Bebop, As Digested by a Classical Musician
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2019
- How has learning about bebop and jazz been like, as a classically trained musician? And how has it influenced my approach to music? In this video I break down elements of bebop from my perspective, learn from jazz musicians Aimee Nolte and Glenn Zaleski, and also share with you my written arrangement of "All The Things You Are."
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As always, thank you so much for watching, and thank you to all of you that leave comments. - เพลง
I love listening to smart people challenging their own lack of knowledge. It's inspiring!
YES!
SO MUCH!!
How do you think they're so smart? (◕ᴗ◕✿)
@@emp5352 You can tell when someone is smart by how they approach learning new things. Dumb people don't bother. Most people will learn it in bits and pieces. Smart people are very deliberate, have a good understanding of how much they don't know yet, and try to learn it methodically.
@@Brad-qw1te Great Comment!!! Adam got himself Buuuuuuuurnnnnned YO!!! Adam's momma's so fat that when she puts on a red dress, kids be runnin' up her thinking shes gonna be jumpin' through walls like da damn Kool-Aid n' shiiiit!!!
Jazz musician explaining harmony to classical musician.
Jazz: So you've got two basic chords, a tonic and a dominant 7th b9.
Me: Got it.
Jazz: Then you remove the root of the dominant leaving you with a diminished 7 chord.
Me: Okay...
Jazz: Then you modify the scale.
Me: Uh-huh..., right...
Jazz: And then you just go something like doo-bee-doo-bee-dooo-bow-woow.
Me: Wait... What?
🤣🤣
Hahaha
I just read in John Dankworth's autobiography that he once collaborated with a symphony orchestra and his jazz musicians constantly got in trouble for improvising when they weren't supposed to. At one point the symphony conductor said in his thick European accent 'Eet ees not jazz, eet ees ta-ta!' For months afterwards back in their own rehearsals the jazz musicians would ask each other 'Ees eet jazz, or ta-ta?' then answer 'oh, ees definitely ta-ta.' XD
Licc
In short... complex bouncy noise
The humility, respect, and curiosity that she brings to her study of new genres, coupled with her tremendous professionalism and level of craft, make Nahre and her exploration a breath of fresh air. Brava!
I love that she pushes herself to do those things. It's incredibly difficult to try to grasp new genres as a classical musician but going out of your comfort zone is so important in a creative field like music.
One of the greatest failings of classical musicians trying improvisation is the fear of "wrong-ness".
It was around 40 years ago I was at a party, actually I think it was based at this particular girls house. She was a member of a local classical group, in which she played upright Bass. Between the trained and untrained musicians a simple blues jam couldn't be gotten through. I wish I would have thought to turn her onto Paul Chambers, he could probably pedal through A sharpening and flattening it and make it fit
@@josephcohen2593 you're right I grab it and hang on until it becomes right... Freddie Hubbard used to do it but planned.
Michael Wong, you are soooo right. I am classically trained but play other music from rock to jazz. What Jazz taught me, is that there is no such thing as a wrong note, if you can creatively add context it is immediately justified. This idea which is the basis of modern music is absolutely lost on classical musicians. There are many more such ideas, but I just named an obvious one. The tragedy of classical training is that it is primarily geared to produce symphony orchestra musicians. Basically musicians that need to play a written piece exactly the same as a CNC machine would execute Gcode without any room for improvisation or creativity. Only interpretation is allowed and then about only for the soloists. This was crucial for Classical music to persist 100-200 years ago, but is largely becoming obsolete. The CNC-thing with classical training is really bothering me, and although I received excellent technical ability through classical training, there was 0% creativity (except counterpoint related harmony studies). This video shows clearly the problem classical training encounters when they run into e.g. Bebop. In Bebop you have to internalize the rhythm, you have to internalize the harmony, you have to internalize the syncopation, you have to acquire feel and be spontaneously interesting (latter completely foreign concept for a symphony performer) . All must be internalized and executed spontaneously. In contrast a symphony musician needs none of that and needs to do exactly what is told executing arguably a "Computer Program". There is no creativity or very little internalized understanding of music necessary in the latter. That said, this video by Nahre Sol is refreshing as it makes the same point very openly, but the one thing about Classical training is the excellent technique developed. That gives her playing a very unique flavor playing Bebop. The Mozart rearrangement was spectacular, so is the jazz standard at the end. Very pleasant and unique and she should do more of those arrangements. Classical technique is indispensable.
