This channel features Phil Best - music artist & teacher - piano, singing, composing, song writing, arranging, producing etc. His music is a hybrid of progressive soul/jazz & classical, with occasional classical piano repertoire played in his own natural, intelligible way. His piano & vocal coaching is radically focused on fluent musicianship & performance skills.
As an artist, Phil's fluent approach means that his music communicates directly with deep feeling & clear rhythm & tonality. His style is inventive, yet soulful & accessible. As a teacher, he helps people develop fluency in the language of music. Musical fluency gives us powerful skills and access to authentic self-expression.
I feel like I am missing something. I understand that rhythm is the foundation. That makes sense. But if I’m a beginner and I’m having trouble just understanding what the notes on the page are, it’s hard to play with rhythm. I can play *something* in time, but it won’t be tonally correct. It seems like a catch 22.
If you can't understand the rhythm of a piece you're playing, you're missing a huge amount! I expect my students to be skilled at playing simple rhythms BEFORE playing any melody/harmony, and they build their fluent musicianship from a rhythmic foundation. Also, my students only learn to read musical "vocabulary" after they have acquired the skill to play it fluently (i.e. improvise with it spontaneously). Conventional piano training doesn't work on fluency in the language of music: it has students decoding the notes of set pieces from sheet music, rehearsing repetitively until auditory and muscle memory kicks in and they can play automatically, by rote. I teach musical fluency - it's a very different thing.
@@PhilBestMusic I purchased the 15-steps. I’m working my way through it. Am I supposed to not try to play any sheet music while I’m learning? Or relearning I suppose. I’ve only been playing piano for about 8 months but I can read sheet music albeit very slowly.
My bass teacher alway says that you have to feel it in your body... I also play djembe (I call it African drumming) and that has really helped me 'feel' the rhythm. It's awesome when12 of us are playing. Love it! Thanks for your video!
Scalar studies is what I learned on my bass, and using the short scalar runs... this can be incorporated in improvisation. I have learned to practice scales in a rhythmic way, but in short bursts too. I'll be heading for my keyboard soon.. I like that you don't teach linear because that was a block for me when I switch to a string instrument. It is naturally set out in a pattern (the bass I mean)
I have been learning bass guitar since 2021, and loving it. I've bought a keyboard to learn my internals, and sing intervals better. The box that the keyboard comes from says "no experience necessary" :) Since learning the piano as a child, and not really enjoying it, I haven't touched a piano/keyboard for decades. I love how you 'feel' the music, about the blocks, colours to the blocks, and your playful approach to making music. That's what I need to transfer to the bass guitar too. ... I'll definitely be learning piano / music from you! /Natalie
That's great! Here's a tip for you... Only think of intervals within harmonic structures where you have a clear sense of the root, 3rd and 5th, and major or minor tonality. Like single notes, intervals in isolation don't really carry much tonal information.
I missed this back when you posted it and for whatever reason Google suggested it to me now, which is funny, given that I now understand what you mean and explain in the introduction. Very beautiful improvisation, by the way, you should post more of these things!
Wonderful in all aspects ! 👏👏👏👏 As a user of pianoteq, would appreciate very much the exact parameters of this specific Bösendorfer sound you play … so wonderfully…
@@PhilBestMusic thank you! I really appreciate your playing, the sounds of the pianoteq, and it is the most “undigital” digital piano sound… And your answer. Thank you.
@@PhilBestMusic thank you again… for your awesome playing, and the sound of the pianoteq which i find as most “undigital” digital piano sound… And for your attention and answer. Some spontaneous of mine , if fine with you : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1cFSaUoudks.htmlsi=vsE_-seBEeuQyvkJ
I'm continually amazed at the excellence available digitally today. Over the years my mother donated the family's pianos and the Hammond organ to several music schools as they downsized. I do still have several digital keyboards with midi capability that eventually I'll upgrade with better VSTs. I'm currently relearning piano in my semi-retirement.
For some reason it’s easier to play in time when your whole body is physically bouncing or moving on each beat. It’s like dancing, just move your body to bounce on each beat. It’s super annoying that it actually works but it does.
