This curriculum is designed to teach jazz piano voicings to middle and high school students over five steps. It begins with root position triads and seventh chords and progresses to more advanced voicings like Frank Mantooth's polychord fractions. The goal is to make students proficient in voicings like "A" and "B" so they can create their own accompaniments rather than just playing written parts. Following the sequence of steps ensures students gain the necessary skills before more complex material.
This curriculum is designed to teach jazz piano voicings to middle and high school students over five steps. It begins with root position triads and seventh chords and progresses to more advanced voicings like Frank Mantooth's polychord fractions. The goal is to make students proficient in voicings like "A" and "B" so they can create their own accompaniments rather than just playing written parts. Following the sequence of steps ensures students gain the necessary skills before more complex material.
This curriculum is designed to teach jazz piano voicings to middle and high school students over five steps. It begins with root position triads and seventh chords and progresses to more advanced voicings like Frank Mantooth's polychord fractions. The goal is to make students proficient in voicings like "A" and "B" so they can create their own accompaniments rather than just playing written parts. Following the sequence of steps ensures students gain the necessary skills before more complex material.
This curriculum is designed to teach jazz piano voicings to middle and high school students over five steps. It begins with root position triads and seventh chords and progresses to more advanced voicings like Frank Mantooth's polychord fractions. The goal is to make students proficient in voicings like "A" and "B" so they can create their own accompaniments rather than just playing written parts. Following the sequence of steps ensures students gain the necessary skills before more complex material.
● Jazz piano is an expansive topic that is not familiar to most classically trained pianists
● Many students are never taught the necessary skills to function in a jazz combo or intermediate to advanced jazz ensemble.
● College professors are frustrated that many piano majors go to college with little to no knowledge of chord symbols or how to create jazz voicings.
● Lack of instructional material on the subject
Typical Jazz Band Piano Part
● Student does not need to know what
chord symbols mean or how to analyze them because voicings are provided for them
● Students have no reason to concern
themselves with chord symbols Advanced Jazz Band Piano Parts
● The problem occurs when a student is
given a piece of music as shown on the right.
● Having received no training on how to
interpret chord symbols and create proper jazz voicings a student is setup to fail
● Students give up quickly because the
task is too overwhelming The Plan
This sequence of instruction is designed to
force students to create their own voicings well before it is necessary The Process The following curriculum was developed from studying several jazz piano method books, interviewing professional jazz pianists/educators, and from my own experience teaching the subject to many young musicians. Root position chords Frank Mantooth’s 4-note voicings “A” built on intervals in 5-note voicings and “B” without roots 3rds (Miracle Voicings and Polychord Fractions)
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5
4-note voicings “A” and 4-note “left hand only”
“B” with roots voicings “A” and “B” for soloing Step 1A Creating Triads
● The first step in learning
to create jazz voicings is to identify the root, 3rd and 5th in every chord
● Play them as root
position triads in both hands. Watch Rachel play through the root position triads on “Solar” by Miles Davis, which is one of the charts she is currently working on in the 8th grade jazz band.
*In all of the student examples in this presentation, none of them are using written out chords - only chord symbols. Step 1B Creating 7th Chords
The next step is to have
the student play all chords as root position 7th chords (Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) in the right hand only. Listen to Cameron play through the first half of the form to “In a Mellow Tone” by Duke Ellington playing all root position chords built in 3rds up to the 7th as described in Step 1B Step 1C Creating 9th Chords
● Play the 3rd, 5th, 7th
and 9th in the right hand
● Play the root in the
left hand Watch Jesse play through a portion of “Lover Man” - by Davis/Ramirez/Sherman/arr. Stan Kenton by playing the root in his left hand and the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th in his right hand. Voicing “A” in C major Step 2A Voicing “A” with root
● Root position chords built on 3rds
lack sophisication
● Voicings “A” and “B” reorder the
same notes the students were using in step 1, but create a more favorable jazz harmony.
