I needed to see and hear these. I've been re-listening to the "The Trio" when Oscar was at the height of his powers and am reminded that Oscar's prodigiousness is properly attributed to a strong foundation as a young musician, a foundation that followed him and supported him throughout his career. Thanks for this!
I notice a lot of comments with "advice" regarding touch and feel, yatta yatta. As Mr. Sear said in the description, Oscar Peterson provided no interpretive markings which kind of leaves interpretation up to the performer. It's not so much about "how to play like ME, Oscar Peterson" as much as bridging the gap between classical and jazz and giving some insight into the jazz idiom for classical, or really any unitiated musicians. I will say, though, that it sounds like if one were to learn each of these in all keys, they could definitely provide a huge head start into building a jazz piano vocabulary! Anyway, thanks, Mr. Sear! I didn't know about these pieces. I should put my money where my mouth is, get a hold of these myself and try'em!
Thank you very much for your kind comment. If I ever play these pieces again, I shall certainly take account of the cumulative comments on this video, and maybe experiment with different levels of swing!
Only advice I could give you is when you do those runs, whichever they be, lose that pedal. If you listen to Peterson's recordings, you'll notice that those runs are hardly if ever accompanied by any pedal. And pick up the speed some! Other than that, you sound really great! Very enjoyable. It's like you put a classical feel to jazz method instead of the other way around. I like it! If you recognize some of those runs, he's just giving you away his signature methods to play his runs! Aside from that, thank you so much for opening my eyes onto this book!!! Incredible jazz method book!
Thanks Gonzalo. Your support is very kind. However, some of the other commentators do have some valid points, and there is no question that these pieces can be interpreted in difficult ways!
Just did a search on RUclips, and you seem to be the only person to play all 13 exercises. So nothing to compare with. Just enjoyed listening to them as is.
Harry Andruschak If you're interested, I'm working on uploading all 13 exercises--you can find the playlist on my channel! I invite you to check it out.. I've got 1-6 up so far.
Mr. Sear, take the comments about the lacking swing lightly...its sort of the olive in a Martini. The drink can taste good without it, its just different. I got my swing in my playing by simply imagining I am dancing to the music as I play. Even Oscar himself once criticized modern jazz as lacking swing....he said "if you can't dance to it, it aint swing".
Thanks for this video as I come back to it again and again as I make my way through these great little pieces. How long did it take you to learn them? It looks like you are sight reading them all in which case I think I'll kill myself right now as I'm beating my brains out on some of them. As far as the critics in this comments box: I don't see anyone posting all of these exercises.
Thank you. I can't remember how long I took to learn them. I still find the 'swing' question hard - because I tried with swing on some of them and couldn't make sense - however, I think that if I did them again I would reassess this!
@@PSearPianist i think it sounds good as it is! It might not be obvious but you are already swinging to me, i think we all have our own swing or groove when we play comfortably within the rythm. I personally love your own touch!
Georgi Dzhambazov Thank you Georgi. These pieces are really hard to interpret because the instructions in the score are so sparse - so things like how much if any swing is to be applied are difficult to judge!
PSearPianist It's been my general observation that exercises aren't meant to be "interpreted"... rather, they are to be played in every way one can possible think of - swing / straight, loud / soft, legato / staccato, fast / slow, in time / freely, in all 12 keys, etc... I will say the way you play them is impressive... very clean.
Honestly regardless of what some people say/think about swing feel while playing jazz I strongly believe we have ALL to be more flexible. Practicing/learning a given piece of music in straight feel will give you a clear picture of how you want to swing once you know the changes and any kind of alteration to overcome in the piece and then you can change the feel, tempo, add/substitute/reduce any notes you want to. This applies to most music styles even classical. We have to sort out so many things from intonation(not piano), articulations, dynamic changes, and so on, and then we can correct feeling and concept. Swinging idea has expanded a LOT and it's not necessarily ONLY about that triplet feel you could hear in those amazing recordings of those great masters. Although there was always more than just that since Art Tatum times. TOUCH too heavy??!! This is not a restricted kind of music where you have to play exactly as the composer did it. In jazz you want to learn from the masters but you want to sound like you. It's not uncommon for contemporary musicians to switch on the spot from a one form of swing to another to straight feel. Well done PSearPianist !!! I am actually a saxophonist although I do play the piano as well and anyway this applies to every single instrument. I was always taught to play in both feels and my teachers were pretty much jazz heads (Like me). Nice video!! I wish I had half of your piano skills.
I understand; You talk about flexibility in interpreting of swing feel. Can we see how you play different types of swing on saxophone? I did not find anything ...
@@jazzman1945ify Easy to explain with a couple of examples. Think Dexter Gordon for example his feel was more like the standard swing form ( triplets and the first two notes legato) , now analize Chris potter(unpredictable)
@@haroldfrank83 - I am not sure if you studied the problem of swing feeling in depth, as I was forced as an jazz educator.yadi.sk/d/n3v4jtoz2k3KEw By the way, I'm just an amateur saxophonist.
@@jazzman1945ify Yes I totally get it. Realistically swing feel there’s one, but nowadays the term has expanded a lot and folks tend to use the term swing for any variation of the original Written figures. By the way your are the luckiest person to get me on RUclips so quick. I never check it really.
Hello, did you figure out the fingerings for these exercises before playing them? I am working through the book and writing out which fingers to use in tricky parts is what takes up the majority of my practice time.
That's great. I think it is still in print. There is some repetition between the exercises and pieces, but they are a great introduction to his style, which is not at all 'native' to me!
