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A Review Of The PlayersSchool of Music (Jeff Berlin'sSchool)Discussion in 'General Instruction [BG]' started by Peter Weil, Oct 25,2007.

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This has also been postedby myself over athttp://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7438.The website for the PlayersSchool is athttp://www.playerschool.com/

Okay, after a month at thePlayers School of Music, Ithink I can now post areview. It may be of use toothers who are consideringattending.

Why did I pick somewhereto study that wasthousands of miles awayfrom where I live, notwork, spend a reasonable

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amount of hard-earnedcash, and leave my wifebehind? Two - no, three,answers: Jeff Berlin,emphasis on chord tones,and emphasis on chordtones. Of all the schools inthe UK (where I live) andthe ones I read aboutbriefly in the US, there wasalways emphasis onscales/modes/etc. Ipracticed modes for a yearand got nowhere when Ifirst started. The only twopeople I have seen publiclyespouse chord tones as thebasis of jazz teaching areCarol Kaye and Jeff Berlin.I've had couple lessonswith Carol before, butnever with Jeff, and I couldalso improve myunderstanding of theoryand do ear training at thePlayers School also, so offto Florida I went....

Right. So. You want thewhole post in a nutshell?

Overall, the wholeexperience was extremelypositive. I canwholehearted recommendthis place as place to learnyour instrument solidly,and learn musicianship to aprofessional standard.Value for money isabsolutely outstanding. Inretrospect, it might havebeen worth going for 10weeks, but the 4 weekprogram has given meenough work to do for thenext few years at the veryleast. I imagine if you didthe year-long course, you'dend up as a monster; some

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guys do two years and Ithink would be absolutelyastounding musicians.

Interestingly, Jeff Berlingives a talk on the first dayof the course where heessentially says that yourplaying is likely to getworse over the first monthof being there, withsubsequent radicalimprovement. Myexperience did not quitefollow this.

My background is that I ama full-time professional whodoes music as a treasuredhobby. I have giggedplenty in the past doingfunk, soul, and somefunkier/fusion-type jazz,but not real straight-upjazz. Before I came here, Icould already sight readbass clef (to an okay levelonly), chord charts(moderately), play chordtones for themin/maj/dim/augmented/dom7th/m7b5 chords (inonly a few positions), had aa little understanding ofthe chordal scale, and hadsome very simple harmonicanalysis under my belt(how I – ii - Vchords function, someunderstanding of commonchord progressions, tritonesubs, and some other subsfrom Carol Kaye'swritings). I had played afew Standards before also.

I did not truly understandharmony that well, and mytechnique on theinstrument was (and is)

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fairly average. As it turnsout, my fretboardknowledge was nothing likeas good as I had hopedeither.

On the plus side, I hadrecently started teachingmyself piano, and couldread a little treble clefbecause of this.

I sat a harmony exam atthe beginning of the courseto place me in the correctclass for this. I ended up inHarmony 1 (the starterclass), but as I was a littlefurther on in myunderstanding they also letme sit in on Harmony 2.This kind of attitude wascommon at the school; ifyou wanted to pushyourself harder/furtherthey were very happy toaccommodate you.

Although this kind ofassessment is a tadpainful, it needed to bedone to understand howmy comments may or maynot apply to you.

Right. All that out of theway; now we can look atwhat I gained from mytime.

My schedule consisted of11 hours a week of taughtclasses:

1 hour x2/wk Ear Training1 hour x2/wk PrivateLessons (with Jeff Berlin)1 hour /wk Harmony4 hours /wk Ensembles1 hour /wk Chart

Reading/Performance1 hour /wk GuitarMaintenance

Let's break each of thesedown.

Ear Training: I was in thebeginner class. We weretaught solfege, sightreading treble clef,conducting patterns for4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 time, andsimple rhythm patterns.Each week the exercisesratcheted up in difficulty,and I imagine if I stayed onlonger things would get alot harder. I passed themidterm exam (singing andconducting the major scalein solfege from memory,then the same for the‘I ‘chord)before leaving. I havenoticed a small but definitedifference in how fast I pickup things now, but a greatdeal more work would beneeded here to have 'jazzears'. I’m going tohave to keep on with thisafter I leave, as well aseverythingelse……

I suspect this class ispotentially one of the mostvaluable. Taken to itslogical extreme, you shouldbe able to transcribelines/solos accurately,without your instrument tohand, and react to othersin ensembles extremelywell. What you wouldexpect of a good musician,essentially.

Harmony: There is one

textbook for all Harmonyclasses. The teacher forthis is a great guy, aseasoned pianist namedMatt Bokulic; he also wrotethe textbook. Harmony 1during my time therecovered the chromaticscale, accidentals, majorscale construction, cleftypes, major/minorintervals and inverting ofthese, andtetrachords/Circle of Fifths.It will move on after I leaveto triad construction,inversions, and the chordalscale.

