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There is a devious irony with regard to all creative endeavors. The action of engaging in creative activities is what develops our...
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Matt McVeigh
- Apr 14, 2021
- 2 min
Rhythmic Transcription
What are the jazz notes? Seriously, what are the notes that distinguish jazz from other styles of music? What notes are different in...
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Matt McVeigh
- Apr 8, 2021
- 2 min
Note Detective - Crossword Puzzle Transcription
Humans seem to be hard-wired to move from left to right, top to bottom. It seems like a basic literacy concept so formally in-grained...
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Matt McVeigh
- Apr 2, 2021
- 2 min
Transcription Prescription
Last fall, we featured a series of blog posts on transcribing. This was an important series and it laid out many of the basics of the...
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Matt McVeigh
- Mar 29, 2021
- 2 min
Out of the Box Strategies for Learning Tunes Pt 3: Write a Contrafact
A contrafact is simply a new melody on an existing chord progression. There are tons of contrafacts and certainly this idea is not...
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Matt McVeigh
- Mar 5, 2021
- 2 min
Out of the Box Strategies for Learning Tunes - Pt 2: Transcribe the Melody
If you have a Real Book, check out the melody to There Will Never Be Another You. I will save you some time. You will see the melody to...
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Matt McVeigh
- Mar 1, 2021
- 2 min
Out the box strategies for Learning Tunes Pt 1: Make a Playlist
Learning tunes is where technique meets creativity. This is where the melody and the harmony This is where we get to put it altogether...
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Matt McVeigh
- Jan 22, 2021
- 2 min
Memorizing Tunes
Here is a quick 3-step strategy to memorizing any jazz standard: repetition, repetition, repetition. I mean....yes, and no. It is true...
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Matt McVeigh
- Jan 18, 2021
- 1 min
Where do I Start?
So this may sound a little cliche' but the best tunes to learn are the ones that you are most excited about. I used to spend a lot of...
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Matt McVeigh
- Jan 13, 2021
- 2 min
Learning Tunes
A musicians repertoire is like the chef's recipe's. This is largely what gives us our identity as a musician. We can amass serious...
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Matt McVeigh
- Jan 11, 2021
- 3 min
New Year - So where are we going...
Have you gotten the ads from the "get in shape" crowd? I have, and it always feels strange to me. It isn't that I don't think I need it,...
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Matt McVeigh
- Jan 11, 2021
- 2 min
Influence Pt IV: Language
It doesn't happen often. But when it does I know it. Despite my intentions my fathers words come out of my mouth. These aren't bad...
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Matt McVeigh
- Dec 17, 2020
- 3 min
Influences Pt III: Intensity of Craft
John Coltrane is the gold standard of pursuit. Coltrane's story focuses a lot on the last decade of his life. His pursuit of music was...
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Matt McVeigh
- Dec 8, 2020
- 2 min
Influences Pt 2: Finding Voice
I have had the benefit of falling in love with a lot of jazz musicians. Some are similar, but generally I fall in love with each one for...
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Matt McVeigh
- Dec 1, 2020
- 3 min
An EZ Play Christmas Book, A Soap Opera Theme Song and the formation of Musical Influence.
I have been thinking a lot about influences. How they change, and how they don't. How we can be initially inspired in a flash and then...
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Matt McVeigh
- Nov 30, 2020
- 2 min
Group Transcription - Pound Cake Phrase 3
There is a lot of focus among improvisers on the third phrase of the blues, and rightly so. This is the phrase that pulls the first two...
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Matt McVeigh
- Nov 25, 2020
- 2 min
A Jazz Thanksgiving
There is always jazz for every Occassion. Below is some selected music for the thanksgiving holiday. Vince Guaraldi - Thanksgiving Theme...
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Matt McVeigh
- Nov 23, 2020
- 1 min
Group Transcription - Pound Cake Phrase 2
Last week's blog post focused on the first phrase of Lester Young's solo on Pound Cake. This post is going move into the second phrase...
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Matt McVeigh
- Nov 19, 2020
- 2 min
Transcribable Solos
Transcribing solos (or parts of solos) is the single most important thing you can do to develop your skill as a jazz musician. But I am...
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Matt McVeigh
- Nov 16, 2020
- 2 min
Group Transcription - Pound Cake Phrase 1
The next several blog posts will work through a chorus of a Lester Young Solo. I am going to break this solo down phrase by phrase and...
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