About Julian Yeats

Everyone is familiar with the concept that music can be thought of as a language, but most music teachers don’t treat it that way—the focus is usually on recitation. Learning to play songs without understanding what you’re doing is like learning French by memorizing French poems and only learning how to pronounce and recite the language—which is very different than becoming fluent. Becoming fluent in the language of music is essential for playing jazz, but it is extremely elevating and useful in any genre. It also makes listening to music a much more exciting and immersive experience—and more efficient to learn and memorize by ear.

The IDOJAZZ curriculum teaches you to understand and hear the language of music through the unique number system that governs harmony. The fact that the piano has black and white notes literally illustrates the system. With my help, you’ll soon be able to understand this number system and use it in all your musical endeavors. Like so many of my students who have learned to think this way, I’ve often said, “why don’t they teach it this way?!”

When mastering a language, immersion and conversational facility are essential—this is the way jazz is typically learned and it takes years. However, when that exposure is combined with an understanding of grammar, spelling, syntax, sentence construction, phrasing and a robust vocabulary, that immersion process is supercharged. This is what you can get from I DO JAZZ.

Imagine being able to have an organic conversation about a subject, being able to repeat back what you’ve heard, express your own ideas and say the same thing in different ways with your instrument. Experienced jazz musicians are able to convey a feeling or tell a story as effortlessly as the rest of us can with words.

How?

I can teach you to recognize intervals, chords, scales, articulation, phrasing, rhythm, quality, harmony and context by ear so that you can have a conversation with another musician, or between your hands if you’re a pianist. This will enable you to authentically express yourself on your instrument. I will provide you with extremely useful shortcuts to simplify the complex world of jazz harmony so that you won’t sound or feel lost, and so that what you play comes from the heart. It is extremely liberating and inspiring to feel like you know what you’re saying (when you play), I promise you it is easier than it sounds if you learn from me. Four semesters of college music theory and aural skills can be learned in few dozen lessons with me for a fraction of the cost, AND you’ll also learn to express yourself in a sincere and authentically present way. I sincerely wish someone had taught me this way of thinking much sooner in my life--the way I learned was extremely inefficient, but it has made me a very well-rounded teacher.

I truly enjoy using the language with beginners and kids too, so don’t let the complexity of the end goal discourage you from the fun of learning a language as a toddler would. Try it out with me at idojazz.com!