At PianoWithWillie.com, naturally we believe that music is important to a well rounded education, but we also know intimately well how music can be used to inspire creativity and closeness at home. At the FPEA Homeschool Convention, Willie will be unveiling a new series of books that parents with little and even NO experience playing piano can use to teach their children how to play. Through a customized program that incorporates video lessons and supplemental books, parents and children can come together to learn to play the piano and work together to create wonderful improvisations and beautiful music.

Even if you don’t homeschool, if you are looking for an exciting family activity or if you have more than one child in your home who is interested in learning the piano, Willie’s new series is a low cost way to test the waters before spending a bunch of money for your children to take piano lessons with a private teacher.

If you’re in the Kissimmee area in May or you plan to attend the FPEA Homeschool Convention, please stop by our booth and say hello! We’d love to see you.

Otherwise, you can visit HomeSchoolPiano.com and watch for updates as we get closer to the convention release date.

As always, please contact us with any questions or feedback.

Recap: For those who have not read Part One of this trilogy, this column may not make sense. Then again, it may make perfect sense for that very same reason. Regardless, part one’s contention was that, for a variety of reasons, there are no great songs, only great performances.

Life is like a box of chocolates.

It is a now-famous line of dialogue from the movie Forrest Gump uttered by its title character as portrayed by actor John Travolta, who went on the win the Best Actor Academy award for his performance.

Except it wasn’t John Travolta.

It was Tom Hanks, who accepted the role only after Travolta turned it down, and did indeed win the Academy award.

Travolta as Gump? Some can imagine, maybe even believe, that Travolta would have done just as well playing the affable Alabaman as Hanks clearly did. Perhaps, Travolta too would’ve won an award. Others of us disagree, the same way we would probably disagree that Al Pacino, while a brilliant actor, would have made a lousy Han Solo (the Star Wars role he turned down that went to Harrison Ford).

Pacino flying the Millennium Falcon? Who-ah? No.

Hollywood lore is filled with casting stories like this one. Just as there are actors that seem perfect fits for their iconic roles, it is a vision that occurs only in hindsight. Someone thought of Travolta and Pacino before Hanks and Ford, and at the very least, how different those movies would be had they not declined.

A movie is only a movie when it is filmed. Until then, it’s a script presented to actors as an outline, a guide as to what will happen once the director shouts, ‘Action!’ In much the same way a song is a script and really is not a song until it is performed.

Lyrics exist like lines in a script. Chords and notes exist on a page like setting and stage direction; indicators of what and where things happen while the words are delivered. But is not a movie until the cameras roll and it is not a song until it is performed.

Consequently what makes a line like, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates,’ so memorable, so effective is how it is being said, when it is being said, the lighting, the wardrobe, the angle, everything that composes a shot or scene. Until then it is words on a page. Great words, but still just words.

Similarly, a song is built of suggestions, elements that are offered by the writer or author that he/she believes will best communicate a thought, an action, or an emotion. Still, it is just a suggestion. It isn’t a guarantee of delivery.

While the scene in a script comes to life with the aforementioned list of components influenced by the participation of humans and technology working together, as well does a song.

The tempo, the tones, the inflections, the phrasing, the volume, the dynamic, the interplay, the mic choices, the room choices, the energy, the mix, the medium; it all matters as to whether or not the music and lyrics make for a great performance. Just like a script without an actor, without these things it’s not a song. How can a song be a song without a singer? Its existence depends on a performance, and it’s that performance that determines its appeal.

It’s Gump with Tom Hanks versus Gump with Vinny Barbarino. (Actually, I liked Travolta in Blow Out, Saturday Night Fever, Get Shorty, and Primary Colors)

Here’s another way to think of it.

A song prior to being performed is like a recipe- a list of things to put together to make something that presumably tastes appealing.

But if you use spoiled ingredients, mix it poorly, and cook it at the wrong temperature, how good is it going to taste?

And does anyone ever remember eating a meal and saying, “That was a delicious recipe.”? The great comes from the execution, from the performance of the chef and the quality of the ingredients. From technique and equipment and how well the chef uses those tools.

Now, what if I have the same recipe and the same ingredients and the same equipment as Chef Gordon Ramsay, and we cook the same dish at the same time? Anyone think mine will be better?

I’ll answer that one in part three.

Recommended listening: Forrest Gump The Soundtrack

Larson Sutton, 39,
is a writer/musician
living in Los Angeles.