Dear Philip: Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us on RUclips. Great Job in playing these. I know they are not easy, but you play them really well. You have just inspired me to get this book. If I may add, these are your interpretations, you play them the way you want to play them. I don't see how anyone can say anything negative about this video!!!
Oscar Peterson is a great jazz pianist. He never played this way and didn't make the exercises for this kind of playing. He did them for jazz. Oscar's playing is world wide known as perfect example of fast swing with many notes. Video is nice and the pianist is perfect. But not in jazz, not in swing and has nothing with Peterson's style, Peterson's idea of these exercises.
Bravo&Bravu!!!!!! Just in time! I opened my mouth like a fish ( ;) , with surprise, and couldn't shut it until the end of this very very successful performance!
The "swing" by mr Sear is nervy and unsteady, as opposed to laid back and consistently in the groove. That is how it should be played; then you can vary the accents and articulation, as you please. And keep the pace such that you are able to perform it while keeping time steady.
N. Roh Well. as I say, there is little guidance in the score as to how each piece should be played. But at least my interpretations have given people food for thought as to how they should be interpreted.
PSearPianist Well, partly true, but it is well known how a jazzy feel is established, and as you well know these exercises are by Oscar Peterson, who is a Jazz pianist, so these are predominantly jazz exercises, and should be played while your foot is tapping, or someone's fingers snapping; pa-TAH pa-TAH etc. - that articulation and groove should always be there. in exercises #1 &2 - to start with.
N. Roh in some yes, but in others no. Oscar writes strait 8ths in some and then throws in a dotted 8th followed by a sixteenth patern after a long passage of triplets. he was no fool. he clearly wanted strait 8ths in some of these pieces. as for the 16ths passages, i would do them as fast as possible with next to no pedaling. when i was a young pianist i learnt the funky a few of them in all keys. some of those things still come out every now and then in my improvising even after 20 some odd years.
I'm currently working on No.2 and No.3. No. 2 is definitely much faster than I play it. Could have been a teeny bit slower. I do, however, like the tempo for No.3. Great music!! :)
Karen Phillips Thank you Karen. These are really tricky to perform as the score leaves a lot unsaid - like, for example, whether some of the pieces should be swung or not!
+Amy Gong That is a fair point - but there is no specific direction to do this in the score. I found it hard to decide whether to swing these pieces or not!
Thank you so much. Obviously you need to consider the question of how much swing to use. I used little, but if I recorded them again, I might use more!
Every time I see a written out jazz piece I have to decide whether or not the quavers are swung - and the answer is not always obvious. I'm sure that some of the pieces could be done either way, but in general decide based on whether the composer has 'written in' swing or not, or on the tempo marking (eg, 'rhythmic' or 'bounce' normally means swing. If I heard a recording of these by Peterson I would no doubt take the lead from him.
Thank you very much for posting this. Your playing is brilliant! I slogged through a couple of these and thought they were just OK; I had no idea of their inherent musicality. Now I may purchase the set.
Thanks for that. I have to stick to the written notes, and it is not always clear from the score where Peterson wanted classical music with a jazz tinge and jazz with a classical tinge. Some of the pieces are quite hard to interpret with only the notes in print and no tempo or dynamics indications, and I am sure other players would do them differently!
Fantastic! Really lovely sounding I love the gospel-y blues-y #2! Where can I fin sheet music for this? and are there other jazz etudes/exercises that you enjoy?
jd rouillard Thank you! This is the only book of jazz exercises that I have seen, but I am sure there are plenty of others (for example, there is a set of jazz studies by Martial Solal). You can buy the sheet music for the Peterson here: bit.ly/1Fp2qM4
Vassilis Tsoulkas Well, as you can see from my responses to earlier comments, it was a difficult decision to make on each piece as to whether it could/should be played with swing.
all they can do is : critizise,... " no swing ",..." no whatever ",...bla,bla,bla,... yeah get all worked up about negativty !!! thats whats music for,..right ? critizising each other to death, untill there is only competition and bitterness out there,... those who find the time to critizise, might as well put up a video up themselfes and proof that they themselfes are able " to swing ",.... i hardly doubt they can,,...even if they wanted too
PSearPianist i love thoughtful criticism, but i couldnt really find it within the comments on your video. plus : youre sight reading the stuff, right ? puttin swing in that is top notch level performing, and quite frankly the few piano players i hear that " really " swing, are only able to do so, cause the internalized the music so well, so they can only focus on the Swinging Feel. Keep it up Dude ! and if you ever come to Berlin, let me know ! I show you around ! Best Charles
Icke Er Thank you very much. I do actually practise all the music I play, even though I use the score - I wouldn't want to put my sightreading (good though it is) in front of my viewers!
The interest here in this channel is not the interpretation but the "archeological" interest of all the rare presentation. And we can be very thankful for all the wonderful discoveries we have made thanks to that indefatigable reader of music.
Sir, with all due respect: the way you play this is like a completely dry hanon exercise and has nothing to do with real music, let alone with jazz music. It is wasted life time for you to play it like this and wasted life time for me to listen to it. It seems that you never ever heard Peterson playing. Sorry for my frank words. Please do yourself a favor and get Peterson's marvelous trio album "night train", RELAX and LISTEN TO IT. If, after this, you still do not understand or at least feel what jazz is all about, you should drop jazz at all. I am now your age and restarted to play piano again four years ago. I fell in love with peterson when I was fifteen years old, after two years of beginner piano lessons. At that time he regularly was on tour in Europe and every two years, he played in my home town. I saved my pocket money of several months to buy a ticket in a back row. Before the break, he played solo, and then as a trio, usually with joe pass, guitar, and henning oersted-pedersen, bass. Peterson is a *piano saint* for me - these concerts are burnt into my heart for the rest of my life. With best wishes, B.M.Z.
