- 1 year ago
Grammy Award-winning musician and bandleader Jon Batiste joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the piano. What tips and practices will make someone a better pianist? What's Jon's favorite type of piano music to perform? What do the pedals on a piano do? Did Ray Charles singlehandedly invent soul music? And why are we securing pianos with locks and keys? Answers to these questions and more await on Piano Support with Jon Batiste.Jon Batiste’s ninth studio album BIG MONEY, featuring collaborations with NO ID, Randy Newman, and Andra Day, is out now. Tickets are on sale now for The Big Money Tour: Jon Batiste Plays America: https://www.jonbatiste.com/Director: Justin WolfsonDirector of Photography: Kevin DyniaEditor: Alex MechanikExpert: Jon BatisteLine Producer: Jamie RasmussenAssociate Producer: Brandon WhiteProduction Manager: Peter BrunetteProduction Coordinator: Rhyan LarkTalent Booker: Paige GarbariniCamera Operator: Jeremy HarrisSound Mixer: Brett Van DeusenProduction Assistant: Shanti Cuizon-BurdenPost Production Supervisor: Christian OlguinSupervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo; Erica DeLeoAdditional Editor: Samantha DiVitoAssistant Editor: Billy WardSpecial Thanks: The Bridge Studio
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00:00Hello. I'm John Bantiste, and I'm here today to answer your questions from the internet.
00:11This is Piano Supporter.
00:14Mel Kerr. All major keys are created equal, but E-flat is the best.
00:25That's not a question, but I agree.
00:27It's funny you say that, Mel, because E-flat is my favorite key.
00:33Listen to the way that you can make it moan.
00:57E-flat is different from other keys, because if you want technical explanation, it has three flats.
01:03E-flat is different from other keys, because if you want technical explanation, it has three flats.
01:13E-flat is different from other keys, because if you want technical explanation, it has three flats.
01:25But the tonality of E-flat is a brown shade that really creates a sense of warmth.
01:35D-flat feels like Mother Earth, and then E-flat feels like the tree that's coming from the ground.
01:42So it's the roots that are dug into the soil.
01:45So there's a bit of an aspirational quality to it.
01:49Whereas if you listen to D-flat, it's home, womb space.
01:57But then when you go to E-flat, it's still grounded, but...
02:04You know, it's like, come with me, can you see?
02:10You know, so it's like one of my favorite keys because I like to keep my feet on the ground, but my eyes to the stars.
02:22Edwin Castle's question, what was the one thing that really improved your music making?
02:27Okay, Edwin, what's one thing that really improves my music making is listening.
02:33That's the constant thing of life, is how do we listen?
02:37How do we listen deeper? How do we listen in a way that is both passive, where we're not participating in speaking or playing,
02:46but is also active because we are just as engaged as if we were speaking or playing.
02:51So it's the thing of listening.
02:53If you figure out how to do that, everything improves.
02:55You practice scales, you know.
02:58If you practice a scale or if you practice arpeggios or something, or if you practice playing the blues, you know.
03:05It's all about listening because it's infinite.
03:08There's infinite ways you can practice scales and arpeggios and practice playing different styles.
03:13And you can listen to a piece and learn something about it every day of your life.
03:18And just, it's infinite.
03:20So how do I listen better?
03:22How do I practice that?
03:23Or how did that improve?
03:24Well, it's practicing it everywhere you are, all the time.
03:27Even when you're not playing.
03:28Especially when you're not playing.
03:29So yeah, open the mirrors up.
03:31Go ahead, Edwin.
03:32You got it.
03:33Micro Burrito One.
03:34What's your favorite type of piano music to play?
03:37Well, my favorite type of piano music to play is like blues.
03:40You know, I love this sound.
04:03It's a party.
04:05It's love and sound.
04:07So, you know, I play that kind of music a lot.
04:16I also like playing, you know, just some mellow kind of, you know.
04:23You know.
04:37All kinds of stuff, man.
04:46I've been playing a lot of bebop lately.
04:49Arguably one of the most, if not the most sophisticated form of music ever invented.
04:54It's the peak.
04:55Musicians take all of the logic of counterpoint and all the logic of the American popular song.
05:00And blend them together in this form of co-creation that is lightning quick wit in music form.
05:12You have melodies that are happening.
05:14There's a rhythmic basis to bebop too that makes it very, very distinct.
