Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Jamorama Piano series was created on behalf of Rock Star Recipes LTD.
Author & Music: Asheigh Southam.
Edit & Graphic Design: Unica Design LTD
Multimedia Content: Rock Star Recipes Studios
Publisher: Rock Star Recipes LTD
Copyright 2005 Rock Star Recipes Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
49
Each type of music has very interchangable aspects and their styles sometimes blend.
Some songs that might be considered spiritual may also sometimes be considered or
played as gospel tunes, and the same goes with hymns.
This is partly because in the history of the respective styles the lines where one style ends
and the other begins are naturally quite blurry. More on that later.
For the purpose of this book some songs may be considered as either types of genre.
Page
Table Of Contents
Welcome................................................................................ 3
A personal message from me................................................ 3
Table of Contents.................................................................. 4
Jamorama Piano Progress Tracker....................................... 5
Chapter one. A brief history of the Spirituals.................. 6
Chapter two. Spirituals, the three main types................. 7
Ballad type........................................................................... 7
Faster tempo syncopated tunes............................................ 8
Chapter three. Spiritual melody............................................ 9
Major pentatonic.................................................................... 9
Minor Pentatonic................................................................. 12
D minor pentatonic ............................................................. 14
Blues pentatonic................................................................ 16
Blues pentatonic tune........................................................ 18
Chapter four. Dotted 8th notes........................................ 20
Dotted 8th note tune............................................................ 22
Here are a few more Spirituals to look at and learn............ 23
More spirituals..................................................................... 24
Chapter five. I, IV, V in spirituals..................................... 26
Chapter six. Gospel songs.............................................. 33
A brief history....................................................................... 33
Gospel songs...................................................................... 34
Chapter seven. E major................................................. 36
I, IV, V progression in E major............................................. 37
Chapter eight. Hymns...................................................... 43
A brief history....................................................................... 43
Page
01
Every time you see this
button, download and
play the relevant video.
01
Every time you see
this button, listen to the
relevant track.
Lesson or Skill
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Ballad type
The next type of tune is the slower more sustained tune, the slower ballad type of Spiritual.
This type of Spiritual has long phrases and more sustained notes. Also the lyrics have
longer sentences and the melody tends to be longer and more drawn out.
Deep river
Nobody knows the trouble I see
Were you there
Page
Page
Major pentatonic
Well start with the major pentatonic.
The major pentatonic is the same as a normal major scale the only difference is the scale
doesnt use the 4th and 7th notes in the scale.
The pentatonic scale is made from 5 notes. This term comes from the hebrew word for
five, pente. For example a pentagon is a shape made up of 5 sides.
Here is the normal C major scale.
Now the major pentatonic scale omitting the 4th and 7th notes.
50
Play through the scale and notice when omitting the 4th and 7th notes from the scale
it gives it a very pleasant major sound to it. Experiment with playing the notes in any
order and youll notice that you can create beautiful melodies quite easily when you limit
yourself to just the notes in the major pentatonic scale.
Page
It is a good idea to learn the pentatonic scale in all of the keys weve looked at so far.
The melody of this spiritual only uses the notes from the G major pentatonic.
.
jes what you sow
2
.
on the
moun - tain
01
.
jes what you sow
As you can see only notes from the G major petatonic scale appear in this melody.
This is a common feature in the melodies of the Spiritual songs. The major pentatonic
also appears in Gospel tunes and Hymns.
Page 10
Heres another Spiritual tune using only notes from the G major pentatonic scale.
Play through the tune yourself with just the right hand and have a listen to the track.
02
lamb
Lamb
beau - ti - ful
Lamb
serve
God till
Page 11
God
die
till
die
Minor Pentatonic
The next scale were going to look at is the minor pentatonic.
This one is a little more tricky. Now were going to briefly re-cap how we get the minor
scale.
Remember that the major scale has the same key signature as its relative minor scale.
To find the relative minor go up a major sixth interval from the key note of the major scale
you began with.
These two scales are relative to each other because they share the same notes. Lets
refresh your memory by looking again at C major.
51
The scale played from the 6th note using the same notes is the relative natural minor
scale. Heres the A natural minor scale.
This applies to the pentatonic scales aswell. For example the C major pentaonic scale
has the same notes as the A minor pentatonic scale. They are relative.
When forming the minor pentatonic scale we use the notes from the relative major
pentatonic scale and start from the minor note.
When playing the A minor pentatonic you use only the notes from C major pentatonic and
start the scale from A.
