What Types of Listening Help Pianists and Composers?
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Once I had a student who wanted her music to sound jazzy and swing. She practiced consistently, but nothing seemed to work.
Then I asked her what she listened to while driving in her car. She responded, “Talk radio and hard rock.”
And there it was: the heart of the problem. She wasn’t listening to jazz.
I recommended that she begin listening to Oscar Peterson and other jazz pianists. She followed my advice, and before long, her playing began to swing and sound more authentically jazzy.
What Types of Listening Help Pianists and Composers?
Over the years, I’ve discovered that listening can be a key part of musical development for both my piano students and my composition students. Because of this, I’d like to share some of my recommendations about listening—whether you’re a pianist, a composer, or both.
What Types of Listening Help Pianists?
For Playing Basslines in Solo Piano
If you want to develop stronger basslines, listen carefully to musicians who are masters of that skill.
Dave McKenna was known for his left-hand basslines and played extensively as a solo pianist. Many of his recordings and performances are available on YouTube.
Richard “Groove” Holmes, the great jazz organist, was known for his basslines. His swing version of Misty, which sold more than a million copies, features his trademark bassline style.
Bassists Ray Brown, John Clayton, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, among others, provide excellent models of walking basslines for pianists to study and emulate.
For Playing the Piano in a Trio or Quartet (or even Solo)
I find listening to pianists playing in small jazz groups extremely valuable and inspiring for my own piano playing.
Diana Krall’s quartets really swing. I recommend her early album Stepping Out, as well as Live in Paris and Live in Rio, along with some of her later performances available on YouTube.
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here are many other wonderful jazz pianists to explore, including Oscar Peterson, Monty Alexander, Tommy Flanagan, George Shearing, Kenny Barron, Bill Evans, Marian McPartland, Eliane Elias, and Keith Jarrett.
For Developing Right-Hand Improvisation
For right-hand improvising, listening to trumpet, saxophone, flugelhorn, and clarinet players can sometimes be even more helpful than listening to pianists.
Trumpet and saxophone players worth exploring include Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Branford Marsalis (sax), Roy Hargrove (trumpet), Wallace Roney (trumpet), Chris Potter (sax), Wayne Shorter (sax), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Grace Kelly (sax), and Chris Botti (trumpet).
For flugelhorn, listen to musicians such as Clark Terry, Art Farmer, and Freddie Hubbard. Clarinetists Eddie Daniels and Benny Goodman also offer wonderful models for phrasing and melodic ideas.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
These three areas of piano playing alone offer many wonderful models to inspire you.
The main point is simple: Listen to the type of music you want to play. If you want to improve and develop your piano playing in a particular style, immerse yourself in musicians who already speak that musical language.
What Types of Listening Help Composers?
Although it is certainly helpful to listen to great composers—from Bach and Beethoven to Debussy and Stravinsky—composers often need a somewhat different kind of focused listening.
Here are three types of listening that I have found especially helpful.
1. Listen to Ensembles to Discover What You Want to Write
Listening can help you decide what your next composition might be.
You can explore different instrumental combinations on Spotify or YouTube. For example, if you’re wondering whether your next piece should feature flute, listen to a variety of flute compositions: flute and piano, flute and guitar, flute and harp, or perhaps flute, cello, and piano.
If one particular instrumental combination inspires you, spend more time listening to different pieces written for that ensemble.
After doing this, you may find yourself thinking, “Yes. That’s what I want to write for.”
If nothing speaks to you yet, simply continue exploring until you discover an instrumental combination that does.
2. Listen While Following the Score to Learn What the Sounds You Hear Look Like When Notated in the Score
Once you’re ready to begin—or have just started—a new composition, select a few pieces written for the instrumentation you have chosen and find or purchase the scores.
Then approach your listening in three ways:
Listen to the piece while following the score.
Listen without the score, or watch a live performance on YouTube.
Study the score separately, returning to passages that caught your attention.
Even if you can’t hear every pitch in your head simply by looking at the score, repeated listening will help you develop a sense of how a particular passage sounds and how the composer achieved it.
This combination of listening and score study can be extremely valuable when it comes to writing your own music
3. Listen for the Musical Language You Want to Explore
Sometimes the musical material or language you want to use in a composition can lead you to a composer from many years ago.
I did this recently when I decided to incorporate a certain type of musical language into a piece I was composing. I found and listened to Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and his Introduction and Allegro.
The instrumentation was completely different from the reed quintet I was writing for—oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, and bass clarinet. Yet listening to Ravel not only gave me ideas to consider; his music energized and inspired me as I continued working on my own piece.
That, too, is an important reason for composers to listen.
Listening Can Transform the Way You Make Music
Listening can make a tremendous difference in the music you play and the music you compose.
But the most useful listening is often intentional listening. Rather than simply putting on music in the background, choose music that relates to something you are trying to understand, develop, or create.
If you want to swing, listen to musicians who swing.
If you want to develop better basslines, listen to great bassline players.
If you’re considering a new instrumental combination, immerse yourself in music written for those instruments.
And if you’re composing, listen deeply while studying the score and discovering how other composers have solved musical problems.
The music we listen to becomes part of the musical world we carry within us.
I hope you’ll give this kind of focused listening a try—and enjoy where it leads you.
Continue Your Musical Journey
Whether you're returning to the piano or exploring your creativity through composition, my books are designed to help adult musicians continue learning, creating, and enjoying music.
For Pianists, Purchase on Amazon: Reawakening the Music Within You Practical guidance and encouragement for adult piano students who want to develop their playing and reconnect with their musical lives.
For Composers, Purchase on Amazon: Awakening the Composer Within You An invitation to explore musical ideas, develop your creativity, and discover your own voice as a composer.
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