The Piano
The piano is about as common to a jazz bar
as the bar itself. The piano is a highly versatile instrument that is welcome
in the vast majority of genres out there, except for the highly odd niche ones.
Yet, like with a lot of jazz instruments, knowing how to play the piano doesn’t
automatically make a capable jazz pianist. Having a classical
education in playing piano is a fantastic start in terms of reading the notes
and having a great deal of muscle memory in place. However, some will say that
switching from classical piano to jazz is a bit like switching from writing
with one hand to writing with the other. It’s unnatural and cumbersome even
though knowledge of how writing works and experience in writing is there, the
brain just doesn’t seem wired for it.
The same thing is almost literally true for the piano when it comes to the
differences between jazz and classical. Much like there are very few properly
ambidextrous people out there, there are few pianists who can do both jazz and
classical with equal level skill. The classical pianist due to their training
is more deeply concerned about the technique with which they play, producing a
harmonious musical composition with flawless rhythmic uniformity. The jazz
pianists can’t boast such ability to produce perfection, but perfection is
subjective in the world of jazz. The values of jazz are somewhat different than
that of classical music. Jazz is based on the ability to combine and interact
with other musicians in unexpected ways, entering the rhythm that is there
while innovating within it with improvisation. When faced with an unexpected
change the classically trained pianist will more often than not be thrown off
the rhythm. The jazz pianist is will handle the change with more aplomb,
adapting to the new musical direction and inserting their original thought into
it.
This seeming opposition between the classical and jazz piano is has a dark
history. After slavery was abolished the segregation in society remained. The
classically trained musicians were seen as naturally superior to whatever was
played by the African-American community. What was regarded as inferiority was
later recognised as a unique flavor of music and a somewhat different sense of
rhythm. Nevertheless, music lovers from all over America gravitated to this new
“groovy” approach to playing piano. White musicians emulated the style, without
giving credit, but were not as good as their African-American counterparts.
Soon, the latters’ musical complexity was finally recognised for it’s true
value. One of the most famous pieces of that era was “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott
Joplin, a tune that few can name but many will recognise. This kind of music
lay the foundation for what will eventually become jazz thanks with the
improvisation and “swinging” that defines it. It was in the early thirties that
Jazz truly came into its own, and it owes so much to the piano, as some of the
most iconic and complex pieces were composed and played on the piano.
