For countless students of jazz piano, mastering the left hand remains one of the most difficult and elusive aspects of practice. How do you obtain a basic left-hand technique? With so many different styles, how do you practice them or better yet, where do you start? This workshop shows you a unified, singular method for coordinating your left hand with your right hand, giving you a set of tools to practice a variety of left hand styles, from the Harlem stride style of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, to the Freddie Green style left hand of Erroll Garner, to the contrapuntal left hand techniques of Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch, and everything else in-between...
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For countless students of jazz piano, mastering the left hand remains one of the most difficult and elusive aspects of practice. How do you obtain a basic left-hand technique? With so many different styles, how do you practice them or better yet, where do you start? This workshop shows you a unified, singular method for coordinating your left hand with your right hand, giving you a set of tools to practice a variety of left hand styles, from the Harlem stride style of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, to the Freddie Green style left hand of Erroll Garner, to the contrapuntal left hand techniques of Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch, and everything else in-between. Through group exercises, you will also develop a functional method for using the left hand to interact with a rhythm section. Even for non-pianists, this workshop will help establish a broader rhythmic vocabulary in your own improvisations. Pianist, composer and educator Dave Meder is quickly becoming one of the prominent artists of his generation, known for a panoramic, genre-bending approach that has earned him slots in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and the American Pianists Awards. His latest album, Passage (Outside In Music), demonstrates a stunning versatility, traversing an affecting gospel standard, a bold deconstruction of Monk, a title track inspired by minimalists Philip Glass and John Adams, and pieces featuring the most progressive ideas in jazz harmony, rhythm and improvisation. Indeed, MederÕs defining aesthetic is his remarkably postmodern sense of stylistic adventure. Passage is also an ideal showcase for MederÕs cultivated gifts as a composer-arranger, talents that earlier earned him an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, the FirstMusic Commission of the New York Youth Symphony, and a slot in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. He has performed in some of New YorkÕs most hallowed rooms, with dates at Smalls Jazz Club, a multi-night solo-piano engagement at Jazz at Kitano and several headlining stands at DizzyÕs Club Coca-Cola. His international bookings have included a Tokyo Jazz Festival appearance, as well as a guest appearance with the Tom Jobim Youth Orchestra at S‹o PauloÕs iconic Ibirapuera Auditorium. In 2013, he won the esteemed Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. As the Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano at the University of North Texas, Meder is the youngest instructor employed in one of the nationÕs most renowned music programs. Before he relocated from New York to Texas for the UNT post, he taught at NYU and Juilliard; he also served as a guest instructor abroad in Italy, as part of the Juilliard Jazz Workshop, and Honduras, in a program facilitated by the U.S. State Department. During his undergraduate studies at Florida State UniversityÑfrom which Meder graduated summa cum laude in 2013 with degrees in music, Spanish and political scienceÑtutelage under Marcus Roberts bolstered the pianistÕs strikingly authentic handle on historical jazz styles. He was able to immerse himself in the musicÕs legacy firsthand in 2011, when he took part in two of jazz educationÕs most crucial incubators, the Kennedy CenterÕs Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program and the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival. A later move to New York afforded Meder a chance to study with jazzÕs leading edge: Mark Turner, Ari Hoenig, Dave DouglasÑas well as such leading classical educators as Julian Martin and Philip Lasser. He holds an MM from NYU and an Artist Diploma from Juilliard, where he toured as part of the premier ensemble of the school. Concurrent to his graduate studies, Meder worked for three years as the music director of Fordham Lutheran Church in the Bronx, furthering another creative through-line in his life. Indeed, his music conveys a tremendous depth, yet remains eminently soulful, a common aspiration not often attained in modern jazz.
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