05:19It's the two and the three.
05:21There's a lot of triplets and there's a lot of rhythms that are going between eighth notes and triplets.
05:27And you have a scale that is a.
05:35There's different forms of what we call bebop scales that are made so that you can land throughout the changes in ways that are graceful and that match the changes.
05:44So you're doing all of this weaving and melodic construction in the context of the rhythm section.
06:05That's also doing that.
06:06The drums are playing rhythms and reacting to what you're playing and vice versa.
06:10The bass is playing a walking line on every beat.
06:13And that's a low melody.
06:15And then the piano is creating all of this different counterpoint to everything that's happening.
06:20And everybody's doing that.
06:22At least at one time, there's four people that are creating counterpoint together.
06:27Alpha Q984.
06:29Recently, my piano teacher asked me to add more feel to my playing.
06:33Okay, so.
06:34Bebop is about feel alpha.
06:39You see?
06:40We're talking about bebop.
06:41So.
06:46Like you got to have a certain kind of like a.
06:48That kind of.
06:53So like.
06:56So that you can play that without feel like.
06:58Or you can do like.
06:59So it's like.
07:00It's hard to describe feel other than rhythmic intention and clarity of execution.
07:14So if you wanted to talk about feel and how to get your feel better.
07:18Start with getting.
07:20Your rhythm better.
07:21And.
07:22Your execution.
07:23And then.
07:24Even like when I was just playing it.
07:25Like I'm just throwing it off right now.
07:26If you even when you make a mistake.
07:28If your.
07:29Your intention is there.
07:31And execution is almost there.
07:33It's going to come off better than.
07:35If you're playing all of the right notes.
07:37But it was kind of iffy rhythm.
07:39And.
07:40So feel is really.
07:42Starts with rhythmic intention.
07:44And.
07:45Matching that level of.
07:46Intensity of your intention.
07:48You know exactly how you want to play it.
07:50What swag you want it to come off with.
07:52Matching that.
07:53With.
07:54All of the right notes.
07:55So that's what you got to do.
07:56You know what I'm saying.
07:57You know what I'm saying.
08:24Mitch M G G.
08:26What's your practice routine.
08:28How can I practice more effectively.
08:30Document your practice.
08:32Document your progress.
08:34And your observations.
08:35Think about what you're doing.
08:37From the perspective of.
08:38Constructing yourself.
08:40You're building your ideal version.
08:42Of you.
08:43And you look at.
08:44The things that you.
08:45You want to do.
08:47And you look at the things that.
08:48You can't do.
08:49And you figure out.
08:51How to bridge the gap.
08:53Between those.
08:54And close it a little bit.
08:55Each day.
08:56And you decide.
08:57Okay.
08:58These are my.
08:59Objectives.
09:00That's the points.
09:01That I want to reach.
09:02And then you go after those.
09:03Very methodically.
09:04There's no such thing.
09:05As failure.
09:06It's just discovery.
09:07So you try different things.
09:08And then obviously.
09:09The fundamentals.
09:10The fundamentals.
09:11That's the best way.
09:12To continue to improve.
09:13To learn.
09:16See that's a C triad.
09:17There's so much in there.
09:19The fundamentals.
09:20Every day.
09:21You can just learn something.
09:22About the fundamentals of music.
09:25Learn something about.
09:26Music making.
09:27From reading a biography.
09:29Or sitting at the piano.
09:30And just playing the C major.
09:32Cause sometimes.
09:33I would do that.
09:34While I play a chord.
09:42And I'll just sit and listen to it.
09:48With no.
09:49Objective other than to listen.
09:51And let.
09:52It.
09:53Reveal something to me.
09:55That maybe I haven't heard.
09:57Get acquainted with the instrument.
09:59And with music.
10:00Like it's a friend.
10:01Like it's.
10:02A part of you.
10:03There's just so much that you can do.
10:04To absorb it.
10:05Just be about it.
10:06And you'll find it.
10:07Seek and you will find.
10:09Oh.
10:10Yeah.
10:11Yeah.
10:16And then just play.
10:18Always remember to play.
10:20Like the child.
10:22You see.
10:35Let's see.
10:37Wow.
10:385-1-2-0-t.
10:39How do you make catchy music?
10:42Well.
10:45How do you make catchy music?
10:47Listen to catchy music.