Sir Phillip is right! Did you read the score? To play swing there should be indication or the appearance of quarter note accompanied by quinquette in tertiary group. The first case is not indicated in the score.
No entiendo porqué excede las velocidades , lo único que logra es resaltar los errores y ensuciar el sonido. Más swing Mr. más swing y menos exhibicionismo.
Ten klavirista nehrá dobré !!! necítiť tam žiaden rytmus len rýchlosť!! Ale rýchlosť v jazz neni všetko !! jazze je zameraný na rytme síce ide aj o rýchlosť ale toto neni dobré čo hráte nehnevajte sa !! rytmus je najdôležitejší to čo hráte sú noty. Má tam aj botkovaný rytmus a nerobí to !!! takže je tam ešte čo popracovať hlavne rytmus !
Adorable Miniature Masterpieces:) I'll check them out myself since I love playing Jazz & Blues! Your performance, as usual, is quite virtuoso - Brilliant! Warm Wishes - DeniseX
Excelent!!! I guess all the "negative" comments came form people with 20 years of piano experience- at least! If not, just shut up and listen..He can play the way he wants..that bullshit about more swing, too much pedal..cmon! There is no proper way to play something. As soon you set your fingers in the keys, it's your own interpretation, which cames from your own soul..This guy, techincally speaking is brilliant..so, there is nothing to complain. Envy + Internet = Haters.
Thanks a million for your recording. I found the pdf to the #13 exercises online. I must say you done a very well. By the way, how has it help you like tackling Oscar Peterson's music?
To my ears, you're playing Oscar Peterson with the hands of Chopin. Which got you some criticism, fair enough, but to me it's brilliant and it teaches a lot about the different playing styles.
virgult that's very kind of you. The approach to these pieces is quite problematic as there are no specific instructions on the degree of swing to use in each piece. and although I am the first to use swing where it seems appropriate, I found it hard to apply it to these pieces. If only Peterson had left a reference recording for us!
Great playing! I just copies of these scores and was going to learn them over the next few weeks. It's hard to tell how to interpret them, as you say there no tempo markings! Thank goodness for youtube..
Do u know who did the transcriptions of Peterson`s most difficult pieces? I mean for instance "how long has it been going"? I mean did he wrote that transcriptions by his own hand?
I know what you mean. I've been trying to teach these pieces and the question of whether to use straight 8ths or to swing them is always difficult - and at times frustrating.
Hello, very useful hearing them form you, since I have to coose two pieces for my exam. Have you published a video for Vol. 1 and vol. 2 too? This is vol. 3 correct? Many thanks! Lucilla from Milan
Excellent play indeed. Thanks for offering those pieces to us! Nevertheless it somehow bugs me that there are so many changes in tempo... (not that I could do better, I just notice it...) I wonder whether you slow down due to difficult passages or whether it is an intended choice to do so. If intended, still at some places, it doesn't sound very 'musical' to me. But maybe that's a matter of taste.
Thank you for that. I played these a long time ago, and would probably play them differently now! There is a big issure re degree of swing (the score has no instructions on this).
I just got the sheet of all the excercises...well~watching this video makes me want to go and start practicing..like 'i want to do that too!!' hahaha thanks for the video :)
Oscar Peterson was arguably the most versatile jazz pianist of the last century musically speaking. He had a complete mastery of all of the styles. In my opinion what made him so great was that he used his prodigious technique to serve the music, regardless of what genre of music he played. His sound was beautiful, and his time and rhythm were perfect. Swing is a combination of several different elements: speed time rhythm and articulation. The genre of the music really doesn't matter. Classical music swings in its own way just like jazz does. The challenge is to get the speed time rhythm and articulation to serve the genre of the music. you would be much better served to listen to Oscar Peterson more to understand more deeply how he plays.
PSearPianist Generally a triplet swing feel is advised but swing is something to be felt, and in the case of these exercises, it's something to be experimented. Each should swing according to their heart's content :)
Dear Mr. Sears, thank you for these great recordings. You show great technique and ability. I think I can shed some light on the whole "swing" thing or lack of it. I assume from these recordings that you are a classically trained pianist, and a very good one indeed. You simply have to keep in mind that music notation in jazz uses a sort of "shorthand". All the notes that are written as pairs of 1/8 notes are in reality triplets in which the first note lasts 2 and the second note lasts 1. That is really all there is to the whole "swing" thing. oscar Peterson did not leave instructions on how to play these because this is a universal assumption in all jazz and blues music scores. This is particularly evident in the second piece which actually contains a lot of triplets. The notes that do not look like triplets are actually meant to sound as such. The whole idea of the swing tempo is that it is written as 4/4 but in reality it sounds more like 12/8 with 4 triplets per measure. This shorthand writing is used in jazz solely for a practical purpose: it would simply take too long to write all those pairs of notes as triplets in which the first note lasts twice as long as the second. Gene Krupa, in his method book for drummers suggested the use of the word "merrily" to familiarize with triplets. Therefore the first 1/8 note lasts as long as "merri" and the second falls under "ly". In conclusion, playing those 1/8 notes literally simply does not reflect the composer's intention. I hope this helps. Sorry if this is long, I am a teacher and I tend to over explain!
noneoftheaboveist Thank you for that. I am very aware of the conventions re swing writing, but this is often complicated by the fact that in the 1930s onwards some composers attempted to write out swing using dotted quavers and semiquavers whilst others used the convention you describe, and it is very difficult to tell in some written out music where there is no composer recording whether swing is required or not. Often I try both and go for what sounds sensible to me!
the whole point in these jazz exercises is in the swing feeling. Legato, stopping, as well as the bass sound. The bass in most of these is so important and the triads too !!!. They are very interesting and demanding !!!.
