Is anyone familiar with this volume and the associated books?

This would be the ABRSM book/CD by Charles Beale?

I recently got this and the Grades1-5 scales book. But I haven't got any of the other books in the series just yet and haven't started working on it yet. I'm a complete novice at this, but it looks pretty well structured.

Elwyn

EJR Yep that's the one. I looked at it a couple of years ago when I first began and decided it wasn't for me at that time but am now tempted to broaden my horizons.I was wondering how suitable it might be for a self-learner.

Sundew,

Well, I think since the book has a narrative that reads like a teacher carefully explaining things, which together with the CD to hear the examples, means that a self learner can gain a lot from it.

My concern is at a more philosophical level that Jazz education is at some fundamental level oral/aural and that when you do "your bit"/"improvisation" whatever, that without someone who knows their chops it may be absolute pants, and not know it...

That said, I'd already decided to start right at the beginning with this series and buy the grade 1 stuff (so that the pieces should be relatively easy).

One possibility would be to kick off a thread(s) here to discuss the workshops and try to resolve any issues?

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn and my apologies for omitting your sig name from my first response.

Thanks for clarifying. I thought that as the book came under the aegis of ABRSM there would be a strong assumption in the presentation that a teacher's input would be present in the learning curve. I think absolute pants could probably apply to any genre, particularly when applied to me . Learning to listen is paramount to progress. I pick up more errors when I listen to a recording of my self than when playing, but a professional critique would certainly help.

I found this online radio site yesterday.

http://www.jazzfm.com

I also looked at the Tim Richards Exploring Jazz
Piano book but that requires a level of competence I don't have. Grade 1 I can manage.

If I get into it, online discussion would be great, though as no one else has posted perhaps few in this forum are using it?.

There also are Grades 1-5 of pieces for ABRSM Jazz piano with CDs available showing how they sound but also with backing tracks for you to play with. You could also get the first two books.

IMO these are really top notch quality materials. The thing will be to find a teacher who can use these as part of the resources to teach you. Particularly when it comes to learning how to do the improvisation which is assumed within each piece of various jazz styles a teacher's input will probably be irreplaceable.

Nothing keeps you from doodling around with the "from scratch" and set pieces books though. While you are at it get the scales books and work through those and perhaps one of the "jazz vocabulary" , "jazz hanon" or "oscar peterson" study books to give you some basic building blocks that you can learn and memorize they way that you would memorize your first 1000 words learning Spanish...

Sundew,

"... I found this online radio site yesterday.
http://www.jazzfm.com
I also looked at the Tim Richards Exploring Jazz ..."

Thanks for the links and the Tim Richards series looks interesting.


thejourney,
'...There also are Grades 1-5 of pieces for ABRSM Jazz piano with CDs available..."

Well a copy of the ABRMS Jazz Grade 1 pieces book arrived today and an email says that the CD is in transit. So it looks like I'm now committed to this....

I also spotted that from a ABRSM "classical" piano perspective that the Grade 5 Jazz also counts as Grade 5 theory to enable one to progress to Grades 6 to 8 practical; not that I've done any of them :p . It just seems interesting that ABRSM formally acknowlege the amount of theory intrinsically required to practically play Jazz.

"... IMO these are really top notch quality materials..."

Cool! Thanks for the recommendation

"...The thing will be to find a teacher who can use these as part of the resources to teach you..."

Luckily there are a number of local teachers doing classical/jazz ABRSM to grade 8. But I'm going to see how it progresses going it alone for a bit.

Elwyn

TheJourney, thanks for the encouraging input. Being mostly self-taught, using method books and latterly graded original pieces I have become uncomfortably aware of how little I know and have picked up in respect of musical structure and form. I looked at a jazz site the other day, read some beginners stuff and a little light went on that really should have clicked months ago. I won't say what so as to spare my blushes, but my daughter was unable to stifle a snigger when I shared my eureka moment with her.

Thanks for the other recommendations. Hopefully acquiring a basic vocabulary will help establish the direction I ultimately wish to take. Then later this year, when I have extra funds, I can look for the appropriate teacher.

Elwyn, the Tim Richards Jazz book recommends beginning with his blues book. Let us know how you get on.