The Jazz Tarot app for iPhone and iPad

The TL;DR version is that The Jazz Tarot is a practice randomizer, designed to help any creative musician add interest, unpredictability and flair to their practice and musicianship as a whole. A huge variety of the aspects of music - notes; intervals; scales; sequences; chord progressions, just to name a few - can be randomized, along with some special features thrown in for good measure. If youre looking for some musical inspiration, look no further!


This app was borne out of the observation that, while music made by careful reproduction of notation encourages perfection of technique, music made by improvised processes requires greater flexibility. And developing flexibility is, like improvisation itself, more personal and mysterious, and is given less attention in our culture as a whole.

Jazz is currently the genre of music perhaps most associated with improvisation. However, countless other genres and creative artists throughout human history have used it too. In fact, improvisation can be considered the oldest and most fundamental act of creativity. While this app is named after jazz out of respect for modern associations, it can be used by any creative musician who wants to improve their flexibility. Even musicians primarily involved with performing notated music will find that it can add enjoyment to practice routines.

So how do we develop flexibility? One answer is to use randomness, which provides the same unpredictability that we encounter in the creative process. For example, rather than practicing scales in a familiar pattern such as the circle of 4ths, practicing them in a random order every time not only encourages flexibility on an instrument, but exposes the ear to a greater variety of harmonic movement too. Or if a chord pattern such as 1-2-3-5 is being taken through a chord progression, the rhythm it’s played with can be randomly chosen.

That’s one of the things that the Jazz Tarot does: it’s a practice randomizer. The fundamental aspects of music - individual notes; intervals and the different patterns they form together; chord progressions; rhythm - are all represented and can be randomized in various ways. There’s also an ear training exercise, a place for you to input and choose repertoire, and some inspirational quotes from the masters of creativity of various different idioms.

Another feature of the Jazz Tarot is exactly what it says it is - a tarot deck. Based on a similar structure as the cards traditionally used to give readings and offer insight into a person’s life path, the virtual cards here each contain an exercise relating to an aspect of music. The Jazz Tarot is an invitation to you to explore the influence that the unknown can have on your life and music too.


So use the Jazz Tarot to liven up your practice routine, push you in unexpected directions, and connect with the mysteries of creativity. Most importantly though, use it to have fun.