Good technique, but not jazz feeling... These pieces have to be played straight , no rubato ... No swing at all in your playing, never an accent on after beat ...
Christian Ambroise Alas the score gives little guidance on the degree of swing to be used, and one has to make an individual judgement on what seems right.
PSearPianist this music has to be listen for years (and first to be loved) to understand it's proper feeling; you surely may play it very better if you first listen the master himself, specially his famous solo album "tracks" (1970), and all his mps albums ("exclusively for my friends" and others).
I tried to listen in a neutral perspective and...i find it good, an absolutely convincing execution ! I think that sometimes a pianist devoted normally to " classical" music is able to realize something special in "jazzy" contexts, this also due to the fact that historically jazz performers have frequently had a strong classica training... so i say, good work as always, and Thanks a lot Phillip!
***** Thank you for that! Do look at the other comments - these pieces are difficult to interpret, and it is hard to determine the amount of swing needed! Happy Christmas to you!
I love this! Thanks for sharing. As for you folks griping about swing, try sight reading anything and getting the swing while you are doing so. Almost impossible. That comes after you memorize the piece.
+Paolo Cattolico Thank you Paolo. It's great that you have the book. In view of other comments, maybe you can play the pieces with more swing than I did.
Great job! In case nobody has said it, that's a beautiful piano. Great tuning and well recorded. So much is digital these days, it's wonderful to hear a really nice instrument played really well. Thanks
Intéressant, Petereson n' ayant pas laissé d' interprétation de ces pièces qui n' ont pas de tempi indiqués cela permet d' avoir une référence d' une interprètation possible ....
![How to Play Piano Like Oscar Peterson [2021]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vVJx2xqza8o/mqdefault.jpg)
![How to Play Piano Like Oscar Peterson [2021]](/img/tr.png)
I needed to see and hear these. I've been re-listening to the "The Trio" when Oscar was at the height of his powers and am reminded that Oscar's prodigiousness is properly attributed to a strong foundation as a young musician, a foundation that followed him and supported him throughout his career. Thanks for this!
+david “digsjazzalot” vliet My pleasure - these pieces remind me what a strong finger technique one needs to play his mode of jazz!
I notice a lot of comments with "advice" regarding touch and feel, yatta yatta. As Mr. Sear said in the description, Oscar Peterson provided no interpretive markings which kind of leaves interpretation up to the performer. It's not so much about "how to play like ME, Oscar Peterson" as much as bridging the gap between classical and jazz and giving some insight into the jazz idiom for classical, or really any unitiated musicians.
I will say, though, that it sounds like if one were to learn each of these in all keys, they could definitely provide a huge head start into building a jazz piano vocabulary!
Anyway, thanks, Mr. Sear! I didn't know about these pieces. I should put my money where my mouth is, get a hold of these myself and try'em!
Thank you very much for your kind comment. If I ever play these pieces again, I shall certainly take account of the cumulative comments on this video, and maybe experiment with different levels of swing!
Excellent comment.
Phillip! You never cease to amaze me. Thank you for this labor of love.
nohaylamujer My pleasure!
Only advice I could give you is when you do those runs, whichever they be, lose that pedal. If you listen to Peterson's recordings, you'll notice that those runs are hardly if ever accompanied by any pedal. And pick up the speed some! Other than that, you sound really great! Very enjoyable. It's like you put a classical feel to jazz method instead of the other way around. I like it!
If you recognize some of those runs, he's just giving you away his signature methods to play his runs! Aside from that, thank you so much for opening my eyes onto this book!!! Incredible jazz method book!
+pianOracle Thanks very much for your kind and useful comment!
Genial ! Você é capaz de executar peças difíceis sem problemas ! Bravo!
I'm just learning these exercises now; a pleasure listening to you Mr. Sear!
***** Thanks Tal. You need to consider carefully how much if any swing to use - I am not sure that I always got that absolutely right!
Thanks Gonzalo. Your support is very kind. However, some of the other commentators do have some valid points, and there is no question that these pieces can be interpreted in difficult ways!
Just did a search on RUclips, and you seem to be the only person to play all 13 exercises. So nothing to compare with. Just enjoyed listening to them as is.
Harry Andruschak Thanks, Harry!
Harry Andruschak If you're interested, I'm working on uploading all 13 exercises--you can find the playlist on my channel! I invite you to check it out.. I've got 1-6 up so far.
LukeTheringMusic I checked it out, you seem to be on Google+ but not You Tube itself. It's 9:30 PM and time for bed, so will check back tomorrow
Excellent!! I tried the first two - but will never reach your speed. Fantastic job!
That's good advice. If only he had recorded these specific pieces!
Thanks for playing all of these, great reference.
+Roderick Timmerman My pleasure!
Beautiful!
Thank you very much!
Some hardcore piano exercises, I like the green vase on his piano lol
Silaphot Wong Thank you! Actually, there is no vase on the piano. You can see a blue-green anglepoise lamp, and some paintings on the wall.
PSearPianist By the way, Ive started practicing exercises 1 to 3 as u inspired me!
