Amy Protscher Explains the Jazz Piano Style of Dave McKenna
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- A quick run-down of left and right-hand techniques necessary to play solo jazz piano in the style of the late Dave McKenna.
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Good to hear this appreciation of the musicianship of a good man, whom I had the pleasure to meet as well as hear at the Copley Plaza in Boston and at the Columns on Cape Cod..
Thank you,Amy, for the breakdown.🌹🌹⭐🌹🌹
Nice work and great style course !
This lady has such a pleasant energy and I like her relaxed approach to teaching. Thank you for this!
So happy to have found you, Amy - Fantastic lesson - thank you!!
Very nice!
I was looking for Dave McKenna transcriptions and found you Amy, which is even better, because it explain the construction of left hand. Fantastic analysis, Thank you and looking forward for some more:-)
Wow. Thank you, Amy!
Enough material for a lifetime practice. Great stuff. Thanks!
This is amazing!!!! Thank you very much!! !!!
wow the blues you play keep my feets dancing. thank you so much!
This is an amazing tutorial. Great job! I don’t know why you don’t have more subscribers. If you love the Dave McKenna style or, in fact, any solo jazz piano, this is the tutorial you’ve been looking for.
Thanks for the praise! I'm just building this up and bought an action cam for keyboard shots now. Stay tuned for more videos - I'm planning a three-part series on Gospel piano stylings.
Are you using a touch of damper pedal to smooth out some of those walking 10ths in the LH and when you have to push the bass note on those tricky 1-7-10 LH chords? Thank you.
@@bcprods Actually, I had to go to the piano in order to try it out myself, as I'm doing a lot of stuff unconsciously. My body told me: almost never, except on rather slow tempos when I might be pedalling syncopated quarter notes. I've also kind-of stopped thinking of "having" to push the bass note. The added off-beat is actually enriching. So my hands being too small is not a bug, it's a feature :-) And you'd be spoiling all of the wonderful drive your left hand is generating by adding too much pedal. So, leave the pedal well alone unless you're tenderly caressing a ballad that calls for a more subdued rhythm.
@@amyprotscherjazz Thank you, Amy. Again, great video.
Very well explained. Thank you for sharing.
Tank you so much, amazing analysis!🙏
Specially for making me more aware af the different dynamics, bass: medium, chords, softer, melody louder, i love that concept! I'm left handed, maybe because that i've alaways tending to play left hand too loud, and not diferenciatingvery well between bass and chords intensities... you're a lifesaver!
thanks Amy - really good tutorial. I always liked Dave's elegance and swing and you catch it - and pass it on - very nicely!
Thank you Amy! This is great!
Since I've got some time on my hands with the Corona-induced performance hiatus, I'm preparing a multi-part tutorial that will pick up where most aspiring jazz pianists stand - at the point where you're a competent enough band player who'll nevertheless get cold feet once the bass player calls in sick - and show you various techniques you can use to expand your playing so it can stand on its own - it's like being a self-contained rhythm section. This tutorial will not only cover Dave McKenna techniques, but also ones borrowed from Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Lennie Tristano, and Jessica Williams, and, besides 4/4 swing, show you how to do the jazz waltz, bossa nova, Afro-Cuban, pop/rock and funk grooves all on your own. Stay tuned and, meanwhile, do check out the other videos on my channel. I'll be putting some more in over the coming days since I have the time to record. Keep swingin', Amy
Amy, I greatly miss Dave, just a wonderful jazz pianist. I first heard him at the Cornerstone jazz club in Metuchen, NJ as a soloist in the late 80's. Thanks for your terrific explanation demonstrating parts of his technique, Good job. Dave's freedom from needing a rhythm section reminded me of what was written about Art Tatum. I don't play an instrument but I'm a good listener. I have a large amount of his music on LP's and CD's. I still hear Dancing in the Dark in my head as well as his C Jam Blues! I wish I had a video of one of his concerts.
Here is a great video that complements Amy's demonstration beautifully. Here is Dave playing the C Jam Blues. Enjoy. ruclips.net/video/16UIKglJ56w/видео.html
Wonderful Amy thank you so very much!!
Fascinating!
Excellent breakdown - thank you!
Great! That´s quite an approach.
you are extremely underrated! keep it up love your vids got a ton of info from this!