@@pensive_ This is my take, (and I am not a trained musician). Accomplished classical musicians can play just about anything...if you tell them what to play. Where they are lacking is in imagination and improvisation. I have recordings of Perlman and Previn playing jazz and there seems to be something missing. Don‘t get me wrong. They are good. But something is amiss.
@@t4fnut what they miss my friend as does, Ms Sol ..... is also why her attempt at the blues failed sooooo miserably. They as well as she, lack "soul" the essense of blues ( which is the origin of jazz ) . These are forms of African based music, and she ( although asian ) are way to "white" in their approach . BLues without the emotion IS NOT Blues, and that goes for jazz , ask Miles or Coltrane . These aren't forms that can be approached purely on an intellectual basis. YEs jazz especially can be broken down intellectually , but you do not play it that way. It isn't an accident , that few white people can play these styles , legitimately and be accepted by black musicians... If she tried to play blues like this with guys like say ( who is still alive ) Buddy Guy, they would laugh in her face, and then tell her to go home...... Also when she began the study and said the V-II- I 's key was minor she blew it right there....everyone knows the root chord is a major 7th.... if she wants to understand blues try playing , Muddy Waters or Hooker ,or the Wolf..... not Oscar Peterson... for piano she should have started with Otis Spann..... This woman is a bad joke , and to me disrespectful to the music original invented by black artists.... Sorry.
Right when I saw bebop and nahre sol I clicked so fast
😀
Nahre Sol hi
ME TOO!!!
I just fell inlove. 😍
@@NahreSol i ve only 3 years on classical piano, 5years on jazz and 16years for playing. I hoped playing classical piano like Nahre Sol but the teacher only ask me to play czerny/czerny....i couldn't. In fact i think if had 4/10 of the talent of Nahre i would played more jazz. Now i practice sax alto for 2months! My question for you: how long have you study piano. how many hours per day?
Thanks for asking me to be a part of this one, Nahre! Great video!
This was amazing! That voice was incredible! I'm ashamed I didn't start learning jazz.... :(
Aimee! ❤
Aimee Nolte Music Amazing!
You're awesome
Love your channel Aimee. It’s great to see amazing TH-cam celebrities pairing up and connecting to bring such great content. It’s like realizing that Batman and Superman exist in the same universe.
My impression was that your main gain from studying bebop was to take the sense of freedom and spontaneity (and harmonic insight) back to your classical roots, and that the final piece no longer felt contrived because you stopped trying to "talk bebop", and instead used your native music language to make it your own. To me it didn't sound like bebop (or jazz especially), and yet it was much more personal and authentic because you weren't trying to sound like something else. Maybe travelling to a new country helps us to better understand our own. Thanks for sharing!
As a professional jazz pianist, I really appreciate you doing the correct homework on this. You rule
Bro, when she played that diminished version of that Mozart sonata, like super chills.
Agreed! I want to hear the rest of it. I love it!
@@dangerjudy5334 serious chi lls
Timestamp?
@@CrAzzyWak 14:00 original 14:16 Diminished
Weirdly that's what Mozart would do on its own composition, instead of the diminished he would use a minor 4th degree ( C major + F minor)
She made it, finally, into the Jazz side. We did it people.
:D
Never coming back now
Lol "We" did it
Raid One Lmao yeah as if
Did she? Did she really?
14:16
That Mozzart sonata with diminished chord sounds really cool
"I'm essentially an improviser. I learned that by playing classical music." ~ Keith Jarrett
I highly recommend finding Jarrett's DVD "The Art of Improvisation" in which he speaks (among other things) about the differences between the jazz and classical music worlds. Fascinating!
Microtonal lofi from Neely, and now this!!!!!! Making my Monday
Now it's time for M I C R O T O N A L B E B O P L O F I
isnt bebop lofi hiphop kind of an oxymoron though
Also scruffy with Harmonic Rhythm in Sonic Music
But where was the Harry's Shave advert here?
I know right!!
"I wish someone would have straightforwardly explained to me at the start" hahahaha oh jazz
lol heard that one way too many times
Frank Zappa once famously said (in a live rendition of Bebop Tango): “Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.” Ah, Frank.
so relatable 100000%
I'm happy to see a classically trained musician exploring synthesis. I remember when I was a music major there were so many people who would just shun computers and synthesis but I always felt that the art should embrace modern tech because that's exactly what the great composers of the past did in their own time.
