THIJS WEERTS
Who are you, and what do you do? What do you
like to do when you don't practice or play the piano?
like to do when you don't practice or play the piano?
I am Thijs Weerts and have been enjoying my retirement for 9 years now. So there is now more room in my life for hobbies and my private life with my wife, my son's family, and not at least the grandchildren.
I will turn 80 in May, still want to do all sorts of things, and am energetic even though I realize that I have reached a critical point in my life at this age as I belong to the risk group of all possible health problems.
The Netherlands has always been my home country. Since we have for more than 20 years a second home in Florida where we yearly are used to spending very nice months, we consider Florida as our second home country.
I am internationally oriented and love foreign languages. I have since a couple of years weekly conversations by phone in English and German with two exchange partners, Steve in Cincinnati and Petra in Vienna. Since I am fluent in both languages, our topics of conversation can be about anything. But often they cover jazz music. Sometimes I read also interesting reading stuff in French or in exceptional cases in Spanish. I am a language freak.
Furthermore, I love playing tennis which I have been doing with my son for many years now. I still play single with him.
I will turn 80 in May, still want to do all sorts of things, and am energetic even though I realize that I have reached a critical point in my life at this age as I belong to the risk group of all possible health problems.
The Netherlands has always been my home country. Since we have for more than 20 years a second home in Florida where we yearly are used to spending very nice months, we consider Florida as our second home country.
I am internationally oriented and love foreign languages. I have since a couple of years weekly conversations by phone in English and German with two exchange partners, Steve in Cincinnati and Petra in Vienna. Since I am fluent in both languages, our topics of conversation can be about anything. But often they cover jazz music. Sometimes I read also interesting reading stuff in French or in exceptional cases in Spanish. I am a language freak.
Furthermore, I love playing tennis which I have been doing with my son for many years now. I still play single with him.
Why do you play jazz piano?
I've been playing piano since I was a kid of 9 years old. In those days it was somewhat part of one's upbringing.
When I was 12, I went to a boarding school where I became a member of a symphony orchestra. They always needed a lot of violinists. I liked that. I learned and played violin until I was 21 and then I continued with just piano. Sometimes I played very little for years, especially in my student days at university and during my military service. Regularity returned a bit more when I was in my mid-30s and bought my own piano. I still have that piano and like it very much. It is a Fazer.
I didn't really start learning jazz until around age 45 at a music school in The Hague where I worked. In those early years, I was introduced to playing in a combo. Around age 50 I became a pianist in a combo where we played jazzy tunes and had gigs several times a year. I developed on my own but ran into limits. One drawback was that I had an incredibly busy Human Resources Management job in an American company in The Netherlands. At age 55, I became self-employed as an HR Consultant. The result was that I was left with even less free time. However, the urge to go deeper sooner or later remained. I did so at the age of 77 by taking the Step-by-Step Course with Gjermund. It was a question of now or never.
It gives me enormous satisfaction to develop and unfold myself, not in the least in jazz piano. I enjoy the sounds and beautiful chords and by doing so the opportunity for self-expression. The freedom of playing jazz and improvisation gives me a feeling of happiness.
When I was 12, I went to a boarding school where I became a member of a symphony orchestra. They always needed a lot of violinists. I liked that. I learned and played violin until I was 21 and then I continued with just piano. Sometimes I played very little for years, especially in my student days at university and during my military service. Regularity returned a bit more when I was in my mid-30s and bought my own piano. I still have that piano and like it very much. It is a Fazer.
I didn't really start learning jazz until around age 45 at a music school in The Hague where I worked. In those early years, I was introduced to playing in a combo. Around age 50 I became a pianist in a combo where we played jazzy tunes and had gigs several times a year. I developed on my own but ran into limits. One drawback was that I had an incredibly busy Human Resources Management job in an American company in The Netherlands. At age 55, I became self-employed as an HR Consultant. The result was that I was left with even less free time. However, the urge to go deeper sooner or later remained. I did so at the age of 77 by taking the Step-by-Step Course with Gjermund. It was a question of now or never.
It gives me enormous satisfaction to develop and unfold myself, not in the least in jazz piano. I enjoy the sounds and beautiful chords and by doing so the opportunity for self-expression. The freedom of playing jazz and improvisation gives me a feeling of happiness.
Thijs seems to have green piano fingers. 🎹🪴
What is your current practice setup?
Where do you prefer to practice?
Where do you prefer to practice?
I have two places where I play piano at home. That is in the living room on my Faser piano and in the hall on my Roland keyboard.
These days I play mostly on my keyboard when I want to record myself. I have gradually started doing so since the course from Gjermund.
Recording from the keyboard goes really great with a DAW in between (digital audio workstation).
These days I play mostly on my keyboard when I want to record myself. I have gradually started doing so since the course from Gjermund.
Recording from the keyboard goes really great with a DAW in between (digital audio workstation).
Thijs' setup 1
What tools and resources do you
use that help you practice better?
use that help you practice better?
