AARON PARKS ELITE MUSIC MENTOR PRESENTS AARON PARKS

Aaron Parks is one of the most influencial contemporary jazz pianists. At age 15, he was chosen to participate in the Grammy High School Jazz Ensemble which led him to move to New York and transfer from the Univeristy of Washington to the Manhattan School of Music. During his final year at the Manhattan School of Music, he was touring with Terrence Blanchard and recorded three albums with him for Blue Note. Aaron has also toured with acclaimed artists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joshua Redman, and Eric Harland. In this masterclass, Aaron will take us into his thought process behind composition and how to create a physical, mental, and spiritual connection with your music and improvisation.

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Elite Music Mentor Mike Moreno 3 AARON PARKS Contents

Chapter I Heart & Melody

Aaron explains his core philosophy about music - rhythm to the body, melody to the heart, and harmony to the mind. He then speaks more in-depths about the connection between heart and melody. Heart & Melody - Overview Ch. 1, pg.6 Heart & Melody

In this chapter, Aaron reveals that he prefers an intuitive “The one thing that approach to learning music than an intellectual one. He breaks down music into its fundamental parts - rhythm, matters the most is melody, and harmony. Rhythm for him relates to the body, that the music feels alive.” melody relates to the heart, and harmony relates to the mind. He believes that great music comes when there is a balance and of all those three elements.

Aaron likes to use a powerful exercise to get his heart, body, and mind closer to the music he wants to perform. In this exercise, Aaron sets up a drone in the left hand with just the root, fifth, and maybe an octave. He will then improvise over modes from the lightest or “sunniest” side of the harmonic spectrum into increasingly darker ones. In the beginning of his demonstration of this exercise, Aaron plays melodies using the lydian scale, which is on the brightest side of the emotional spectrum for him.

Aaron gets darker first by going to the ionian mode, then mixolydian. From the sun he goes to the moon, singing his ideas over the pedal in the in the left hand the entire time. The aim of the exercise is to open up your ears and also get them to connect to your fingers and body so that there is a constant connection between what you’re hearing and playing.

Elite Music Mentor Heart | Body | Mind Ch. 1, pg.7 Heart & Melody

HEART | BODY | MIND

• Start on the sun, the “light” modes • Sing through all your ideas • Connect your ear to your body • Singing your ideas makes your them melodic

• Continue to the dark side of the modes, the “moon”

No transcriptions for this section.

Elite Music Mentor Heart | Body | Mind Ch. 1, pg.8 Heart & Melody

HEART | BODY | MIND

• Emulate Aaron’s exercise in this chapter • Focus on creating the connection between heart, body, and mind.

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Elite Music Mentor The Art of Melody Ch. 1, pg.9 Heart & Melody

THE ART OF MELODY

• Continue going through the modes of increasing “darkness,” • Follow this from light to dark: Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aolian, Phrygian, Locrian

Refer to the next section for trancriptions. No homework for this section.

Elite Music Mentor The Art of Melody Ch. 1, pg.10 The Art of Melody - Transcriptions I

Elite Music Mentor The Art of Melody Ch. 1, pg.11 The Art of Melody - Transcriptions II

Elite Music Mentor The Art of Melody Ch. 1, pg.12 The Art of Melody - Transcriptions III

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