Speaking of rhythm, I recently discovered nested tuplets. It is a quite weird rhythm that exist in some music (highly sophisticated music). I wonder how does a fluent musician process nested tuplets. It is possible? Do nested tuplets really exist on a piano piece or it only occur in drums? It is quite hard and so confusing to count and feel nested tuplets. I've search on the internet how to count, feel and process this but there is only a little information about this. That's all Thanks! Hoping for a positive feedback!
Of course, it's possible for a fluent keyboard player, drummer, or any other kind of fluent musician to do nested tuplets of varying values. In fact, being fluent rhythmically makes this kind of rhythm easier. Basically, it's the same principle as any other tuplet. It just happens within a parent tuplet. You just apply the same vocalisaftions of combined rhythm shown in step 14 and covered in more depth in other materials that you don't have. Then it's just a matter of practice. All my responses to you have always been honest and generous. So your last remark was a bit off..
I'll just add something to my answer because I think there's a bigger, very important question within your question. Your phrase, "highly sophisticated music," made me laugh a little. Some music is so "sophisticated" - we could say convoluted or pretentious - that it sounds random or unintelligible. For example, you could have a polyrhythm of 27 against 17 and the 17 group contains a nested quintuplet and triplet... playpianofluently.com/mad-rhythm/ If this rhythm were played perfectly mathematically, it doesn't sound rhythmic or musical at all. As a student, I played music like this (not by choice), and my approach was to alter the grouping and break it down into numbers that do make sense so that it I could play it fluently, with feeling and meaning, and not like a machine. However, you could argue that sometimes the composer wants the music to have no rhyme or reason but sound totally disorientating, in which case, we have no choice but to abandon fluency and use mechanical practice with the metronome to develop muscle memory (which I refuse to do). Gobbledegook is what it is, and it holds no interest for me. My advice to you practising fluency is to master the simple stuff first and build skills organically. Worrying about absurdly complex stuff is just demoralising.
@PhilBestMusic That's interesting! Also, I am amazed at the mad rhythm example that you showed and explained even though it looks so intimidating. By the way, thank you for your wonderful feedback and your advice.
interesting I felt the first version (Mozart) you played was more musical. The second one sounded more flat and mechanical to me. The first one seems to have more dynamics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Smart, smart presentation, but few practical tips, steps, exercises. The good examples sound better because they are more dynamic, better phrased and have light rubato, not just because of good rhythm.
Thanks! A compliment followed by criticism, which I duly noted! I might offer some practices in future vids, but I actually sell practice materials 😉. I didn't consciously add dynamics, phrasing, or flexibility: they arose purely as the natural consequences of good rhythm.
Meaningful phrasing, dynamics and light rubato arise naturally when doing Phil's rhythm practices. That's the point he was demonstrating. They arise un-self-consciously when letting go, which is the hard part of the training for some of us.
Use a recording device or vst playback to listen to your practice and see if you are really following the rhythm it’s brutal but it really works for me. I play with drum tracks I program as well helps me.
Yes, this can be quite an eye-opener, but really, you should know if your rhythm is good or not whilst you're actually playing. If you need to check afterwards, something isn't quite right with your awareness.
@@PhilBestMusic yep but then after I listen and I practice it gets. You’re not wrong…but if something is wrong with your awareness or you just don’t you suck. If any students are having problems I suggest they listen to them self practice…it can’t hurt everybody has at least a phone with them just hit record on free app.
As a diagnostic or remedial measure only, I sometimes advocate it. But I want my students to play with full, fluent intention, then there's no need for it. I know how my rhythm is, as I'm do it. No need to check a recording!
I seem never to have watched this video before today. That a mere mortal could sustain the focus, hold the knowledge, keep being excited, boggles my mind. I can't articulate.
Thank you so much, Phil! That example you gave regarding atonal and arrhythmic music was really eye opening. You wouldn't happen to have a book or set of video tutorials for purchase somewhere?
I have tears in my eyes as a Child i could feel what you call the Sense of Rhythm in everything, in music, in birds singing or just in life, but getting educated i lost that connection, you gave it back to me and now I can use it in playing music. Thank you so much.
