Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a band setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the iconic song, “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg from “The Wizard of Oz,” I will show you several band accompanying techniques including playing 2-hand open 7th chord voicings, rootless two-hand quartal voicings, and left-hand 4-note rootless voicings with right-hand melodic fills. That, coupled with a beautiful intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions.
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a solo setting? Well this workshop is just for you! Using the iconic song “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg from “The Wizard of Oz,” I will show you several solo accompanying techniques including playing 2-hand open voicings, 3-note voicings with a bass groove, and 2-hand voicings with melodic fills. That, coupled with a beautiful intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a band setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great jazz standard, “Summertime, by the Gerhswins,I will show you several band accompanying techniques including playing 2-hand open voicings, 4-note rootless quartal voicings, and 4-note left-hand rootless voicings with solo fills. That, coupled with a beautiful intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a duo setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great jazz standard, “Summertime, by the Gerhswins,I will show you several accompanying techniques including playing chord shells, 3-note voicings with a “2-Feel” bass, and a stride left-hand pattern with 4-note voicings and solo fills. That, coupled with a beautiful intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a duo setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great Holiday standard, “Auld Lang Syne,” I will show you several accompanying techniques including playing chord shells, 3-note voicings with a “2-Feel” bass, and open-voicing chords with moving inner lines. That, coupled with a beautiful intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a band setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great standard, “It Had to be You,” by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn, I will show you several band accompanying techniques including playing open voicings with hits, 4-note quartal rootless voicings, and left-hand 4-note rootless voicings with right-hand fills. That, coupled with a fun intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
Have you ever wanted to learn piano accompaniment in a duo setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great standard, “It Had to be You”, by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn, I will show you several accompanying techniques including playing chord shells, 3-note voicings with a “2-Feel” bass, 4-note chords with a walking bass line, and some cool rhythmic hits. That, coupled with a fun intro and ending and you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
Have you ever wanted to learn how to accompany on piano in a band setting? Well then this workshop is just for you! Using the great standard, “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, I will show you several accompanying techniques including open voicings, rootless quartal chords, and melodic fills. That, coupled with a cool intro and ending, you’ll be able to play a complete arrangement of the song by the end of the workshop. Can’t wait to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
This month’s workshop is a solo accompaniment workshop over the great standard, “Blue Skies”. You will be accompanying a recording of John Proulx as vocalist! The lessons will include:
- Lead Sheet Melody: learning the melody and the root position 7th chords.
- Accompanying Shells with Rhythmic Hits: Playing the 3rd and 7th in your right hand with rhythmic hits while playing the root in your left hand.
- Accompanying 3-Note Voicings with 2-Feel Bass: Playing 3-note voicings in your right with added chord extensions (5th, 9th, or 13th) and rhythmic hits while playing a “2-Feel” bass pattern in your left hand.
- Accompanying 4-Note Rootless Voicings with Walking Bass: Adding a fourth note to your right-hand comping while walking a bass line with your left hand.
- Intro and Ending: Playing a minor turn around intro with rhythmic hits, and then a tag ending with a walk-down chord progression.
- Accompanying Putting it All Together: Playing an arrangement with the intro, the form of the song using the different techniques from the previous lessons, comping for the soloist, accompanying the melody from the bridge, and then playing the Coda ending.
This workshop will be a lot of fun and very informative, so I hope to see you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions.
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
We’re excited to invite you to this month’s workshop where we’ll be exploring how to accompany in a band setting on the song, “Girl From Ipanema.” The workshop will be cover the following lessons:
- Lesson 1: Lead Sheet Melody: you will learn the melody, root position 7th chords, and chord progression analysis.
- Lesson 2: Band Accompanying With Open Voicing 7th Chords: you will learn open position 2-hand voicings with added chord extensions for color.
- Lesson 3: Band Accompanying With 4-Note Quartal Voicings: you will learn 2-hand quartal voicings with added chord alterations for color and good voice leading.
- Lesson 4: Band Accompanying With Left-Hand Rootless Voicings: you will learn how to play 4-note rootless voicings in your left hand in a bossa rhythm while adding melodic fills in your right hand.
- Lesson 5: Accompanying Intro and Ending: you will learn how to play a vamp intro and ending that is typical in bossa nova tunes.
- Lesson 6: Putting It All Together: we will put all of the techniques we learned into a final arrangement that includes an intro, melody, accompanying a solo, and ending.
This workshop will be a lot of fun, so we hope to see you there!
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, we’ll be focusing on solo accompanying on the standard, “Girl From Ipanema.” Solo accompanying refers to accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist as a solo pianist. Since we’ll be playing in a bossa nova style, we’ll be joined by a flutist who will be playing the melody. Here’s a short summary of what to expect:
- Lesson 1: Lead Sheet Melody: we’ll learn the melody, root position chords, and form.
- Lesson 2: Accompanying Shells With Open Voicings: we’ll play the root, 3rd, and 7th of the 7th chords in the song.
- Lesson 3: Accompanying 3-Note Voicings With Bossa Nass: we’ll play 3-note voicings in our right hand as we play a typical bossa bass groove in our left hand.