Now the same scale except this time it starts on A.
Page 12
Another way to think of it is that you are playing the natural minor scale without the 2nd
and 6th notes from the scale. This gives you the A minor pentatonic. By omitting these
notes from the A natural minor scale you are left with the same notes that appear in the
C major pentatonic. This is because the scales are relative. You are playing the notes of
the C major pentatonic except starting the scale from A, making it an A minor pentatonic.
A natural minor
1 3 4 5 7 8
Page 13
D minor pentatonic
This tune is a call and response tune. It is also in the key of D minor pentatonic scale.
So that means it uses the notes from F major pentatonic because they are relative.
This tune is also designed to be sung by a leader and then a chorus.
Because it is designed to be sung, the chorus sings a melody thats in the same register
as the leader melody line. (If something is in the same register this means that the notes
are played in the same area of the piano or the same area on the music staff)
For the purpose of playing this tune on the piano the chorus line is an octave lower than
what it would normally be if it was sung.
Use the left hand for the chorus line (in the bass staff) and the right hand for the leader
line (in the treble staff).
Heres the F major pentatonic.
Now the D minor pentatonic, that uses the same notes from F major pentatonic.
bb
Page 14
03
b .
New
Je - ru - sa - lem
b
b
I'd
mour - ner
Lamb
lay
in
pray
my
.
mourn
a - long
the Lamb
a -
Je - ru - sa - lem
the Lamb
long
self
a -
way
Page 15
good Lord
the Lamb
mourn
sing an'
O mour - ner
I'd
the Lamb 5
b 3
fore
13
10
Be
New
b 1
be - side o'
the Lamb
the
Blues pentatonic
The last scale for us to look at is the blues pentatonic.
This scale is basically the minor pentatonic with one slight alteration. The blues scale
adds one extra chromatic note to a minor pentatonic scale.
So lets continue with the A minor pentatonic scale and alter it to get the A blues pentatonic
scale.
The note that gets added is a chromatic note between the 4th and 5th notes of the
scale.
So in the A minor pentatonic scale, this note goes between the D and E which are the 6th
and 7th notes in the scale. The note chromatically between the D and E is E b . This is
the blue note.
Heres the A minor pentatonic scale
Now heres the blues pentatonic scale with the added chromatic note between the 4th
and 5th notes.
The 5th note is flattened to Eb and then raised again to E natural.
52
1
3
4
5b 5
7
8
Added chromatic note, E
b
Page 16
Play through the scale and listen to the difference the extra added note makes. Can you
hear its blues quality?
This scale is very common and like the other scales weve looked at so far, is used in all
kinds of music.
It is important to us now because it features throughout the Spiritual songs. It is also
thought that the origin of the blues scale actually came from the spiritual songs.
Like with the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic, play through this scale and try and
make up some of your own little melodies using the notes of the blue pentatonic scale.
Page 17
04
b . .
I know it was the blood
b .
.
.
.
b .
.
blood
for
me
b b
b
.
.
.
.
.
know it
.
.
12
One
.
.
know it
was the
Page 18
was the
.
.
.
blood
.
.
day when I
blood for
was
me
.
.
.
was the
lost
Je - sus
know it
.
.
.
.
.
05
b b
Wish I's
b
4
down
in hea - ven
set - tin down O
Ma - ry
Page 19
q.
q.
with
When you hear the word feel mentioned in relation to a song, it means the way the tune
has a certain style or sound to it. This generally refers to how the notes are played in
terms of the timing of the notes and their placement or dynamic range. When looking at
alot of these Gospel tunes they have a swaying or swing type of feel. To achieve this
type of feel we can use the dotted 8th note.
Dotted 8th notes make the music appear to swing. Immitating the swaying motion of a
lot of the Spiritual and Gospel singers.
This is like the other dotted notes weve looked at as its time value is now increased by
half its original value. So a dotted 8th note has the same time value as an 8th note tied
to a 16th note.
So
Title
=
e. q = 96e_ x
COMPOS
Title
.
. . .
This is another way of looking at the dotted 8th notes. This example uses ties which can
look rather complicated so the above method is preferred.
q = 96
Piano
. . . .
Page 20
06
CO
Using dotted 8th notes in music is quite tricky to get the hang of. So take your time when
going over the songs that have dotted 8th notes in them. Listen carefully to the tracks to
hear what they should sound like played.
Clap out the beats while counting aloud the rhythm.
Listen carefully to the track and notice how the notes are played with the swing feel.
