LadyDpiano: Hearing The Changes

Several years ago (2007) I signed up Greg Hannon's online Keyboard Tricks & More.
http://www.giftedplayer.com

This very gifted keyboard player has many chord dvds and transposition charts for sale. One major point from Greg's teaching is focusing on "The Ear!" To listen to yourself playing by ear, focus on two things:

1. The dark sound of the minor key

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Minor_scale#The__dark_sound_of_mminor_keys
2. The "vi" as the tonal center or the tonic.

http://www.answers.com/topic/tonality

Here's what Greg has to say from one of his lessons that I discovered online and have applied to my piano practice...
"Let's look at some popular chords used in the key of Gb major. This progression will be built around the vi chord of this key which is an Ebm chord. When thee tonal center of a key is temporarily switched to another key, we call this tonicization. In this lesson we are tonicizing the vi which is Eb minor. Therefor the I chord is temporarily replaced by the vi chord."

6-5-4 in Db
6- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb
5- Db2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab
4- Cbmaj9= Cb Eb Gb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

2-5-1 in Eb minor
2- Fm7b5= F Eb/ Eb Ab Cb
5- Bb7#5#9= Bb Ab/ D F# Ab C#
1- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

4-5-1 in Eb minor
4- Abm7= Ab Eb/ Gb Cb Eb
5- Bb7#5= Bb F/ Ab D F#
1- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

Then Greg goes in a different direction with this lesson building on the 1-2-3 progression, adding a few non-diatonic chords and a classic 4-5-1 progression.

1-2-3 in Db
1- DB2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab
2- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Gb Bb Db Gb
3- Db2/F= F Eb/ Ab Db Eb Ab

Alternate Chord Quality
2*- Ebm7b5/Gb= Gb Db Gb/ A Db Eb Gb
5- Db2/Ab= Ab Eb/ Ab Db F Ab
6- Bbm7= Bb F/ Ab Db F Ab
5- Ab11= Ab Gb/ Bb Db Eb Ab

4-5-1 in Db (with the 3rd is in the root on the 4 & 5)
4- Gb2/Bb= Bb/ Gb Ab Bb Db
5- Ab2/C= C/ Ab Bb C Eb
1- Db2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab

A resource for learning to hear jazz chord progressions and tonal shifts is at

http://www.ralphpatt.com/Tonal.html

Here is a free list of songs in Eb minor

http://www.tabwiki.com/index.php/Category:Songs_in_Eb_Minor

All the best,
~ LadyD