- Lesson 4: Accompanying 4-Note Right-Hand Rhythm With Transition Hits and Fills: we’ll play 4-note rootless voicings in our right hand in a typical bossa rhythm while we play the bossa bass groove in our left hand. We’ll also add some solo fills in the melodic spaces.
- Lesson 5: Accompanying Intro and Ending: we’ll learn a 2-chord vamp intro and 2-chord vamp ending.
- Lesson 6: Putting It All Together: we’ll put all of the techniques we learned in Lesson 1-5 into a final arrangement including an intro, accompanying the melody, accompanying a solo, a restatement of the melody, and then the coda, or vamp ending.
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
We hope you can join us for May’s live workshop on the “Misty Band Accompaniment.” This live workshop will show you many techniques on how to accompany in a duo or trio situation where you and a bassist and drummer are accompanying an instrumentalist/vocalist who is playing or singing the melody. Here’s an overview of the workshop:
- Lesson 1: Lead sheet melody: reviewing the melody, learning root position 7th chords, and looking at the harmonic analysis.
- Lesson 2: Band accompanying with open voicing 7th chords: 2-hand voicings using 7th chords and some chord extensions.
- Lesson 3: Band accompanying with 4-note quartal voicings: Rootless 2-hand quartal voicings with extensions and alterations.
- Lesson 4: Band accompanying with left-hand rootless voicings: 4-note left-hand rootless voicings with right-hand fills behind the melody.
- Lesson 5: Band accompanying intro and ending examples: major turn around intro and a tag ending with a nice ending fill.
- Lesson 6: Putting it all together: you’ll get to play the final arrangement where we put together all of the techniques we learned in the workshop.
You’ll be accompanying a recorded trumpet player who is playing both the melody and the final arrangement to simulate a live performance situation. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so we look forward to seeing you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
This month’s Live workshop, Misty Accompaniment Workshop 1, will focus on playing the jazz standard, Misty as a solo pianist accompanying an instrumentalist. The featured soloist for this workshop is a trumpet player which will be a lot of fun to accompany! The lessons will include:
- Lesson 1: Learning the root position 7th chords, and chord analysis from a lead sheet
- Lesson 2: Accompanying Shells with Open Voicings
- Lesson 3: Accompanying 3-Note Voicings using extensions with “2-Feel” Bass
- Lesson 4: Accompanying Stride With Fills and Altered Chord Extensions
- Lesson 5: Accompanying Intro and Ending
- Lesson 6: Putting it all together in an arrangement
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
Please join us on Wednesday, March 15th at 10am PST for a live workshop! We’ll be learning about how to accompany in a band setting on the well-known standard, “Fly Me To The Moon”. We’ll also have a recorded melody track that you’ll be playing along with. The workshop will consist of 6 lessons covering the following topics:
1. Review the melody, chord changes. and chord progression
2. 2-hand open voicing 7th chords with rhythmic hits
3. 4-note Quartal voicings with extensions and alterations
4. Left-hand 4-note rootless voicings with right hand fills
5. Intros and endings
6. Final arrangement where we put it all together
We’ll open it up to questions after each lesson. Look forward to seeing you there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions about how to play Fly Me To the Moon as a piano accompaniment. You’ll get to practice along to a swinging tenor saxophone track!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions.
Please join me as we dive into the world of jazz swing accompaniment on the familiar song, “Autumn Leaves”. This workshop will cover the following topics:
1. Root position 7th chords, melody review, and harmonic analysis
2. 2-hand chord shell hits behind the melody
3. Right hand, 3-note chord voicings over a “2-Feel” bass
4. Left-hand 4-note rootless voicings with Right-hand fills behind the melody
5. Two sample intros and endings
6. Final arrangement where we put it all together!
I will take questions after each lesson, and look forward to seeing you all there!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions.
In this Live Workshop, John will be teaching a live lesson while you ask him questions.
This month’s workshop is on the Christmas song, “Silent Night”. The comprehensive workshop will cover the following:
- Learning the melody
- The traditional 4-part hymn version
- A reharmonized lead sheet using chord extensions
- An accompaniment version with a swing left-hand
- Solo fills and passing chords
- A written out solo and improv scale index
- Written out intros and endings
- A final arrangement that puts it all together
It’s a beautiful song and a holiday favorite. All can enjoy this workshop!
This event will take place on the Live Show page. If you are unable to attend the live show, it will be archived on the Shows page for later viewing.
Questions? Click here to learn more about our PWJ Live Shows.
In this Live Workshop, John taught a live lesson while students asked questions.
For this workshop, we’re focusing on the Bebop Minor Blues, a minor blues chord progression that takes elements from the Traditional Minor Blues, and adds on with more chord changes and colors. We will cover root position 7th chords, left-hand chord shells, walking bass lines and chord pops, learn a new melody, an original solo using solo techniques and scales, and then a final arrangement that brings it all together. Since many of today’s minor blues use this format, it is a must have in all jazz pianists’ bag of tricks. And, best of all, we’ll have a lot of fun learning and playing together!
In this workshop, we’ll learn a variety of exercises to train your voice. We’ll explore common accompaniment patterns for vocal warm ups, and learn about resonance and breath support. Finally, we will apply what we learn in a performance of the classic folk song, “Shenandoah.”