1 a+a 2 a+a 3 a+a 4 a+a
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
.
. . . .
Page 21
Roll
Jor - dan
. . b
want
to go
to
roll
Roll
you
ought
13
to
to
been
to
Page 22
Yes
there
roll
die
Jor - dan
bro - ther
.
. b
07
my
hear
old
roll
..
lord
.
.
Jor - dan
roll
Go down Moses
q = 110
13
E - gypt's land
let my peo - ple
E - gypt's land
let my peo - ple
3
.
tell
old
4
1
go
..
go
..
Go down
way
Mo - ses
.
.
down in
Pha - roah
Page 23
let my peo - ple
go
More spirituals.
This next tune has a lot of jumping around in the left hand. Take it slowly and learn the left
hand first and then put it together with the right hand. Its quite difficult to get this tune so
its okay if it takes you a while to learn. The fingering in this tune is also just a guide at this
stage. If you can find a more comfortable way to play the notes with your own fingering
then you should.
09
q = 78
5
3
4
1
b
b
1
5 5
2
b b
my Lord
b
9
. .
you' ll
14
hear
b
b
my Lord
5
1
what a morn - ing
what a morn - ing
My Lord
5
3
1
5
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1
5
Page 24
be - gin to
.
.
fall
..
Fine
be - gin to
.
.
fall
..
D.C al fine
Here are the rest of the verse lyrics to My Lord what a morning
2. Youll hear the sinner mourn, 4. Done quit all my worlly ways
To wake the nations underground
Jine dat hebbenly ban?
Looking to my Gods right hand
Done quit all my worlly ways
When the stars begin to fall
Jine dat hebbenly ban.
3. Youll hear the Christian shout,
To wake the nations underground
Looking to my Gods right hand
When the stars begin to fall
Page 25
Page 26
10
1.
10
fare you well
Chorus
In
dat great
19
In
1
5
2.
15
fare you well
dat great
fare you well
.. . .
Verses
3
..
preach - er
day
. .
fol'
. .
a com - in
Page 27
2
4
git - tin up morn - in
Fare you well
1
5
yo' Bi - ble
Fare you well
fare
you
well
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the verses in In dat great gittin up mornin.
2. Dat de time shall be no longer,
For judgment day is comin
Den you hear de sinner sayin
Down Im rollin down Im
rollin..
3. De Lord spoke to Gabriel
Go look behin de altar
Take down de silvah trumpet
Blow yo trumpet Gabriel..
4. Lord how shall I blow it
Blow it right calm an easy
Do not alarm my people
Tell em to come to judgment..
5. Gabriel blow yo trumpet
Lord how shall I blow it
Loud as seven peals of thunder
Wake de livin nations..
6. Place one foot upon de dry lan
Place de other on de sea
Den youll see de coffins bustin
See de dry bones come
a creepin..
Page 28
11
Swing
low
sweet
char - i - ot
swing low
sweet
char - i - ot
com - ing
13
b ..
.
.
b
home
for to car - ry me
home
1
5
. .
5
3
3
1
. .
4
1
see
home
..
2
4
Fine
com - ing for to car - ry
me
D.C al fine
4 3
.
a
band of an - gels com - ing af - ter me
com - ing for to car - ry me home
Page 29
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the remaining verses in Swing low sweet chariot
2. If you get there before I do
Coming fot to carry me home
Tell all my friends Im comin too
Coming for to carry me home..
This next tune, Wade in the water is quite a difficult piece and is one of the most difficult
Spirituals you will play in this book so take your time. It is in this book as a good challenge
for you to learn.
It is also a call and response tune.
Page 30
q = 58
Wade
Wade
5
1
in the wa
3
1
in
the wa - ter
1
4
in the
wa
chil
- ter
- dren
..
wa - ter
..
Fine
1
3
2
4
3
1
4
2
Wade
2
4
3
1
- ter
1
5
12
wa - ter
2
1
3
The
D.C al fine
5
.
Lead
er looks like the Is - rael - ite
God's a - going to trou - ble the wa - ter
13
Page 31
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the verses in Wade in the water
2. See that band all dressed in red
Gods a going to trouble the water
Looks like the band that Moses led
Gods a going to trouble the water..
Page 32
Page 33
Gospel songs
The next lot of tunes were going to be looking at are Gospel tunes.
Dividing up each genre specifically into groups is quite difficult because all these musical
genres influence each other in terms of style content and theoretical aspects.
So some of the songs youve already played in this book could be considered Gospel
songs as well as Spiritual and it would be hard to argue the difference.
