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Does jazz use sheet music?

In Classical music, you use sheet music which indicates every single note you need to play and exactly how to play it. In Jazz, on the other hand, we generally only use a lead sheet (see below).

thejazzpianosite.com - Introduction to Jazz - The Jazz Piano Site

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Classical vs Jazz

Like many pianists, I first started learning Classical music and only later became interested in and transitioned over to Jazz. Unsurprisingly, playing Jazz music requires a completely different skill set to Classical.

Some of the differences between Classical and Jazz music are:

Classical music is (generally) completely composed (with the exception of Bach); while Jazz music is largely improvised; Classical music generally uses a straight rhythm; while Jazz generally uses a swing rhythm; Classical music pieces often have long and highly structured forms (sonatas, etc.); while most Jazz songs have a 12 bar or 32 bar form that just repeats. Interestingly, both early Classical (Baroque & Classical) and early Jazz (Dixieland & Swing) are harmonically relatively simple. And later Classical music (Romantic & Serialism) and later Jazz (Free Jazz & Post-bop) are more harmonically and structurally complex. In fact, there is some overlap with Jazz and 20th Century Classical music (Rhapsody in Blue).

Introduction to Jazz

Lead Sheets

In Classical music, you use sheet music which indicates every single note you need to play and exactly how to play it. In Jazz, on the other hand, we generally only use a lead sheet (see below). A lead sheet outlines only the skeleton of the song – the basic chord progression and melody – and you are NOT supposed to play it exactly as written. Your job as a Jazz musician is to take the basic chords and melody and:

Create a more complex chord progression by using extensions, alterations and substitutions;

Embellish the melody (have a listen to Louis Armstrong play a melody – he never quite plays it exactly as written) and improvise over the chord progression.

Rhythm

Jazz generally (though not always) uses a swing rhythm with a backbeat (accent on beats 2 & 4). This creates a strong syncopated feeling.

Form

Most ‘Traditional’ Jazz Standards have either a 12 bar Blues or a 32 bar AABA/ABAC form, and are played using a ‘Head-Solo-Head’ structure: Head : Means playing the chords and melody largely as written (with substitution and embellishment) : Means playing the chords and melody largely as written (with substitution and embellishment) Solo: Means improvisation over the same chord progression (again, with substitutions) So the song is repeated multiple times with the melody played the first and last time through and improvisation squeezed into the middle. (More modern Jazz, like Post-bop or Free Jazz, use very different forms but we will get to that later).

Homophony

Jazz is almost always ‘homophonic’. This just means that Jazz consists of two part:

Jazz Chords (Harmony); and

Improvisation (Melody).

In this module we will be learning all about Jazz Chords – how to build them and how to analyse them. Then in later modules we will move on to discussing scales and improvisation.

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Is it ever too late to learn jazz?

It's never too late to play jazz gives players the chance to learn about jazz, as well as explore their favourite repertoire in easy-to-play arrangements.

fabermusic.com - pam wedgwood-It's Never Too Late To Play Jazz (Piano Solo) | Faber Music

It's never too late to play jazz gives players the chance to learn about jazz, as well as explore their favourite repertoire in easy-to-play arrangements. The pieces are suitable for those who have learnt for approximately one year, or have reached Level 14 of the It's never too late to play piano tutor, by Pam Wedgwood. This book guides the player through the different skills and techniques needed to play jazz, covering swing rhythm, syncopation, walking bass, blues and improvisation. The pieces are gently progressive and include irresistible new pieces by Pam and Olly Wedgwood, as well as plenty of jazz classics such as I Get A Kick Out Of You, A Nightingale Sang, My Baby Just Cares For Me and As Time Goes By. The CD contains performance tracks and a range of backing tracks to bring your jazz playing to life! Pam Wedgwood is one of the UK’s favourite composers of popular piano music and creator of Jazzin' About, After Hours and Up-Grade. The ground-breaking It's never too late... Series gives adults the opportunity to learn the piano with a method devised especially for them. This best-selling tutor breaks the learning into manageable chunks, features accompanying CDs, and is packed with irresistible music and fascinating information - all the motivation needed to make learning fun!

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