Dick Grove
Encyclopedia
Richard Dean "Dick" Grove (1927 in Lakeville, Indiana
- December 26, 1998 in Laughlin, Nevada
) was an American musician, composer
, arranger
and award-winning music educator. He performed with Alvino Rey
, and worked with Paul Horn, Buddy Rich
, and Nancy Wilson.
Grove was very active in the Jazz education
field. He started teaching in 1958 at Westlake College of Music. At the time, the school had a strong focus on the Schillinger System
, which had also served as a basis for the first curriculums at Berklee School of Music (which had originally been called Schillinger House of Music). In his Composing&Arranging Program, he mentions that he studied the Schillinger System for 9 years.
Grove is perhaps best known for establishing the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles in 1973. After the Grove School of Music closed in 1991, he established the Grove School Without Walls, a distance learning school where he taught Musicianship and Modern Harmony, Composing
and Arranging, and Jazz Keyboard via a series of books and accompanying videos/DVDs.
While operating the Grove School and the School without Walls, Grove authored and published many books covering basic musicianship, jazz harmony and ear training, improvisation, composing and arranging as related to contemporary styles of music. He pioneered innovative concepts such as tying the study of chord symbols
, jazz harmony
and chord-scale-theory
to eartraining
via movable do solfege
, the concept of chord
families, the "grid" concept (an expanded circle of fifths
that helps to visualize chord progressions
moving through different momentary keys
), the concept of "shapes" as a systematic approach to understanding voicings
, etc.
The school operates to this day and is currently headed by Dirk Price.
Lakeville, Indiana
Lakeville is a town south of South Bend in Union Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 786 at the 2010 Census...
- December 26, 1998 in Laughlin, Nevada
Laughlin, Nevada
Laughlin is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States, and a port located on the Colorado River. Laughlin is south of Las Vegas, located in the far southern tip of Nevada. It is best known for its gaming, entertainment, and water recreation. As of the 2010 census, the...
) was an American musician, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and award-winning music educator. He performed with Alvino Rey
Alvino Rey
Alvin McBurney , known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American swing era musician and pioneer, often credited as the father of the pedal steel guitar...
, and worked with Paul Horn, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, and Nancy Wilson.
Grove was very active in the Jazz education
Jazz Education
- Non-academic :* ca. 1890: Jenkins Orphanage Bands. The Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins established an orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina.* 1890s: Alpha Cottage School An orphanage in Kingston, Jamaica offering a music programme....
field. He started teaching in 1958 at Westlake College of Music. At the time, the school had a strong focus on the Schillinger System
Schillinger System
The Schillinger System of Musical Composition, named after Joseph Schillinger, is a method of musical composition based on mathematical processes...
, which had also served as a basis for the first curriculums at Berklee School of Music (which had originally been called Schillinger House of Music). In his Composing&Arranging Program, he mentions that he studied the Schillinger System for 9 years.
Grove is perhaps best known for establishing the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles in 1973. After the Grove School of Music closed in 1991, he established the Grove School Without Walls, a distance learning school where he taught Musicianship and Modern Harmony, Composing
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
and Arranging, and Jazz Keyboard via a series of books and accompanying videos/DVDs.
While operating the Grove School and the School without Walls, Grove authored and published many books covering basic musicianship, jazz harmony and ear training, improvisation, composing and arranging as related to contemporary styles of music. He pioneered innovative concepts such as tying the study of chord symbols
Chord names and symbols (jazz and pop music)
Various kinds of chord names and symbols are used in different contexts, to represent musical chords. In jazz and popular music, a chord name and the corresponding symbol are typically composed of one or more of the following parts:# The root note ....
, jazz harmony
Jazz harmony
Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and minor scales as a basis for chordal construction, but...
and chord-scale-theory
Chord-scale system
The chord-scale system is a method of matching, from a list of possible chords, a list of possible scales. The system has been widely used since the 1970s and is "generally accepted in the jazz world today"...
to eartraining
Ear training
Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. Ear training may be...
via movable do solfege
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
, the concept of chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
families, the "grid" concept (an expanded circle of fifths
Circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths shows the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys...
that helps to visualize chord progressions
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
moving through different momentary keys
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
), the concept of "shapes" as a systematic approach to understanding voicings
Voicing (music)
In music composition and arranging, a voicing is the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the pitches in a chord...
, etc.
The school operates to this day and is currently headed by Dirk Price.
External links
- Dick Grove School of Music Alumni
- Dick Grove introducing his most recent harmony course at School Without Walls, "See It, Hear It, Play It Vol.1" (video)
- Official memorial page at DickGrove.com