Paul Hirsh
jazz panpipe pioneer and designerRecent Comments
Category Archives: Scale Practice
Serious noodling
The whole point of having an intuitive instrument is to be able to follow the promptings of your Inner Ear without having to stop and think. Which scale is this? What note am I starting from? And much less: which … Continue reading
The Philosophy of Fingering
Many moons have passed since I was last on speaking terms with film composers, so I was unable to ask John Williams if he was aware that his Imperial March for the latest Star Wars movie uses one of those … Continue reading
The elephant in the music room
This is a rant that I wrote some fifteen years ago, so some of the technological references are somewhat dated. But the rest still applies. Stop the ivories trade! Many young people who begin piano studies or who just fool around … Continue reading
Posted in Intuitive Instruments, Music Education, Scale Practice
Tagged Daskin keyboard, Janko keyboard, janko piano
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Chunking down on Scale Practice
Chunking down into N chunks reduces practice required by a factor of Nx where x is the number of possible chunk flavours Paul Hirsh (@jazzpanflute) Why do we need full-length scales? Or: why do the scales we practise always need to … Continue reading
Playing like singing in the shower
In my ongoing research into finding the best instrument for learning to “play like singing in the shower”, and in the process helping you, the gentle reader, to do the same, one instrument I have placed near the top of … Continue reading
Affirmative Action for the Piano
One takeaway from my recent experience in a Montessori school was the evident glee with which the children attacked a pentatonic balafon brought in by one of the teachers, contrasting with their apparent lack of interest in the expensive chromatic … Continue reading
The Philosophy of Licks
What is a lick? A lick is a musical phrase. But not every musical phrase is a lick. To qualify as a lick, the phrase must stand out in some way. As far back as I can remember, licks were … Continue reading
Posted in Musicianship, Scale Practice
Tagged Alankar, Coltrane Licks, Cran, grace notes, Guitar licks, Laurent Fournier
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The Universal Scale Game
In my last post I mentioned Taffanel and Gaubert’s daily exercises. One of the most popular of these has been nicknamed the Scale Game. It might be more accurately named the Pentachord Game as it only covers 5 notes of … Continue reading
Posted in Moves notation, Scale Practice
Tagged Balboa, Daily exercises, Gaubert, Saxophone, Taffanel, wholetone panflute, Xenophon
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The Other Jazz Scale
Every now and again, you’re working on a piece and you hit a passage that keeps tripping you up and you don’t know why. When that happens, it’s a sign you are about to embark on some brain re-wiring. I … Continue reading
Posted in Music Theory, Scale Practice
Tagged Altamiro Carrilho, Bach, choro, jazz minor, jazz modes, jazz scales, Taffanel Gaubert, Wholetone scale
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Intervallic Awareness for Improvisers 