II-V-I progressions, otherwise known as Perfect Cadences, form an integral part of jazz harmony. By establishing and reasserting the key-centres you move through, they anchor the tonality of a chord sequence.

Because of this, being able to construct improvised lines that encompass Perfect Cadences is a huge boost to any aspiring jazz musician.

A good way of becoming adept at this is to build a library of licks in your memory.

Having even a small collection of licks memorised in every key will give you a set of safe options for traversing these cadences.

With this in mind, here is how to build up your licks and prepare yourself for practical use of them.

Memorising Shape

In music, all melodies are shapes. The shape is partly what makes a melody pleasing to listen to, and a good jazz lick will have good shape to it.

This can be achieved by using triad shapes for example, or by using melodic devices such as enclosures and grace-notes.

When learning a lick, look at the shapes that are used to compose it. Look at what degrees of the scale the lick is using, and sing it back to yourself.

Pick a different key and try and sing the same shape back to yourself.

This is the most effective way of translating a collection of notes into a shape-based melody that you can memorise.

This is more effective than jumping straight to trying to play a lick in every key, because it forces you to recognise the melodic quality of what you are playing before you turn it into a robotic exercise.

All Twelve Keys

Every jazz piano teacher has uttered these words at some stage, and for good reason.

Once you have the shape of a lick memorised, it is essential to take the lick to every possible key, so that you can use it across the board.

This can be done simply as an exercise, or using an app such as iReal Pro you can play to backing tracks that run through all 24 perfect cadences (major and minor).

This is also a good opportunity to practise with a friend.

Challenge yourselves, taking turns to select a key, which will make it more entertaining to practise.

Practical Application

Once you have a lick committed to memory in every key, it is essential to start working the lick into solos on real tunes.

There is a leap from playing a lick in isolation to playing it in the context of a chord sequence.

Playing a tune with a lot of Perfect Cadences is ideal practise for this.

I would recommend the following tunes which you can solo over in multiple keys to practise Perfect Cadence licks:

• Tune Up
• Have You Met Miss Jones?
• Central Park West
• Afternoon in Paris

Soloing over these chord changes in multiple keys will give you practical experience applying a II-V-I lick in your solos.

Manipulate the Melody

Licks are not meant to be static objects.

Playing a lick the same way every time you use it is a very conspicuous way of improvising.

If you hear the signature licks of any great jazz pianist, you will notice they have many variations of it, including rhythmic, melodic, and sometimes also harmonic.

It makes sense then, that the same should apply for your licks. Once you are adept at applying a lick to any Perfect Cadence, allow yourself to vary it with each repetition.

Practising slowly improvising over a tune, only using one lick. Try and manipulate the lick as much as possible, developing it as you go. Reset at the beginning of each chorus, playing the lick in its original form, and see where your imagination takes you.

Diatonic Shifting

An extended method of manipulating a lick, is to move it around within the key it is being used for.

For example, if your lick in the key of C starts with E, D, C, G, try playing the lick starting with G, F, E, B.

This is not the same as playing it in different keys, but instead opens up different degrees of the scale, and targets different notes.

By doing this, you open the door to a whole new range of sounds by using the same melodic shape.

This also boosts your potential to manipulate a lick even further.

Conclusion

By using these methods, you can form the framework of intricate, well-developed, motif-based improvisation.

These methods can also apply to licks that are not based on Perfect Cadences, however the ability to apply this to Perfect Cadences will present the fastest route to fluent improvisation.

Start with one lick, and once you have gone through the process once, keep using that lick as you add other licks to your memory.

Over time, look at how one lick can lead into another, or how to manipulate your licks for optimal phrasing.

Most importantly, if your ideas run low, step back and listen to how the masters did it.

Your Perfect Cadence Licks will be the perfect foundation in no time!

Jazz – a beautiful genre where unique rhythmic melodies come alive and improvisation plays a key role in this type of music. There s much to uncover about about this genre, so let us jump right into the world of jazz.

History

In the late 19th century, in a place called New Orleans, jazz was born. New Orleans, situated along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of Louisiana, is a port city where many people from all over the world would meet.

Thus having the opportunity to experience the nightlife this city had to offer and celebrate different ethnic groups and cultures through music.

People would share their musical skills and influence one another’s styles. The music was a blend of different elements and ultimately led to the genre we call Jazz today.

Since then it has been changing and evolving, yet never losing its core components.

Influential Artists

Some of the most influential Jazz musicians of all time are Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Buddy Bolden – just to name a few.

Buddy Bolden is seen as one of the many fathers of jazz. He was a cornetist and was a powerful jazz musician. He led a band for a time in his life, and was acknowledged cornet king of New Orleans.

Bolden worked with multiple different bands at the same time quite frequently. Unfortunately his mental health started to deteriorate which ultimately led to his passing. Although he has passed, the music he left behind continues to live.