Just wait until he puts a candelabra on his piano
Mr. Sear, take the comments about the lacking swing lightly...its sort of the olive in a Martini. The drink can taste good without it, its just different. I got my swing in my playing by simply imagining I am dancing to the music as I play. Even Oscar himself once criticized modern jazz as lacking swing....he said "if you can't dance to it, it aint swing".
Emmery Neuperger Thank you for that kind encouragement!
Yes - they are not easy, but worth playing, and maybe others will take up the challenge!
By the way - I like no. 10 most. What is there in Jazz-music that combines so well intelect and emotions?
Wow awesome! Now try swinging them and thrown them through all twelve keys, you'll be sailin
I'm sure I would be .....
Thanks for this video as I come back to it again and again as I make my way through these great little pieces. How long did it take you to learn them? It looks like you are sight reading them all in which case I think I'll kill myself right now as I'm beating my brains out on some of them. As far as the critics in this comments box: I don't see anyone posting all of these exercises.
Thank you. I can't remember how long I took to learn them. I still find the 'swing' question hard - because I tried with swing on some of them and couldn't make sense - however, I think that if I did them again I would reassess this!
@@PSearPianist i think it sounds good as it is! It might not be obvious but you are already swinging to me, i think we all have our own swing or groove when we play comfortably within the rythm. I personally love your own touch!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣wow
Thank you, Sorelis!
Ok you have the technique, but not the style ! It is Jazz exercices, not classical exercices !!!
Fuirst you learn to play it, then you swing. All those knowit all critics should get a life
Wow, when I was a kid, I used to love exercise number 3!
I am still melting when I listen to it!
Peterson was a master!
Georgi Dzhambazov Thank you Georgi. These pieces are really hard to interpret because the instructions in the score are so sparse - so things like how much if any swing is to be applied are difficult to judge!
PSearPianist It's been my general observation that exercises aren't meant to be "interpreted"... rather, they are to be played in every way one can possible think of - swing / straight, loud / soft, legato / staccato, fast / slow, in time / freely, in all 12 keys, etc... I will say the way you play them is impressive... very clean.
Matt Pittman Maybe you are right, and that there are lots of ways to perform them.
Honestly regardless of what some people say/think about swing feel while playing jazz I strongly believe we have ALL to be more flexible. Practicing/learning a given piece of music in straight feel will give you a clear picture of how you want to swing once you know the changes and any kind of alteration to overcome in the piece and then you can change the feel, tempo, add/substitute/reduce any notes you want to. This applies to most music styles even classical. We have to sort out so many things from intonation(not piano), articulations, dynamic changes, and so on, and then we can correct feeling and concept. Swinging idea has expanded a LOT and it's not necessarily ONLY about that triplet feel you could hear in those amazing recordings of those great masters. Although there was always more than just that since Art Tatum times. TOUCH too heavy??!! This is not a restricted kind of music where you have to play exactly as the composer did it. In jazz you want to learn from the masters but you want to sound like you. It's not uncommon for contemporary musicians to switch on the spot from a one form of swing to another to straight feel. Well done PSearPianist !!! I am actually a saxophonist although I do play the piano as well and anyway this applies to every single instrument. I was always taught to play in both feels and my teachers were pretty much jazz heads (Like me). Nice video!! I wish I had half of your piano skills.
Thank you very much for your interesting and supportive comment, Harold!
I understand; You talk about flexibility in interpreting of swing feel. Can we see how you play different types of swing on saxophone? I did not find anything ...
@@jazzman1945ify Easy to explain with a couple of examples. Think Dexter Gordon for example his feel was more like the standard swing form ( triplets and the first two notes legato) , now analize Chris potter(unpredictable)
@@haroldfrank83 - I am not sure if you studied the problem of swing feeling in depth, as I was forced as an jazz educator.yadi.sk/d/n3v4jtoz2k3KEw By the way, I'm just an amateur saxophonist.
@@jazzman1945ify Yes I totally get it. Realistically swing feel there’s one, but nowadays the term has expanded a lot and folks tend to use the term swing for any variation of the original Written figures. By the way your are the luckiest person to get me on RUclips so quick. I never check it really.
Swung or not, this is beautifully done.
JaCari Diggs Thank you!
Thank you. You inspired me to buy the book.
***** Thanks Paul. I hope you get lots of pleasure from playing the pieces in it!
Hello, did you figure out the fingerings for these exercises before playing them? I am working through the book and writing out which fingers to use in tricky parts is what takes up the majority of my practice time.
Perfect, just perfect. Such a cozy video!
Thank you!! 😊
The bes interpretation i neverd heard... great work. thanks.
Wow, thank you! I do think that if I played them again I would put some swing into them.
@@PSearPianist do it please,,, yeeeahhh thnks
That's great. I think it is still in print. There is some repetition between the exercises and pieces, but they are a great introduction to his style, which is not at all 'native' to me!
I guess I put my own interpretation on what was on the published score, which did not have a lot of tempo and dynamic markings.
Very, very good technic, I miss a little bit
the very special
Jazz feeling
Dear Philip:
Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us on RUclips. Great Job in playing these. I know they are not easy, but you play them really well. You have just inspired me to get this book. If I may add, these are your interpretations, you play them the way you want to play them. I don't see how anyone can say anything negative about this video!!!
Joseph Mankowski Thanks very much, Joseph. It's just a shame that Peterson did not record them himself to set a benchmark!
@@PSearPianist WOW! That's so true. That would have been nice!
Oscar Peterson is a great jazz pianist. He never played this way and didn't make the exercises for this kind of playing. He did them for jazz. Oscar's playing is world wide known as perfect example of fast swing with many notes.