Picture By Brian Gimmel

Listen To Larson’s Band Today! On iTunes

Tip 1: Become aware of body signals

For many of you who know me and have followed my teaching, you probably know that I like working out. I will use this as an example. When working out, you obviously need to be aware of your body’s limitations. You do not want to try to lift 300 pounds if you realistically can only lift 150 pounds. If you do this, you will most likely hurt yourself.

We are all guilty of not taking our bodies signals seriously at one time or another. I’m sure that we can all remember a time when we suffered physically or experienced discomfort as a result of our complacency.

Taking the time to stretch before working out in the gym or remembering to bend at the knee in order to lift something heavy are pretty well-known precautions…yet people still forget or neglect to follow them and get injured. In contrast, playing the piano is much more subtle in terms of physical activity than working out.

We all hold some tension in our arms, back, neck, hands and legs. It is easy for us to go over board in our practicing and work our muscles beyond the point of fatigue.

Because every piano player brings a unique set of variables into their practicing, I would be hard pressed to come up with a stretch routine that would universally prevent injury and solve everyone’s piano playing ailments. That is why I am urging you, the piano player, to become aware of your own body signals. The most important thing is to stay loose and not over work your body.

My advice: take a look at the Alexander Technique. This is a technique that I studied right after college because I was playing way too heavy and with too much tension. The Alexander Technique teaches you to send “directionals” to your body. You can try this right now. Have your mind concentrate only on your shoulders. Try and “will” your shoulders with your mind to “widen and drop.” When I say widen I mean it should feel almost like someone is lightly pulling your shoulders apart from one another to create “space” between your shoulder blades.

Ask yourself “Are my shoulders tense?” “What about my arms? Are they tense?” “Where can I release tension?” There is an obvious amount of tension that you need in order to be able to sit up and play. Your goal though, should be to release all unnecessary tension to allow you to freely express yourself on your instrument.

Tip 2: Stretch before and after

I have to admit, I do not always do this myself…but it is a great habit to get into. Here are a couple of basic exercises to try next time you plan to sit down at the piano to practice…

First, you can try soaking your arms under warm water. Or, take a hot shower. This will help to loosen up your muscles and get them ready for playing. You should do this before you practice/play.

Second, if you can not soak, then lightly do some motion exercises. If you are into yoga, a quick “sun salutation” will also do the trick.

Here are some good stretching exercises to take a look at. Rather than go into too much detail myself about stretching and Yoga positions, I’ll just point you in the direction of the experts. The most important thing to remember is: stretch .

Tip 3: Simple warmups go a long way

Do you know what warmup I still enjoy? Simple 5-finger scales. Often when setting up for a gig, I will turn off the sound on my keyboard and just play 5-finger Major or minor scales. This simple exercise is a nice way to get warmed up. Do these in parallel and contrary motion.

After the 5-finger scales, do some simple minor or Dominant 7 arpeggios. Do these slowly with both hands going two octaves. You can also do these in contrary and parallel motion.

Finally, do the chromatic scale going up and down the keyboard. You can play this scale on the same note in both hands spread out by an octave, or different notes (i.e. a major 6th apart, etc…)

While everyone else is noodling around playing their best licks, these simple warmups will help you to get loose and be ready to play your best when it counts!

Tip 4: Practice then play

I often ask students, “What do you warmup with?” And they’ll tell me that they play songs that they know or just “mess around” at their instrument for a few minutes. This is not good for two reasons:

1. The choice to ‘jump right in’ rather than warm up will put more stress on your arms. And,
2. You are not enhancing your piano technique. By playing what you already know, you are not practicing…you are playing.

Practice first…then play. Start off your piano practice session with some of the examples in tip #3. This will help you to warmup…and build your technique!

Tip 5: Hit the gym…and be smart!

Working out at the gym is a great way to avoid injury. Even light weight training will help you to build your muscle and give you more balance. However, remember to be smart! Don’t pretend, for any reason, like you KNOW what you are doing if you DON’T know what you are doing. You can really hurt yourself in the gym if you are not careful! But, don’t let this stop you from exercising either.

I find that cardio (running) and weight training has helped me to understand my body more and has helped to “firm up” the smaller muscles. These smaller muscles are used often when playing an instrument. So, exercising really helps…plus you stay fit!

If you have no clue what you are doing in the gym, talk to a trainer or a friend who can help you. You can also do many exercises at home. Point is…exercise helps keep the body in shape for the piano, and for life.

