Drop Two Voicings Deep Dive

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Pianist, author, educator, and part-time ringleader of a secret underground network of teenage mutant ninja turtles, Jeremy Siskind, shares the secrets to drop two voicings, using his text, "Jazz Piano Fundamentals, Book 2."

[@cursedswordsman]

Your tutorials are the ONLY good teaching resource on all of youtube. Everything else is too little detail, or someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. Your videos are the only thing that gets you what you'd get with an actual teacher like mine.

[@JeremySiskind]

Aw, that's nice! I'm glad you like my videos!!!

[@jjp1462]

I recommend Open Studio and Implied Music!

[@cursedswordsman]

@@jjp1462 Open Studio is too general, not enough detail. "Here's the complicated progression and voicings together with no explanation of how to practice them or how they were derived, enjoy". Maybe I'm just not advanced enough. Will check out Implied Music

[@jjp1462]

@@cursedswordsman I can definitely understand that criticism of Open Studio. I also think they could tone down the clickbait a bit but hey you gotta make money somehow. And admittedly I'm not even a piano player, I do bass and am working really hard to teach myself composition techniques so when I look for piano videos I'm looking just for new ideas that I can play with and so videos don't need to include advice about practicing playing/improvising for me to get something out of them. That probably skews my perspective. But I hope you like Implied Music! He reminds me of my piano teacher from childhood in all the best ways.

[@all12keez]

Drop 2 is such a cool sound. I'll be working on this for quite some time.

[@JeremySiskind]

I'm still working on it 20+ years after first having learned about it...

[@mickcarpenter2963]

You’ve finally persuaded me to buy vols 1-3 on the basis of this very informative video, which clarified what had previously been rather a mystery, and feel I can now give it a try. You finally broke down my resistance!

[@JeremySiskind]

Careful - you're really encouraging me. Thanks, Mick! I hope you love the books!

[@VANDYmusicofficial]

I love how you really break down how these concepts work, going into detail not only on the three different harmonization choices, but also the era they come from and the effect that it has on the overall tone. Really inspiring stuff!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks, Andy! I hope you're well, my friend!

[@FairPublishingCo]

Drop 2 - as usual very informative., Jeremy. Ready for part 2…part 3…. Part 4….etc. lol so much to learn and explore!

[@JeremySiskind]

Oh no, I already taught everything I know! 😧

[@AlisaIlina-vz8lr]

Drop 2! Thank you Jeremy!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for watching, Alisa! Happy practicing!

[@jakehendriksen2841]

Drop 2! I've been looking for something like this for a while. I'm excited to check out the rest of your channel and your books!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks so much, Jake!

[@chiefjimmykimutuo6149]

Thank you much Jeremy am from Tz loving all your tutorials and I learn a lot from you everyday as a jazz lover, Keep what you do, you are such a great blessing to the world, God bless you much Jeremy!

[@JeremySiskind]

I'm honored! Thank you for watching!!!

[@jerrysaji2466]

Thanks Jeremy! I was looking for this lesson on the internet. Thank you for this.

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay! I'm glad it arrived at the right time and place for ya!

[@caseydahl1952]

a video on voicing (in the classical sense of the word) would be awesome!

[@JeremySiskind]

Interesting - I'll think about it. i'm not sure I'm the world's expert. Glenn Zaleski did a really interesting thing about voicing (in that sense) that's worth checking out.

[@imalamboman12]

Bill Evans playing On Green Dolphin Street is the best example of block chords and drop 2.

[@JeremySiskind]

Bill Evans is certainly one of the masters of this style. I like the drop 2 stuff happening on his "Beautiful Love" versions too.

[@TorahofAwakening]

Thank you so much Jeremy! The guidelines about how to think of chord tones and non chord tones was particularly enlightening to me. I would love to hear more about planing- do you have videos on that? And I will purchase your books- I’m working through some other material first but will get your books when I’m ready.

[@JeremySiskind]

Hey there! Here's a video you might enjoy on planing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIC4Zn2Qi7qkqMU

[@peterbrazier4370]

Good lesson a good ad for your book!!!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks, Peter! 😉

[@javilalima]

Drop 2, another great tutorial.