If you like classical synthesis you should listen to some Emerson Lake and Palmer
th-cam.com/video/i3Ag5pwNSiM/w-d-xo.html
She has a video about this! :)
The purpose of bebop was to expand the creative possibilities of jazz beyond the popular, dance-oriented swing music-style with a new "musician's music" that was not danceable and demanded close listening. Since bebop was not intended for dancing, it would enable the musicians to play at faster tempos.
i love how the end product doesn't really represent bebop. it makes me feel like you gained something greater than just some new scales and a swing feel, more of an addition to your evolving philosophy as an artist. great vid
@dylan foley just to clarify i wasn't saying that bebop is exclusively those things, but they could be used to create something that sounds like bebop, kind of like the first idea that she called contrived. i was complimenting that she took the ideas and concepts, like you said with pure expression, instead of just shooting for an end result that sounds like a jazz bebop song. we on the same side 🙂
@dylan foley Bebop was always quite intelectual. You don't come far with just playing "whats in your head", the music gets too compex, especially when you play in a combo. You would play New Orleans jazz, soul-jazz or maybe modal jazz with that approach (not that those couldn't be intelectual as well).
@dylan foley is this a different bebop to the intellectual flex off?
the end product doesn't even sounds like bebop at all...
@@jorgeramos2125 Bebop isn't so much a sound as it's a musical paradigm. Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon and Art Blakey all played bebop, while their music sounded very different. It's like saying Gucci Mane wouldn't be hiphop, because doesn't sound like Grandmaster Flash.
It's interesting you went to Chopin cuz Barry h talks about how similar his playing is to chopin. "We (jazz players) are the continuation of the classical players" he says. We improvise in the same way that they did back then just with different inflection and different creativity
Oh cool! I didn't know he talked about Chopin much
@@NahreSol
Oh Yes.
He talks about it.......
th-cam.com/video/HCG7RTblu1I/w-d-xo.html
Great work! I love this video so much! It really mirrors a lot of the path I've been going down and it's lovely to see that reflection. Your playing is so beautiful! You know, with borrowing from siblings and other bebop concepts from Barry Harris, I feel like you might even have enough of a part 2 video, hehe. And if I may be so bold, I might suggest for the interviews connecting with Connor and Billgrahammusic. They're both great, in terms of explaining the Barry Harris style of bebop for piano. I've been practicing for 2 hours a day for 2 years now and have completed moved away from 7th chord thinking and into 6th chord feeling. I feel like I'm channeling Chopin every time I play now, regardless of the chart, even if it's just Rhythm Changes or the Blues.
@@NahreSol the channel BarryHarrisVideos has so much amazing content th-cam.com/users/BarryHarrisVideosvideos
I thought the same thing!! So great ears do hear alike.
I’m an untrained musician, a drummer specifically. I’ve played strictly by ear my whole life. Before Corona, I used to hit all the local jams. By the end of the night, you could’ve played with 20 different people in 4 different establishments. Often, you’re just meeting the other musicians for the first time as you walk on stage. After everyone is tuned, someone might say, “ A shuffle in Dog, from the five. Watch for stops. And one, two....” and we’re playing. I’m concentrating on meter, and dynamics. During vocals, or when the piano or harmonica takes a solo, I’ll lay back on the hi hats, keeping things quiet. Then the guitar will take a solo and I’ll move over to the ride cymbal, bring the energy up a little. Meanwhile, I’m very aware of being locked in with the bassist, and making sure my right foot isn’t overplaying the bass line. It’s all about leaving the ego at home, and truly listening to, and serving the music. I recommend getting yourself out there, on stage in front of strangers, outside of your comfort zone. No charts, just ears and go for it! I’m sure you could play the phone book and it would sound incredible; you are a super-skilled musician. Just have to learn to play by instinct.
I've been playing classical piano for 15 years and have only recently tried learning jazz. It's felt like learning a completely new language and honestly quite overwhelming. Really enjoy your videos where you break things down; your method of thinking is relatable and understandable. Thank you for the vids
Edwin, rhythm is the biggest difference. Try playing a classical piece you know well along with the recording "Olatunji - Drums Of Passion". If you can synch in with the 3 against 4 feel, that will set you well on the path.