Tip 6: Take a Walk!

The goal of playing piano is to express yourself through your instrument. Expression includes happiness, sadness, anger or a whole range of emotions that, in turn, can be channeled through an instrument and take on a whole new meaning. This expression through your instrument is based on real life. If you spend all your time in a practice room…you’re not living life!

There is another, less known, reasoning behind the “take a walk” idea. Studies have proven that the brain needs time to “digest” what it is learning. This is especially true when dealing with fine motor movements like playing an instrument. Practicing hard for 15-20 minutes then taking a short break gives the brain time to process what you just introduced.

Practicing for hours on end without taking breaks can also lead to injury. So, give your arms and your brain a break by taking a short walk or stepping away from the piano for a few minutes.

Tip 7: Seek professional help

In this article, I’ve given you a few tips that, if followed, might help you to avoid injuring yourself at the piano. Speaking from personal experience, I have dealt with my share of arm injuries. I’ve had to learn to listen to my body and stretch. It doesn’t come easy because I often just want to sit down and play without bothering with warmups.

If, for whatever reason, you sustain an injury that interferes with your piano playing, it is VERY important that you don’t just “work through” it. If you have pain…STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Put some thought into why you think you are feeling pain. Are you sitting too high or low? Holding tension? Did you warmup? Is your ‘head in the game’? Self analysis is the most important and valuable way to avoid injury.

If you just can not figure out why you are feeling pain or discomfort then consult your physician or another professional that is knowledgable in bodywork or neuromuscular disorders. Do NOT play through the pain. This approach will likely cause much more pain.

I hope that this article helps. Feel free to catch me on Twitter @williemyette or post any questions about this article on the Piano With Willie Facebook page.

I have never courted controversy. I don’t really like those that do. I write this because this first article in a series of three will present an idea that may be controversial to some of those reading this. I’m not doing this for affect. I know this because, strangely, I’m not even sure I fully understand the idea or agree with it, but maybe after this trilogy we will all have our answers.

Here it is:

There is no such thing as a great song.

Now, before the idea is approached from the wrong direction, let me clarify. I’m not saying that there are no great songs because of the word, ‘great,’ being a matter of opinion. I believe that all music is a matter of taste, and that my definition of great and someone else’s are not likely to be identical.

Music, in my thinking, can be equated to food. No one should tell you what tastes great. It’s up to you. If you love the way it tastes, then it is great-tasting. If you love the way it sounds, then it is a great song.

Except, it isn’t.
Because there is no such thing as a great song.

I have had this discussion with many different people with many different ranks for music on their lifestyle scale. Some who think about music most of the day. Some who think about it only fleetingly. Some in between. Yet, everyone has an opinion on my opinion.

The main reason why I say there are no great songs is because a song does not stand separately from its parts, and in most cases, isn’t even the sum of its parts. A song, to my ears, is only parts. It is made of pieces that fit together well, or even not so well, but succeeds because of something that is very easy to define, yet very hard to describe. That something is…

Performance.
A great song is not a great song.

A great song is a great performance.
Or a collective of simultaneous great performances.
There is nothing inherent in the song that makes it great.

Some will probably tell me it’s the melody, the hook, the lyric, something like that made the song great. I will say it’s the drum fill at the 2:34 mark.

To me, that drum fill at that exact point in the song IS the song. It is the reason I look forward to playing it and hearing it again and again. Or it’s that guitar solo. Or the way the singer is a hair behind the beat on the chorus. Without that fill, that solo, that timing, the song isn’t great, (even though there are no great songs.)

What really makes a song great for me is not its structure on paper, but what the players do with that structure.

Even with A-list writers like The Beatles, it was the tone of John Lennon’s voice. It was George Harrison’s ringing guitar. It was Ringo Starr’s flourishes. It was Paul McCartney’s harmony and pulsing bass lines. That’s what made me wear out their records.

I can hear someone’s response now- Yes, but I’ve heard Aerosmith cover the Beatles and the song was awesome!

Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford. Those guys are very talented musicians. It should sound awesome.

Try listening to my band play Come Together and tell me how awesome it sounds. It doesn’t.

Ultimately, it’s the performance that matters, and I cannot perform at the level they can.

Ray Charles could’ve sung my daughter’s report card and have the room in tears.