[@MrFedemoral]

Ohh i need a guided practice session of these

[@JeremySiskind]

Start practicing now! You can be your own guide. 😉 The folks at Open Studio do lots of great guided practice.

[@chiefjimmykimutuo6149]

In my previous question what I meant actually was “Is close-position voicing the same as block chord voicing or the two are different?

[@JeremySiskind]

Great question! In my experience, people use the term "block chord" to refer to a bunch of different things. To me, it just means when both hands are playing together, so it could be a lot of different voicing types, but the common thing is that the right and left hand are locked together. But...different people are going to use the term different way.

[@Anossov]

More closed-position stuff please! Would you take on the challenge of transcribing Oscar Peterson's «Have you met miss Jones»? I'm currently obsessed with it and I find most of it impossible to replicate. It's 100% closed-position (which is pretty crazy in itself) and it has it all. Seven-note voicings? Harmonizing a two-note melody in 10 different ways? Scoops in both hands? Is C7sus#11 real? What even is that middle section? Does it still have some link to the original middle section? It really teaches you how just much you can't do *besides* playing closed-position accurately more quickly.

[@JeremySiskind]

Good suggestion! It's been a while since I've done something on closed-position voicings. I'll come back to it soon - thanks!

[@marcelloestemiele]

something with drop 2!

[@JeremySiskind]

Haha, nice, Marcello. Thanks for watching!

[@iankjenkins]

🤔 for harmonized melodies in drop 2, do you think there would be any value in practicing instead putting 3 notes in the left hand and 1 in the right so the actual melody line could be articulated and stylized appropriately?

[@JeremySiskind]

I haven't experimented too much with that. It could be worth a try!

[@normalizedaudio2481]

I don't like the drop terminology. I like to think of it more from the idea of inversions and how they sound. More of an immediate thing. You hear the 5th in the bass. You can just use your ear. The understanding will mess you up.

[@danielche2349]

I agree

[@JeremySiskind]

That's fair! I think it comes from a tradition that is really strongly based in closed positions. If that's your angle, the drop terminology makes sense. If not, then - you're right - maybe there's a better way to think about it.

[@chiefjimmykimutuo6149]

Jeremy what is the difference between drop two voicing, close-position voicing and block chords?

[@JeremySiskind]

Drop two and closed-position are clearly different. Closed position = 5 notes, within an octave. Drop 2 = 4 notes, usually with a tenth between top and bottom notes. See my other answer regarding "block chords."

[@dagadbm]

i am learning poinciana by ahmad jamal and there G- chord there. and the guy is doing harmonization of this melody. but instead of using G minor 6. he actually uses Bb6 chord (so Bb major scale?) I notice the notes are indeed very similar to G minor, but is this what is used? so if you want to harmonize a minor scale you can just use the relative major one?

[@JeremySiskind]

I think I’d need a lot more context to really answer your question well. I’m sorry I can’t be too helpful as it stands!

[@dagadbm]

@@JeremySiskind let me see if I can explain better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKKsgIWNaLJ0a9E . So here we are in A section of this theme, And the chord is G minor. He will use "closed position voicing" to harmonize this melody. According to the pdf I got he is basically walking along G minor scale (or some G dorian or something similar). So he is harmonizing the melody, this means there are underlying chords right. But it seems he is not using G minor 6 alternating with diminished chords (of G minor) to harmonize. He is using Bbmajor 6 chords alternating with diminshed chords (of Bb major). I guess I just wanted to understand why but maybe its a stupid question

[@humblemai2211]

Thanks a lot 😂

[@JeremySiskind]

You're the best!

[@dagadbm]

can you write about this "playning"? tried to google it but not even sure whats the name exactly

[@JeremySiskind]

Ah, it's spelled "planing." Here's a video where you can learn more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIC4Zn2Qi7qkqMU

[@humblemai2211]

More places 😂😂

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for watching, Mai!

[@donschneider7953]

drop 2

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks much for watching, Don! I hope you learned something!

[@RC_Cola2020]

You dropped too much knowledge for my small brain.

[@JeremySiskind]

Lol, you can do it!!!