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DISCOVER • LEARN • PLAY
Complete the Weekly Learning Cycle
Each week at Jazz Piano Skills begins with discovery, develops through focused study, and ultimately leads to playing.
The Blog Recap brings the week together—revisiting the essential concepts introduced in the Podcast and developed through the Masterclass, while highlighting the musical ideas and practical skills that matter most at the piano.
DISCOVER the concept. LEARN the skill. PLAY the music.
Jazz Improvisation: Creativity Begins With a Musical Decision (Sunny)
What if jazz improvisation didn't begin with learning more scales or memorizing more licks? Discover how Bobby Hebb's Sunny reveals a powerful approach to musical creativity using one third, one measure of rhythm, and one melodic idea. Learn why limitations stimulate creativity, why silence matters, and how practicing musical decisions develops improvisational freedom.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
13 hours ago9 min read
Jazz Melody Analysis: Music Is Movement With Purpose (Sunny)
How much music can you find inside a third? Discover how jazz melody analysis reveals the scale fragments, arpeggio motion, melodic phrases, and rhythmic relationships that make Bobby Hebb's Sunny so memorable. Five notes. One pentatonic pattern. An extraordinary opportunity to develop your jazz piano musicianship.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
7 days ago10 min read
Jazz Harmony Analysis: Why Simplicity Reveals the Musician (Sunny)
What makes a simple 16-measure song with just six unique chords so appealing to jazz musicians? Discover how jazz harmony analysis reveals the harmonic function, motion, and relationships within Bobby Hebb's *Sunny*—and why musical simplicity may be the perfect environment for developing creativity, confidence, and personal expression.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Oct 1011 min read
Jazz Piano Solo Playing: Develop the Skills to Create Your Own Arrangements (Our Love Is Here to Stay)
Solo piano doesn't begin with a sophisticated arrangement. It begins with developing the skills that make arrangements possible. Discover seven stages of jazz piano solo playing that bring harmony, melody, rhythm, stride, and improvisation together—and help you develop the independence to create musical performances of your own.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Oct 39 min read
Jazz Piano Improvisation: If You Want to Be Creative, Practice Creativity (Our Love Is Here to Stay)
What if better improvisation doesn't require more scales, modes, or licks? Discover how limiting your musical choices can develop creativity, strengthen your command of chord tones, and help you begin making your own musical decisions. This week's study of Our Love Is Here to Stay demonstrates why creative freedom begins with musical command.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Sep 269 min read
Jazz Melody Analysis: Don't Memorize the Melody. Learn How to Reconstruct It. (Our Love Is Here to Stay)
Memorizing a jazz melody is not the same as understanding it. Discover how jazz melody analysis helps you recognize phrases, target notes, motion, rhythm, and harmonic relationships—so even when your memory fails, your musicianship can help you reconstruct the melody.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Sep 198 min read
Jazz Harmony Analysis: Learn the Harmony, Not Just the Chords (Our Love Is Here to Stay)
Learning the chords to a jazz standard is not the same as understanding its harmony. Discover how jazz harmony analysis reveals function, motion, and recurring relationships inside Our Love Is Here to Stay—and develops skills you can carry into every tune you learn.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Sep 119 min read
Jazz Piano Solo Playing: Develop Skills, Not Arrangements (Satin Doll)
Jazz piano solo playing doesn’t require practicing an entire tune at once. Discover how just two measures of Satin Doll and the Seven Stages of Solo Piano Development can build harmony, melody, rhythm, independence, improvisation, and real musicianship—one skill at a time.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Aug 297 min read
Jazz Harmony Analysis: Why Every Tune Begins with Harmony (Over the Rainbow)
Most students think learning jazz piano means collecting more scales, voicings, and licks. It doesn't. Discover why real progress comes from developing harmony, melody, rhythm, and a deeper understanding of how music connects.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Jul 123 min read
What Does It Really Mean to Learn Jazz Piano?
Most students think learning jazz piano means collecting more scales, voicings, and licks. It doesn't. Discover why real progress comes from developing harmony, melody, rhythm, and a deeper understanding of how music connects.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
Jul 54 min read
Jazz Piano Solo Playing: How to Organize Harmony, Melody, and Rhythm
Solo piano often feels overwhelming because you're responsible for everything at once—harmony, melody, rhythm, and improvisation. In this lesson, discover why jazz piano solo playing is really the art of organization and learn four practical solo piano approaches that help you sound complete, musical, and confident at the piano.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
May 304 min read
I’ve Got the World on a String — Jazz Piano Melodic Analysis
Discover how jazz piano melodic analysis helps you move beyond simply playing notes and start shaping melodies musically using phrasing, target notes, rhythm, and directional motion.
Dr. Bob Lawrence
May 173 min read
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