That's so lovely to know. Thanks so much for sharing that. The groove/poetry/flow is all around us, and I reckon music is the best way to transcend the ego that our minds are forced to create, then we can reconnect with it.
Dear mister Best i comme back to you... Sinserely it seems clair to me that rhytm is the fondamental , for pop music, or jazz music, and in your improvisation But , in other many music , rythm cannot be soustracted , but is soumit . in many cases to structure of melody, and many cases to structure of harmony More that that , this is alowsy varing in the same piece Bellart Composer
I agree with you, and certainly hear the beautiful result of your concepts in your playing. The proof is in the pudding. Your resulting music speaks for itself and confirms your concepts to be valid. However, I'm not ready to give up on the metronome completely. Your negativity to the metronome is like an athlete being negative about lifting weighrs or wind sprints. They are not the sport, nor the goal, but they are a necessary (or at least very helpful) strength builder and objective standard giver of feedback before one can be great at any sport. Any practice tool or concept can be very bad if misused and misunderstood. But there is value in exploring the cold, hard rigidity of metronomic time. Why? Because it forces one to be more conscious of timing in finer resolution, and reveals when one is a bit too oblivious to it. Also, it allows one to practice the skill of controlling your body towards a particular timing goal outside of your own head. Then, one can marshal that consciousness, strength, skill and experience in pursuit of their own personal sense of rhythm. The one from their body and soul, as you describe. We know this concept in the realm of pitch sense. We all are born with different natural sensitivity and accuracy in our pitch when singing. And no matter how bad it is, we sound good to ourselves in the bathroom, even when we are dreadfully out of pitch. We may repel listeners, and even repel ouselves when we hear our own recording. But we were not repelled while we sang. We were were blissfully unaware of our bad pitch sense. Most of us need an objective standard to compare against and feedback in order to get any real sense of good pitch, and to realize how much more we may need to increase our conscousness of pitch and calibrate our control over it. Thus the teacher or the tuning app can be the tool to raise ones conscousness to the point where listeners do not run away vomiting. That will never happen naturally for most students without that objective feedback and being "forced" to focus more closely, with finer resolution. There IS an objective standard regarding pitch, (fuzzy and squishy nonetheless) and it exists outside of us. We must serve it, not the other way around. Its no different with time sense. As beginners, our time sense, and control over it is weak, and we are NOT conscious of when it is weak nor how weak until we compare our time sense to some other objective standard. Like a teacher, or playing a duet with another student, or in an ensamble. Or with a metronome! Only once our ears have been opened to the level of precision required, and once we've at least started to realize our level of weakness and how to strengthen it, ONLY THEN can any of your poetic time involvement be tapped into. So i believe there is a prerequisite that you have skipped. And that is to be a careful and precise critical listener of time, rhythm, and groove, and practice physically resonating with that other objective thing. This must come before we indulge too much energy in rehearsing the mistakes inherent in our crappy Beginner's time sense. There's nothing wrong with using a metronome as a tool in that practice. As long as one understands from the start that wind sprints are not basketball, and the metronome does not groove.
Thank you! I appreciate that! And I agree with you about what makes good musicianship. But for me, tuning apps and metronomes are not the best ways to practise. They would actually create problems for me with pitch and timing because of the paranoia they create. Many people use them though, so maybe they don't have that effect on everyone. My rhythmic and tonal sense comes from understanding and feeling the structure of harmonic blocks and groove. Great precision is possible that way. It's still not easy, as it requires strong focus and courageous letting go but there's an honest challenge to that.
I could hear what you meant when you played but I still don't understand why I sound like a non-musician. All this video has done is make my ego feel inadequate.
My ego always feels inadequate. My head is full of gremlins trying to undermine me. It's pretty normal. The truth is it takes practice. I teach people to vocalise the groove matrix using simple mantras, feeling the poetry, and encourage them to allow movement in their bodies in order to feel the flow. We have to practise finding the courage to defy our gremlins by feeling the rhythm in our body and soul. It can be challenging, rather like jumping off a high diving board or dancing for fun in front of people who are judging us and not caring - that sort of thing.