Alot of these songs will sound very similar to the Spirituals and Hymns.
Take this next tune slowly and listen to the jam track. Follow the music to help iron out
any problems.
Page 34
q = 58
1
..
4
3
5 5
1
Bye
an'
.
.
.
.
1
an'
would - n't
2
4
.
.
bye
.
.
mind
.
.
1
5
5
2
dy - in
if
all
all
shall
1
5
dy - in
Page 35
2
4
was
5
1
a . - gain
meet
gain
meet
.
.
a -
.
.
..
shall
meet
.
.
shall
we
we
all
bye
we
bye
bye
5
1
an'
..
.
.
Bye
13
3
5
4
2
a - gain
..
an'
all
b b
As before well start off in the R.H using the two tetrachord rule to make up our scale.
R.H
b
b b
W W H
H
W
W
W
key
bb 1st
signature
tetrachord
2nd
tetrachord
L.H
2 1 3 2
1
b
bb
5
written
this way
an
octave
lower
OR
W H
bb
b
L.H
1st tetrachord
Page 36
W H
2nd tetrachord
b b
b
b b
bb
b
1
E
4
A
the I chord
the IV chord
the V chord
IV
b
b b
b
b
b
E major triad:
A major triad:
B major tirad:
V
5
B
Now the same progression in the L.H with the chords in root position.
L.H
b
bb
b
E
b
b b
IV
b
A
5
B
b
bb
b
E
1
root position
IV
b
A
4
A lot of the time these chords will not always appear in root position. So you will see the
chords played in a variety of inversions. Heres a few inversions of the diffferent chords
of E major. Take a look at the inversions play through them. See if you can recognise
the chords in any of the tunes used in this book.
This time when playing the I, IV, V progression try using different inversions in different
hands. Try playing the standard inversions in both hands and then on the next page play
the different inversions in each hand and notice the tonal quality difference. Play through
slowly and take your time, its tricky.
Page 37
IV
b
b b
1st inversion
root position
2nd inversion
IV
1st inversion
bb
b
root position
2nd inversion
root position
V
1st inversion
root position
2nd inversion
IV
2nd inversion
1st inversion
IV
root position
2nd inversion
b 2
b b
I love the
4
1
Lord
bb
b
6
5
2
2
5
14
He heard my
1
5
3
1
3
5
5
1
11
b
b b
bb
b
rise
1
5
5
3
to
5
3
3
5
5
3
b
b b
ev
as I
live
- ry groan
long
bb
b
1
5
cries
4
1
His
throne
The next tune is in the key of E minor. The different key gives this Gospel tune a different
feel.
Page 38
15
4
2
5
3
O the down - ward road is
4
2
11
win'
14
is crowd
- ed with
1
5
blows
west
ev - ry po'
it
crowd - ed
3
1
.
..
un - be - liev - in' souls
.
1
1 1
4
O the
1
4
crowd - ed
5
1
..
day
soul that
1
5
crowd - ed
3
5
4
1
an'
..
.
day
pray that
.
1
1
will be glad to
Here are the rest of the lyrics to The downward road is crowded.
2. Some people say they believe in him
An then wont do what he says
Page 39
Here is another Gospel tune for you to learn. Listen to the track first to get an idea about
how the tune sounds, then try playing through it.
If you can, its a good idea to read the music while listening to the track and see if you can
follow it.
16
Stand by me
b 3
b b
b
bb
When
3
5
b
b b
bb
b
when
b
b b
bb
b
when
1
5
5
1
the storms
5
3
1
5
of life
4
2
the world
3
1
b
b b
b
b b
- est wind
stand
1
5
stand
and wa - ter
Page 40
by me
by me
a ship
like
5
3
is toss - ing me
Albert Tindley
stand
by me
(stand
(stand
u - pon
be
by
me)
3
1
me)
the sea
(stand by
me)
Page 41
17
There's
4
1
..
worr - yin me
so
5
1
that's
worr 2
4
1
3
5
3
let us watch
3
1
Lord
1
5
an'
yin' me
There's
..
pray as we
live
Here are the rest of the lyrics for Theres somethin on my mind
2. Fathers drinkin with their sons thats whats worryin me
Theres Fathers drinkin with their sons thats whats worryin me
Theres Fathers drinkin with their sons thats whats worryin me
Let us watch Lord an pray as we live
3. The church is out of union thats whats worryin me
The church is out of union thats whats worryin me
The church is out of union thats whats worryin me
So let us watch Lord an pray as we live
Page 42
..
