If you enjoyed the previous two posts in this series, on the DLP online music learning program and JazzAdvice.com, then this update will really get you excited:
Today, DLP have launched their Jazz course, complementing their “Kore” introductory course with jazz-specific essentials!
Advance your learning with DLP Jazz
In our previous post we covered the newly-relaunched Kore Course from DLP, which teaches music theory from the ground up, complete with illustrative examples, interactive self-test tools and musical exercises you can play on your own instrument to internalise what you’ve learned. The Jazz Course which launches today takes the same approach and applies it to jazz music. It can be seen as a specialist module for jazz enthusiasts, or simply a more advanced course, since so much of the theory can be usefully applied to other genres (rock, pop, … even classical!)
As with the Kore course (learn more here), the design is: Discover, Learn, Play. Lessons start with teaching material, complete with plenty of musical examples. These begin from the essential basics of what distinguishes jazz from other types of music. A big part of jazz is understanding the roles of scale degrees and the chords based on them, and a lot of the DLP Jazz course material focuses on helping you understand this — scales, modes and chords galore! The course is rounded off with a nice lesson on jazz standards and common song structures.
Once you’ve got the hang of the material, move on to “Learn”, where you can take a quiz to test your knowledge of the theory, and your ability to recognise the musical elements by ear. This is naturally our favourite part! There are some tricky tests on scales and modes which would be useful for any musician, not just the jazz afficionados.
Open to all
As we mention above: This isn’t just for hardcore jazz musicians. In a lot of ways, jazz theory is the natural extension of core music theory, and so most of what you learn in the Jazz Course can benefit you in other genres and traditions too. If you’re just graduating from the Kore Course, this is a perfect next step. And if you’re keen on jazz but it seems a little too advanced – try the Kore Course first!
Having a decent grasp of music theory is essential to good ear training. Being able to recognise musical elements is important, but if you don’t know what they’re called, how they fit together, and why some work together and others don’t… you can only go so far in music. If you’re visiting EasyEarTraining.com you know how important aural skills are. Do yourself a favour and make sure you’ve got your essential theory laying the groundwork for good ear training.
Both courses are currently available free at www.dlpmusicprogram.com. Just sign up on the website and you can get started immediately!