10:49How do you learn how to do anything in this human form?
10:53By absorbing the frequency, by absorbing the energy of the thing.
10:58You embody it, you physically absorb it, you synthesize it within yourself,
11:05and then you become a vessel for it.
11:07So you have to exist within the world of the thing that you want to become.
11:12So music is such a manifestation of that concept because you can't hold music.
11:21You can look at sheet music, but even the notes on the page are not the comprehensive representation of what you're hearing.
11:27There's all kinds of nuances and inflection and there's all types of intention behind notes that can't be written down.
11:34So what that means is you can't study it as much as it's a matter of embodying it.
11:42Certainly you can listen and study and there are formulas and formulas work,
11:47but formulas are just representation of things that exist on a frequency.
11:52And if you figure out how to tap into that and receive that frequency on a regular basis,
11:58and you can find other people who are on that wavelength,
12:02build a community of people who are into that too,
12:05because that's how you compound the energy.
12:07And then all of y'all are going to start embodying it.
12:09If you think about songwriting,
12:11and the catchiest music of all time is often written in a duo format or a trio format.
12:17It's just the way it is.
12:19Even if you think about people who were incredible artists in their own right,
12:24Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, Gamble and Huff, Rogers and Hart.
12:29There's always even the person who makes the music that's catchy.
12:32If it's like Irving Berlin or something,
12:34it's always about finding the singer or the arrangement.
12:37Music is a communal activity.
12:40It's a communal effort.
12:42So find your people.
12:44And people that are on that same frequency, that wavelength,
12:48that y'all are complementary to each other.
12:50And then let the ego out of the room.
12:53The ego is great to have so you could be confident in yourself,
12:56stand up, play your music, da da da da da.
12:59It's great.
13:00But you want to just put it to the side and leave space in the room for God to walk in.
13:06And that's when it's, oh snap.
13:09Like what's happening out the speaker?
13:11It's just getting me.
13:13Oh, it's, ooh.
13:15Catchy.
13:16It's catchy.
13:17It's catchy because you've been caught by it.
13:20Oh.
13:21Okay.
13:22Atomic's ending.
13:23Why do pianos have keys?
13:25What's locked?
13:27What are the pianos hiding?
13:30So see, this is a bit of a pun.
13:32The piano keys, you know, I would say if you want to go all philosophical,
13:36the pianos have keys because music is tied into the universal divine alignment of all things,
13:43which we see in mathematics some, but music speaks to the unspoken within that language.
13:48And it also speaks to mind, the heart, and the spirit all in one.
13:52Each key is a key to life.
13:54And then you put them all together and it's like a beautiful equation of living.
13:58So that's why people make songs and create music because it speaks to something that's greater than ourself.
14:04And it's a great way to create a shared body of our collective wisdom over time.
14:09Generations pass on songs and melodies and rhythms and all these things.
14:13And the piano does it all because it's actually a percussion instrument.
14:15It's hammers in there.
14:16So it's not just keys.
14:17It's hammers.
14:18Hammer time.
14:19Silo, explain like I'm five.
14:21What do the pedal on the piano actually do?
14:24How do they do it?
14:25Okay.
14:26Well, it's deep because this piano has two pedals.
14:29The modern piano typically has three pedals.
14:31So I'm going to explain it in a way where you have to imagine what the middle pedal does.
14:36Each string has a hammer, a mallet that strikes the strings to create the tone.
14:48Now, there's a felt on the top of each string and it's a set of three strings that create the tone of each note.
14:58Now, if you press this, the pedal does all the way to the left.
15:02What it does is it shifts the entire pedal board over so that you're only attacking two of those strings.
15:09So the tone becomes felted.
15:11It becomes dampened.
15:12It's like you put a blanket on it.
15:13It's lovely.
15:14It's a beautiful, like, check out the difference.
15:16This is without it.
15:18Then you play the pedals all the way to the left.
15:20You hear the difference?
15:22It's like a string of pearls.
15:23Okay.
15:24The middle pedal is sustained without reverb.
15:25So we don't have a middle pedal.
15:26But the middle pedal is typically what sustains whatever note you play at the same time as you activate that pedal.
15:44So if you play all of these notes, it will sustain them all.
15:49And then the rest that you play on top of it wouldn't be sustained while that would continue to ring out.
15:54The pedal to the right is the sustained pedal.