John Coltrane took My Favorite Things and jet-fueled it to another galaxy. I can’t even believe it is the same song Julie Andrews sang so well in The Sound of Music, except for the opening melody line. It stands, even now, as the moment that changed my whole idea of what people could do with the same notes. Hearing Coltrane play it, or anything else for that matter, gave new meaning as to what could be a great song- and that is any song, as long as it was Coltrane playing it.

Okay, that is just a few examples, and I will not bombard you with more to make my case.

This is not to suggest there isn’t such a thing as a great songwriter. (And this is where it gets tricky.)

I think my favorite pop songwriter of all-time is Carole King. Her songs have always been timeless and full of emotion, and yet it isn’t actually possible to be either of the things. Songs are symbols and words on a page. In and of themselves, they carry no emotion and no ability to be timeless. The emotion is in the performance. The timeless quality is from the performance.

I think what great songwriters can do better than others is find the notes, the words, the combination of the two that can most convincingly and movingly be translated into a great performance. Her lyrics are accessible, honest, and relevant. Her melodies are rhythmic, cascading, and challenging to the better singers. All of this demands a great performance in order to be a great song.

For me, it’s like hitting a baseball. A hitter is only as impressive as the pitcher who delivers the ball. How much more incredible is it to see someone catch up with a 95-mph heater and hit it out of the park than it is to see someone launch an 85-mph one? Great songwriters deliver perfectly difficult pitches to hit, and when they are struck squarely in return- look out! In this metaphor, Carole King throws about 100-mph, and Aretha Franklin is Babe Ruth. Respectfully, King is also a wonderful singer. So, I guess Carole is Babe Ruth (a terrific pitcher and legendary slugger). Let’s make Aretha Hank Aaron.

Anyway, when I was a freshman in college I used to listen to Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage record every day at about 10 am after my morning class. I would blast it, so loud that one day the janitor heard it through the dorm door as he washed/waxed the hallway floor. He knocked on my door, waking me up, (I often like to sleep to really loud music), and asked me to whom I was damaging my hearing. I told him, and he said he was going to go out and buy the album.

I relayed this story to a neighbor, who said that Franz Zappa was great as a musician and composer, but his songs were sub-par. ‘You’ll never hear Eli singing Zappa,’ was his best volley.

Eli was a semi-homeless guy who sang on the corner of Drunk Street and Regurgitation Ave., at the end of a long row of off-campus beer halls, hoping inebriated co-eds would make the mistake of dropping a $5 instead of a $1 into his tip jar during their stumble home as he belted out one Eagles classic after another on his acoustic.

Granted, I never heard Eli break out Catholic Girls or Wet-T-Shirt Night, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t think of those nuggets as brilliant, or as valid and valuable to civilization’s ever-growing catalog of songs. My friend’s contention was that a great song was one that could be played by Eli on an acoustic, that anyone could enjoy. Not something so esoteric and admittedly vulgar as the aforementioned Zappa offerings. My argument was that his argument was wrong.

And I will tell you why in part two…
Recommended listening: Frank Zappa- Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Zrr2cvKUI

Larson Sutton, 39,
is a writer/musician
living in Los Angeles.

Picture By Brian Gimmel

Listen To Larson’s Band Today! On iTunes

My mission for ExperimentsinTheater.com is to serve those who love the theater and endeavor to participate in the theater — be it on a personal or professional level — and to serve teachers and educators who are struggling to maintain a performing arts presence in their schools. So it occurred to me that, despite being teachers, Willie and I are not educators in the conventional sense. We get to bypass all the bureaucracy and standardization that is prioritized, for better or for worse, in most aspects of formalized education. So how can we fully encourage, advise or inspire professional educators when we have no legitimate experience working in a traditional classroom environment? We can’t.

So I called upon Keith Remillard, my favorite school administrator, to augment our perspective. Keith is currently an elementary school principal in at Wakefield Hills Elementary School in West Warwick, RI. Prior to receiving his first principal assignment at the age of 30, Keith was a music teacher for 8 years in Pawtucket, RI. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Rhode Island and a Masters of Education degree in Elementary School Administration from Providence College. Besides all his legitimate credentials, Keith is also my brother. Since we were kids, Keith and I have managed to find a way to work together in chorus, plays and bands. Now that I own and operate a family business that affirms so many aspects of the performing arts and education, it seemed both appropriate and evocative to have Keith chime in.

Keith’s column “Notes from the Principal’s Desk” will speak from the educator’s perspective about arts in education. His premiere article “The 5 Elements of Reading Instruction and How They Relate to Theater” examines how participation in theater can support language curriculum and literacy. If you are a school teacher, school administrator, parent or anyone who is disheartened by the state of the arts in education, I think that you will find Keith’s articles to be both practical and hopeful.