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans and grew up in dire poverty. As a child He worked odd jobs to help make ends meet. He sang in a boy’s quartet and was soon sent to the Colored waifs Home where he learned to play cornet – an instrument almost like a small french horn. He fell in love with playing music and pursued his passion by joining various jazz bands.

Later he quit playing for a band and decided to release Jazz music as a soloist. Fame chased him rather quickly and he became a well known jazz artist, releasing masterpieces of music still known today. Louis had a tremendous impact on the evolution of jazz and still inspires many with his story today.

Another one of the most influential jazz artists is Miles Davis. Unlike Louis, Davis stated that had a comfortable upbringing, studying the trumpet in his early teens. He also played in jazz bands.

He even had jam sessions and recorded with Charlie Parker, another influential jazz artist, many times. Davis won multiple Grammy Awards for his works and his music grew all the more popular. Like Louis, he contributed to the development of jazz music and is seen as a great influential jazz artist.

What is Jazz, Really?

Jazz is a mix of syncopated rhythm, virtuous improvisation, deliberate deviations of pitch and more. Jazz is constantly expanding, changing and evolving.

The genre is often recognised as swing. Swing, as well as syncopation, are key elements in Jazz. Swing is a style where emphasis is placed on off-beats or weaker beats of music. Syncopation is basically the same, also accentuating the weaker beat in music.

As mentioned before, improvisation plays a big role. Improvisation refers to the musician’s ability to act with confidence and lean on their practice, knowledge and creativity to create spontaneous responses while playing music. It often displays a musician’s virtuosity.

Improvisation is important when playing jazz, because it adds to the flexible structure and ultimately makes jazz, jazz. Thus one can make the assumption that most jazz pieces are never played the same – adding to the uniqueness of the genre.

Key Jazz Characteristics

Jazz is a very distinct genre, thanks to its many characteristics. Although almost all jazz differs from another, have you ever noticed a trend? Here are a few characteristics that are dominantly found in most jazz music;

Improvisation, as defined earlier, is where the musician uses their knowledge to create a new melody, phrase, etc. Basically where the musician ‘improvises’ music.

Swing Rhythm puts emphasis on dividing the beats unequally and alternating between long and short durations. It quite literally sounds like the music is swinged through dragging one note longer and swinging to the next short one.

Syncopation is a key element. It emphasises and accentuates an off beat. It creates an unexpected accent and is basically a disturbance of the regular flow of rhythm.

Use of the blues scale. Blues as a genre has impacted jazz a lot. The blue scale is commonly found in jazz music, by making use of a blues chord progression and ‘blue’ notes.

Complex harmonies and chord progressions are a vital part of jazz music. The harmonies are extended, including many unexpected notes. The same applies to the chord progressions, where they also include unexpected progressions and added notes.

Popular Jazz Styles

Jazz being its own genre, has many different styles that form part of it. There are around 40 jazz styles. Let’s take a brief look at some of the well known sub-genres.

Ragtime is one of the forerunners of jazz, with its syncopated rhythms and upbeat tempos. True to its name, this style is quite literally “ragged time”, referring to placing accents on off-beats. Scott Joplin is seen as the king of ragtime, composing the famous “The entertainer”.

Characterised by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone, cool jazz is a lot more laid back – especially when compared to ragtime.

Cool jazz shifts emphasis from rhythm rather to musicality and refined melodic performance. Cool jazz can be seen as reserved and introverted, its energy lower than a lot of the other styles, and one of the most listened to jazz styles.

Bebop, considered the first kind of jazz, is technically the opposite of cool jazz. Known for its loud and exciting music, Bebop is seen as an escaping harmonic and melodic restraints while liberating the musician to express themselves however. It is characterised by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing and fun and vibrant complex melodies.

This is a genre full of vibrant and exciting melodies, improvised phrases and a little bit of the unexpected. This is jazz.

Related articles:

• Syncopation
• How long does it take to learn to play jazz piano
• The bridge between classical and jazz piano
• Jazz chords and knowing your intervals – for the adult beginner

Playing the piano by ear or by sight – which is best?

There are often disputes between musicians as to which of these two ways of playing music is best. The ear players see their way as best, and the note-reading players say, “no, our way is best!” So what would be the best way for you to learn to play the piano or an instrument?

Let’s look at playing from music sheets and not playing by ear.

A significant advantage of playing by sight is being able to read music pieces from the score – even if you have never heard them. It opens the way to “reading” many books or sheets of music. For those who can not read music, this area of simply picking up a score and playing it, discovering new music is lost. It’s very much like reading a book or the newspaper.  

• Being able to read and play music from a score gives the player the ability not only to:
• know the written language of music but also gives you a 
• greater knowledge of how music is formed, written and plotted out.  
• It gives a visual layout of the music.  

