Pianist Holger Marjamaa Shares EXPERT Gospel Harmony Secrets! | Jazz Lab Ep. 10

[@NoahKellman]

Guess what y'all, just found out Holger's got a reharmonization course through Jazz Lesson Videos, check it out here: www.jazzlessonvideos.com/reharmonizationcourse

[@dannomagnanno]

Just watched this again, where he mentions JS bach the multiple voices moving togeather are really incredible, thanks so much for putting this togeather Noah, and sharing for us students to digest, really appreciate both your generosity.🙏🏻

[@NoahKellman]

Absolutely, glad you enjoyed it and that you’re getting valuable info from it!

[@maxwellnewsom798]

I believe the piece he plays at 6:36 is Great Is Thy Faithfulness, a hymn. Absolutely beautifully done

[@simonb2738]

Yeah. Made me wanna shout ”Preach!” there for a bit. So, so good.

[@matiasariel2487]

Beautiful hammond organ performance here!

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks for listening!

[@wantfnjones]

Great session. I love the musicianship

[@JohnColerMusic]

27:21 you can double thumb the 6 and 7 of the B. So your pinky is free to reach the major seventh in the melody. This whole video is full of gold.

[@NoahKellman]

Yeah good observation! Often great to catch a couple notes with the thumb

[@JohnColerMusic]

@ you rock Noah. 🙏🏼

[@educapro]

Absolutely killin' it....omg!

[@PHIL-m3m]

Simply wow! Beautiful harmony and skill.

[@kevinkeybasswong534]

awesome video & incredible organ playing!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!

[@NoahKellman]

@@kevinkeybasswong534 for sure, Kevin, glad you dug it!

[@DavidBONNINpianiste]

Great ! Thank you for those amazing sharings. 🙏🏼

[@scipiomosley207]

Such a great interview! Such a nice guy and incredible musician

[@HotOutDaBox]

One of the best to ever do it!

[@NoahKellman]

💯💯

[@tomgiles1484]

Great video, as always, Noah! Thanks for posting.

[@NoahKellman]

@@tomgiles1484 thanks for watching / commenting Tom!

[@josquinmingus]

Great interview!! Love those “fat” octatonic voicings around 20:00-21:00

[@NoahKellman]

@@josquinmingus so good right? Thanks for watching!

[@mean5string]

I could not help but comment, so valuable!

[@NoahKellman]

@@mean5string thanks for writing, glad you’re finding it helpful!

[@JohnPaulRiger]

Great interview! I like how you rationalize the costs of music education toward the end.

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks for listening / watching

[@TheKalemba777]

Woowww !!! What a great surprise. Thank you Noah for this video🙏🙏🙏🎹🎼

[@NoahKellman]

@@TheKalemba777 My pleasure glad you like it!

[@phidalelopez3233]

My left hand was screaming trying to keep up with you guys 😅

[@DimitrisKarkoulias]

Holger! Thanks for bringing him 🔥🔥

[@NoahKellman]

For sure!!

[@dannomagnanno]

wow this is fully insane you guys are awesome❤❤

[@nz1268]

Gorgeous sounds

[@lesleyjohn2419]

I can hear some Allain marvel stuff here. Nice work 😊

[@gilbertosierralta]

Saludos Masters, saludos y bendiciones para todos 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@istominmusic]

Wow wow wow!!! Its SO SWEET!!! I like!!!

[@NoahKellman]

Thank you! Glad you like it

[@brookiekeys]

Great interview! So many things to dive into here. The only thing I wish he’d been more specific about is what to practice to master these movements, which you had asked. Big statements about being honest with yourself and consistency and dedicating time to the instrument are helpful and all, but I really want to know like… WHAT to do when I’m dedicating that time and being consistent lol😂Sometimes these concepts feel so out of reach and having someone be like HERE is step 1, get good at this thing, THEN go here is what I craaaaave. But his message is still great

[@NoahKellman]

@@brookiekeys glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I hear you, wish we got a little more technical but Holger’s advice is priceless nonetheless. There’s a link to Holger’s reharm course in my pinned comment which might be useful, and I’ve also got a lot of deep dives on harmony and reharmonization available in my courses as well, so maybe that’d be helpful too! In any case, thanks for watching and happy holidays!

[@mauryallums2898]

Very nice!!!

[@tonylancer7367]

This was an excellent interview; Holger is definitely one of a kind. I do wonder what/how do you practice all that he did, almost all of the stuff he did flew over my head (only recognised how much drop 2 voicings are very important in this style) and I'm so interested and yet so lost. 😭

[@NoahKellman]

Any specific spots you found yourself not understanding?

[@gustav1296]

You listen and you imitate and you analyse. You fall in love with the music and are able to sing the solos and then you try and play them

[@johnsmetek3996]

Richard deserves a mention!