Glenn’s comparisons between drum and piano rhythm styles blew my mind. A proper epiphany right there.
Same!
Imagine playing her final composition on the drums though!!
Ditto. It adds on to this exchange I heard with Tony Williams talking about the harmonics of his drums clashing with the D string on the bass.
Even if theres a lot of inharmonic overtones in drums, there’s still heavy pitches going on that will harmonize.
This got me thinking of the piano as 88 little pitched finger drums. JUST GROOVE.
@@kenaestheticfm Might be something in that, the piano is considered a percussion instrument
I know, right? I have listened to bebop and would sing along with all my Dad's records as a kid--and that comment was just spot on!
Bebop: "It's best not to think about it literally."
yep you got that right, if you can't feel it you can't play it ...nuff said
I’ve avoided Nahre Sol videos for a long time. I didn’t want any classical views, interpretations or approaches to sully my raw jazz instinctive feels.
However, I was tricked into watching a Nahre Sol video by the WIRED channel.
I’m in complete awe of her reverence and respect for the jazz art form. She approaches it with both intelligence and deference.
Now I have nothing but a total geek crush on her way of deep diving into musical genres and wish her nothing but the best in her musical endeavours.
The way she goes about this alone is inspiring.
Giving thanks 🔥🔥🔥🙌🏾😎💫 😁 🎹✨
Lmao I kind of did the same thing. I've never been interested in jazz that much, just some tunes but she made me know and apreciate it more even if I still don't like it that much
I wonder if it's true that learning a secondary genre has the potential to taint the primary genre. It could very well be the opposite. The secondary genre could spark new creativity in the primary genre.
I can’t imagine restricting my music views just because I don’t like classical
TD Priel it’s not that I don’t like classical. Rather I felt like I had previously over-indulged in it and wanted to broaden my horizons.
I keep thinking of the story Vladimir Horowitz told about his conversation with Art Tatum (arguably the greatest classical and jazz pianists of the 20th century - and yes, there's plenty of room for argument). He spent weeks working on variations of Tea For Two - Tatum appreciated what he did, then went to the piano and proceeded to blow away Horowitz with his own variations.
"When did you come up with that?" Horowitz asked. Tatum told him he was just improvising, Horowitz never tried it again. Yet he always appreciated Tatum up to the day he die - and I really do think he was influenced by jazz performers like Tatum when composing his own variations (such as his Carmen Fantasy) - and he would even add a few embelishments during performance. I also always think of someone like Oscar Peterson, who certainly applied classical theory to his playing and composition
Heavy Metal, As Digested by a Classical Musician
That would be nice!
I don't think metal would be as big a paradigm shift for classical musicians as bebop. I'm a trained musician and was dismissive of metal for a long time but when I really listened to it realized there was a lot more going on than I thought. The level of technique, musicianship rhythmic and harmonic sophistication kinda' blew me away. This isn't just a schtick, these guys are serious musicians. Lately I've been listening to more metal than anything else. I told other musicians that I'm turning into a metal head and learned most of them are into metal too. I can imagine metal musicians being influenced by Wagner, Strauss and Berlioz.
@@jacksonbrucea I aggree with you. It's a interesting point of view of yours. I'm a musician too and Metal was the genre that put me into music. When I started playing I had no knowledge of musical theory. Then, I started to study and listen to other genres. Now, when I listen to Metal again I have the same perception you have. It's indeed a musical style with its own complexities.
Despite existing a lot of well trained and educated musicians in metal, it's interesting to point that it's very common to find metal musicians that have no knowledge of music theory at all. In my experience, it's way more common than among musicians that play other genres. Including, a lot of classic metal albuns are made by musicians without musical education. I think that a lot of the metal sound comes from that "naivety". This results in the modal nature of metal and its lack of structure. What do you think about it?
V G - sorry to jump in but I don’t quite agree. There are certainly some classic metal musicians without formal training, but that hasn’t informed the genre very much imo. The genre itself came from Blues and rock. And then there are heavier sub genres like black metal that can trace their roots back to thrash metal which in turn came from hardcore punk, etc. And if you go back to people like Van Halen, he and a lot of others were extremely influence by classical music and well trained. Van Halen specifically was born into a family of trained musicians and he is much like many of the pioneers in heavy rock/metal.