Harmony 2 covered major,minor, m7b5, and dom 7thchords over the same time,with students expected tobe able to write these inroot position or any of thethree inversions. This classpushed me and was reallyhelpful - I can nowconstruct these chords inboth treble and bass clefand am using them to helprip apart jazz tunes to helppractice them.....

The harmony book Mattwrote seems prettycomplete for only 32 pages- but it is 'basic' harmony. Inote that after the sectionsI have already covered, itcovers subordinate chordsubs for primary chords,secondary dominants,tritone subs, modulation,voice leading, further chordtensions, and directharmonic analysis. Seemspretty good for a‘basic’harmony book - I haven't

even hit those sectionsyet....

Before I left, Matt gave mea very long list of things todo/write/play harmonicallyto help teach myself jazzfurther. That's why I nowhave a list of things topractice/do that will take acouple of years....or tenyears.....

Private Lessons: It has tobe said, this is one of themain reasons to comehere, if no other.....privatelessons with Jeff Berlintwice a week! Sadly, duringmy time, Jeff was onlythere for two weeks, andanother chap, Joe Public,had to stand in for Jeffduring the last two weeksof lessons. Nonetheless,Jeff really pushes you hardand I noticed improvementover the four weeks. Iwould have done a lotbetter over 10 weeksthough....

Jeff had me:1. Relearn my left handtechnique.2. Write out and play allthe chords to a couple ofstandards. 3. When I finished withthat, I then wrote out allthe inversions to thosechords and played them. 4. Improved my fretboardknowledge by getting meto play a standard and playall chord tones all the wayup and down the neck,connecting them smoothly. 5. Subsequently I startedwriting out some beginner

solos using only chordtones.

Needless to say, mysoloing, reading, fretboardknowledge, and left handtechnique have allimproved.

Studying with Jeff wasinteresting. He has theability to pick out what youneed to do in a very shortspace of time - most of mylessons lasted about 20mins or so - a rare talent.It is not often that you finda player who has the abilityto teach also. He managedto motivate and push meto improve/do a lot in avery short space of time. Ienjoyed studying with Joe,but Jeff is really somethingelse. He can occasionallybe impatient, but if heknows you're doing yourwork and practicingregularly, then he can tellextremely quickly and he isvery supportive. I alwaysfelt able to approach him(or any member of thestaff) with questions. It'sworth pointing out herethat private tuition isavailable for free whenyou're at the school.

Ensembles: Every dayexcept Wednesday, everyplayer was expected toplay in an 'ensemble' - thelevel of which wasdetermined by playingability, but was dynamic;as people improved/felt theneed to change, and if theinstructors agreed, peoplecould be moved - the

ensemble typicallycomposed of a drummer,guitarist, bassist, andothers as available. Tunesplayed would start withsimple chord progressionsand move to Standards,with emphasis on groupinteraction, soloing,comping and walkingcorrectly, and suggestionsfor playing generally.Basically, playing in a band4 days a week is great forgetting your musicalinteraction andplaying/soloingtogether.....enough said.

Chartreading/Performance:This class focused on sightreading correctly andplaying different styles ofmusic as you would on agig. I could sight read thefirst book pretty well so theinstructor gave me some ofhis arrangements to sightread, which was just rightfor my level of playing, andalso pushed me. This classhad very little emphasis onsoloing - just sticking tothe written music. Veryuseful....what do you thinkyou do in the studio, orwhen you do a jingle, or anorchestra pit gig? Some hiptunes to play too.

Guitar Maintenance: Thiswas the surprise class tome - I really enjoyed it. Ihad wondered if it was justa ‘fill-in’hour, but it was anythingbut. The guy who teachesit, Mick Donner, is a verywell known tech (personal

tech for Jeff, as well as alot of traveling pros), andhe has plenty of stories totell from his days atPeavey, Dean, Washburn,and Parker.....not evenmentioning his giggingdays too....This class was apleasant hour on a Fridaywith an opportunity to hearabout all things technicalwith bass guitars andimproved my knowledge ofthe physics side ofinstrument in a significantway. Mick also does set-upwork for people on thecourse if you asknicely.....and cough up$45....

Quick comment on theschool grounds etc......theschool itself is foundbehind the local Sam Ashstore and has someinterestingly faux Greco-Roman grounds. Used tobe a restaurant,apparently. There are quitea few practice rooms, butthere's always competitionfor them. There's one mainroom for ensembles and aclassroom for theHarmony/EarTraining/Guitar Techclasses. Theschool’s facilitiesare overall adequate, notvery fancy (a fewbathrooms, a kitchen andoffice/hanging out area,lots of bass/guitar/musicmags also). They also haveWiFi and a PC there for youto check your email– a very nice touch.

