Jazz Piano: Interpreting Lead Sheets
CoursePianoJazzIntermediatePart 3 of 3
Part ofPiano

Jazz Piano: Interpreting Lead Sheets

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Duration26m
Modules13
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (0h 26m)

About this course

Tim Richards has been a leading voice in UK jazz piano teaching for over thirty years. This course is part of his graded method, also published by Schott Music as a textbook of the same name. Full bio on Tim's artist page.

This is Chapter 3 of Beginning Jazz Piano Pt 2, the bridge from chord-by-chord playing to real jazz interpretation. You'll learn to thicken a melody with chord tones and approach notes, then work through the lead-sheet protocol - the practical sequence pianists use to take a melody-and-chords sheet and play it like a record: melody, comping, intro, head, solo, head out.

By the end you'll be able to open any lead sheet from a standard fake book and have a coherent way to play it on the spot.

Who it's for

  • Pianists who can play chords but freeze in front of a lead sheet
  • Self-taught jazz players wanting an arrangement framework
  • Returning pianists building a performable repertoire

What you'll learn

  • Take any lead sheet from a fake book and play it through
  • Thicken a melody with chord tones and approach notes
  • Structure an intro-head-solo-head-out arrangement on the fly

What you'll need

  • An acoustic, digital or weighted-key piano
  • Comfort with seventh chords and II-V-I progressions
  • A standard fake book (Real Book or similar) for practice

Explore the series · Beginning Jazz Piano · Pt 2

Based on Beginning Jazz Piano by Schott Music

  1. Jazz Piano: Harmony & Improvisation
    01
    Jazz Piano: Harmony & Improvisation
  2. Jazz Piano: Accompanying
    02
    Jazz Piano: Accompanying
  3. Jazz Piano: Interpreting Lead Sheets
    03
    Jazz Piano: Interpreting Lead Sheets
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Meet the Guru

Tim Richards

Tim Richards

Critically acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tim Richards is one of Britain’s most experienced jazz educators, teaching piano privately for over 30 years, as well as at Morley College, Goldsmiths College, the University of Surrey, Premises Studios and other venues in the UK and abroad. He has produced numerous titles for Schott Music, including the best-selling two-volume Exploring Jazz PianoBlues, Boogie & Gospel Collection and the acclaimed Improvising Blues Piano. He is also co-author, with John Crawford, of Exploring Latin Piano and Brazilian Piano Collection.

More recently Schott have published Jazz, Latin & Modern Collection (15 pieces for solo piano), comprising Tim Richards originals alongside pieces by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and the two volume set Beginning Jazz Piano (now a two-part MusicGurus course).

“The real joy of Tim’s music… is that it is both hugely educational but also such great fun to play. Anyone with the slightest interest in learning to play or teach jazz piano should really acquire a set of Tim’s books.” PianoDao

As a performer Tim has been a presence on the UK jazz scene since the 1980s, also playing the blues with UK and US legends such as Otis Grand, Earl Green, Dana Gillespie, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and Mojo Buford. He has released over a dozen albums as a leader (featuring many of London’s best jazz musicians including Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Seb Rochford, Ed Jones, Dick Pearce and many others), and toured all over Europe with line-ups ranging from duo to nine-piece. His latest recording, the album ‘Telegraph Hill’ by the six-piece Hextet, was described in The Observer as "A true joy from beginning to end".

More info can be found on his website www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk

Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.
Schott Music

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