Lazy Bear Blues

Christopher Norton's Microjazz series — three collections of short pieces in jazz, blues, rock and Latin styles — has been a fixture of contemporary piano teaching since the first volume appeared in 1983. The pieces are graded carefully and give students a real introduction to syncopation, blue notes and swing feel without the technical demands of authentic jazz repertoire.

Lazy Bear Blues is in C major (with the standard blues-scale inflections) and tests three things at Grade 3 level: a swung-quaver reading of straight notation, a steady left-hand walking bass, and a feel for the twelve-bar blues form. The right hand carries a relaxed melodic line built from blues-scale shapes; the left hand walks a clear two-note bass pattern that holds the pulse against the right hand's syncopation.

Two pitfalls. First, students who don't know the swing convention play the piece straight — it sounds correct but loses its character; a light triplet feel on the quavers is what the piece is asking for. Second, the left hand often collapses under the right hand's syncopation; practise the bass alone with a metronome until the pulse is unshakeable, then re-add the right hand.

Norton's Microjazz recordings are commercial; for an editorial reference, listen to any twelve-bar blues recorded by an early-jazz pianist (Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin' sessions or the Jelly Roll Morton solos) to internalise the right walking-bass pulse.