[@johnsmetek3996]

Richard Tee!

[@blake6440]

Hey Noah, are you going to have a PDF for the organ part? I see there is one for the piano but not for first half of the video on organ?

[@NoahKellman]

Hey Blake, I just created a PDF that looks like a lead sheet so you can better see the chords. It’s there now in the Free Resources Library

[@tonyafranklin621]

I love what this channel is about and appreciate bringing visibility to Gospel organ/piano. I have to be honest in my disappointment in referencing the music as ‘this stuff’. This is sacred music, particularly to the African American experience. I’m surprised that there was no mention of this and the value of immersing oneself in the culture to understand the music - there are tons of churches that play gospel music. Gospel music is about the Gospel, Jesus Christ. I hope this doesn’t get lost in the eagerness to learn the fancy chords/slick runs. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏾

[@NoahKellman]

@@tonyafranklin621 Hey Tonya, heard! Certainly no disrespect was meant in calling it ‘this stuff,’ and fully agree with you that the context of it coming from the Black Church is very important and valuable to know. We just have a tendency to nerd out on the musical theoretical level on this channel and sometimes get lost in the technical weeds. Thanks for watching and offering your thoughts and feedback 🙏

[@tonyafranklin621]

@ thanks for your openness to receive my feedback. I really appreciate it and thank you for your channel. Keep up the great work ❤️

[@markpontin3720]

[1] Something that might help folks trying to figure out some of what Mr. Marjamaa was doing, is that in the first organ music bit he played right at the start he was, I believe, going off a song called 'Great Is Thy Faithfulness'. It's a complex song harmonically to begin with, and, as the gospel style calls for, he was taking liberties. (Sounded great.) He comes back to the song in snatches during later bits he plays. Here's one version of 'Great Is Thy Faithfulness' by Israel Houghton -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKrVeItna7WZhLs [2] Gospel Hammond technique is almost the opposite of jazz Hammond technique a la Jimmy Smith, though you can mix them up a la Cory Henry. In the Jimmy Smith-descended jazz style, the right hand is almost always on the top manual, with maybe only the bottom three drawbars out and the percussion on, and the left hand is on the bottom manual. Furthermore, on fast tunes you can walk with the left hand on the lower manual (because there's no way your left foot's going to not give out after a minute or two at fast tempos) but for each quarter-note you can simultaneously tap **lightly and quickly** on a bass pedal -- any bass pedal! -- and then get off it. That makes it sound deeper and more bassy than just walking on the lower manual with your left hand -- although really that's all your doing. You can even be playing a song in C# and tap lightly on the C pedal to fill it out and **provided you get off the pedal quick enough**, it will not clash and will work. I didn't believe it till I saw and heard guys doing it, then tried it myself. (That is something they do in both the gospel and jazz Hammond style). It's crazy, but it works because there's a whole bunch of things that'd never work on piano or European church organ, but **only** on Hammond. [3] In the gospel Hammond style, I've often seen guys play with right or both hands on the lower manual and no percussion -- because there's no percussion setting on the lower manual -- and sometimes using the upper manual for bass. Lots more adventurous drawbar settings; try, forex, just having the bottom drawbar and top drawbar out and the rest pushed in, for that high singing gospel tone. ABOVE ALL, Hammond organ is the opposite of piano technique. Especially in gospel, you want a kind of **controlled slop** and body language, where you might have passages where you just slap and smear your hands across the keys. In a way, the more body language you can put into it, the better. Check out this Billy Preston solo Hammond version of 'How Great They Art'' and just how ridiculous some of the things he does are --and yet it works. (And just to contradict some of what I say, he uses his right hand on the upper manual, but with drawbar settings a jazz player probably wouldn't use) Billy Preston 'How Great They Are.' kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIizm4OPmbGUkKc

[@NoahKellman]

Hey Mark, thanks so much for this detailed comment! I’m sure people are going to find this really useful as I did. Much appreciated.

[@simonb2738]

I don’t understand half of what’s going on in this video 😅. But the gospel hammond voicings from this guy are sooo awesome. Literally best sound/vibe. Thanks for this.

[@MiguelTicona]

Lacoste🐊

[@pascaljoseph2481]

💯

[@keithcowen5220]

Didn’t Bill Evan’s say that “take care of the music and it will take care of everything else” statement.

[@michaelkim984]

I almost NEVER listen to these interview videos and have almost NO interest in organ vs piano but man the movements that man does on the organ are SO melodic. Unfortunately it is a little harder to hear that same smoothness and consonance when he plays on the piano... I almost feel like it could do with fewer notes for the same effect on the piano?

[@NoahKellman]

@@michaelkim984 he’s incredible right?? For me it works on piano too but I dig that you have a unique preference and totally encourage you to follow your ears and try to simplify the voicings to your liking. I’m also curious how that would sound!