@@frightenedsoul Well, it's a point for further investigation. What I said is just my empirical knowledge being a metal musician myself. But certaily there are a lot of trained musicians among metal, and I think that different metal genres has different styles of players. Maybe genres like Power, Melodic, Prog and Technical has a lot more trained musicians than Thrash, Black and Death. As I said, it's something to be explored, I don't know if my assumptions are accurate. Metal is too much diversified.
@@vtrgatti Music theory codifies musical practice. It is very possible to be influenced by music without knowing the theory behind it. My son composed a piano piece at 9 that was probably inspired by incidental music in anime and video game music. He wrote sophisticated harmonies with no knowledge of music theory. Certainly some musicians only know practice but the ones who push the limits probably know both.. I haven't noticed modal music in metal but I am still new to it. Folk music has a lot of modalism especially Celtic music that favors Dorian and Mixolydian.
Nahre seems like the nicest and most humble person on planet earth. Great video, as always
And with her talent its refreshing as a lot as good as her are the opposite
This is the greatest 20min I've spent this year
I know exactly what you mean!
Great analogy - We could walk into a room - I could talk about the lights - you could talk about the floor - but we are both talking about the same room - that's jazz
In the context of the bebop sound, what could the "lights" and the "floor" be referring to?
So many times, I've wished I started musically with jazz---hearing and playing it---than classical. It would've helped me so much more than trying to "learn" jazz later.
"All the things you are" in the style of Chopin was pretty cool too.
As a musician who has spent 50 years looking at improvisation and harmony I can say that your explorations are inspiring and that your approach to the tune was great because it invites another look at the conversation that the song framework represents. Most jazz/blues and improvisationally based music is language that invites a conversation that explores a subject. Too often the structures and certainty of styles overshadow the essence of the conversation and don't explore the limitless possibilities. What attracts me to an improvisor is the way they approach and engage the conversation, not repeat or imitate the conversations that have occurred a thousand times before.
It is hard because the music of Jazz is intended to be forgotten in that the moment and the exploration are truly in the moment and not intended as a locked down composition, even though the best storytellers sound like they are writing. Also some great improvisors approach playing classical music very differently. A good example is Keith Jarret's recordings of the Shostakivitch preludes and fugues. In jazz the rhythmic propulsion is also an inexplicable sensation in that you can define it or quantify it notationally, to a degree, but each player has his or her own unique interpretation of that rhythmic value. Oscar Peterson feels different than Bill Evans, etc...Your ongoing willingness to explore these stylistic constructs and apply them to your music in pragmatic ways is very beautiful and inspiring. Personally I have heard that tune a million times and my ears really perked up as you started playing and I have listened now several times to follow the threads and ideas you explore to move through the song. Thank you.
Great comments thank you so much. I have always been intimidated by JAZZ players!! Think I could not ever do that. Fan of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and so many others and I am a "nerdy classical" player; playing piano in church for many many years though "contemporary" style pieces I started to experiment more. Now I am hoping to study things and try things out. Encouragement from a good friend who is an all around musician: jazz pianist, composer, synthesizer amazing amazing comps etc.
19:37 reminds of getting spotted by a guardian in Breath of the wild
!! so zelda
Yess
I love these "As Digested by a Classical Musician" videos. All the work you put in is very obvious, they're so high-quality
I just wanted to say I'm glad you finally ba-doodley-DAH-ba-deep-de-DO-DO-dap-dokely-doo-DAP-DAH!
😀
I like this comment ba deeedly du wop wop bee DEE DEE --BOP!
So true
I actually tried saying that out loud to see if it had a bebop feel :)
Super interesting video! (as always, actually..) 🙂
Wow and amazing to get a mention 😎
@@JensLarsen Well, Jens, you'e pretty good y'self!
Hey Jens! Just wanna say that your lessons helps out a lot! :D
@@zildtinio6250 Thank you! That is great to hear 🙂
you know you made it when a piano virtuoso follows your guitar videos!
I loved this. The arrangement you played at the end sounded bebop-influenced but filtered through your own style, which is what it's all about.
Yes cool arrangement. Sounded like late Scriabin to me.
Well done, great video!
Hi!