Everyone seems to be comfortable with the assumption that jobs in the arts are challenging to attain, require a great deal of commitment and, in most cases, never pay out what you put in. For the sake of discussion, let’s imagine for a minute that this assumption is 100% true. As a culture, are we now expected to disregard the arts in education under the heading that it is unlikely to lead to future employment? In a tenuous job market such as it is, doesn’t it help to think creatively — not just for your sense of hope, but for your sense of possibility? But besides all the impassioned, biased, “artist speak” on arts and education, what are the tangible, statistical arguments in favor of maintaining an arts presence in schools, what are the very real obstacles in the way of arts programming and what is the benefit to maintaining a life-long relationship to the arts (whether you turn out to be a professional artist, teacher, engineer, pharmacist, actuary or anything else)?

My hope is that Keith can shed a colorful light on this topic and that we can generate some interesting discussion that will help both Willie and I to continue to provide topical material to all our students and supporters. No matter how you are using our educational resources — teaching yourself at home, teaching your children, supplementing your classroom curriculum — at JAZZEDGE, it is our goal to present you with a breadth of information that will empower and inspire you in your pursuits.

The circle of fifths is a fantastic practice tool. It can help you practice scales more effectively, learn key signatures and even learn basic and advanced harmonization techniques.

In this article, I am going to show you some circle of fifths “tricks” that will help you maximize your practice.

What is the Circle of Fifths?

The circle of fifths is all 12 keys of music written on a wheel or “circle”. The keys are divided into intervals of a fifth. Looking at the circle of fifths below, you’ll notice that at the top is ‘C’ and moving clockwise, we move through all twelve keys by intervals of a fifth. So we start with C, then go to G, D, A, E, B, F# (or Gb…same note), Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F and end back at C.

If you go counter-clockwise (to the left) we move through all twelve keys by fourths. Starting with C, we move a fourth to F, Bb, Eb and so on.

How to incorporate the Circle of Fifths into your practice routine

Perhaps the easiest way to use the circle of fifths is to use it as a scale practice tool. Let me explain…

When practicing scales (Major, minor, etc…) I often see students get very good at playing their scales in easy keys like the key of C, F or G. However, when it comes to more challenging keys like Gb, Ab, etc., students become a bit “shy”. This is usually because they have practiced a lot in the easy keys but not as much in the difficult keys.

Many times, this imbalance of scale practice is because students sit down, practice three or four scales then move on to something else. The next day, they sit down, start with the same scales and never end up practicing those more difficult keys.

You can break this pattern by using the circle of fifths. Download and print the circle, then while practicing, mark which of the keys you practiced. For example, circle the keys you practice on day 1, put a triangle around those you practice on day 2, a box around the scales practiced on day 3 and so on.

Using this method, you can be sure that you get through all keys both easy and difficult.

Learning harmony using the Circle of Fifths

Using the circle of fifths, it is easy to learn diatonic harmony. Looking at the example below, you’ll notice a yellow rectangle around F-C-G and a red circle around the C.

The red circle is marking the key. In this example, the key is C Major. The yellow rectangle shows us the IV and V chords. In this example, C is the I chord, F is the IV chord and G is the V chord.

If you move the red circle and yellow rectangle to the right and place it over G, C would become the IV chord and D the V chord.

So, to find the I, IV and V chords, simply follow these steps:

1. Pick any key on the circle
2. The letter to the left is the IV chord
3. The letter to the right is the V chord

Let’s take a quick quiz:

1. What is the IV chord in the key of A?
2. What is the V chord in the key of Bb?
3. What is the IV chord in the key of B?

Using the circle of fifths, it is easy to find the answers. Remember, the IV chord is to the left and the V chord is to the right.

To figure out the answer to question 1, put your finger on A, and look to the left. You’ll see the answer is D. The IV chord in the key of A is D. Can you quickly find the V chord in the same key?

That’s right, just look to the right of A and you’ll find the V chord…E.

Diatonic harmony and the Circle of Fifths

We can extend beyond simple I, IV and V chords by adding another rectangle at a 90^o angle to our yellow rectangle. See the example below:

In the example above, you’ll notice the new blue rectangle. In this example, you’ll also notice the ii, vi and iii chords.

