As a jazz pianist, I always enjoy playing boogie-woogie at my solo performances. Though some might consider the boogie-woogie style a bit old-fashioned or out-of-date, I have found that it always receives an enthusiastic reception – people love the blues done boogie-woogie!
As a piano teacher, I know that this style is an excellent way to both teach the blues form and help foster the skills needed for improvisational jazz styles.
The selected pieces were written as traditional 12-bar blues structures with standard boogie-woogie patterns in the left hand and easy-playing variations in the right hand. In the variations the student will learn and practice dominant seventh chords in different inversions. These compositions also make use of the blues scale with its typical musical phrases that are so much a part of American popular music. These right hand patterns repeat quite often in different keys so that the student will become confident using these phrases as improvising material when playing in the blues/jazz style.
When I was 16, my boogie-woogie version of the “Amphibian Man Rock” (from the movie of the same name), was a rockin’ success with my classmates, and I was hooked on the boogie-woogie. I am hoping that these pieces will help the young student start a similar love for this distinctive piano style. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
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