Piano Week 18: Blues licks and response

Weekly Focus

Week 18 focuses on blues licks as musical language, not isolated vocabulary. The goal is clear call-and-response phrasing with space.

Success this week means you can place a small set of licks in form, answer them musically, and keep time stable.

Repertoire & Chord Map

Primary lab is 12-bar blues in F and Bb. Transfer material remains My Romance and Fly Me to the Moon to test lick restraint.

Core blues loop:

I7 | IV7 | I7 | I7 IV7 | IV7 | I7 | I7 V7 | IV7 | I7 | V7

Daily map task: place one lick statement and one answer per 2-bar unit, then leave space.

Supplementary Listening & Ear Training (Required)

Treat this as part of your weekly agenda, not optional background listening: it targets “Blues licks and response”.

Weekly listening pick:

• How High the Moon — Ella Fitzgerald

Why this track now: It highlights fast functional cycling and form memory, which matches Week 18’s goals.

Ear tasks (10–15 min, at least 3 sessions this week):

1. Listen once without the instrument and name the key center by ear (major/minor/modal). Then verify the key at piano.
2. Find one cadence or arrival point, then play: root + shell ii-V-I (or closest functional equivalent) in that key.
3. Lift a short 4–8 bar fragment by ear, play it slowly, and record ~30s so you can compare your hearing vs. the recording.

Extra challenge (optional): transpose your lifted fragment to the weekly priority ladder when possible (F → Eb → G → Bb → C).

End-of-Week Reflection

Did your licks start sounding like conversation, or like inserted fragments? Keep one reliable call-response pair and carry one weak placement into Week 19.