Take Your Phrasing to the NEXT LEVEL with this Simple Trick! ​(on "Like Someone in Love")

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First, why is phrasing is important? By having clear starts and ends to your phrases, the SPACE in between gives more weight to your phrases and allows the music to breathe. Just like when talking or giving a speech, speaking in complete sentences and leaving pauses in between sentences is what gives weight to each statement because it allows time for it to resonate with the listener as opposed to if you just spoke in run-on sentences.

​ Then, you can begin exploring different types of phrasing. This makes your improvisations feel less predictable and feel more fluid by not phrasing in strict 4 bar phrases that always end on the resolution chord. This creates the feeling of ending on a "question" as opposed to always ending on a "period". Note how we can end phrases on dom7 chords, sometimes even iimi7 chords and dim7 chords and often punctuate our question marks with a fat voicing.

This excerpt is from “Like Someone In Love” (Jimmy Van Heusen) from the recent Bijan Taghavi Trio Residency at Cliff Bell’s (Detroit, MI) ft:
Bijan Taghavi 🎹
John Webber 🎻
Keith Hall 🥁

To watch the full cut, CLICK HERE.