Video is nice and the pianist is perfect. But not in jazz, not in swing and has nothing with Peterson's style, Peterson's idea of these exercises.
You are right - unfortunately there is no instruction in the book of excercises as to whether they should be swung or note.
Bravo&Bravu!!!!!! Just in time! I opened my mouth like a fish ( ;) , with surprise,
and couldn't shut it until the end of this very very successful performance!
The "swing" by mr Sear is nervy and unsteady, as opposed to laid back and consistently in the groove. That is how it should be played; then you can vary the accents and articulation, as you please. And keep the pace such that you are able to perform it while keeping time steady.
N. Roh Well. as I say, there is little guidance in the score as to how each piece should be played. But at least my interpretations have given people food for thought as to how they should be interpreted.
PSearPianist
Well, partly true, but it is well known how a jazzy feel is established, and as you well know these exercises are by Oscar Peterson, who is a Jazz pianist, so these are predominantly jazz exercises, and should be played while your foot is tapping, or someone's fingers snapping; pa-TAH pa-TAH etc. - that articulation and groove should always be there. in exercises #1 &2 - to start with.
N. Roh in some yes, but in others no. Oscar writes strait 8ths in some and then throws in a dotted 8th followed by a sixteenth patern after a long passage of triplets. he was no fool. he clearly wanted strait 8ths in some of these pieces. as for the 16ths passages, i would do them as fast as possible with next to no pedaling. when i was a young pianist i learnt the funky a few of them in all keys. some of those things still come out every now and then in my improvising even after 20 some odd years.
I'm currently working on No.2 and No.3. No. 2 is definitely much faster than I play it. Could have been a teeny bit slower. I do, however, like the tempo for No.3. Great music!! :)
Karen Phillips Thank you Karen. These are really tricky to perform as the score leaves a lot unsaid - like, for example, whether some of the pieces should be swung or not!
+PSearPianist Don't forget that you are required to swing in Jazz Exercise No. 2.
+Amy Gong That is a fair point - but there is no specific direction to do this in the score. I found it hard to decide whether to swing these pieces or not!
+PSearPianist So, you found that these pieces are difficult to swing because you play them fast? What are some difficulties with Jazz Exercise no. 3?
Thank you, and greetings from the UK!
Nice job. I just bought the book 2 days ago and can't wait to get it and practice.
Thank you so much. Obviously you need to consider the question of how much swing to use. I used little, but if I recorded them again, I might use more!
Every time I see a written out jazz piece I have to decide whether or not the quavers are swung - and the answer is not always obvious. I'm sure that some of the pieces could be done either way, but in general decide based on whether the composer has 'written in' swing or not, or on the tempo marking (eg, 'rhythmic' or 'bounce' normally means swing. If I heard a recording of these by Peterson I would no doubt take the lead from him.
Thank you very much for posting this. Your playing is brilliant! I slogged through a couple of these and thought they were just OK; I had no idea of their inherent musicality. Now I may purchase the set.
Well done! I ilke it very much! Congratulations!
Thank you very much!
Click this thinking it was a tutorial---It's not.
+johnnynoirman Sorry about that!
Thanks for that. I have to stick to the written notes, and it is not always clear from the score where Peterson wanted classical music with a jazz tinge and jazz with a classical tinge. Some of the pieces are quite hard to interpret with only the notes in print and no tempo or dynamics indications, and I am sure other players would do them differently!
Fantastic! Really lovely sounding I love the gospel-y blues-y #2! Where can I fin sheet music for this? and are there other jazz etudes/exercises that you enjoy?
jd rouillard Thank you! This is the only book of jazz exercises that I have seen, but I am sure there are plenty of others (for example, there is a set of jazz studies by Martial Solal). You can buy the sheet music for the Peterson here: bit.ly/1Fp2qM4
Sorry but i didn't like it. No swing at all.
Vassilis Tsoulkas Well, as you can see from my responses to earlier comments, it was a difficult decision to make on each piece as to whether it could/should be played with swing.
PSearPianist I like it and find it very tastfully played. Its more the classical side of Oscar. Nicely done.
Thanks Lucilla - and good luck with your exam. I only have the one book, and it does not mention being volume 3 of a set.
all they can do is : critizise,...
" no swing ",..." no whatever ",...bla,bla,bla,...
yeah get all worked up about negativty !!! thats whats music for,..right ?
critizising each other to death, untill there is only competition and bitterness out there,...
those who find the time to critizise, might as well put up a video up themselfes and proof that they themselfes are able " to swing ",....
i hardly doubt they can,,...even if they wanted too
Icke Er Thank you for that! I have no problem with a bit of thoughtful criticism - it is good to be challenged on my interpretations!
PSearPianist
i love thoughtful criticism, but i couldnt really find it within the comments on your video.
plus : youre sight reading the stuff, right ? puttin swing in that is top notch level performing, and quite frankly the few piano players i hear that " really " swing, are only able to do so, cause the internalized the music so well, so they can only focus on the Swinging Feel.
Keep it up Dude ! and if you ever come to Berlin, let me know ! I show you around !
Best
Charles
Icke Er Thank you very much. I do actually practise all the music I play, even though I use the score - I wouldn't want to put my sightreading (good though it is) in front of my viewers!
They should swing though not read as eighth notes.!
You are probably right - although there are no indications either way in the score.
Thank you. I wish you luck with your study of the pieces - as you say, the tempo is a challenge!