Uhhhh did no one notice that LUCKY CHOPS IS HERE
I like the quick arrangement at the end. It didn't sound bebop at all to me - but that doesn't matter so much. Sometimes, the paths we take to get to a result are surprising. If anything, it sounded to me a bit like as if pianist/composer Leo Ornstein had contributed to the arrangement.
Didn't she say she decided to focus more on general insight and concepts rather than emulating the style exactly?
Agree that it doesn't sound bebop, but it reminds me of Parisian Jazz you'd hear at a boîte de jazz. Very moody, atmospheric, experimental, deconstructionist.
I'm amazed at how you do these focused explorations of different musical genres and then meld them into a style that is distinctly your own. The music that's played at the end of these videos is unfailingly elegant and moving. What you manage to accomplish is akin to someone learning a new language and then writing beautiful poetry in that new language with all the depth of a native speaker.
It helps that that person is able to speak 11 different languages fluently from a lifetime of learning
SkidMark Johnson in this example it wasn’t like learning a new language and then writing poetry in it. It was like hearing a new language, learning a little about it analytically, and then writing poetry using your old language but which incorporated in a small way some of the sounds you heard in the new language. It was a small set of principles that were analyzed and utilized, vastly smaller than a new language, especially for an experienced musician.
Sorry, it is not "distinctly her own", because the composition has absolutely no grammar, no inflexions, no accent, no rhythm, … nothing … that tells it is part of some language worth learning and conversing in. On the hand, classical music and bebop ARE languages ready for communication.
2:55 Jesus, that's beautiful.
I'm not one to meme, but it's kind of like the whole thing with:
2:48 you
2:55 the guy she tells you not to worry about
that's me and my piano teacher, LOL.
lmao
My Dear Lord! I have patiently waited decades for this complex, intense, sublime musical form to re-emerge! My feelings soar. One can only hope.
The most important lesson for a classically trained musician is to close their eyes and open their ears.
Excellent upload, thank you.
THANK YOU!
Exactly when i needed a bebop explanation as i am doing an arrangement for piano currently, ah fate XD thank you very much!!
😀
Nahre, this is amazing! I'm proud of you and how far you've come. Gorgeous arrangement!
I´m always fascinated by how you fly through the most diverse genres! Wonderful!
I could say something about the lights and you could say something about the floor, and we're talking about the same thing.
Thank you for that
i didn't even realize the video was so long because it was so interesting
Eye-opening music education! Deeply grateful that you're documenting this for everyone wow!
THANK YOUUUUUUUUU, This is All Ive needed for sooo longggg!!!!!!
I wish everyone would get on similar kind of "study-travels" in similarly focused fashion in whatever discipline or profession(s) they are.
I would and travel to meet other mathematicians, but money said no.
That part when Aimee played a classical excerpt and changed it into a jazz lick with just a few inflections was so interesting. I never realized how closely the two were related.
And that piece you composed was so interesting. I'm not a pianist but it reminded me of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 combined with jazz harmony. Super cool stuff.
It is the same with heavy metal music as well. It reminds us that music is always borrowing from each other and add their own flair. Interesting stuffs.
NICE ARRANGEMENT. Really up my alley! So glad to see more and more classical folks venturing into jazz and actually understanding it!
OMG your arrangement of all the things you are is AMAZING.
Nahre, I love how honest you are about the non-linear process of fits and starts that you go through in these experiments. That always takes courage and always makes the best art (or so I'm told :)
I think that Barry believes that the Cmaj7 is too unstable to resolve to. That's why he always plays C6.
Frantzes Elzaurdia agreed. Note that that B in the c maj 7 is part of the diminished note set.
While the A in the cmaj 6 isnt- its more stable.
One approach is to think about adding notes from the associated diminished scale to the Maj6 tonic. This opens up a “continuum of color”- the more diminished notes you add to the tonic the more diminished in color its gonna get.
Theres a polarity- tonic:diminished
thats great fun to play with.
Love these deep dives into genres and musicians. Amazing work Nahre.
these are some of my favorite videos on TH-cam. Thank you so much for posting these for free!
Your arrangement of "All the Things You Are" reminded me of the improvisations of Art Tatum over classical pieces. Amazing work!
I thought the same thing for the first 30 or 45 seconds.