@@PhilBestMusic I do feel the movement in my body. As an experiment I tried not moving and realised I couldn't find the beat. Apparently the last time Tommy Emanuel talked to his mentor, the great Chet Atkins, before he passed away, Chet asked what Tommy was doing at the moment, and Tommy said he was going out to give a guitar lesson. Chet's last words were: Tell him to tap his foot.
Foot tapping is nice. Feeling the flow of the rhythmic metre inwardly is really where it's at. Allow the body to move to help you access that inward wave.
I completely agree with you. Some people call it melancholia. This doesn’t mean that one is necessarily depressed, by improvising in this reflective manner on life it is a little bit like people going fishing, or walking in the hills. It is about getting back to base of humanity and connecting with nature and ‘oneself’
Taking dance as an analogy both in terms of rhythm and improvisation, a very experience professional dancer can mimic improvisational notes and rhythm by using dance moves. so I do think it is important to have a grounding in harmonic progressions and standard rhythmic patterns. However at the same time one must never forget feel/groove! I agree with you that base feel of groove is so important, whether that is romanticism, funk, swing… it is a very difficult thing to describe. For example, what is the feel/groove with Miles Davis, or Bill Evans…
In fact, I could explain it another way. With harmonic changes one can improvise within the chord tones or closely related keys, but one can also improvise within the main key, but one can also improvise within common notes of the chords and melody. This latter example limits the playable notes, but can become the main harmonic /melodic improvisational notes to work off. I know this sounds weird, but I believe one can treat rhythm in exactly the same way
I completely agree with you. However, in my experience of many years of playing piano, it is about having that knowledge of standard 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 5/4 etc and having the ability to move to another rhythmi, despite what perhaps the rest of the band are playing. And yet to be able to move back. But it is important to keep the same groove going using other rhythms/time signatures. it is very difficult to explain, but I think your explanations of it are excellent. After many years I am still working on this
Thanks for sharing the seven important points of playing good rhythm structure timing in any musical performances and understand how we can make beautiful musical sound pieces naturally with good senses feeling of styles played in our mind.
Thank a lot Phil. Very interesting! A non related question. I see you use the M-Audio BX 8 monitors. If you would buy new once what would you buy? And supplementary question : did you evec consider adding a subwoofer or would that be overkill? And last but not least : do you prefer to play with the monitors or your headphones? Thanks, Paul
I'm fine for now enjoying my BX8s, which is why I haven't been checking out any new ones! The bass is good enough for me without a sub. I like both monitors and my in ear shure se545s but having nothing in or over my ears is nice, so I usually play with monitors.
Hello, After 25 years of saxophone practice and in-depth study of jazz improvisation, I encountered difficulties despite my theoretical knowledge and technical skills. My ADHD complicated my ability to focus my attention. My interest in exploring new approaches to improvisation led me to the concept of "Flow". This is how I discovered your channel and decided to enroll in the "PlayPianoFluently" course. Your approach to improvisation allows me to disconnect my mind to reach a state that I would call "full presence". If I had to define my current approach to improvisation, it would be as follows: How: In a state of full presence, with attention focused on the heart What: The rhythm of nuances This approach helps me overcome my frustrations and rediscover the pleasure of jazz improvisation. Thank you for this. Bonjour, Après 25 ans de pratique du saxophone et d'étude approfondie de l'improvisation jazz, j'ai rencontré des difficultés malgré mes connaissances théoriques et techniques. Mon TDAH compliquant ma capacité à focaliser mon attention. Mon intérêt à explorer de nouvelles approches de l'improvisation m’a conduit vers le concept de " Flow ". C'est ainsi que j'ai découvert votre chaîne et décidé de m'inscrire à la formation "PlayPianoFluently". Votre approche de l’improvisation me permets de déconnecter mon mental pour atteindre un état que je nomerai de " pleine présence " Si je devait definir mon approche actuelle de l’improvisation elle serait la suivante : Comment : En état de pleine présence, l'attention portée sur le cœur Quoi : Le rythme des nuances Cette approche m'aide à dépasser mes frustrations et à redécouvrir le plaisir de l'improvisation jazz. Merci pour ça.