Overall, this was a really

great month. Generally Ipracticed/wrote outmusic/did ear training for 3hours or so a day; I wouldgenerally come in for 9 forclasses and leave at 5having done all mywork/practice. I didn'tpractice more in theevenings unless I had notdone so during the day;however, I would doharmony writing and otherbits of work at home,especially to help improvemy own understanding.

Make no mistake, do notexpect an easy ride if youdecide to come here.Although 11 hours a weekof taught classes doesn'tsound like much, you willwork VERY hard to stay ontop of everything that'sthrown at you. This is noclassical conservatory;neither is it the halls ofstuffy academia –the emphasis here is onbeing a rounded (andworking) musician.

Jazz is the taught musichere, because itencompasses a hugeamount of harmony,reading, technique, andinteraction......but I notejust about everyone who ishere (students andinstructors) like a wholerange of music, from rock,heavy metal and funk tojazz, Cuban music, and soon. If you come here I canhonestly put my hand onmy heart and say I thinkyou will be doing the bestthing for your playing that

Peter Weil, Oct 25, 2007 #1

slapagroov, Oct 25, 2007 #2

grovest, Oct 26, 2007 #3

you could ever do. Andpretty cheaply too, whenyou compare to othermusic schools.

I'll miss it.

Pete

Great review! Thanks man.

Fascinating post.

Thanks. Took me about anhour and a half to write. Iwanted to make sure thatanyone looking atcommitting money to theirdreams has a solid idea ofthe curriculum and what toexpect if they cough up.

I didn't realise it at the

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slapagroov

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grovest

Peter WeilSeeker of The New

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Peter Weil, Oct 27, 2007 #4

JimmyM, Oct 28, 2007 #5

time but it's up at the 1800word count or so. I've letthe Players School of Musicpeople know as well; theymay comment or not hereas they choose. They havelet me know privately theyare pleased.

I'd be very happy to hearothercomments/comparisons,either from attendees ofother schools or previousalumni of the PlayersSchool.

Pete

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Never been there, drove byit a few times. Jeff's gotsome weird theories aboutmusic that he seems totreat as absolutes, but I'venever heard a bad wordabout the Player's School.Thx for the review.

You are welcome for thereview.

I'm not quite sure whatyou mean by 'weirdtheories about music', butJeff does make some useful

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distinctions betweenpracticing (should be doneslowly and correctly,doesn't need a metronometo be done properly, strongemphasis on learning chordtones and appopriateharmony to practice here)and performing (needs tobe in time with othermusicians, play what iscorrect for the situation,you are unlikely toregurgitate precisely whatyou practice in thissituation).

Jeff sometimes says 'whatyou practice has no bearingon what you play at thegig', which in some ways istrue, but to my mind thatslightly over-generalises. Imay not play every chordin the first inversionthroughout the whole piecethe way I did when Ipracticed it, but havingpractised root position andall three inversions of allchords in the song certainlygives your fingers morefluidity when it comes tosoloing over the form.

I recall a good deal ofdebate about 'metronome'vs 'no metronome'practicing. I think the bestway to express what Iperceive to be Jeff's takeon that subject is thatmetronomes have theiruses, but that they aremuch more limited thangenerally appreciated andshould not be used forpracticing until you canalready play what you arepracticing. Why use a

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Peter WeilSeeker of The New

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Peter Weil, Oct 28, 2007 #6

metronome on a piece thatyou already can't playwithout the metronome? Irecall that he has othercritiques also but cannotrecite them.....

I take what Jeff says veryhighly when I consider hisabilities both technically onthe instrument and as afully rounded musician withan advanced grasp ofharmony. That doesn'tmean I don't shine the lightof scepticism upon it andthink about it, but as far asI can tell what Jeffadvocates is grounded inthe firm roots ofexperience, both his ownand in teaching others.That satisfies my 'empiricalevidence' side, at leastuntil I find evidence todisprove any of what Jeffhas said to me. Which, as agood sceptic, I am opento.......

I freely expect that if Ihave misinterpreted any ofJeff's views a correctionwill come swiftly my way.

Pete

Peter,

When you say that Jeff hasyou play all of the chordsof the scales and theirinversions, is there anyspecific way he has for youto practice them -- i.e. arethey played as block 4 notechords, or arpeggios, andJoined: Mar 23, 2007

cheapimitation

cheapimitation, Oct 28, 2007 #7

timmbass, Oct 28, 2007 #8

JimmyM, Oct 28, 2007 #9

does he get into all of thedifferent ways you canvoice them?

I am very interested indeveloping my use of chordtones.

I have read about thatMichael Dimin book named"The Chordal Approach"and have not bought itbecause I do not want toplay chords. So maybe Idon't understand what thatbook is about.

But I wonder if that book,or some other, would helpme in working on seeingand playing and usingchord tones better.

