Going Against the Norm: Dave Frank on the Marx Brothers

In my line of work I came across a number of people who can’t wait and learn a few essential skills, and hit the ground running. They believe that doing their idea quickly is far more important than leaning the skills to even execute that idea properly.

People like this wants immediate gratification and pass over things that are “childish” or “time consuming”. In fact, there are even some musicians that I know who skipped over the basic chord patterns and progression needed for them to evolve as an artist, in the dream of becoming the “rock star of the future”.

All things take time to grow and cultivate. It is impossible to plant the seeds today and get the tomatoes tomorrow. No one is above this rule of nature. But that basic law can be readily missed because our society today pushes the idea of everything INSTANT. However, that basic rule can be readily set aside because today, we push the idea of everything INSTANT.

If you join the hype, you can lose 30 pounds in a week, learn the Sun Salutations in three days, and get your Master’s degree in a month. When you look at these things in a slower pace, what is the quality going to be like? Thinking at a slower pace, what is the quality that you will have? How many exercise routines can you actually learn in a week? How many moves can you remember by heart in 7 days? Are you sure that you can perform the different Yoga positions without hurting yourself after learning them in 7 days? How confident would you be to do a Head-stand without breaking something?

There are a number of musicians out there who does not have the time to learn to play the bass guitar and form a rock band right there and then. They get the latest equipments, start making noise, and find themselves hitting a brick wall.

After attending Dave Frank’s workshop last week when he featured the hilarious and very talented Marx Brothers, I realized that it is very important to learn the rules first before you can break them. Although the techniques and the exhibitions that Chico Marx did was definitely beyond any formal piano lesson, I am certain that he knew the basics at the very least. Chico fired the wrong notes intentionally to entertain, but the piece still was great – he hit the “perfect wrong notes”. And of course, how would he know which notes to miss if he did not know which ones to hit?

The rules should be learned before they can be bent. As a musician, you should learn the proper scales and chords first before you can improvise.

If you have heard about him he is not just some jazz piano teacher and performer.. Dave is one of the hottest solo jazz pianists music educators on today’s jazz scene, author of Hal Leonard’s best-selling book series Joy of Improv.

The Dave Frank Marx Brothers Master Class is on Youtube. To view just click that link.

Below you will find part 1.