Live Zoom Classes

This month I’m joined by professional jazz pianist Michael Horner, a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and a tutor on our jazz summer school, who is much in demand on the London jazz scene.

He’s going to demonstrate for us how voicings have such an impact on the music we play and how everyone, not just pianists, can benefit from having even a rudimentary understanding of how they work.

Particular artists tended to use, or even invented, particular voicings, which became their signature sound. This is why some pianists are so recognisable on the recordings. Those voicings also became closely assoicated with that particular style of jazz, so if you want to sound authentic in that style you need to learn those voicings. This is useful information for horn players and all musicians because we can use the name of the artist to describe to the pianist what sort of sound we are looking for (maybe when trying out a new composition or developing an arrangement)

A voicing can be a great basis for a melodic idea when composing. Just playing down or up a voicing, with some rhythmic phrasing can be a simple method to generate a motivic idea for further development.

Also, some piano voicings work well for horn arrangements, making it easy to create simple backings behind a soloist or vamps for drum solos.

So understanding the magic of voicings is essential for all jazz musicians, whatever your instrument!