Alfred's Basic Jazz/Rock Course: Performance, Level 2: Piano Book

This book delivers real jazz and rock repertoire at a level where students can finally play pieces that sound like actual music, not exercises. Konowitz writes with students at this stage in mind, reinforcing the technical concepts from the course while keeping the musical experience front and center. The pieces give young pianists genuine stake in the styles they're learning.

These pieces have the swagger of actual jazz and rock idioms. You'll feel swing rhythms settling into your hands, groove-based left hand patterns supporting melodic storytelling, and the satisfaction of sounding like a real jazz or rock pianist rather than a classically trained student playing in a new style.

This book is for pianists in Level 2 of Alfred's Jazz/Rock Course who are ready to apply what they're learning in the main course to actual performance pieces. It works for students in private lessons, jazz piano classes, or self-directed learning who want their practice to feel like real musicmaking rather than drills.

• Listen to recorded versions of these jazz and rock standards before you learn them. Hearing how rhythm section grooves land and how swing feels will inform every note you play.
• Lock the groove patterns into your hands separate from the melody. Jazz and rock piano requires your left hand to maintain independence from your right; practice hands alone until that separation is solid.
• Experiment with the exact moment you land eighth notes and sixteenth notes relative to the beat. Laying slightly behind the pulse creates pocket; landing ahead creates drive. Own the choice.
• Use the chord symbols to improvise and compose variations on these pieces. These arrangements are springboards, not final answers.

Assign pieces from this book alongside the corresponding concepts in the Level 2 course book so students experience the connection between learning and playing immediately. These 24 pages also work well for informal performances, student assemblies, or jazz combo appearances where you need repertoire that sounds polished without requiring college-level chops.

• Swing rhythm feel and phrasing in jazz idiom
• Rock groove patterns and left-hand comping
• Reading chord symbols and using them for improvisation
• Independence between hands in rhythm section textures
• Style-appropriate articulation and touch for jazz and rock