Thank you. They are really good practice material whatever speed you take them!
no swing!!!! it's a machine...not a man
The interest here in this channel is not the interpretation but the "archeological" interest of all the rare presentation. And we can be very thankful for all the wonderful discoveries we have made thanks to that indefatigable reader of music.
i agree
Sir, with all due respect: the way you play this is like a completely dry hanon exercise and has nothing to do with real music, let alone with jazz music. It is wasted life time for you to play it like this and wasted life time for me to listen to it. It seems that you never ever heard Peterson playing. Sorry for my frank words. Please do yourself a favor and get Peterson's marvelous trio album "night train", RELAX and LISTEN TO IT. If, after this, you still do not understand or at least feel what jazz is all about, you should drop jazz at all. I am now your age and restarted to play piano again four years ago. I fell in love with peterson when I was fifteen years old, after two years of beginner piano lessons. At that time he regularly was on tour in Europe and every two years, he played in my home town. I saved my pocket money of several months to buy a ticket in a back row. Before the break, he played solo, and then as a trio, usually with joe pass, guitar, and henning oersted-pedersen, bass. Peterson is a *piano saint* for me - these concerts are burnt into my heart for the rest of my life. With best wishes, B.M.Z.
Sir Phillip is right! Did you read the score? To play swing there should be indication or the appearance of quarter note accompanied by quinquette in tertiary group. The first case is not indicated in the score.
No entiendo porqué excede las velocidades , lo único que logra es resaltar los errores y ensuciar el sonido. Más swing Mr. más swing y menos exhibicionismo.
Ten klavirista nehrá dobré !!! necítiť tam žiaden rytmus len rýchlosť!!
Ale rýchlosť v jazz neni všetko !! jazze je zameraný na rytme síce ide aj o rýchlosť ale toto neni dobré čo hráte nehnevajte sa !! rytmus je najdôležitejší to čo hráte sú noty. Má tam aj botkovaný rytmus a nerobí to !!! takže je tam ešte čo popracovať hlavne rytmus !
Adorable Miniature Masterpieces:) I'll check them out myself since I love playing Jazz & Blues! Your performance, as usual, is quite virtuoso - Brilliant! Warm Wishes - DeniseX
jazz is not classical music sir ☹️
I played this a long time ago, and would have swung it if I played it now - alas the sheet music gave no instructions to do that.
Excelent!!! I guess all the "negative" comments came form people with 20 years of piano experience- at least! If not, just shut up and listen..He can play the way he wants..that bullshit about more swing, too much pedal..cmon! There is no proper way to play something. As soon you set your fingers in the keys, it's your own interpretation, which cames from your own soul..This guy, techincally speaking is brilliant..so, there is nothing to complain. Envy + Internet = Haters.
You Play piano, dude? I'm waiting for Mr Sear's 2nd & 3rd attempts.
That's right. One just has to 'take a view'!
Thanks a million for your recording. I found the pdf to the #13 exercises online. I must say you done a very well. By the way, how has it help you like tackling Oscar Peterson's music?
Thank you. I have to admit that this is the only work by Peterson that I have ever played!
To my ears, you're playing Oscar Peterson with the hands of Chopin. Which got you some criticism, fair enough, but to me it's brilliant and it teaches a lot about the different playing styles.
virgult that's very kind of you. The approach to these pieces is quite problematic as there are no specific instructions on the degree of swing to use in each piece. and although I am the first to use swing where it seems appropriate, I found it hard to apply it to these pieces. If only Peterson had left a reference recording for us!
It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing !!!!!
Thank you Denise. I hope you enjoy playing them!
Great playing! I just copies of these scores and was going to learn them over the next few weeks. It's hard to tell how to interpret them, as you say there no tempo markings! Thank goodness for youtube..
Do u know who did the transcriptions of Peterson`s most difficult pieces? I mean for instance "how long has it been going"? I mean did he wrote that transcriptions by his own hand?
+Lic. Emmanuel Avila I don't know - does anyone else? You might like to look at this: amzn.to/1M5uJHw
Difficult to bring these off! I like the third one the best actually, the calmest of the selection, but all are good fun!
I know what you mean. I've been trying to teach these pieces and the question of whether to use straight 8ths or to swing them is always difficult - and at times frustrating.
Splendid! however these exercises are usually played more slowly with jazz feel.
#1 sounds like C.P.E. Bach! or ad-lib on C.P.E. by Bud Powell.
Thanks in did! It is a sort of "Classical Antiquity" but in the same time it is also current up to now, as a Oscar`s paradox as well...
+Александр Лапченко Thank you for that interesting comment!
Hello, very useful hearing them form you, since I have to coose two pieces for my exam.
Have you published a video for Vol. 1 and vol. 2 too? This is vol. 3 correct?
Many thanks! Lucilla from Milan
Well played grandpa
Thank you!
cool
JazzKeyboardist1 Thank you!
Excellent play indeed. Thanks for offering those pieces to us! Nevertheless it somehow bugs me that there are so many changes in tempo... (not that I could do better, I just notice it...) I wonder whether you slow down due to difficult passages or whether it is an intended choice to do so. If intended, still at some places, it doesn't sound very 'musical' to me. But maybe that's a matter of taste.
Thank you for that. I played these a long time ago, and would probably play them differently now! There is a big issure re degree of swing (the score has no instructions on this).
I just got the sheet of all the excercises...well~watching this video makes me want to go and start practicing..like 'i want to do that too!!' hahaha
thanks for the video :)
That's great - and I hope you enjoy all that practising!
Touch too heavy...OSCAR's fingers had his teacher's flight of the bumblebee HUNGARIAN lightness
Hmmmm... Listen to him playing Cakewalk live (you can find it here on RUclips). He is smashing the keys. He had a very heavy hand live.
