Week 17 25-04-14 You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cause You Think You Know Me - Feedback

The title alone probably deserves some discussion … It appears this piece was actually written by Mongezi Feza but appears on the album Spirits Rejoice (1978) featuring the Louis Moholo Octet. 

Very much in the tradition of South African Township music this tune has a simple diatonic melody and the harmony is built around chords I  IV  and  V  (with a sneaky VI in bar 3). Less usual is the length, it could easily have been an 8 bar sequence but the piece is given a twist by having only 7 bars. I think once you've heard it a few times this becomes less noticeable - what do you think?

We began this session by practising the major scale (concert Ab). To get away from the idea of always playing a scale from root to root I suggested going up from root to 5th and back down and then continuing on down to the low 5th and finally back up to the root. Many melodies use this pitch range. Some examples in major: Happy Birthday To You, Amazing Grace, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, My Little Suede Shoes (A section). What about some similar examples in minor? What about some tunes which use an octave pitch range from toot to root? (Here are a couple to start you off: The First Noel, Doe A Deer - sorry, but an obvious choice!)

Next we attempted to lay by ear some well known simple diatonic melodies (as per above Happy Birthday To You, Amazing Grace). I know how many people find this challenging (and sometimes embarrassing when you get notes wrong) but I can't stress how valuable an exercise this is (and you have to get over the embarrassment and be prepared to play a few bum notes now and again!)

Then we learnt this week's tune You Ain't Gonna Know Me by ear. I tried to play it to you in short sections to begin with. This is how I like to learn a tune (I don't find it helpful to hear the whole tune going round and round in a loop - in the hope that it will go in eventually!) If you are learning from a recording you need to find a convenient means of playing it where you can start and stop the recording easily (lifting a needle off the record is always a bit tricky ..!)

Having learnt this melody we then played it in various other keys (concert Bb and C) but we prepared ourselves for each new key by running up and down the major scale for the new key.Once again I believe this is an invaluable exercise. If you have the time and the patience, go through all 12 keys (I recommend going up in semitones, that way you mix up the so called 'harder' keys with the 'easier' keys).

After our break I brought out the sheet music for the piece. Some of you may have preferred to continue working by ear. To remember lots of different harmony lines and an overall arrangement is hard (but can be immensely rewarding of course - imagine never having to carry a music stand again!) We tried various soloing options (including a three bar send off followed by a four bar response).

Ash asked about how to find 'nice notes' on this sequence and he suggested using blues scale built on relative minor (minor third below i.e. concert F blues scale). I would suggest virtually any style or language could be used: regular blues built on major root (i.e. concert Ab blues scale), pentatonic (concert Ab major or F minor), simple major scale improv, bebop type scales (on Ab major it would be Ab Bb C Db Eb E F G Ab, on Eb7 it would be Eb F G Ab Bb C Db D Eb), inside-outside playing, free playing, jumping up and down and shouting … (have I missed anything out here?)

I would also like to mention briefly about the harmony in this piece. Peter R pointed out that on the recorded version the chords are often played as seventh chords (Abmaj7 or Ab7, Db7, Eb7, Fm7). My transcription deliberately left these out to offer the simplest possible starting point. There is a wonderful challenge (opportunity?) for the rhythm section here deciding what to add, and when to add it - I guess listening to each other is a very important part of this process.