive to creativity.  I realize that I may be wrong in this belief, but I have little desire to read music.

My weaknesses lie in a very slight lack of rhythm.  I am certainly able to hold a beat. However, I am simply not perfect.  I am looking for any exercises that might improve my rhythm.

While I do agree that the styles of piano that I mentioned are largely personally expressive - and rooted in improvisation - there are definitely patterns, chords, and rhythms associated with them.  These are what I am looking for.  I don't expect to read it from a book (nor would I like to read it from a book).  However, if anyone has any resources for learning these types of patterns, etc I would appreciate it.

I apologize, soitainly, but your post was not even remotely helpful.