● In Step 2A, the student will learn to
play all chords using voicing “A” as Coker, J. (1991). Jazz Keyboard. Van Nuys, CA. shown on the right (from bottom to Alfred top - 1, 7, 3, 5) Listen to Kyle play “Recorda Me” by Joe Henderson using voicing “A” on all chords. Voicing “B” in F major Step 2B Voicing “B” with root
● The next step is to learn all
of the chords in their music using voicing “B” as shown on the right
● From the bottom up - scale
degrees 1, 3, 5, 9 Coker, J. (1991). Jazz Keyboard. Van Nuys, CA. Alfred Hailey playing all chords using voicing “B” over the changes to “Blue Monk” by Thelonious Monk. Step 2C Use both “A” and “B” voicings to streamline chords A B A Once both voicings have been mastered on all chords the student can utilize either inversion “A” or “B” to minimize hand movement. Weir, M. (2008). Jazz Piano Handbook. Van Nuys, CA. Alfred Listen to Julie use a combination of voicings “A” and “B” to streamline all of the chords in “Northwest Riff” by Bob Curnow. Guidelines for the Best Voice-Leading
According to Phil DeGreg in “Jazz Keyboard Harmony” (1992), the following
guidelines should be used to determine the inversion of each subsequent chord (p. 4).
1. If the root doesn’t move (but the quality changes)... maintain the same inversion. 2. If the root moves a 2nd or a 7th… maintain the same inversion. 3. If the root moves a 4th or a 5th… switch inversions. 4. If the root moves a 3rd or a 6th… either maintain or switch inversions. Step 3 4-note voicings without the root
● Voicings with the root -
no bass player (solo playing, duo with voice or horn)
● Voicings without root -
playing with bass player The chords above are identical to the voicings created in Step 2, except the root has been omitted at the bottom and the 5th or 9th has been added on top.
Hughes, C. (2016, February 16). Two Beginning Jazz Piano Voicings - Learn Jazz Standards. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/blog/2-begining-jazz-piano-voicings/ Step 4 Left Hand Voicings for Solos
The left hand voicings
create a harmonic cushion for the right hand to play over
● Playing the melody
● Improvising
Hughes, C. (2016, February 16). Two Beginning Jazz Piano Voicings - Learn Jazz Standards. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/blog/2-begining-jazz-piano-voicings/ Step 5 “Voicings for Jazz Keyboard” by Frank Mantooth
Mantooth’s book on voicings has become
standard literature for intermediate to advanced level jazz pianists.
Key Concepts
● Miracle Voicings - built on 4ths
● Suspended and Altered Dominant Chords using polychord fractions Keys to Success
● Students will need to have a “basic understanding” of scales and chords
before starting this sequence
● Before progressing on to the next step in the process it is imperative that
the students have a complete grasp of each assigned voicing. Rushing through the sequence is doomed to failure.
● As Weir (2008) states, “these voicing patterns must become automatic to
you. There’s not enough time in the context of playing an actual song to think each chord; your muscle memory needs to take over” Once a student has gained proficiency in learning various voicings, he/she will begin to see the enjoyment in the creative process of playing jazz piano, rather than playing the same written out piece of music everytime. Scope and Sequence 7th grade - Root Position triads (Step 1A)
8th grade - Root Position 7th chords (Step 1B)
A possible timeline for each step of 9th grade - Root Position 9th chords (Step 1C)
the curriculum could sequence as 10th grade - Voicings “A” and “B” with root (Step 2) shown on the right. However, the 11th grade - Voicings “A” and “B” without teacher should ultimately move a root/Voicings “A” and “B” Left Hand only student through the steps at a pace (Steps 3 and 4) that is most appropriate for that 12th grade - Frank Mantooth’s “Voicings for Jazz individual. Keyboard” (Step 5) Resources
Coker, J. (1984). Jazz Keyboard. Alfred Music. Levine, M. (1989). The Jazz Piano Book. Petaluma, CA: Sher Music Company. DeGreg, P. (1994). Jazz Keyboard Harmony. Aebersold. Mantooth, F. (1997). Voicings for Jazz Keyboard. Hal Leonard Corporation. Hughes, C. (2016, February 16). Two Beginning Jazz Piano Voicings - Learn Jazz Standards. Wier, M. (2007). Jazz Piano Handbook. Alfred Retrieved November 30, 2016, from Music. https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/blog/2-be gining-jazz-piano-voicings/
Jazz Piano and Improvisation for the Classically Trained Pianist: A Practical Guide On Where to Start, First Steps and How To Start Realizing Your True Musical Potential
Jazz Piano and Improvisation for the Classically Trained Pianist: A Practical Guide On Where to Start, First Steps and How To Start Realizing Your True Musical Potential
