Workshop 55 mini-test

1. What is the fundamental LH stride pattern?

2. What is a two-beat feel inside 4/4?

3. What is a tenth, and why is it useful in the bass?

4. Why should middle-register stride chords often use compact voice leading?

5. Why shouldn't you play full stride every beat for the entire arrangement?

6. What is the relationship between stride and walking bass?

7. What happens perceptually when you change from two-beat bass to four walking quarters without changing tempo?

8. Why can advanced substitutions still work in a vintage style?

9. What is the most important balance issue when playing block-chord melody?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 55?

Answers

1. Low bass on beats 1 and 3, middle-register chord punctuation on beats 2 and 4.
2. The meter remains 4/4, but beats 1 and 3 act as the two large bass pulses, giving the bar a broader two-pulse feeling.
3. A tenth is an octave plus a third—such as F up to A. It lets the bass communicate both root and chord quality while maintaining open spacing.
4. Since the bass already makes large register jumps, smooth compact chord movement preserves clarity and makes the technique physically easier.
5. Constant unbroken stride becomes mechanical; omitting chords, walking between roots, adding fills, stop-time, and bass-only moments create breathing and phrase architecture.
6. They can alternate or merge: stride provides a two-beat framework while walking notes can connect structural bass destinations or temporarily create a four-beat feel.
7. The music usually feels more driving and energetic because bass activity doubles from two structural pulses to four quarter-note events.
8. Style is determined by multiple parameters—bass behavior, rhythm, articulation, voicing, phrasing—not merely the sophistication of chord symbols.
9. The melody must remain clearly audible as the top voice; inner block-chord notes must support rather than mask it.
10. Stride becomes musical only when the bass-chord alternation stops being a rigid pattern and becomes a flexible way of orchestrating the piano.

The central lesson of Workshop 55 is:

First make the left hand dependable enough to sound like a rhythm section. Then make it flexible enough to stop sounding like a machine.