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What a fun scat version by Marc Thomas. Actually I thought I was listening to Norm hehe.

hi custard, I know you asked knotty, but I'll answer because I've been noticing a lot lately about tension. I'll start the hanon slow and controlled, very relaxed. Stay relaxed as I get faster. Once I reach a speed that is really challenging, or a key that is challenging, that's where the tension starts to creep in, and it's a job keeping it at bay. It starts in my right calf, goes from there to the shoulders and then all the way down.

I suppose the message is, if you want to work on speed, you need to stay relaxed, and that is easier said than done.

The other thing that has changed in my practice recently, I used to play a section slow if it was tripping me up. Get it slow, really slow, get it right, then speed it up. But somehow in the process of speeding it up, or putting it in the context of the rest of the tune, it would still trip me up.

So, now my slow practice is different. I don't move on till I can do it correct, slow, and completely relaxed, mind and body. No panic, no confusion, right calf completely relaxed. Then I'm much more likely to get it right at speed.



As for Bill, I'm using this book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mastery-Bill-Evans/dp/1423410246

There are a couple of versions of each tune, I'm doing the simplest. Quite challenging. Once they're up to speed, I'll record.

Cus,

Yes, I meant it as a warning to stay relaxed, but once in a while push the tempo up to where you feel you start to lose it, and then bring it back down. This elastic technique is working good for me.

10,
I'm sure you'll enjoy that book.

I'm almost ready to record my own arrangement of It's you or noone.

Thank you 10 and Knotty.

10: I had to laugh when I heard about the pain in your right calf, sorry !

Knotty: Besides Hanons, to what else do you apply the elastic method ?

Actually all the Hanons I record are at a speed where I've already lost it, you don't know how hard I've had to work to get it up to the challenge speed

10 re the Bill Evans transcriptions:
I haven't heard of Pascal Wetzel, but it sounds like a good detailed book. Are there explanations of the voicings ?

Cus,
I do thelastic anytime I want to work on speed. I'm doing it now with basslines and it's really working great. When you go down one click, it suddenly feels so relaxed. And then more and more relaxed. I do one chorus at each tempo, up, then down.

Drives the family crazy :-) e

ok so here we go:
https://www.box.com/s/671e620d65aa4c131276

https://www.box.com/s/8d8edf5157bb7953532c

Superb knotty! That wants light drums and a bass.

Custard: Pascal gives a one-page intro for each tune, but he doesn't go into great detail. It's snippets of interesting features about the different recordings. The music is written out fully, also with chords, so while one can work it all out, I honestly find I can't really follow the main gist of where Bill is taking the harmonic progressions. It's easy enough to notice how he likes to voice the chords, however.

Hey Knotty
Thanks so much for posting your very nice arrangement and for your pdf. I can learn a lot from this. Your solo technique sounds beautiful as does your piano.
I especially liked your altered chords.
After I learn ATTYA, maybe I will have a break from improv and do an arrangement, perhaps on There is No Greater Love.

Hi 10
Yeah I could study Bill forever. The big picture of how he moves harmonically, I've been studying on and off for over one and a half years, it's so profound and still baffles me.
Then the detail of his individual chord choices, his alterations seem so wacky but they still work e.g. I had never heard of a maj 7 #5 but Bill uses them in all the right places.

Thanks cus and 10, glad you liked it!

The arrangements are kind of time suckers, you have to be able to allocate a good chunk of time uninterrupted.
Maybe 20 mihs on that and 20 on improv...

hehe time sucker is the right word !
Do you think "There is No Greater Love" or "When I Fall in Love" lends itself better to arrangement ?

Which would you rather do?

When I Fall In Love is a more beautiful tune and it's a ballad.

Thanks Jazz +. I agree that "When I Fall in Love" is beautiful. And it seems to be always played as a ballad.
Whereas for "There is No Greater Love", it seems like half of the masters swing it mid-up tempo, and half of them play it as a ballad.

When I play the 2nd half of ATTYA A2 section, the RH melody is so low that it has resulted in my LH chords being too low and muddy.
The problem with starting the whole song up an octave is that the high notes end up being too high.
Any suggestions on what I should do ?

Cus,
When you play the melody solo, it's nice to play the roots, so your lefy hand can go down quite low. There are many options:

2+2, or 2+3 as J+ describes
Shell in the LH and full chords in the RH
Arrangement, as simple as it might be, that usually involves broken chords, passing chords, drop 2s etc...
Stride
Walk the bass

If you simulate playing with a bass player, you can play chords in the LH. They don't always have to be full. The bass player and melody already do most of the harmonies so a simple note can sometimes be enough.

Many thanks for your great answer Knotty.

1. For 2+2/ 2+3, I initially learnt ATTYA with LH as 1,5 as I thought that was what Mark Levine was illustrating. I'm in the process of relearning with LH as 1,7 or 1,3.

2. Won't the chords sound too thick ?
For example, 3 notes in the LH and 4 notes in the RH ?
Usually for me, my ear finds it hard to process any chord with more than a total of 6 notes.

3. I would like to do this option one day, but for now, I am memorising all of my tunes, so my arrangement might be a bit hard for me to remember.

1. it's probably better if LH is doing 1-3, 1-7

2. 1-3, 1-7 in the LH is enough. 3 or 4 notes in the RH.

3. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. If you write the arrangement down, there's no need to memorize it. And whether you want it it not, you are memorizing at least small parts of it. Learning some tricks and new voicings along the way. I agree that it takes time ....

Thanks for your clarification Knotty.
For arranging, last week I got up to the 2nd section of When I Fall in Love, but am finding I don't have enough time to work on 2 standards at once. So I've decided to park arranging yet again.
Maybe I should start arranging ATTYA instead.

I think anything you'll arrange will be good value. That's the best way to discover stuff on your own. What works, what doesn't...

OK I will arrange ATTYA and look at the head while I play it, but not look when I solo.