Another practice tonight. I am all fired up about attending Phil Dwyer‘s Academy of Musical and Culinary arts (PDAMCA) this summer in Qualicum Beach BC.

I worked some more on Ceora like I did the last few practices and then felt that I was playing the same sounds over and over again, and wanted to change things up a bit. So I thought I would investigate the melodic minor scale. The melodic minor scale is the same as the major scale except the third degree is “flatted” as in a minor scale. A piano friend Stephen Pong recommended to try playing the scale starting on the 7th degree, and playing the dominant seventh chord starting on this 7th note. I also tried playing fifths in the left hand and going up and around the melodic minor scale in some exploratory ways. This is a totally new sound for me, and I really am glad to finally be exploring this interesting scale.

Here is an excellent article with other chords to play with the melodic minor scale (click here).

I then brought out my vocal mic and tried playing Autumn Leaves in the key of Fminor (for a change!) while singing. I did a bit of scat soloing and stuff which I didn’t record but it was fun anyways. (Click here for Chick Corea and Bobby Mcferrin doing an amazing duo version of Autumn Leaves).

Feel free to click below to listen to my practice in Midi format:
ceora and autumn leaves.mid

I did another practice on the tune Ceora by Lee Morgan as well as some technique (major scales, practiced slowly and at different speeds to build strength and evenness). Practice recorded in Midi format, available below:

ceora and some technique.mid

I did a short practice before going to bed on the tune Ceora by Lee Morgan. Feel free to cick below to listen in Midi format.

> Ceora practice (tune by Lee Morgan) – jazz piano practice by Geoff Peters Midi file

On of the tracks that I have been listening to on my cell phone lately is Lee Morgan‘s tune Ceora (you can listen to the recording on Imeem by clicking here or by using the player below). Jazztrumpetsolos.com has a transcription of Lee Morgan’s solo on Ceora.

Ceora – Lee Morgan

Anyways, tonight I practiced for about half an hour on the tune Ceora. I hadn’t had a practice for almost a whole week, so for a good part of the practice I was focusing on getting some fluidity and strength back into my fingers while soloing. A few more hours and I will be getting back into things again.

Click here to download my practice of Lee Morgan’s Ceora in Midi format.

Since it’s in midi the sound quality will depend on what kind of synthesizer your computer has.

If you have a Disklavier piano it may sound even better than how it sounded while I was practicing!

Tonight I did a short practice where I ran once through the tune Lucky Southern (Keith Jarrett) but didn’t really work on it, and then played Alice in Wonderland (composed by Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain) for a bit. Feel free to listen to my practice in Midi format by clicking below.

Lucky Southern and Alice in Wonderland (Piano Midi file)

Since it’s a midi file, the quality of the audio will depend on the midi synthesizer that you’re using. Unfortunately the one that comes with Quicktime is pretty low quality but it is good enough to get the idea!

Jazz pianist Ted Rosenthal has put together a very detailed and comprehensive web page on “How Jazz Pianists Practice” (click here to read). He also posted an interview between himself and Keith Jarrett, and an article about how to incorporate Mozart idioms into jazz playing. More about Ted Rosenthal on his web site.

After receiving some “fan mail” from a girl in Japan, I decided to make an update to my Piano Practice page, where I post recordings of my piano practices.

Listening to some of them, I came across a “killer” practice (well, as practices go anyways), where I developed many cool ideas and worked on lots of originals. Listen to it by clicking here (file in Midi format). I suggest you use Winamp to listen to it rather than Windows Media Player because the Synth in Winamp sounds much better.

I should emphasize that it is a practice after all, and how “killer” can a practice really be? While there are some good ideas in the practice recording, by no means is it representative of how I play when I am performing!