Do you have any advice forme? A book or a webpageor a correspondenceteacher?

www.carolkaye.com

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timmbass

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cheapimitationsaid: ↑

They are played asarpeggios. And yes, theinversions are differentvoicings of the chord youare playing.

Example:

F maj chord

Root position: F A C E1st inversion: A C E F2nd inversion: C E F A3rd inversion: E F A C

So, for one tune, I wroteout the arpeggios for allthe chords in root position,then on another piece ofmanuscript paper I wrotethem all out in 1stinversion, and so on. ThenI played all of them.

Good practice inunderstanding chordconstruction, writingeverything out, reading thenotation, and listening toeach chord's tonal qualityas you do so; especiallyenlightening when you playthe inversions of chords.

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Peter WeilSeeker of The New

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Peter,

WhenyousaythatJeff

Peter Weil, Oct 28, 2007 #10

That exercise alone iswonderful for starting tolearn how to solo overstandards, and will give alot of practice in manyuseful things.

Pete

PeterWeilsaid: ↑

Alumni here. Very thoroughreview Pete. I can agreewith all of your take here. Itook the one weekintensive in March andhave a reservation for nextmarch as well (4 weeks offwork would be great butcause early retirement forme). My thread on thatsession ishere:http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311653

I had private lessons withJeff in 1998 in his firstyears opening PSOM aswell (he wont do privatesittings only now as youknow....it only comes with

Joined: May 20, 2004

Location: Tampa Bay

manbass....I'dbeveryhappytohea

manbass, Oct 29, 2007 #11

cheapimitation, Oct 30, 2007 #12

the School calendarsessions).

I stay on a lesson schedulewith his Guitar Dept. HeadPeter Mongaya which Jeffsuggested, who has hisown school here locally.Peter went through the 80week @ PSOM some yearsback and came out a multidimensional Pro player asyou state above.

My only comment to add isthat there really are only afew pioneers of electricbass left on this planet andfewer than that dedicatemost of their days toteaching us their authenticapproach and history. Oneday Jeff will be gone or justdelegate all his teaching toothers...its inevitable...so ifyou are dedicated even inthe smallest way, to makesome penetrating soundwith your axe, go therenow.

Just wondering if there isany bias at the PlayersSchool against basses with5 or more strings, orfretless.

Never mind about the 5+string question, I just reada line at the Players Schoolsite which answered my

Joined: Mar 23, 2007

cheapimitation

cheapimitation, Oct 30, 2007 #13

Freddels, Oct 30, 2007 #14

sk8terguy316, Oct 30, 2007 #15

question (the course doeswork with 5 and 6 stringplayers).

I know the site states thatyou're on your own forliving accomodations sowhere do most studentsstay? A hotel would get abit expensive if you'rethere for more than a weekor two.

I also believe that learningchord tones is good, andam interested in ThePlayers School. I practice indifferent keys going up onechord and down the next ,in different inversions andin reverse order.

For Example:

Up Gmaj down Amin upBmin down Cmaj up D7down Emin up F#m7b5down Gmaj and revers,and in differentkeys/inversions and withaddded voices etc.

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Freddels, Oct 30, 2007 #16

sk8terguy316said: ↑

That's a good start butmost tunes don't haveprogressions like that. Trygoing up Gmaj and downCmaj up F#-7b5 down B-7up E-7 down A-7 etc.Practicing in 4ths will reallyhelp your ear.

Freddelssaid: ↑

Dude...this is CoastalFlorida. Around Tampa Bayyou can rent ahouse/condo (inland) for amonth or a week or aweekend...you name it, itsavailable cheaper than a

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manbass

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manbass, Oct 31, 2007 #17

liback, Nov 1, 2007 #18

hotel/motel. Better yet getanother TBer to share onefor a session and split thecost!

I've joined the One WeekIntensiv program twotimes. This isn't about"play bass like Jeff Berlin infive days" or learning shortcuts. This is about how andwhat to work hard on. Ididn't return to Norwaywhere I live on the last dayas a much betterbassplayer. But afterspending much time on thestuff the following months,I've developed more as abassplayer and musicianthan the last five years alltoghether.

And, Jeff and the staffreally worked hard duringthe week to let it be amemorable experience.Someday I'll be back formore.

Lars Idar RyggNorwaywww.myspace.com/larsirygg

Thank you very much forthe suggestion, Freddels,but I am in the process oflearning this too! I ampracticing what you toldme to. (Cyclic chordprogressions) and Iampracticing thearpeggios/Walking to

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liback

sk8terguy316

sk8terguy316, Nov 1, 2007 #19

Freddels, Nov 1, 2007 #20

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different Jazz standards.Autumn Leaves is a greatexample of the chordprogression you just noted

sk8terguy316said: ↑

You'll notice that most jazztunes are ii-7 V7 I's (whichis 4ths). Then you can tothe progessions in 3rds (sothat you can play GiantSteps).

Best,

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