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Topic: Classical pieces jazz-arranged  (Read 1682 times)

Offline stefo78

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Classical pieces jazz-arranged
on: November 15, 2013, 07:46:33 PM
Hi,

I’ve just stepped across some videos of Pierre Yves Plat, below some youtube links. What do you know of this kind of thing ? Do you know other artists doing such things ?





I find that’s a lot of fun - if not played too much, and since the original pieces are very well-known, I think it could be interesting to add a little of this kind of amusement to my repertoire.

However, since I’m completely unaware of difficulties to play this kind of thing (euuh… what is jazz ? ;)), do you know the difficulty level of these, compared to the difficulty level of the original pieces ? (Transcriptions can be bought on the net, I don’t want to buy them if I realize after that I completely unable to play that).

Thanks !

Offline hcollins

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Re: Classical pieces jazz-arranged
Reply #1 on: November 19, 2013, 07:43:41 PM
I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff. But I watched those videos, and was completely captivated and amazed.
It really looks and sounds amazing.
Love it!
Thanks for sharing!

-Haley

Offline snoa

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Re: Classical pieces jazz-arranged
Reply #2 on: November 20, 2013, 02:18:19 AM
Kyle Landry does something similar, though he draw his influences from people like Chopin and Debussy, so he doesn't have too much of a jazz sound. Look up Kyle Landry's version of "Dire Dire Docks" and "Hallelujah" as examples. What Landry does (and what I imagine Pierre Yves Plat is doing) is called "improv". As in, they know the melody of the piece they're playing, but they're adding their own "spin" to it, either by adjusting the rhythm of the music or adding their own fills that they either think up on the spot or pull from a sort of repertoire of short little fills they know how to play in any key and integrate into music.

I've been a jazz musician all my life across several different instruments. If you want to play music like Plat or Landry does, I'd start off with playing the original pieces that Pierre Yves Plat is playing first (so, not his version of the songs, the original version), if you have them. It's hard to gauge how difficult these songs would be without knowing your own skill level. But once you have the original pieces, learn them and learn them well, be able to play them by memory if you can.

Next, listen to jazz, lots of jazz. Can be any kind of jazz too on any instrument, not just piano. If you hear a phrase in a jazz song that you like, learn how to play it (you won't need the sheet music to learn how to play it. Just transcribe it by ear. It sounds difficult but after awhile it's very easy) until it becomes muscle memory, learn how to play it in different keys, too. Slowly build a repertoire of jazz phrases.

After that, go back to the original songs that you already know how to do by heart, and add your own tweaks to them. Since you don't have the music in front of you, you won't be obligated to follow the sheet music perfectly, and since you've been listening to a lot of jazz, you'll be able to know what "feels" right. Start off small, don't worry about doing anything crazy complex, maybe stagger the rhythm a little or throw in some transitory chords (This is where you can exercise your theory knowledge). Don't worry if you mess up the song too. Embrace your mistakes! In jazz, there are no "wrong" notes; because no matter what key you're in, every "wrong" note is only a half-step away from two "correct" notes. So if you mess up, don't stop, stammer, or stutter, just roll up or down a half step as if you just played a grace note and act like you never made a mistake at all. When you're done improvising a phrase, move on to the next part of the song (Or any part of the song, really. It's jazz, have fun with it!), once you're really in to it that's when you pull from your repertoire and add in phrases (Well, not really full phrases, maybe just two or three measures' worth) from other songs, again with some minor tweaks added if you choose to. Keep doing this and you can be an improv master!

So I guess that answers the question "How can I play like Pierre Yves Plat" more than it answers "How difficult are these songs", but aye, if you follow that advice then it won't matter how difficult they are because you should find them easier to play at that point.

The most important part to improv is having a lot of jazz influences. If you want to be a good writer, you have to read good books; if you want to be a good jazz musician, you have to listen to good jazz music. If you want some links to good jazz musicians, send me a PM and I'll give you links to a few of the standard jazz songs.

Offline gregh

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Re: Classical pieces jazz-arranged
Reply #3 on: November 20, 2013, 08:07:52 PM
I've heard it said: If you play a wrong note, play it again, but louder.

Offline snoa

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Re: Classical pieces jazz-arranged
Reply #4 on: November 20, 2013, 09:38:26 PM
I've heard it said: If you play a wrong note, play it again, but louder.

I was listening to a lecture by Victor Wooten, he got a band to play a groove based in A major, and then played a bass line to go with it that was based around G#. Still got it to work, sounded nice.

Offline gregh

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Re: Classical pieces jazz-arranged
Reply #5 on: November 21, 2013, 07:02:04 PM
For that matter, I've wondered about playing a nice classical piece with a drummer to put a groove on it. Might as well add a bassist, too. I have a "Classical Real Book", which has chord changes on the songs, so your bassist will know what's going on in "The Magic Flute", I suppose.

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