Some things that I missed in the video that I love about bebop:
Bebop to me exemplifies the West African value of intersubjectivity and it puts a lot of emphasis on the relationship between people - you see this all over the place from dance, to music, to community structure. In music, and in Jazz in particular, the easiest place to see this is in rhythm. Someone might put down the basic underlying beat, like the clave, while other musicians kind of dance around that basic beat. This is why "swing feel" is so hard to notate - because it's not about what our rhythm is doing compared to some platonic ideal of a metronome - it's about what our rhythm is doing compared to someone else's actual rhythm. There's a lot you can say with just a drum beat about someone else's rhythm if you're free from the metronome.
Bebop in particular is about returning to the West African roots of Jazz, in my opinion. So many musicians hired to play Swing wanted to go to the night clubs after their normal gigs to play Bebop in order to return to the thing that got them into Jazz in the first place. They definitely used what they learned from Swing and you can hear it in Bebop, but it really is a response to the white appeal of Swing and wanting to bring a more intersubjective feeling back into Jazz.
This to me is the biggest thing to wrap our heads around as western musicians. We are so used to thinking about music in an objective sense: a metronome gives us the beat, and there is such precision around how we're taught to play and how music is written and analyzed. After we learn to "follow the rules" of music as western musicians, THEN we start to learn about how our instrument is supposed to harmonize with the instrument of the person next to us, for example. And in rhythm in particular, the metronome is drilled into is. Sometimes with an actual metronome ticking away as we play, but even just in the progression in the kinds of rhythms we begin to learn: we're taught simple rhythms that always follow the beat and we start with quarter notes and half notes. We're taught that complex rhythms means dividing the beat in half more times, with eighth notes and then sixteenths notes... or if you want to get really advanced, you divide the rhythm into thirds (oh my!) Meanwhile in the tradition of West African music and the genres that it birthed, new musicians start with rhythms that you can't even notate. And it makes intuitive sense to a new learner because it's all about rhythms in relationship to other rhythms - not about rhythms in relationship to some platonic ideal of beats per minute. You don't have to be able to imagine a metronome and count to four, you just you have to be able to hear the clave.
This is why Bebop piano is so simple on the left hand - it's to make room for the bass. Each musician really has to listen closely to every other instrument because whether it was harmony or rhythm, it was all about what it was doing in relationship to each other instrument, intersubjectively. You literally have nothing to play in a bebop group if you can't hear and respond to what the other musicians are doing.
I wonder if this is why it was more fun/helpful for you to improvise around bebop than just take a more traditional approach to composition - it gave you someone else to talk with and respond to, rather than just trying to do it all on your own using western methods which are more suited to trying to achieve some platonic ideal of music than to being in relationship to the sounds in the room.
I loved that cheeky base note at the end!
Qirn, Initially I thought the comment was going to be a hyper-intellectual piece of rubbish, but I thoroughly agree. Black / African music is a conversation - an interaction between people using instruments. I grew up wanting to learn to play what I heard in church but what was available to be educationally was western classical music, which we thought was the path to playing "chuch-music." (misspelling intended) Eventually I got around to picking up "chuch" music but I never fully mastered the feel. Why? Because I was not immersed in it as a lifestyle. I did not have that interaction with musicians. My classical training was focused on the individual performance and not communal interaction. I did, fortunately, find myself playing Funk / R&B and developed a far better feel than I had from strictly technical, classical training.
Qirn You have put things into perspective by your most enlightening comments. I think you have deeply understood the ROOTS of Jazz, and Bebop in particular. Music is about sharing. Thank you for sharing your deep thoughts with us.
This is so interesting. Its wonderful how music can be expressed so differently and differances like how rythem is perceved changes everything. Thanks for your comment
Thanks for taking us along on your journey! You're a brilliant musician in all senses of the word.
What an enormous pleasure it is to hear your articulate thoughts digest music.
NAHRE SOL AND BARRY HARRIS IN THE SAME ROOM?! Oh my lord
this makes me excited for everything I have to learn, thank you
I cannot begin to tell you how much I love your videos! Your unending curiosity to learn and absorb new things is an inspiration. All best.
Your editing while playing makes all the difference. Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much for letting us watch you struggle so hard. And then we get to see brilliance.
So happy I found this channel. Seeing Aimee Nolte was a nice surprise too she has such a dope way of teaching.