..
Page 43
A
b
1
5
b
b
wretch
12
b .
.
now
b ..
- maz
like
Amazing grace
5
1
how sweet
5 3
ing
.
.
.
.
me
grace
1
3
2
4
the sound
...
5
3
am
found
was
blind
2
4
2
5
but
Page 44
once
5
3
now
saved
was
lost
5
.
that
4
1
.
.
see..
but
A very common feature of the Hymns is that they use I, IV, V progressions.
So when playing some of these tunes try to look for and listen for the I, IV, V
progression.
In this next tune remember that the fingering is there only as a guide so you can use your
own fingering if you find it more comfortable.
Remember that the fingering has to be comfortable enough to allow you to play the notes
at the assigned speed.
Page 45
q = 82 5
..
3
1
1
5
1 .
.. .. .
. .
. . . .
. . .
the glo - ry of
.
.
. .
.
.
4
2
1
5
.
.
.
.
Mine
.
.
.. ..
4
2
.
.
1
5
.
.
.
.
the Lord He
is
.. .
.
4
2
2
4
..
..
.
.
.
.
. .
.. .. .. .
. . .
..
are stored
He
.
.
hath
loosed the fate - ful light - ning of His ter - ri - ble swift - sword His truth is march - ing
on
.
.
.
.
.
. . .. . .
10
19
Chorus
..
2 .
.. .
.
.
14
..
. ..
.
.
.. .
. ..
.
3
1
4
2
.
.
2
4
.
.
..
jah
His
Page 46
.
. .
.
jah
.. ..
.
.
on
.
.
jah
Here are the other verse lyrics for Battle hymn of the Republic
2. I have seen Him in the watchfires
Of a hundred circling camps
They have buried Him an altar in
The evening dews and damps
I can read His righteous sentence
By the dim and flaring lamps
His day is marching on..
You may recognise this next tune. It is often played as a Christmas carol but is also
considered a hymn.
Page 47
20
q = 96
3
1
5
3
Tune: Mendelssohn
4
2
b .
..
b
1
Glo - ry
5
3
4
3
b ..
mer - cy mild
God and sin - ners rec - on - ciled
b .
3
2
3
5
to
b b
16
Beth - le - hem
2
4
..
.
na - tions rise
4
2
1
4
..
5
3
11
3
1
.
.
an - gels sing
Glo - ry
.
.
4
Page 48
to
4
1
.
.
Christ is
born in
..
..
..
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the verses in Hark the herald angel sing.
Page 49
You may have noticed that alot of these tunes are mostly made up of chords, and not alot
of seperate bass notes of melody. Heres the next tune for you to learn.
21
5
3
b
b b
Ho - ly ho - ly
ho - ly
Lord God
bb
b
1`
3
2
5
b b
5
1
. to Thee
.
bb
b
11
2
5
b
b b
bb
b
14
b
b b
per
bb
b
sons
and
3
2
ful
5
3
mer - ci
5
1
might
1
4
bless - ed
.
.
Trin - i - ty
.
.
Page 50
al - might - y
Ho - ly ho - ly
God
ear - ly
in the
ho
2
5
ly
in
three
men
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the verses in Holy, holy, holy
2. Holy, holy, holy
All the saints adore thee
Casting down their golden crowns
Around the glassy sea
Cherubim and seraphim
Falling down before Thee
Which wert and art and
Evermore shall be..
Page 51
This tune is designed to be played quite fast but dont worry if you have to start off slow
to get it right.
Remember that the fingering is also a guide so if you find a different fingering more
comfortable then use it.
22
q = 82
.
.
.
.
..
Joy
to
the
world
..
..
cieve her
the
King let
heav'n
is
and
come
.
.
heart
16
Lord
ev - ry
.
.
..
. .
.
.
.
.
12
and
.
.
.
.
heav'n
pre -
and
Page 52
.
.
let
..
ture sing
.
.
.
.
room and
and
na - ture
re
earth
pare Him
..
heav'n and na -
.
.
sing
Here are the rest of the lyrics for the verses in Joy to the world
Page 53
Youve done it! You have completed the Jamorama Piano Gospel Book. Just think of
all the Gospel, Spiritual and Hymns youve learnt. Youre on your way to becoming a
musician ... all you need is more practice!
Now you are ready to go on to the Jamorama Introduction to Jazz Piano book if you
havent already done so.
Thats it for now.
Ruth
Page 54