The negative about reading and playing from a score is that often the player is less aware of the sound created and the chord structure and overall movement of the piece. 

I have often found that when I am reading the score, it is as if your ear tends to shut off a bit. One has to actively involve the ear to take note of the movement of the melody and chords.  

Playing only by reading and not by ear means that you will not be able to simply sit down and play impromptu at any moment. This is a great privilege to those who play by ear, being able to simply sit down and play anything that comes to mind or rather to ear!   

There is a lot of freedom in being able to play by ear

A lot of enjoyment comes from creating music on the spot or ” improvising”. (I am not referring to improvising on jazz chords while playing with a band – which calls for serious development, practice, hard work, and of course, the joy of serious improvising.)

Playing by sight means that the player will have an in-depth understanding of the music theory. Understanding clefs, key signatures, note values, dynamics, etc. etc. Having this knowledge always helps the serious musician. This does not mean that players by ear have no idea of note reading!  

Many players by ear have the basic understanding and knowledge of sheet music, written music and theory. If you play by ear, it only enhances your playing to know the basic theory of music and how to read and write music.  

Let us recap:

Having the ability to play by sight means:

• You can read music sheets and learn new music even if you have not heard it before.
• It gives you an edge in having the knowledge of music and its theory.
• If you want to be a serious musician, reading music or being able to play from a score is not an option.
• For the academic type of person or the more intellectual person who loves studying – playing by sight is much more secure and preferable, seeing that everything has been written down and laid out. There is no uncertainty in what has to be played. This is a security factor for many students who often find it easier to read a line and know what they are playing rather than trying to fumble about by working out something by ear.

Being able to play, for example, a Bach-like Prelude and Fugue or a Toccata can give one great pleasure! This is also the reason why many who have been classically trained by reading music often struggle to make the jump from score reading to playing by ear.  

I had to force myself to put all my books away for at least a year or two and only to play by hearing, that is, listening to melodies and working them out. I also learnt many of my classical masterpieces by remembering how they sounded and trying to work them out by ear.  

Of course, it helped because I had played them before from the score. I only grabbed the book when I got stuck. This helped not only with memorising or remembering the music, but it became easier to interpret what the composer had in mind, as my ear was the only thing I could lean on. There were no pages of written music in front of me! I found it helped in a great way. It meant that I could not really forget the pieces once I called on the ear to bring it all back and follow the ear. 

Playing properly by ear – without music notes, but only by hearing, is a great plus as it opens a great door for creativity for the player.

In the beginning, when playing by ear (if you are not used to it) can be pretty frustrating! But if you keep at it, bit by bit, new sounds will come, and new ideas of what and how to play will develop.  

The most significant advantage of playing by ear is the great freedom and joy it brings the player.  

• There is no fear of playing wrong or thinking where am I on the score.  
• Many classical students suffer from the: “I am playing wrong” mentality. Classical pieces ask much from the player to be “perfect” in fingering, notes etc. And yes, it has to be perfect to be good! Unfortunately! But learning these pieces and the joy it brings is worth it. There is a feeling of conquering and winning that makes it worth it! So do not stop playing your classics or reading your scores!  
• When playing by ear and/or creating your own music – there is the great plus of having no right or wrong!  
• Of course, there are better-sounding lines or chords, but no one can ever tell you you are playing wrongly! I have found many reading-trained students being very relieved to find out that they could play anything that they felt sounded good.  

Playing by ear is, from my viewpoint – (being a trained classical and jazz musician), a very important area that has been overlooked for years by the classical arena. It means that many students learnt to play only from a book but have very little freedom on their instrument or have never been taught how simple chords look, or how to create tunes etc. This needs to be developed from day one! 

To conclude: I think both being able to play from a score and being able to play totally by ear are extremely important for any serious musician

In the end, for the adult learner, I think it depends a lot on you as a person. It depends on what works for you.

• Do you love to meticulously read, work out a score, and play that way? Then enjoy that!
• Or would you love to play by ear, working out melodies and sounds – being creative in this way?  

Putting in the effort to develop both these areas would be the best. It is worth it!

Some articles on sight-reading for your perusal:

• How to improve your sight-reading
• The 10 secrets of sight-reading
• Sight-reading fitness
• Why it is essential for adults to learn how to sight-read properly
• The importance of learning how to read music properly

Some articles on playing the piano by ear for your perusal:

• How to improvise on the piano as a beginner
• Importance of improvisation & composing in musical development
• Joy of improvising and 7 day challenge!
• The basics of jazz for the adult beginner
• The bridge between classical and jazz piano
• How do I get started learning jazz piano as an adult?
• Understanding and studying the lead sheet: Autumn Leaves
• How to learn jazz piano for the adult beginner