Harmony with Lego Bricks Play Along

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Lego Bricks is all about making sense of the harmony of the music you're listening to. It's like a kind of 'aural road map', pointing out common blocks of chords (cadences) and in particular, focussing on how these cadences join together to make the music flow in interesting, enjoyable ways.For example, Conrad explains the meaning of the common jazz cadence Am7-D7-G, which appears in the bridge of 'All the Things You Are'. This is followed by F#m7-B7-E, the same type of cadence but in a different key. So if you can hear these two cadences separately, you're on your way. However (and this is where Lego Bricks is tremendous) listen for the join between the G and the F#m7, which Conrad calls a sidewinder. It really helps you to learn the sound of jazz harmony when you can hear this change !The book also features:•Cadences and commonalities between tunes•Common jazz song forms – eg 32-bar AABA song•A system for codifying the ‘joins’ between Cadences – the Lego Bricks•Turnarounds, endings•Analysis of 20 jazz standards using his method•How and what to practise•Playalong recordings (available free from Jazzwise for download, see below)•An extensive discography and read the special offer below.NEW !The 77 accompanying playalong tracks are FREE from Jazzwise. They are in mp3 format. Here's a sample track for you to listen to: The tracks have divided into 4 .zip files for easier downloading. Please note that each track is named so you can find it in the book. If you would like a list of the tracks and their names, click Right click and 'Save As Target / Link' to copy to your computer. If you need a utility for opening the .zip files