Exquisite taste, as always. Total admiration, and thank you for teaching us your experiences in music. 💖
I was eagerly waiting to see what you did with All The Things you Are - wow !! So original but I also found it equally moving as the original tune. Heading to your other videos to learn about your aother adventures!
Love Aimee! You two are my favourite piano channels!
:: I love the way you show your vulnerability. And I love your interpretation too!!! ::
Amazing content! You final arrangement is so rich and complex. It's like a jazz opera.
Amazing video, Nahre! Thank you so much for making this. It's so important for trained classical musicians who feel stuck in their genre to understand this transition and "digestion" period. Very cool. Well done!
What a brilliant video. I'm a jazz musician and I found it utterly fascinating!
It was SOOO much fun seeing you go through this!! ... especially when you got to 16:40 :)
This video was really awesome. I love how you are exploring genres in this way and the way you present everything is wonderful. I am thankful for you and your videos.
Wow, that last piece you played was out of this world! Superb! The world needs a cd with these high tripping Nu Jazz pieces!
That was great. Your whole process was extremely interesting and quite insightful in how you seemed to be removing the need to fit into a genre, or to to assert some sort of "virtuosic" mastery over the subject. Your final arrangement was very unexpected and kind of exhilarating (I sort of inwardly yelled, "Yes!") It hit the mark exactly - for me anyway. I actually found it a bit emotional, for some reason I can't quite explain. I now want to see some more of your explorations.
This whole video was just mesmerising and so mind blowing!
Mezmerizing?
Oh man. Absolutely beautiful final arrangement! Beautiful reharmonization.
Thank you for posting these videos and making them so clear and interesting ! Also you are very brave that is why you always keep improving
In my opinion Barry Harris is a living legend his teachings are amazing. And his playing ability is astonishing.
Nahre, I have to say I REALLY like your synthesis at the end. Reminds me of some of the things that were going on in the classical world around the 20s, which is my favorite period (Stravinskii, Bartok, Schoenberg). The video has inspired me to explore more bebop soloing (I'm a classically-trained rock guitarist--no not metal). Thanks.
This was a delightful journey - thank you for having us along! Some of it was a little advanced for me but I enjoyed it anyway and I found the diminished/nondiminished analysis particularly enlightening. I'm going to have to experiment a little with that.
I love your honest soul, Nahre.
That little moment talking about in the room, was actually huge
I love the fact that as a classical musician you are wanting to expand your horizons by learning this stuff. I can only imagine that as you continue to do so it will ultimately make you a much better musician. You're pretty awesome now, so I can only imagine how good you will ultimately become, but I'm excited at the thought of it. Awesome stuff...
Wow. You freaking completely owned this. One of my favorite tunes. Amazing to see it transformed in this way.
You are incredible in both playing and explaining!! ❤️🎶
This was not the rabbit hole I was expecting to go down today but holy cow this is amazing.
that was a very messiaen sounding rendition of all the things you are; havent heard it played like that before!
It is so heartening to hear you admit to struggling to understand things too. Thank you for including that.
I love this ! It's so helpful for all levels of music buffs.
Thank you to all the great people you mentioned too.
Really enjoyable stuff. Great work :)
Hey there 👋🏻
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It’s always great to watch your exploratory videos Nahre in which you take new perspectives! I can’t wait to watch it! Kudos to your endless curiosity and open-mindedness for every kind of music! :)
Thanks Bati!!!
I love how you include your breaks, it's engaging how you edit your videos.
I was thrilled to hear how you fought your way through all of those tired old rules and and came out the other side with YOU! Such a wonderful and inspiring little arrangement.
All you needed was Simon Fransman's Bebop for Noobs.
YES
Amen
The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine is good.
@@JiveDadson No it's actually terrible for jazz beginners since it's not functional
I love watching your travels, it's so much fun watching you learn and explore new genres when you have such a high degree of technical and musical facility! Bebop is my jam so was especially jazzed to see you tackle this. Brings back lots of conversations about reharmonizing standards and tri-tone substitution from old days at the Jazzschool in Berkeley. Good times. Thanks for your deliberate and thoughtful approach, honoring all of these variants so thoroughly!
Thank you!!
I love your approach and attack on some the piece especially the end there with that one quiet but noticable note. It was great to me ,awesome job. Thank you for sharing.
Really enjoyed your frank and honest approach. Loved the video.