I was and am used to playing a lot from the Real Book. Those are particularly the parts Sixth Edition and Volume 2, Second Edition.
Since The Jazz Piano Step-by-Step Course that has changed and especially expanded.
The method I follow when I want to learn a new song from Gjermund is as follows:
After finishing 40 lessons my method of analyzing a new song is to put the piece in an MP3 or MP4 format into Transcribe and then put all the notes and chords with chord symbols into Musescore. Writing all this stuff into Musescore is very time-consuming but for me very helpful.
In doing this I have to use all the tools I can think of, listening, watching, and trying it out myself on the piano. If there is no MP4 of it then I make one myself by recording it from the screen on my iPad.
In Transcribe, I create a time signature to better visualize timing and rhythm. In this way, I know exactly the split up in bars.
Then I will rehearse the song and play it together with the way played by Gjermund.
Finally, I am going to record the song in Audacity. If I manage to make a recording in Audacity which is reasonable by my standards I will consider my lesson complete.
As far as Audacity is concerned I could have used some more help because I had to learn Audacity largely through trial and error, self-study, the internet, etc.
Now that I can handle it quite well by now, I like to record myself more frequently.
Previously there was always a barrier because Audacity is quite a complicated program with many difficult features.
Since The Jazz Piano Step-by-Step Course that has changed and especially expanded.
The method I follow when I want to learn a new song from Gjermund is as follows:
After finishing 40 lessons my method of analyzing a new song is to put the piece in an MP3 or MP4 format into Transcribe and then put all the notes and chords with chord symbols into Musescore. Writing all this stuff into Musescore is very time-consuming but for me very helpful.
In doing this I have to use all the tools I can think of, listening, watching, and trying it out myself on the piano. If there is no MP4 of it then I make one myself by recording it from the screen on my iPad.
In Transcribe, I create a time signature to better visualize timing and rhythm. In this way, I know exactly the split up in bars.
Then I will rehearse the song and play it together with the way played by Gjermund.
Finally, I am going to record the song in Audacity. If I manage to make a recording in Audacity which is reasonable by my standards I will consider my lesson complete.
As far as Audacity is concerned I could have used some more help because I had to learn Audacity largely through trial and error, self-study, the internet, etc.
Now that I can handle it quite well by now, I like to record myself more frequently.
Previously there was always a barrier because Audacity is quite a complicated program with many difficult features.
What is your current practice routine?
I don't actually have one. Normally I would spend fifteen minutes warming up by playing some songs by heart or from the Real Book. Then I would explore some difficult songs. For example, I tried playing songs by Wayne Shorter for a while or making easy songs more complicated. I'm not very good at practicing e.g. scales in a creative way or 2-5-1 progressions. I prefer to practice those in the context of a song.
Sometimes I try to transpose a song by heart into a different key. But even better for me is when I am forced to do so. For example, at our band recently I brought up the suggestion of playing You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. I only knew the song in C. But the original is written in the key of B. So we decided to play the song in B. After playing it twice we transition a semitone higher to C at the end. In the key of C, we play only the A part twice, followed by a little outro. I can now play the song well in both keys.
By nature, I am quite focused on variation and doing something different and new. Repetition and stiff practicing are not so much my thing. However, the main reason why I cannot practice systematically is my wife's health situation. For that reason, I cannot take my time to play piano daily. I have to make more use of the small half hours or less that arise, sometimes unexpectedly, depending on the necessary daily routines in helping and supporting my wife.
Because I am firmly motivated to complete Gjermund's program, the lessons keep me focused. However, every now and then I want to get away from the pressure and do something completely different. For example, I want to learn more about playing the songs by Wayne Shorter. Consequently, I spend also some time to this kind of music in order to fulfill my need for exploring new things.
Sometimes I try to transpose a song by heart into a different key. But even better for me is when I am forced to do so. For example, at our band recently I brought up the suggestion of playing You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. I only knew the song in C. But the original is written in the key of B. So we decided to play the song in B. After playing it twice we transition a semitone higher to C at the end. In the key of C, we play only the A part twice, followed by a little outro. I can now play the song well in both keys.
By nature, I am quite focused on variation and doing something different and new. Repetition and stiff practicing are not so much my thing. However, the main reason why I cannot practice systematically is my wife's health situation. For that reason, I cannot take my time to play piano daily. I have to make more use of the small half hours or less that arise, sometimes unexpectedly, depending on the necessary daily routines in helping and supporting my wife.
Because I am firmly motivated to complete Gjermund's program, the lessons keep me focused. However, every now and then I want to get away from the pressure and do something completely different. For example, I want to learn more about playing the songs by Wayne Shorter. Consequently, I spend also some time to this kind of music in order to fulfill my need for exploring new things.
Thijs' setup 2.
What have been your biggest AHA moments or breakthroughs for your music?
There are several and perhaps many. For example, the very first lessons with Gjermund. I loved the sounds and immediately thought, what a lot there is for me to learn.
