My teaching is based on 3 levels
Level 1 & 2 students
Seem to fall into one or more of the following categories.
- Have no jazz experience.
- Play a few tunes without understanding the full language of the chord progressions within standards and therefore, no freedom.
- Know a fair bit of theory but it's not connecting in their playing.
- Are not thinking about the functions of the chords or progressions whilst playing.
Level 3 students
Can get through many jazz standards and improvise but often have harmonic gaps to fill in order to get to the next step.
This is what I do for each level.
- Learning the chords, common progressions & comping several tunes in a few keys
- Voicings, right-hand melody, beginning improv, maybe some simple movements.
I have started splitting up level 2 in webinars into levels 2a and 2b.
Think of it as 2a being an early level 2, just getting used to voicings and right-hand chord melody (where the right-hand plays a whole chord with the melody note at the top) and learning to get comfortable with these skills over several tunes.
Level 2b is getting more fluency and starting to improvise and maybe use very simple movements. - Advanced voicings, movements, improv concepts and more
Of course, other aspects come up for all levels, such as rhythm, but the above is a general guide.
The Developing Fluency course is a great place for anyone to start who doesn't already think in chord numbers and progressions and struggles to play the same standard in a few keys.