This is an ear training practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song Summertime from IFR Standards Workout 2. In this video we will explore not only the chord notes to this song but also some very beautiful melodic notes outside the chords.

In this video, we train our ear to hear the chord changes in the jazz standard Summertime. In the first two lines of the song, there is a lot of harmonic movement, and there are three chords from outside the key: 3D, 6D and 4D. These three chords bring notes from outside the key. I call them "magic notes" because they work as landmarks, helping us identify chords by ear and get oriented in the progression when we improvise.

The three magic notes that we have today are note #5 that creates tension and wants to resolve to note 6, note #1 that wants to resolve to note 2, and the beautiful note b3 that brings a bluesy feel. As you sing along with me, I invite you to pay special attention to these "magic notes".

Today we will sing together two different exercises:

1) Melody Paths: We weave melodies connecting chord notes across the chord progression.

2) Free melodic improvisation: We sing melodies using all the notes of the scale.