Let the world be told: I retract that statement. I used to think I could play pretty much anything with enough advance notice. I no longer think that.
Now, I know I didn't major in piano performance, and that I am not an especially grand piano player, but for most intents and purposes, I can pretty much sight read anything. Bad habit, I know, but I rarely practice even when I know I'm a little off, because most people never notice.
This guy is a musician. And he asked me to accompany Harlem Nocturne. I have no problem with the notes. No problem with the playing everything just perfect...but thats just my problem. Sterling came and listened to us. I play it too perfectly. It's a jazz piece. And no, I never really played a jazz piece before when accompanying, and this is a new experience. Sterling came and listened to us practice, and told me to just chill and play around a bit, slow down, and enjoy the blues. I appreciate blues music, I even did a HUGE report on blues music in 10th grade, and I really enjoy it. Apparently I have a really hard time playing it.
Sterling gave me a small lecture on the finer points of jazz music and I just can't wrap my head around it. In my mind, the accompanist's role is to be steady, on beat, and kind of background music so that the soloist can do whatever they want, hold whenever they want, play it however they want...and I just follow along. Sterling got very frustrated that I couldn't see beyond this viewpoint. I just can't ad lib very easily on the piano, or make stuff up, or jazz up whats written in front of me. I'm sorry honey, its all I've ever known. And I thought I was pretty good at it too!
Alas, hopefully tomorrow goes well and I don't have to accompany a saxophone jazz piece again anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment