A Spacious Place

A Spacious Place

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A Spacious Place
A Spacious Place
Hear What You Play

Hear What You Play

it's ok

Scott Cleveland's avatar
Scott Cleveland
May 16, 2025
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A Spacious Place
A Spacious Place
Hear What You Play
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boy standing on sand
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

It came up again during a Jazz piano lesson the other day. My young student said, “I’m trying as much as possible to only play what I hear.” This undergrad music major was reiterating Jazz orthodoxy: Improvisation, creating new melodies (or harmonies), should be the result of pre-existing, internalized motives, phrases a…

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