When You Hit A WRONG Note In Classical vs Jazz

"If you make a mistake, just make sure you do it again."

As one of my friends from my sound design class said, “Play one wrong note, you done fucked up. Play two wrong notes, it’s jazz.”

hits a wrong note Jazz musicians: 𝓓𝓸 𝓲𝓽 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷

This reminds me of something I read a while ago. "One time, I was performing in an ensemble, and didn't realize the sheet music was double-sided, so I finished the piece about a page earlier than everyone else. Fortunately, it was jazz, and no one noticed."

I remember a gig I played as a teenager. My band opened with a jazzy number that had space for a keyboard solo in it, and when it came around time for my solo, my mind just… Completely blanked. I forgot what key and scale I was playing in, and at more than one point I started touch-typing keys (literally just playing everything with my index fingers). Like I started panicking and my brain completely shut down. My band mates thought it was the best solo I ever played, and the artist we were opening for (who was a pretty widely celebrated artist) complemented me on it afterword. You really cannot fuck up in jazz

The only unrealistic thing about this, is that the conductor apologized after that rant

me: plays the wrong note jazz instructor: interesting, so you borrowed a note from the relative minor to flat the 9th on that C7add9?

"To play a wrong note is inconsequential, to play without passion is inexcusable ." - Beethoven

Bob Ross: There are no mistakes, just happy accidents Jazz: There isn't any mistakes or happy accidents, just improvisation

My guitar teacher once told me “One wrong note is a slip up, two wrong notes are a mistake, and three wrong notes are Jazz”

High school jazz competition, 15 year old kid new to bass, I played a bass solo once that I felt ashamed of. Two college judges approached me afterwards saying things like "that was off the reservation, you have real feel and daring" and "I love your direction, your originality." I remained very very confused about it.

I love your portrayal of jazz fans, so many people think we're these advanced sophisticated superhumans when in reality we're just weird unhygienic dorks who like weird textures and chord progressions

one time i messed up a jazz solo so bad and played so many wrong notes and i was so embarrassed but several people came up and told me afterwords that i had best solo there so that was cool i guess

"A wrong note played in distress is a wrong note. A wrong note played in confidence is an interpretation." -my jazz teacher

The note after the "wrong" note determines if it really was the wrong note

I can testify for this. I missed ONE note and my piano teacher said “that is absolutely horrendous” 😭💀

As a classical singer, I love this! For anyone worried, most are very forgiving in classical settings. We know it’s hard stuff and that there are so many cogs in the machine, that as long as you don’t panic and get back on track, no one will ever remember the mistake, much less mention it.

my jazz band teacher always told us “if you play a wrong note during a solo, just play it again a bunch of times on purpose and no one will know”

I can confirm that when playing a classical piece, for every mistake you make the chances of you actually making a mistake increases dramatically.

My late jazz teacher always said “If you play the wrong note, keep going. What the audience don’t know, won’t hurt em.” Jazz is all about mistakes and improvisation. It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing 🎵