You Can Play Stride Piano1

See CD On inside Back Cover

www.musicbooksnow.com Call Toll Free 1-800-527-6300 Ekay Music, Inc., 2 Depot Plaza, Suite 301, Bedford Hills, NY 10507

judy Carmichael's Complete Book of Stride Piano available fmrn Songbooks Unlimited, PO. Box 1950, Ridgeh M D 2168 1.

product # 316957 (telephone 1-800-527-6300)

Additional recordings available fmm C8tD Productions EO.Box 360, Sag Harbor; NY 1 1963 (telephone 5 16-725-3603)

Many thanks t o Ketil Wright for transcribing these performances from MIDI data. I

Cover Photograph by Elizabeth Glasgow I

Book Design by Susanna S. Koueniak I

Cover Design by Chris Merola

INTRODUCTION

-5 PAGE

H

ow does one become a stride pianist? Sometimes it's a matter of fate.]udy Camichael had wanted to be a dancer: "But my mom wanted me to take piano lessons," she remembers. She's not sony, though. "Thank God,'' says the artist whose interpretations fill the current volume,"because musicians have the abiltty physically to sustain much longer careers than dancers."

MAPLE LEAF RAG BY

SCOTT JOPLIN

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Parental pressure notwithstanding, dance was simply not in the stars for Judyh i c h a e l , in any case; there were too many other influences leading her toward the kind of music for which she has now become famous. One was the movies. "I was a huge FredAstaire fan," she admits. "I watched all the old films when I was a kid. And I came to realize that it was the music in those films that drove me crazy." There were also the piano sounds that permeated the house on liesurely afternoons. "At home, I would hear my mom play ragtime. So that was the music that grabbed my attention early on1' That meant "Maple Leaf Rag" and 'Wall Street Rag," and dozens of others. Rags offered an introduction to some of the techniques that would be refined wrth later styles. There was the oom-pah left hand, but more like a march than a swing band in the hands of early ragtimers. And there were syncopations throughout the right hand parts-accents in unexpected places, setting up a rhythmic obstacle course for the uninitiated. O f course, ragtime had its lyrical moments, too. "I really liked 'Solace' by Scott Joplin," she recalls. "The slow I pieces were better than the fast ones. My favorite was probably 'Bethenapit has all those movements, and it's so beautiful" From ragtime,]udy moved on to the similar but more advanced music of RGE

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Wales.' It blew me away That's when I thought, 'This is it. I'm going to teach myself to do the whole thing!"' For Judy, that meant listening to and learning even more complicated music of such stride piano icons as FatsWaller and James I? Johnson.But it also meant finding her own way "I thought most of the stride players were too heavy, with no dynamics, no breathing, no space," she reveals. "I was really drawn to Fats because he had a lighter; more swinging feel, and he used classical devices'' And it is this style that has sustained her interest over many years. "Now, the last 20 years," admits Judy Carmichael, "have been spent on calming down, as funny as that sounds-n relaxing,getting a really strong dynamic control in my playing, making sure I don't bang." And bringing musical joy to audiences the world over: -Stuart lsacoff

BETHAENA A Concert Naltz

BY

SCOT JOPLIN

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KITTEN ON THE KEYS

Zez Confrey the king of novelty piano: "Kitten On The Keys," "Diny Fingers," "Coaxing The Ivories," and others. "His harmonies were different from what I had been used to. And it's funnyI didn't do it on purpose, but I realize now that I was gradually going through a history of jazz piano. Zez's special contribution was in the different harmonies he used, and in his humor: In 'Kien On The Keys' you can hear the cat; there was another piece of his where you could literally picture skeletons coming out of the closet and dancing. I never thought of ragtime as a rip-roaring honky-tonk kind of music; with Zez the music goes running by and it's just a riot." From Zez t o stride was another natural step. "His music really helped my stride bass, because the left hand was ahvays going back and forth. And I enjoyed it a lot Then, one' day someone played a recording for me of Count Basie,with the Benny Moten band, doing 'Prince Of

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I've atways made it a point to watch athletes and dancers, in order to figure out more efficient ways to move. I used to bounce my hands high, and I'd see that classical pianists stayed down-avoiding wasted motion. I'd also see some pianists leaning forward, and I was atways sitting straight--which limited my abil'ky to reach certain notes. So I recommend that you watch professional pianists in action, and note their physical approach to the instrument At the beginning of my practice in stride music,the relentless back-and-forth motion of my left hand would cause my forearm to ache, so I learned what I could about breathing techniques. I would s'it at home and play wrth the left hand,take a deep breath, relax and lower my shoulders.. . and I'd discover that I had more powerwhen I worked at Disneyland I had to play seven hours a day, five days a week, so it was important to work on relaxing, to prevent injury to myself In a way, my job at Disneyland made it easier to practice relaxation. In those days, I'd be playing a tune and then start concentrating on breathing... and I would forget the tune, or make a mistake. But everybody walking by would be eating a hot dog or talking anyway, so I would just play the tune over and over: I could play 20 choruses of 'The Entertainer;" and nobody would notice; pretty soon, I would get to where I could take a deep breath and keep on playing. To this day when I walk out on stage, before every tune, I take a deep breath, lower my shoulders, and then start playing.-[his is importantto keep in mind as you start to play these stride pieces.

