What the hell is “naked music”?
You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don’t they? We’ve all heard of popular music, rock music, gospel music, and jazz music, but naked music?
Naked music is simply the notes on a score. He is “naked”, he is not dressed and not groomed at all. No fillers, no slurs, none of the ingredients that make a song come alive.
Not a single professional musician plays music exactly as it appears on sheet music. Instead, they use the written music as a map or an outline, and then proceed to do their thing with it. They twist it, bend it, add to it, subtract from it, fill it in, change the key, change the words, change some of the notes in the melody, and so on.
So when you hear your favorite artist perform a piece of music, if you look at the sheet music written as they perform it, you will see that it is MUCH different and MUCH better than just “naked music”.
So how can the average musician dress up as a nude musician? There are many ways, but here are seven of my favorites:
1. Slightly change the chords by adding color tones. What are color tones? Color tones are notes added to the basic chord, usually expressed as sixths, sevenths, ninths, etc. For example, instead of just playing a straight C chord as written – C, E, G – try adding a color tone to it, like a 6th (A) or a 7th (Bb) or a major 7th (B) or a ninth (D). In fact, try adding a pair, like a sixth and a ninth. So instead of it being a simple vanilla chord made up of C, E, and G, you turned it into a tasty variation by adding A and D to the equation.
2.During the pause between sentences, add a countermelody. How? Take the given melody notes and turn them backwards or backwards, or change the rhythm slightly so that the melody is still recognizable, but different.
3.Add chord substitutions. Instead of always using the chords that are written out, ask yourself this question: “What other chord will this note of the melody fit into?” For example, if the melody is G and the chord is C, what other chords have the note G in them? There are several answers to that question. G is not only in the C chord, but it is also in the Em chord, Eb major chord, G chord, Gm chord, etc. Try one of those alternate chords until you like the sound combination, then use it instead of the C chord. It will add originality and freshness to your playing almost immediately.
4. Add fills and runs between sentences. How do you do that? Simply break the chord that is currently in effect and play it on the keyboard as a broken chord, one note at a time. Or start at the top of the keyboard and work your way down. Or play around with the chord a bit by playing 2 of the 3 notes instead of the full 3 note chord.
5.Use melodic echoes. Once you’ve played the melody, play it back by playing it one octave higher, two octaves higher, or one octave lower.
6. Use half-step slides. If the chord progression is from D7 to G7, instead of going to G7 directly, “slide into it” by playing the chord that is half a step above, i.e. Ab7, and then quickly slide from Ab7 to G7.
7.Use “blue notes”. Blue notes are created by quickly sliding a black key over a white key. For example, if the melody is E, slide from Eb to E quickly with the same finger.
This is just a small sample of what you can do to decorate your music. There are literally hundreds of other techniques, from pseudo-modulations to inner blues moves, trick cadences, tremolos, twangs, crunches, straddles, 3-1 breaks, walk-downs and walk-ups, and on and on.
By simply adding a few of these techniques to your playing, you can easily double and triple the excitement created by your piano playing while “disguising naked music.”
