A Conversation about Musical Expression and Cultural Adventures
By George Brooks
No Boundaries - An exploration of melody and harmony
Our masterclass will explore a variety of melodic and harmonic approaches to improvisation, encompassing Indian classical and Jazz perspectives. We will look at scales, modes and ragas and the harmonic implications that exist within these modes and scales.
We will use Ragas Kirwani and Patdeep to explore the dominant/tonic relationship in a variety of western minor scales.
We will look at how chords are created and named within the jazz idiom and where we might find those chords within a raga.
We will explore the many facets of the 2-5-1 progression, to understand how it functions and why it is so important in jazz harmony.
I will provide chordal and scalar exercises designed to help you hear harmonic relationships, while developing your improvisational and technical fluency.
Together we will analyze some compositions that provide opportunities for both Indian classical (modal) and jazz (harmonic) approaches to improvisation.
This will be an Interactive Masterclass. There will be a Q and A at the end of class and I am happy to answer and specific questions you have. Registered participants may pre-submit any questions that I will attempt to address during the masterclass.
Medium
English
Difficulty
intermediate
Duration
90 Minutes
Recording
Available
Submitted questions
Questions can be submitted by the attendees of the session till 1 hour before the session starts. The host goes through them and discusses the relevant one in depth during the session.
About the Artist
George Brooks
George Brooks is a prolific and diverse saxophonist and composer, acclaimed for successfully bridging the worlds of jazz and Indian classical music. He is the founder of Indian fusion groups Summit with Zakir Hussain, Steve Smith, Kai Eckhardt and Fareed Haque; Bombay Jazz with Larry Coryell and Ronu Majumdar; the Raga Bop Trio with Steve Smith and Carnatic guitarist Prasanna and Elements with Indian violinist Kala Ramnath and Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink. Brooks was introduced to Indian classical music in the 1970s while studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1980 Brooks travelled to India where he met Kirana vocal master, Pandit Pran Nath, with whom he studied until Pran Nath's death in 1996. Brooks has recorded and performed with Terry Riley, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, U Srinivas, Trilok Gurtu, Shankar Mahadevan, as well as jazz, blues and pop luminaries John McLaughlin, Jaki Byard, Etta James, Talvin Singh, Ray Manzarek (Doors), the Temptations and many others.
Classes by the Artist
LivDemy Pro
LivDemy is a next generation music learning platform that provides 250 hours of high-quality music lessons from celebrities to help you become an expert in your favorite genres.
There are over 1000+ video lessons available 24/7. You will also be able to attend live session with these celebrities on a regular basis.
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Frequently
asked questions
How do I attend the session?
The sessions will be held on livdemy.com. Log onto the site with your registered account 15 minutes before the time of the session and go to the session page. You should see a button to enter the password there when the session starts.Test your mic and video just to make sure everything is working fine.
I'm not able to see or hear anything while in class. What should I do?
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Will I get a recording of this session?
You will get a notification of the recording of this session sent to you via mail within 2-3 days of the live session. The recordings will be made available for a limited time. You can watch them on livdemy.com only.
How can I take a live chat in the session?
You need to go to the Live Chat tab in the sidebar in the session. You need to provide livdemy access to your camera and microphone first to be able to use this feature. Once you have granted the permissions you can request a live chat by clicking the button.The live chat session will start as soon as the teacher accepts it.
I hear an echo, what to do?
Use earphones or headphones to avoid any echo/audio-feedback issues during the session. If earphones are not available, please mute your own mic when the presenter is talking.The live chat session will start as soon as the teacher accepts it.
I have registered for the class, but it is asking me to pay, what should I do?
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