The progression 2-5-1 I knew of course but how wonderful it is to fill them in in a more sophisticated way. Not to mention other progressions which were also exciting to explore. I experienced many AHA moments once upper structures, altered scales, diminished scales, and scale chords were addressed. A new world opened up for me.
I also found the elaboration of quartals to be a revelation. I always wanted to play So What in an advanced way. I was beginning to learn that now. And also improvising on that tune which was always a headache for me. To learn this was really a milestone for me.
Pentatonics and Playing Outside were a revelation to me too. Both are complicated for me to integrate in an advanced way into my playing. But lovely to explore them further.
In short, there has been a lot of AHA Erlebnisse for me. And there is still a lot to come, I think.
Similarly, I found the concept of the 4 hats an eye-opener. Of course, I did have an intuitive idea of how to fill in the different ways of playing. But Gjermund made this concept in his lessons vivid and explicit. Fantastic to apply these different ways of playing!
This was a sampling of what came to mind when I thought about it for a moment. It was by no means my intention to be exhaustive. I think the examples mentioned sufficiently demonstrate how this Step-by-Step Course really offers a wealth of innovation that the student can gratefully take advantage of.
How do I overcome my pain points?
By working hard on them and getting to the bottom of it. I then really dive into the details. For example, timing and rhythm are not my strongest points. If I come across a difficult passage that I am having trouble mastering, I start writing this passage out in Musescore. Then I listen countless times to how this piece is played. Then I start playing it at a slow tempo with the metronome included. Then I increase the tempo until I reach my goal or what I estimate is maximumly achievable for me.
If the part is beyond my capability I start developing my own figure as a kind of next-best resolution that is achievable for me.
The progression 2-5-1 I knew of course but how wonderful it is to fill them in in a more sophisticated way. Not to mention other progressions which were also exciting to explore. I experienced many AHA moments once upper structures, altered scales, diminished scales, and scale chords were addressed. A new world opened up for me.
I also found the elaboration of quartals to be a revelation. I always wanted to play So What in an advanced way. I was beginning to learn that now. And also improvising on that tune which was always a headache for me. To learn this was really a milestone for me.
Pentatonics and Playing Outside were a revelation to me too. Both are complicated for me to integrate in an advanced way into my playing. But lovely to explore them further.
In short, there has been a lot of AHA Erlebnisse for me. And there is still a lot to come, I think.
Similarly, I found the concept of the 4 hats an eye-opener. Of course, I did have an intuitive idea of how to fill in the different ways of playing. But Gjermund made this concept in his lessons vivid and explicit. Fantastic to apply these different ways of playing!
This was a sampling of what came to mind when I thought about it for a moment. It was by no means my intention to be exhaustive. I think the examples mentioned sufficiently demonstrate how this Step-by-Step Course really offers a wealth of innovation that the student can gratefully take advantage of.
How do I overcome my pain points?
By working hard on them and getting to the bottom of it. I then really dive into the details. For example, timing and rhythm are not my strongest points. If I come across a difficult passage that I am having trouble mastering, I start writing this passage out in Musescore. Then I listen countless times to how this piece is played. Then I start playing it at a slow tempo with the metronome included. Then I increase the tempo until I reach my goal or what I estimate is maximumly achievable for me.
If the part is beyond my capability I start developing my own figure as a kind of next-best resolution that is achievable for me.
What have been your biggest AHA moments or breakthroughs for your music?
My goals are close. At the age of 80, I no longer have great aspirations. I'll be happy if I can keep playing for a few more years. Osteoarthritis in my hands and neck is unfortunately starting to play an increasing role. Fortunately, I can still play well. That is why I am so happy with the light touch of my piano and especially that of my keyboard.
I don't make annual plans or anything like that. I prefer to put apparently small goals that seem to be close at hand but are often extremely difficult to achieve.
For example, I am currently working on the piano solos from Have You Met Mr. Svekk in a Band. There are a lot of critical passages in there that for me are around the limit of my ability. Every time I have made a reasonable recording of such a passage, I feel happy and again motivated to continue.
Moreover, I say to myself: it has to be good or good enough for me, it does not have to be perfect, even though that remains my aspiration in the sense of "as good as is possible for me'. I tend toward perfectionism but at the same time that can be a pitfall that I want to avoid.
I don't make annual plans or anything like that. I prefer to put apparently small goals that seem to be close at hand but are often extremely difficult to achieve.
For example, I am currently working on the piano solos from Have You Met Mr. Svekk in a Band. There are a lot of critical passages in there that for me are around the limit of my ability. Every time I have made a reasonable recording of such a passage, I feel happy and again motivated to continue.
Moreover, I say to myself: it has to be good or good enough for me, it does not have to be perfect, even though that remains my aspiration in the sense of "as good as is possible for me'. I tend toward perfectionism but at the same time that can be a pitfall that I want to avoid.
Thank you, Thijs for participating. Take care of your music onward!
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