Jazz, Rags & Blues, Book 2: Piano Book & Online Audio

Mier writes jazz vocabulary that actually sounds like jazz without overwhelming early intermediate pianists. The solos balance stylistic authenticity with technical accessibility, so students hear themselves playing recognizable jazz idioms rather than simplified approximations. The online audio recordings provide essential reference for how swing feels and how blues harmony moves, which is invaluable for pianists learning these distinctly American styles for the first time.

Grounded, swinging, and distinctly American. These solos capture the conversational warmth of a jazz piano bar and the bluesy sorrow of early ragtime without pretense. The music feels fresh and alive rather than academic, inviting pianists to inhabit a real musical tradition.

Early intermediate through intermediate pianists ready to branch beyond classical repertoire and explore the foundational styles of American jazz and blues. Students aged 10 and up who respond to contemporary, recognizable idioms and want to understand how jazz functions as a compositional and improvisational language.

• Listen closely to the online recordings multiple times before playing through the score; absorb the rhythmic feel and phrasing of the style before your hands ever leave the keyboard.
• Pay special attention to the jazz articulation markings (staccatos, accents, and tenuto marks); these notations control whether the music swings or lags.
• Approach the left hand rhythms with intentional relaxation; groove comes from a loose, flowing accompaniment pattern, not a rigid metronomic pulse.
• Build the dynamics gradually across a phrase rather than suddenly jumping between soft and loud; jazz phrasing rewards subtle shaping.

Pair these solos with classical or romantic repertoire on student recitals to showcase musical versatility and cultural breadth. Feature them during January through March as jazz history supplements during National Music Month programming, or use them in spring faculty concerts to celebrate student exploration of non-classical styles.

• Reading and executing jazz articulation and swing rhythms
• Voicing jazz harmonies and recognizing blues chord progressions
• Left-hand accompaniment patterns specific to jazz and ragtime idioms
• Stylistic listening and interpretation through recorded reference models
• Dynamic shaping and phrasing beyond classical conventions