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 of this solo.

Successful transcribers break material down into manageable segments. Thinking in smaller chunks provides clear goals for us to transcribe and helps create a structure that will lead to success. Especially for beginning transcribers, select solos that have very clear phrasing structures to work with. I stated in the last blog, but I'll say it again -the clarity of phrasing is one of the aspects that I really like about this solo. And let's be clear about something- clear phrasing is not just a concept to help early transcribers. Clear phrasing means good communication, good extension of idea, and good improvisation. So with that, let's plow into the second phrase.

Young's second phrase provides a strong contrast to the first. Here, he expands the range in phrase two which has the effect of increasing the intensity level of the solo. This phrase is also slightly longer than the first beginning with a pick-up on the and of count three in bar four and carrying into measure 8. A reminder of our process: Listen, Sing, Play, Write.

Click Here to listen to phrase 2

Once you progress onto the playing stage, and play this phrase, make sure to connect it to first phrase so that you have two very coherently phrases that work together.