So, in the key of C, the IV chord is on the left (F), then going clockwise (in order) we have the V, ii, vi and iii chords which are G, D, A and E.

Remember this phrase: “4 to the left, then 5, 2, 6, 3″. Commit this phrase to memory. Got it?

OK, quiz time:

1. What is the ii chord in the key of Eb
2. What is the vi chord in the key of F
3. What is the iii chord in the key of Db

Once again, we can use the circle to easily answer these questions. The answers are: 1) F, 2) D and 3) F

Since starting work here at JAZZEDGE as the Student Services Representative many of my daily tasks have involved communicating with students and researching new ways to connect with not only our students but our community. Willie and Valerie have been interested in doing more piano workshops and giving back to the community for awhile, it was now my job to make this happen. In my research I began looking at organizations and school programs that promote Music Education in their events and curriculum. Then in January we were actually approached by a non-profit organization trying to do the same thing.

Ironically, Maria Pree, from SWAP Inc., was working on setting up a week long event to promote “real music” to the youth of Providence, RI. She ran across PianoWithWillie in her research and wanted Willie to begin the event with a piano workshop. The group of fifteen students participating in the event ranged from 7 to 13 years old. It was a perfect fit.

Excited about this great opportunity, I began gathering information and research right away. The night before our music education workshop I drove to the event location to double check that there was enough space for Willie’s equipment. It was perfect. We arrived right on time the next morning geared up with Willie’s bass, keyboard, and photographer Matt Ferrara.

Willie went through some of the basics of music and the instruments that are discussed in the JazzKids Vol.1 or Piano Basics Vol.1 for any members to the site. Willie only focused on four notes for the kids to learn. The kids, the workers of SWAP and myself were able to look at music in a whole new and beautiful way.

The kids loved it. Everyone got the chance to play bass, drums, and piano with Willie Myette. It was amazing watching Willie’s gift of teaching with these kids who had little to no previous education in music. He was able to entertain, teach, and make the kids appreciate different forms of music and instruments.

What I learned from this event and from Willie was : Music is a language that the whole world can understand and appreciate. Regardless of your age, you are able to learn new and exciting things as long as you take your time and find the right answers. The able to accomplish you thought was impossible cannot be greater and I was able to see Willie deliver that feeling for all these kids.

All photography and video taken by Matt Ferrara

Check out more photos from the workshop at MattFerraraPhotography.com

National Mom and Pop Business Owner’s Day was created to honor small businesses, particularly businesses that are owned and operated by a husband and wife team. According to holidayinsights.com this unique holiday was founded by Rick Segel to honor his parents who, for over 50 years, owned and operated a shop together in Everett, Massachusetts.

I had the pleasure of working for a very successful mom and pop indie record label back when I was a single professional. Come to think of it, that’s how Willie and I met! I worked for this lovely couple from their home office in a very woodsy section of Massachusetts — he is a very prolific children’s entertainer and recording artist and she manages the business side of their company. I was their office assistant so I took care of at lot of administrative stuff, answering phones, schedules and other miscellaneous projects as they came up.

In the three years that I worked for this couple, I saw the kind of patience, respect, commitment and love that it requires for a couple to be able to successfully work together, live together and raise a family together EVERY DAY! It wasn’t like there was a clear cut line in the sand as to where their work day began. Their office was one floor below their bedroom! It’s tough to “work for the weekends” when you’re passing by your office door 7-days/week. You are never truly “punched out” when you work for yourself.

Though my work for this couple, in addition the experience that I now have running a small business of my own, I have developed a keen awareness of the trade offs that characterize ownership of a “Mom and Pop Business.” Here are some examples:

Though I truly believe that Willie and I are blessed, I’d be lying if I told you that everyday was a dream come true in the world of “Mom and Pop Business.” There are definitely days when I wonder what it would be like if I just had a regular 9-5 job and I didn’t have to think about work 7 days per week. But then I will get a call from school that my son or daughter is sick and I shut down my computer, tell my staff I’m leaving for the day and I go get my child. I don’t have to ask for permission, I don’t have to explain, I just go. Because my family is important.