It is!
Oscar Peterson was arguably the most versatile jazz pianist of the last century musically speaking. He had a complete mastery of all of the styles. In my opinion what made him so great was that he used his prodigious technique to serve the music, regardless of what genre of music he played. His sound was beautiful, and his time and rhythm were perfect.
Swing is a combination of several different elements: speed time rhythm and articulation. The genre of the music really doesn't matter. Classical music swings in its own way just like jazz does. The challenge is to get the speed time rhythm and articulation to serve the genre of the music. you would be much better served to listen to Oscar Peterson more to understand more deeply how he plays.
+Paul Kemp Thank you!
This exersizes realy help to lirn and understand Jazz?
AntiBlog I think so - although it is sometimes quite hard to determine the best tempo and degree of swing.
PSearPianist Generally a triplet swing feel is advised but swing is something to be felt, and in the case of these exercises, it's something to be experimented. Each should swing according to their heart's content :)
josiah566 Thank you - I concur with that view!
Thank you!
Do that!
Thank you!
Wow!
Thank you!
Dear Mr. Sears, thank you for these great recordings. You show great technique and ability. I think I can shed some light on the whole "swing" thing or lack of it. I assume from these recordings that you are a classically trained pianist, and a very good one indeed. You simply have to keep in mind that music notation in jazz uses a sort of "shorthand". All the notes that are written as pairs of 1/8 notes are in reality triplets in which the first note lasts 2 and the second note lasts 1. That is really all there is to the whole "swing" thing. oscar Peterson did not leave instructions on how to play these because this is a universal assumption in all jazz and blues music scores. This is particularly evident in the second piece which actually contains a lot of triplets. The notes that do not look like triplets are actually meant to sound as such. The whole idea of the swing tempo is that it is written as 4/4 but in reality it sounds more like 12/8 with 4 triplets per measure. This shorthand writing is used in jazz solely for a practical purpose: it would simply take too long to write all those pairs of notes as triplets in which the first note lasts twice as long as the second. Gene Krupa, in his method book for drummers suggested the use of the word "merrily" to familiarize with triplets. Therefore the first 1/8 note lasts as long as "merri" and the second falls under "ly". In conclusion, playing those 1/8 notes literally simply does not reflect the composer's intention. I hope this helps. Sorry if this is long, I am a teacher and I tend to over explain!
noneoftheaboveist Thank you for that. I am very aware of the conventions re swing writing, but this is often complicated by the fact that in the 1930s onwards some composers attempted to write out swing using dotted quavers and semiquavers whilst others used the convention you describe, and it is very difficult to tell in some written out music where there is no composer recording whether swing is required or not. Often I try both and go for what sounds sensible to me!
That's kind!
Thank you!
Mr sear it's time to take it up a notch and take on that hellish powerball of a piano piece by op 'a little jazz exercise'. I trust you'll oblige :)
Robert Price Maybe I'll look out for it!
Oscar Peterson was a national treasure of Canada.. you have played the exercises very crisply with lots of energy. thank you for posting.
Thank you very much!
Fun fact: Oscar Peterson and I are from the same city. :)
🚗
I hope you liked the video.
the whole point in these jazz exercises is in the swing feeling. Legato, stopping, as well as the bass sound. The bass in most of these is so important and the triads too !!!. They are very interesting and demanding !!!.
That's right!
monstr
Good technique, but not jazz feeling...
These pieces have to be played straight , no rubato ...
No swing at all in your playing, never an accent on after beat ...
Christian Ambroise Alas the score gives little guidance on the degree of swing to be used, and one has to make an individual judgement on what seems right.
PSearPianist this music has to be listen for years (and first to be loved) to understand it's proper feeling; you surely may play it very better if you first listen the master himself, specially his famous solo album "tracks" (1970), and all his mps albums ("exclusively for my friends" and others).
I tried to listen in a neutral perspective and...i find it good, an absolutely convincing execution ! I think that sometimes a pianist devoted normally to " classical" music is able to realize something special in "jazzy" contexts, this also due to the fact that historically jazz performers have frequently had a strong classica training... so i say, good work as always, and Thanks a lot Phillip!
Thanks for your support, Alessandro!
Thank you Phillip........my sight reading isn't that good, and your video helps immensely. Keep up the great playing.
***** Thank you for that! Do look at the other comments - these pieces are difficult to interpret, and it is hard to determine the amount of swing needed! Happy Christmas to you!
I love this! Thanks for sharing. As for you folks griping about swing, try sight reading anything and getting the swing while you are doing so. Almost impossible. That comes after you memorize the piece.
Thanks Kenny!
Genial! Saludos desde Argentina, espero ser como tú
Genial! Greetings from Argentina, I hope to be like you
Thanks a lot, Phillip, for bringing these hidden gems to light.I bought the book as well (and I like your playing...).
+Paolo Cattolico Thank you Paolo. It's great that you have the book. In view of other comments, maybe you can play the pieces with more swing than I did.
Nice! I'll take that challenge. :)
Great job! In case nobody has said it, that's a beautiful piano. Great tuning and well recorded. So much is digital these days, it's wonderful to hear a really nice instrument played really well. Thanks
+Rob Carter Thank you very much, Rob. I have the piano tuned twice a year (it is due to be tuned again next month).
Intéressant, Petereson n' ayant pas laissé d' interprétation de ces pièces qui n' ont pas de tempi indiqués cela permet d' avoir une référence d' une interprètation possible ....
MONIQUE NORDMAN Merci, Monique - Je suis d'accord avec ça!
your welcome.