Whenever I play this music, I atways hear a big band in my head. It influences the way I phrase: punching out the rhythm section in my left hand, and hearing horns when I play rifk in my right hand. tt's important to avoid having everything simply banged out on the same level. Even ArtTatum would do less in his right hand when he wanted the stride bass to come out, when he played a lot of fast runs, he would stop striding. tt was seamless, but he would make certain that the focus moved back and forth from left to right. You can only do so much at one time. &It in order to have all the effects available to you, it is necessary to practice everything slowly and methodicalb People tend to speed up with this kind of music, so I suggest practicing the left hand alone, wrth a metronome.Start slowly Even in performance, I set a tempo that is slower than what I think it should be, because things tend t o come out faster than you expected. Another aspect of the way I approach this music is that I often use single notes moving in the bass, rather than octaves or tenths, to accommodate my hands, and to keep a lightness to the music. Go over the following examples with a slow, metronomic beat Stay relaxed, and never twist your body. Don't elevate your elbow t o the side. Allow your shoulders to fall. Take a b r e a t b f t e n ! Remember; don't play too fast When you really have command of this music it will sound fast because of all the movement and it will swing better because it will be less frenetic. Like any other music, you want it to sing as much as possible.

Several stride elements appear in this arrangement, including single-note "boogie" patterns,"walking" octaves, and typical bass-chord-bass-chord stride accompaniment. Practice the opening left hand boogie pattern slowly, remembering that the notes played by the fifth finger get more weight.

In bars 29-30 and 60-63, the left hand moves in octaves.This, too, can be practiced slowly, relaxing the hand after each strike, so it does not tense up before hitting the next notes.

A t bars 27-28,the left hand alternates between a simple single-bass-note stride pattern and the placement of octaves.Try the simple stride in a number of different keys, to get used to the idea and sound of it.

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Now, practice the same pattern with the addition o f the octaves.

In order t o play more complicated stride patterns which use tenths in the left hand, practice playing atternating tenths.

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Then play them together:

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Try the pattern beginning at measure 4 I , which uses tenths in the left tland.

There are some big stretches in the right hand in this piece, as well, so you might want t o try this exercise for practice.-rhese sound funny but they will help with the stretch.

And note the typical riff in thirds, found in bars 1 09I 10. Don't force anyone else's fingering in situations like this; you can choose a fingering that works for your hand.

Watch the repeating bass pattern,which can create fatigue; keep the notes light and even.

This is also true of the right hand pattern at bar 8 1 .Avoid tensing your wrist muscles. Practice these stxteenths slowly, allowing the weight o f your hand t o fall onto the keys. Gradually increase the speed, but only up t o the point where you feel tension; rest, and start again.

In bar 104, you'll find a whole-tone scale (built with a full step between each tone). Stay aware of the thumb, which must move quickly t o its next position throughout the scale.

In bar 20 1, you can play the low G of the right hand chord with the thumb o f your left hand.

One of the fundamental rhythmic tricks of swing-style music comes up throughout this tune: syncopation, or emphasizing a weak beat instead of a strong one. Right at the opening you'll see a resthe first, accented chord comes in on the "and" of beat I. Another element in this arrangement is the use of chromatic, or half-step, chordal movement.

Another tricky rhythmic problem appears in this piecwlaying 2 in one hand against 3 in the other 2 (bar 108).To get it right think of the combined voices creating the phrase: cup of tea,, 1

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I like my music to have a sense of humor: Does this sound familiar?

Keep in mind that "Jiveat Five" and "Christopher Columbus" were big band tunes, so you should play them with a big band in your head. Hear the horns when you play the riffs!

A t measure 23 you'll get a typical stride riff, used by many improvisers.

Try it in a couple of keys so you can appty it to other tunes.

You'll find a similar approach at bar 5 1.

The grace notes at measure 25 can also be played "crushed" together with the main notes of the chord. Ekperiment wrth the differences in sound this can create.

