10 Stages

5 Core Conceptual Areas: 

1. Fluency & literacy rather than performance – practising fluency on other instruments – drums, voice, strings, wind
2. The structure of rhythm & tonality – stable, organic and flexible, beyond technique
   • • Attack and flow, accentuation (loud/late/long) –  energy; elasticity – rubato, lilt, swing, feel
     • 3 ways of experiencing rhythm –  gestural, percussive & lyrical
     • Sonority – making the tone feel “supported”, float, bloom, bite, explode etc. (timbre in the dynamic sense)
     • Tonal centre – intention, feeling the "home and away" sense, again from rhythm first – the poetic cadence of the groove
     • How our conditioned rhythmic sense is affected by verbal language and a "karaoke", mimetic musical sense – hence the need for this training
3. Internalisation/embodying – inner senses of rhythm, proprioception, tonality with deep feeling/meaning to form natural, connected, efficient movements that speak (rather than mechanical movement)
4. Meditative skill (more than cognitive)
   • • calm, clear focus on the model whilst letting go
     • defusion or recognising and no longer believing pressurising thoughts about results/rewards – some thoughts (gremlins) are very disempowering – to enter a state of groundedness and permissiveness
     • the inward flow and poetic unfolding of rhythm (with tonality built into it) connected to deep feelings can trigger feelings of shame – it can feel silly or embarrassing or worse.
5. Self assessment: there are 2 main areas to assess – the clarity of our moment-by-moment focus on the model, and our ability to let go of gremlin thoughts to play from the body and soul

 

Stage 1 – Regular common time and 2x3 time matrix – chant mantras, knowing where you are every moment, playing a note or chord at the start of each cycle (no counting). Duple and triple rhythm cells – improvise and read

Stage 2 – The red and blue groups – areas of the keyboard/voice. Walk around keys randomly, knowing where you are and tagging the key names – use randomizer. Four 3-key and 4-key blocks – improvise and write/read on 1 or 2 lines

Stage 3 – 12 major and 12 minor harmonic blocks in 5 sets – improvise all over keys – mention other instruments

Stage 4 – 12 diatonic blocks & key signatures – harmonic & auxiliary notes – improvise and write/read on 1 blue and 1 red group in treble clef staff – mention other instruments

Stage 5 – 3x2, 3x4 and 3x3 matrix structures. Quadruple rhythm cells – improv, write and read

Stage 6 – Relative major/minor pairs of harmonic blocks - families of 3 plugged into diatonic blocks, cycle of 5ths – improvise and write/read on 1 blue and 1 red group in treble clef with R.H. only – play drones with L.H. – mention other instruments

Stage 7 – Butterfly areas - butterfly patterns on harmonic blocks using sets, (symmetric pairs) and randomizer and also families of 6 (diatonic) Improvise, write and read on red-bodied butterfly using bass clef and on blue-bodied butterfly using treble clef

Stage 8 – Mapping 29 keys. Patterns, improvise and read/write using bass clef. Mapping the whole keyboard, improv and write/read using a triple “bass” clef staff. Write/read using the grand staff

Stage 9 – Advanced rhythm – subdivision, multiple layers, syncopation, spread chords and grace notes, cross rhythms, irregular matrix patterns

Stage 10 – Advanced tonality – changing diatonic block (with a harmonic block plugged in), chromatic auxiliary notes, pentatonic, whole tone and diminished blocks, counterpoint – mention other instruments