(jazzy bass riff and drums playing) - Hey, I'm Adam.

I come from a jazz and rock background.

- I'm Nahre, I come from a classical piano background.

- And I'm LA, and I come from a gospel, hip hop, R&B background.

- [Nahre] And we're gonna chat about some of our thoughts surrounding learning by ear versus learning with sheet music.

- And then we're gonna jam.

- Yes.

- Put all this to test.

- It's gonna be dope.

(laughing) - Yes, agreed.

(joyful jazz music) - Play it Nahre, go ahead!

(keyboard chords ascending) (keyboard notes meandering lower) - Before I started lessons, I just really liked the keyboard, and then I copied what my teacher was doing.

But you can only keep that up to a certain point.

If you don't know how to read, you're out of luck.

(improvisational keyboard playing) - I would play to records in my basement.

Playing to Beyoncé, concert, watching the DVDs.

- Nice.

- THat's how I learned.

From seeing it.

- Watching!

- Watching is just as important as practice and playing.

(jazz music) (drums sputtering) - I started by learning piano.

And then I learned how to play bass, because there was a band starting and they just needed a bass player, and I promptly stopped playing piano, and I said like, "This is the cool thing, yeah!

I'm gonna learn--" - Sorry Nahre.

(laughing) (jazz music) (bass buzzing) - [LA] Yeah.

- [Adam] That was it.

- Cool.

- That was the tune.

- [LA] Nahre, you be actin' like you don't know how to jam!

That's perfect!

- I've never jammed like this before.

Well this is such a relief, because we've always been communicating via video, talk, and everything, but this is-- - In person, making music together.

- Like is this the first time you guys have been playing?

- Here together, the same time, yeah.

In gospel music, as far as energy is concerned, level one is the basic groove.

Level two is the bridge, it's the next level energy.

Then level three is the vamp.

That's where all the craziness happens, all the extra chords, hits, lines, all that.

Level three.

And you gotta end on level three.

(snares tapping slowly) This'll be a good thing to do them solos on.

Level one, level two, level three.

Try that?

It's on you.

- Level one?

- [LA] It's on you.

It's level one.

(leisurely piano melody) - [LA] One thing I realize about, in this setting, is we have to be sensitive and vulnerable.

Level two right here.

Two, three.

(drums and melody playing) (snare quickly playing) - [Adam] Sometimes this sort of situation's hard, because you're so used to wanting music to be good, or right, and this exercise is much more about opening up.

- [LA] We're on level three, (jazz music pounding louder) we're about to go level three, so really let it all out.

(music swelling) (upbeat jazz music) - [Adam] It does take a while to get into that mindset, especially if you've never done it before.

Which is crazy, Nahre, that this was your first time doing this.

- Yeah.

- Which is like, nuts, yeah.

- But I'm used to reading cues in a different way.

In classical music there's usually a designated person, in a string quartet it'll be the first violinist, and everyone will pay attention to them.

(jazz melody) (languid bass playing) - [LA] One skill that I learned just in church, that isn't taught in school, is the skill of lip reading.

Being able to play, while you're still reading and understanding, and then process that information and translate it over to your instrument.

(funky jazz melody thrumming) - [Nahre] That helps, level one, level two, level three?

- [LA] I played a gig with the Minnesota orchestra, it was at this church that was doing this gospel concert thing, and I could not watch the conductor.

For my world, - Yeah - This, - That's the downbeat.

- As soon as, this is the ichthys?

As soon as I get down there that's when the note should come out.

So it's like, (humming) and classical is, (pausing then humming) (laughing) - There is apparently a good reason for that, it's for the conductor to telegraph what it's supposed to be.

- Especially because every conductor is different.

- Yeah.

- Some are very ahead of the beat, and some are very exact.

- So it's like once you learn the language of following the conductor, you have to fine-tune the language to the specific conductor.

Okay.

That's really hard to do.

I had to watch the violinist, I had to watch their bows for the rhythm.

Because I was close to them.

I didn't know what else to pay attention to.

(slow jazz playing) (humming) So to me, in church it'd be like, "All right, we going to the next part."

And that's all I'm needing.

(laughing) - Yeah but that, to me, is amazing.

- Hm?

- How can you follow all those cues, know what's going on, based on the context, and retain all of that information, musically, and be able to improvise over it.

- Hey Nahre, find something cool that you wrote, your thing, - Yeah.

(laughing) - Just find a cool chunk that we can jam on.

(irregular, pulsing jazz music) I'll find you, wherever you go.

You go, I'll find you!

(ethereal, humming keyboard melody) - [LA] Yeah.

- [Adam] Yeah!

(drums and bass pounding) - [Adam] This is it.

- I tell my students, the more you move your body, the better your time will be.

- [Adam] Yeah.

- [Nahre] Yeah.

(drums and tambourine hissing) (energetic jazz playing) - For the longest time, I didn't get the music in my body.

- That's kind of where I struggle.

(energetic jazz playing) (scurrying keyboard melody) - [LA] Yeah, do it again!

Do that again, do that again!

Do it again, Nahre.

Do that again.

(sustained keyboard chords humming) Find it in there.

You got it.

Do it again, do it again.

- I visualize lines or shapes.

Do you guys visualize anything in your heads while you're playing?

- [Adam] I can look at a lot of different kinds of sheet music and be able to hear it in my head, which I think is one of the interesting things about reading music versus not reading music.

- [LA] When I'm playing, I try to pretend like I'm already on the stage.

(laughing) - Nahre, for you, that would be visualizing 5000 people in a concert hall.

- No!

- Solo piano.

- No no no.

(laughing) - Black shawl.

(laughing) Black shawl, killing-- - Riotous applause.

- Yeah.

You gotta visualize the outfit, too, you know what I'm saying?

- In a prom dress?

(laughing) - Okay, not the prom dress.

(jazz music playing) (surging drum improvisation) (bass and keyboard chords playing) - Yeah, yeah!

- I got lost in that.

(laughing) Y'all was the metronome, though.

- Whoa!

- That was locked.

Y'all was locked.

- We'd like to thank Adam for jamming with us, and also if you haven't already, please check out his new video, discussing whether or not playing to a backing track is considered cheating.

(dreamy synth melody)