Running a business with your spouse is hard enough. Raising children in and of itself is a challenge. But the two together — you’ll never find a roller coaster like that in an amusement park. And that is not to say that Willie and I have it all figured out. We don’t. We are both strong individuals with big ideas and high ideals. And we don’t always agree on the big ideas. Thankfully, we each have a clear work-ethic and our woodsy indie record label friends have been a great example and resource to us.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Willie used to teach piano lessons to the children of my former employers. Back then, Willie used to go to people’s homes to teach. That’s how he and I got acquainted. About two years into my tenure at the record label, my employers suggested Willie when I asked them for a referral for piano lessons. It only lasted about 6 months before I realized that I wasn’t practicing enough to justify the cost of lessons — Willie was expensive and I was a single professional with a two bedroom apartment that I paid for on my own. So I quit taking lessons. Six months later, Willie and I ran into each other when he was out playing a gig. We went on our first date later that same week and, five months after that, we were married. It will be nine years this fall.

To all my fellow “Mom and Pop” business owners, especially my former employers, Happy National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day! But my hats off to everyone out their doing their honest-to-goodness best to work hard, make the most of their talents, provide for a family and fulfill all the many obligations that “civilized” life entails. Cheers to one and all!

There was a time in my life when I was in my late teens-early twenties that I felt fairly certain that I would be the subject of many interviews in my career. Already, I’d been on a few radio shows and in several local newspapers, and I figured it was just the beginning of my rise to celebrity.

There is a great scene in The Commitments when Jimmy Rabbitte, the band’s manager, is lying in bed practicing his answers to a hypothetical interview, playing both parts of interviewer and subject. In my spare time, that was me. Not out loud would I practice, but certainly in my head I would imagine what I would be asked and how I would respond to questions like, signing our first record deal, headlining our first tour, taking some time away for a solo project, and so on.

By that point in my life I’d read countless interviews with my musical heroes. I poured over the pages, in the days before the Internet, and devoured every chosen word, every parenthetical indicator, (laughs), just to be sure I knew exactly what Paul Barrere or Gregg Allman or Trey Anastasio meant when they said what they said. I dreamed of the day when others just like me would do the same about what I had said.

Then, my sax player decided he would rather be an accountant, and my drummer soon followed him out the door. In one weekend my band was dead. I was 22.

I didn’t stop playing music. I recovered, formed a new group, and the dreams of record deals, tours, and page-turning interviews flickered to life. Until that one, too, split-up about a year later.

Something pretty spectacular was happening along the way, however. During our rise to regional notoriety in the college towns of the northeastern United States, I met a lot of my musical heroes. In some cases, we opened for them or even jammed with them. It was incredible.

Deep down inside I was a fan of these musicians, yet here I was talking shop, asking advice, and desperately trying not to look like a complete star-struck goof. I wanted to be seen as a peer, even though the reality was I was anything but. They were established stars, working each and every night, with audiences in the thousands. I was a wanna-be, still under the legal drinking age, begging club owners for slots. It was really strange.

If I have to be honest, part of me was thinking, “What happens if they (meaning anybody- audience, promoter, other musicians) find out we’re not very good?” We were raw, still learning, still making plenty of mistakes. The last thing we wanted to do was slip on the banana. Even with that measure of doubt, perhaps because of it, I believed that if we’d gotten this far, someday we could be big.

A few weeks ago I attended the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. It was held at a theater in Los Angeles on the Saturday prior to the Grammys. I had requested press credentials to report on the event for an online magazine for which I write because one of the recipients of the Lifetime Grammy was the Allman Brothers Band- a favorite of the magazine’s and of mine.

I had met all of the younger, newer members of the band prior to this day way back when I was an aspiring young musician. As the red carpet interviews rolled, I had the chance to reconnect with those guys, talking about days from 20 years prior. Even if they didn’t quite remember the story, they did a great job of being polite about it.

In my travels, I had never met the three present original members of the group- Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Jaimoe- though I had wanted to always.

Across the street from the theater, waiting for the guests to arrive, were some of the devoted; a few men in their late 30s-early 40s, holding up Allman Brothers Band albums, hoping for a glimpse or an autograph. I won’t lie. As for Hollywood award ceremonies, this was pretty sleepy, with about two dozen photographers, journalists, and broadcast media, and that handful of fans across the street.

Of the big three, Butch arrived first, ebullient and bright, easy to talk to all afternoon if he had the time. Jaimoe was the diametric opposite in number of words, but equally as pleasant and forthcoming.

Finally, Gregg arrived.

Gregg Allman is as legitimate a music legend as the world has seen in the last 40 years. A brother and bandmate dying young accidentally, lead singer of the biggest band in the country, drug and alcohol addiction, a marriage to Cher, sobriety, movie and TV roles, and now, a career resurgence including a Grammy nomination this year for Best Blues Album- he has checked every box on his rock star card.