Great video! A stand out trait of McKenna and his disciples (Mike Jones) to my ear is their steady dynamic level. That steady dynamic level combined with the mass of the characteristic big voicings creates a sensation of unrelenting steam roller momentum. Great music. >> I love your playing and I am an instant fan!
I think it's something else. Not meaning fundamental opposition, let me explain, hear me out: actually dynamic differentiation is highly important for the style, it involves some very quiet and some very loud playing. But that's happening SIMULTANEOUSLY. He's giving every voice (or every "layer", if you will) - melody line (maybe realized as a block chord or as parallel lines), accompanying chords, and bass line - its proper weight. Usually melody will be loudest, bass line medium, and chords will be the softest. If he wants to raise the energy, he's bringing up the chords a notch in volume. That doesn't change overall dynamics much, but builds excitement.
Actually, the voicings are not so big, after all - I find Dave actually very judicious in which notes to play and which to leave out.
And on the subject of steamroller swing: listen to a drummer when they're swinging really hard. You'll find they'll play all the eighth notes in the beat either on the ride cymbal or as a slight "ghost note" on the snare. And they'll emphasize the beats 2 and 4 really hard. Now how do we transfer that to the piano? We can't play all the 8ths in the walking bass line without wrecking it. But we can damp our bass notes right when that off-beat 8ths would be happening, thereby creating another musical event (or non-event, if you will) of silence that lasts precisely from the off-beat 8th to the next downbeat. In sum, we're playing a non-legato bass line, and this non legato is pretty specific. So you're suggesting all 8th notes, without even playing them. And then thump down on the bass notes on count 2 and 4 pretty hard and you'll have some terrific hard swing going on without playing any more notes than you played before.
Excellent
Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
Love you much
Thank you Amy. Well presented & I learned a lot. Now, what does the Amy piano usually sound like.... when you play?
I'm recording some stuff now that I've some time on my hands because of Corona. Do check back here often! I just put a Fender Rhodes solo online.
Great video!
Thanks!
I have a question. When doing the walking bass-line.... is your left-hand on autopilot while your mind focuses on the right hand?
Not entirely. I alternate attention between the hands. I sort of program a phrase into the RH that then executes it on autopilot. Meanwhile I focus on the LH and add interesting fills for when the RH is not so active. Imagine two layers of bricks with their joints alternating. That's the way I work, adding a RH brick, when that's half-played, another LH brick and so forth. When I'm block-chording, I frequently consider the whole stack of notes vertically in order to form interesting slash chords. Hope this helps!
@@amyprotscherjazz Thanks. That actually helps a lot. Very interesting.
ЗАМЕЧАТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ ПОЗДРАВЛЯЮ счастья здороаья
What is the song you played for example?
Intro: Don't Get Around Much Anymore
3:30: Teach Me Tonight
6:22/8:27: Broadway
12:35/15:46: Have You Met Miss Jones
Outro: On The Street Where You Live
Hope this helps!
Cheers, Amy
Pleaaaaase may I sign up for piano lessons.
Sure you can! I teach via Zoom with a two-camera setup so you'll always get a good view of what's happening on the keyboard. Please send me an email (amy@amelieprotscher.com) for details. Thanks, Amy
Hi Amy! Great video. I'm a huge Dave McKenna fan and enjoyed this analysis. What's your favorite DMcK song? Also, check out this guy's video - ruclips.net/video/e8RtliKPFJ8/видео.html - He was the one who introduced me to Dave McKenna.
Hi Amy love that you love Dave McKenna, do you give lessons?
Basically yes, but I don't know if you're aware I'm based in Europe (not necessarily out of choice, but what the heck). I've tried Skype lessons, but then the connection starts hanging... I don't know if it's very productive, but we can try!
I like this video. Good job!
Would always prefer a bass player instead of left hand "Freddie Green" or walking lines, though. :)
Says a bass player :-)
yes, ma´am!@@amyprotscherjazz
I knew Dave McKenna and I wish you wouldn't do this.
But why? I'm not taking away the beauty of any of the great renditions of classics that he left us by clarifying the fundamental building blocks he used over and over. I have the greatest respect for Dave, and am friends with his family. Now Dave has sadly passed on, but this world is still in need of meaningful, uplifting music, today more so than ever. So what I'm trying to do is to communicate to a new generation how to play the solo jazz piano style we all love. Hopefully, this will lead to more good music being made, more hearts uplifted, more love being spread. I beg you, what's not to like about that?