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author: niplav, created: 2020-07-23, modified: 2022-01-16, language: english, status: draft, importance: 5, confidence: log

The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine is a jazz piano textbook (who knew!). Because it's very useful to regularly practice voicings, scales etc, this page collects the exercises from that book.

Exercises for “The Jazz Piano Book”

Exercises

Chapter One

Practice singing the intervals, both ascending and descending. Sing the melody, or "head," of standards, bebop, and other jazz tunes while listening to records.

— p. 9

Play the major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads in all keys and all inversions.

— p. 12

I usually follow the cycle of fiths.

Chapter 2

Memorize the II-V-I progression in every key. Go through all twelve keys saying the II-V-I chords aloud both sitting at, and away from, the piano. Make a mantra of it until you have the progressions memorized. Always practice everything in every key.

— p. 16

Chapter 3

Practice playing the II-V-I in both positions through all twelve keys, around the cycle of fifths. Analyze tunes by chord type—is each chord a II, V, or I chord?

— p. 21

Chapter 4

Not in the book: Play all voicings of all sus (卣) chords where the third has been voiced (see Figure 4-5). Try to get a feel for what they sound like.

Play the Phyrgian chord in all keys, and resolve it to the corresponding Δ chord (see Figure 4-7).

Go through tunes in The New Real Book and The World's Greatest Fake Book, reharmonizing II-V progressions using sus and Phrygian chords.

— p. 26