15:56So as long as you hold it, everything is sustained.
15:59Now what that does, because of the way that it's sustaining, you see how it lifts every single mute, every single felt away from the string so that it's not possible for it to be muted.
16:15It sustains the whole body of the instrument.
16:17Well, what does that do?
16:18It also creates reverb.
16:20That's less talked about.
16:21It sustains the notes, but the middle pedal doesn't create reverb and this one does.
16:26And that's because of the mechanism of how it happens.
16:28So actually for me, when I think about the sustained pedal, I think that's a misnomer.
16:33I think it's actually the wrong name for it.
16:35It should be the reverb pedal.
16:38The middle pedal is the sustained pedal.
16:40And the pedal to the left is the damper pedal.
16:43But it has a certain sort of tonal quality to it.
16:47So it's not really dampening.
16:49It's rounding out the edges.
16:50When I see the sound in my mind, it goes from a sharp pointed edge to a rounded edge.
16:54And that's a great way of thinking about it in your music expression.
16:57A Reddit user asked us, did Ray Charles basically single-handedly invent soul music?
17:02Ray Charles was the architect of it.
17:04Nobody put it together in a way that Ray did in 1959, for instance.
17:08He put all of the elements together.
17:10He was the architect of it in a way that allowed for us to have a shared language for it in a shared way about how we present soul music to the world.
17:19The elements of soul music existed.
17:21People were singing elements of it in different forms of our history.
17:26Sam Cooke popularized it as much as Ray Charles.
17:29There's so many different examples of proto-soul music.
17:32But soul music was Ray Charles.
17:35You can't argue that Ray was the architect of it.
17:39And I'm a son of Ray Charles.
17:42You see, taking those kind of chords, gospel chords.
17:53You see, oh yeah.
17:55That old, that inflection.
17:57But you gave me money when I'm in need.
18:02And to the kind of...
18:04Like that kind of cry, feel, holler, mixed with the jazz and the horn section.
18:09Friend indeed.
18:10It's just all...
18:12It's so brilliant.
18:14Like that thing that we all know, hit the road.
18:17Imagine hearing that for the first time on wax.
18:22Just like...
18:27We take it for granted now.
18:29But just like...
18:31You know what I mean?
18:32Like...
18:33It's not normal.
18:35This is just...
18:36This is a whole nother...
18:37Yeah.
18:38Yes.
18:39Single-handedly.
18:40We could say that.
18:41You can say that and be safe.
18:42Sea Perception 2017.
18:45What are the essential piano repertoire that every pianist should learn?
18:51That's a deep question.
18:54Because this piano, it exists in so many musical traditions.
19:00It's the orchestra at your fingertips.
19:05So, you can play anything.
19:08Almost anything can be played on the piano.
19:11What's essential out of everything?
19:14It's such a personal question.
19:16How you want to philosophically approach it?
19:18Do you want to make a whole repertoire list of things that you know that you'll probably be able to grasp quickly and connect to the things you naturally do well?
19:27Or do you want to go in the opposite direction and try to learn a whole bunch of stuff that just almost feels averse to your musical approach and almost is like another language?
19:39I think both are very valid.
19:41Then you'll figure out what's essential through that process.
19:44There's no right answer.
19:45People might say you should learn.
19:47You know, like people always play...
19:51Or you know...
19:55Or even if you're playing jazz...
19:57There's...
20:03The blues...
20:08Yeah...
20:09Beethoven...
20:10All of it's good...
20:11Everything!
20:12A Reddit user...
20:13Asked the question...
20:14Best official piano arrangements for video game soundtracks.
20:17Final Fantasy VII...
20:18I'd say it's probably the greatest soundtrack of a video game ever.
20:22Nobuo Oematsu. Incredible.
20:25And also the Capcom series of games.
20:28I listen to whether it's Mega Man, all the series.
20:31The whole expression of themes in these games shaped my compositional mind.
20:38But Green Hill Zone, Sonic the Hitchhaw, Level 1.
20:48That melody.
20:54So I did already.
21:15That's when the strings come in.
21:17I just had the idea to write a string orchestration.
21:25I rode it in a taxi on the way to the studio.
21:28So you just got to listen to the recording.
21:30That's all the questions.
21:32John Baptiste signing off.
21:35I'm so glad that you are here.
21:36I hope you had fun.