I personaly think that what is the most important in a piace of piano depend of the piece of piano , sometimes it is the rythm, yes, but sometime it is harmonie, sometime melody, sometime structual structure.. In your music probabely rhytm Have a good day Bellart Composer
I can improvise and compose in many different styles and genres, and I love using melody and harmony both simple and richly complex, and it's always rhythm that matters most for me. Harmony and melody are made all the more vivid and beautiful when delivered within a sense of "poetic" - i.e. rhythmic - structure. Listen to my Chopin C minor Nocture example in this video, if you're open to being convinced. If you're not open to being convinced by my approach, then there's no discussion here. As my beloved first teacher said, "Rhythm comes first, always!". No one will ever change my mind on this.
I don't know! My understanding of rhythm is just common sense but modern approaches to learning music have become increasingly "executive" as a reflection of today's culture. Surely there must be some musicians of various disciplines who think in the same way as I do, but I've heard from very few of them and no classical ones (I'd like to). It always strikes me as strange that what I discovered as a nine-year-old, which is obvious common sense to me, should be so counter-cultural within today's music education conventions. The world is a funny place!
@@PhilBestMusic i agree, our world is funny place in a good way too. The difference in practices provides some pros and cons in itself. Since last year, i have been following your channel. I kept on thinking, whenever i listened to performances of renowned classical piano performers. I unintentionally think if he/she sort of the same philosophy as you :) not to judge them as bad performance but more of is the performance groovy enough even if its a solemn piece. I am trying to differentiate individual performances to understand what I liked about them. Your way of thinking has helped me to add criteria on what I liked. In fact, i have found one performer that I do think, in some ways have the same philosophy as you. Maybe not 100% same, but there is resemblance on how they give importance to rhythm.
I play some classical music but I'm pretty sure my approach means I don't comply with the current criteria of the genre as it is currently constituted. I'm more jazz/progressive pop by today's ideas of musical manners. But I'd be curious who you think may have a similar sensibility to mine...
@@PhilBestMusic in my humble opinion, that would be Lang lang. There's no direct statement about rhythms in general but he often tell that melody lines are like phrases that feels responding to the previous line. That's why he doesn't just play by music sheet and his performance is very unique that often being judge by classical purist as non technical way of playing pieces. But for me, his performance is very authentic. I have listen to about 3 renowned pianist and champions from chopin competitions but all of them played the same way that I cannot determine the differences. I know that they tell to play by score because you are respecting the composer that way. But I think just honoring their piece with your natural way of playing is also form of reverence. I heard that when playing improv, you must still have reverence to the melody, in same way this is how I view what Lang lang does.
Good rule of thumb. Being able to stay relaxed with the larger "packets of time" and not tighten up over each subdivision is my measure of when I'm playing something that's within my capability. People do like their impressively tricky bits, but if the structure breaks down while you laboriously execute that fancy packet, the music is lost.
You could also have skipped commenting on one of eight trillion videos that have no value for you. But commenting does help the video reach more viewers, so good on you.
@@PhilBestMusic sorry,wasn’t trying to offend or denigrate the video,I’m sure it’s helpful to people,so maybe your right,I didn’t need to comment on it,I guess I’m more a fan of your improv videos.
There is a persistence of symmetry in the universe. I propose that tick-tock perception is a manifestation of that fundamental fact. But what is symmetry really? I think it is a balance between one and the other. There is an opposite 'reflection' to everything, and things come in pairs. If there is a tick, then there must be a tock, it is built into our nervous system. Of course this doesn't explain triple rhythms which seem to come very naturally to us. Phil Best has some interesting and subtle thoughts; I've got to watch more often.
Thanks! I think of the two sides of symmetry as yin and yang, feminine and masculine. The 3rd beat represents the offspring, the child. Trifurcation is common in nature, but not as common as bifurcation.
@@PhilBestMusic The third beat as the child is interesting. I think triple time starts out as a limping duple beat (so the second beat of the duple is delayed), and then another pulse put in there to fill the gap, creating triple time. That second pulse in triple time is rarely accented, and is almost always very weak. (For the limping duple beat, think of a person actually limping as they walk, there is a delay while the strong leg is down.) Thanks for the response, I'd better stop now, lol.