For the glissando at bar 59, use the back of your thumbnail. And at bar 89, notice that the thumb play; both bottom notes of the chord.

Notice the grace notes in bar 33.

In bar 59, there is another quick movement o f notes,this time in an arpeggio.To play this without fakering, put the emphasis on the two thumb notes (both Fs), and allow the rest t o be lighter: Grace notes are quick little flurries leading t o a strong main note; remember that your weight is going t o drop on that main note. In jazz,those little grace notes can bunch together, but in classical music they must be clean and fast If you want t o be able t o articulate them clear+ try the following exercise, in which your fifth finger is held down while the others have t o move independently

You'll find a contrast in this piece between "straight eighths," which are played evenly, and "swing eighths," played wrth a triplet feel. And once again, you'll find chromatic chordal movement as in bar 1 7.

and the tremelo at bar 40-43. Remember: if you find yourself tensing up, stop and rest, then try it again more slowly

Other technical challenges:the arpeggios at bar 30,

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There is a lot o f 2 against 3 rhythm in this arrangement. Remember the phrase "one cup o f tea" t o keep this rhythm correct.

Music & Lyrics by GEORGE GERSHWIN and IRA GERSHWIN ving 1/8ths, Very fast

O 1924WE MUSIC COW. (Renewed)

Thii anangement O 1996 WE MUSIC COW. Genhwin @ and Geoge C e n h w i d are rea'sered oademarks d Genhwin Enterprises. All RighD Reserved

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Music by MILTON AGER

Words by JACKYELLEN Swing 1/8ths

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O 1927 WARNER BROS. INC.(Renewed) W States contrdled b/ WARNER BROS. INC.and EDWIN H. MORRlS & CO, a din'riar of MPL COMMUNICATIONS INC. Thii armgememQ 1996WARNER BROS. INC.and EDWN H. MORRIS & CO. Canadian righa controlled byWARNER BROS.INC. All Rights Reserved

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By COUNT BASlE and HARRY EDlSC

Q I94 I W B MUSIC COUP. (Renswsd) Thi v~gsment Q 1996WB MUSIC COW All Raravad

Music by LEON BERR\I

Vords by ANDY RAZAF

1936 (Renewed) RAZAF MUSIC C 0 . d LEON BERRY (Publulirg hii) All R@k Raened Used ty h i s s i o n

Words & Music by LEO ROBIN and LEWIS E. GENSLER

Copyght Q 1934 (lbmwd 1 96 1) by Famous Music Corpotarion lnbsnationd Cowright Secured All Righ~Reserved

Words & Music by HOAGY CARMICHAEL and SlDNM ARODll Straight

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Swing 1/8, 1/16ths

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O 193 1 PEER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION Renewed by PEER MUSIC LTD. k e d Used by Parmixion

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Straight 18ths, 1116th~

ISBN 0-943748-79-8

$ 9.95 O>ook)

Sla.oa (CD)

$19.95 Total

fou Can Play Stride Piano By Judy Carmichael Includes Judy Carmichael's "HowTo Drills, Note-For-Note Arrangements & Transcriptions "

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Stride has a bounce and a rhythmic lift that no other tag matkh. T k lorfignabrs of this swinging, energetic music--exciting players like J m e s P.Johnssan and Jelly Roll Morton-always seemed to possess three hands instead of two! A cross between honkytonk and blues, with lots of good-time energy thrown in, stride is always certain to light up.a room. Once you learn how to play it, you won't want to spend your time playing anything else! And now you cara play "Stride Piano," wen if you've never attempted it before! Judy Carmichael, one of today's top stride performers, will show you how it's done. You've seen her on CBS Sacrrd~3rMomiag. You've heard her scintillathg recordings, and attended hex-performances at festivals and in clubs. Now shell ~ha,re her secrets with you! You'll get Judy Carrnichael's newest CD, "Chops," f a t w h g her own personal, outstanding stride renditions of Oh! Lady Be Good, A&? She Sweet, and 11other favorites. AND, you'll get notefor-note transcriptions of these 6 great solos: Ai%"the Sweet, Love Is Just A r o u d The Comer, Oh! Lady Be Good, b z y River, Ch&$apkm C01tl;mhwandlive At Five. You can listen to the way Judy plays them on the CD,+thenpractice these solos on your own, note-by-note and measure-by-measure. But that's not all! You'll also get Judy Carrnichael's special tips and personal practice drills, so your hands and fingers can learn to move across fie keyboard more easily than you ever thought possible!

www.musicbooksnow.com Call Toll Free 1-800-527-6300 Ekay Music, Inc., 2 Depot Plaza, Suite 301, Bedford Hills, NY 10507

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