Just before I started to interview him, I saw one of the fans from across the street approach the red carpet area, his album in hand, but was cut off rather stealthily by a non-descript mountain of a security man who referred him back to the other side.

I finished my two minutes with Gregg, a very soft-spoken and congenial statesman at this stage of his life, and watched as he continued on down the procession, indulging each reporter. I couldn’t help but think about those fans across the street.

If not for the press lanyard dangled around my neck, I realized I probably had more in common with that guy with the album cover than I did with Gregg Allman.

I wasn’t famous.

I wasn’t dressed up, being asked questions, having my picture taken, getting an award.

I was more Jimmy Rabbitte imagining that life.

I was more anxious fan hoping for a connection.

Perhaps I was a step closer to it all, a journalist with some first-hand experience in the business that aided in my ability to relate, but I was no peer.

I think I would have made a pretty good rock star if I had the talent and opportunity to succeed. It’s also possible I would’ve been a disaster.

I am, still, a musician. And a fan. Always will be.

To think where those two things alone have taken me.

It’s awesome.

A Final Note: I wish to express my sadness over the passing of Davy Jones. Known mainly for his work with The Monkees, Davy Jones was a talented actor and musician that brought millions of people joy through music, including my family and myself. We will miss you.

Recommended listening: Joe Walsh- Life’s Been Good

Larson Sutton, 39,
is a writer/musician
living in Los Angeles.

Picture By Brian Gimmel

Listen To Larson’s Band Today! On iTunes

ii-V-I in Major

Take a look at the example below. This is a ii-V-I progression in the key of C. You’ll see from this example that we can use the C Major scale over the entire progression. This makes it easier when improvising. We can simply think “O.K. I have a ii-V-I in the key of C so I can use my C Major scale to improvise.”

ii-V-I in minor

Now, take a look at the example below. This is a ii-V-i in minor. You’ll notice that the chords are changed to reflect the minor tonality. The G7alt has a flatted 9th and would normally have a flat 13 as well, but I am simplifying the voicings here. However, pay close attention to the scale…C melodic minor. The scale just downright does not work over the D-7b5 chord. It is not bad, but certainly not great over the G7alt chord. It would work wonderfully over the C-Major7 chord though.

What scale should I use over a minor ii-V?

You will want to use (3) different scales over a minor ii-V. Let’s take a look at the ii-7b5 chord. You’ll see from the example below that it is derived from the melodic minor scale. It is the 6th mode of the melodic minor scale.

If we play the C melodic minor scale from A to A, we get this:

You might hear musicians or theorists refer to the 6th mode of the melodic minor scale as being the “2 chord” within the key. This can be confusing, but now you should see that 6th mode of the melodic minor scale is the only mode of the scale that gives you a ii-7 sound. In this case, it is a ii-7 with a flatted fifth.

Here’s a trick. When playing a minor 7 flat 5 chord, think about the melodic minor scale built on the minor 3rd. This is the scale that you want to use for improvisation. So….

• A-7b5 = C melodic minor
• D-7b5 = F melodic minor
• F-7b5 = Ab melodic minor
• Bb-7b5 = Db melodic minor
• …and so on

V7 Altered

We will cover this in more detail in our upcoming Melodic Minor Harmony lesson (available to members later this week and on DVD next month), but for now let’s just talk about the “tricks” that you can use on the V7alt chord.

When you see a V7 chord with or without tension alterations. So, with the fancy flatted 9ths and 13ths or without, you can often use the altered scale. The altered scale is derived from the melodic minor scale.

The 7th mode of the melodic minor scale gives us an altered sound. Take a look at the Ab melodic minor scale below. You’ll see that on the 7th note (G), if we use notes from that scale to create a chord on that note G, we get a very cool sound. You’ll also notice that it creates a lot of tension on this note.

Here is another way to look at it. If we break this chord into 2 hands, we can play a R7 in the left hand and super-impose an Ab-Maj7 chord on top of the G7 chord shell.

Now, let’s reduce that G7 chord into a left-hand voicing. You’ll see here that the voicing has the 3rd and 7th of the chord, but also the b9 and b13 (#5). If we play the Ab melodic minor scale in the right hand, we get the G altered scale.

Where do we go from here

Later this week, a Melodic Minor Harmony lesson will be released which will go into much more detail about melodic minor. If you are a member, login to see that lesson. We will also release this new lesson on DVD next month.