Session #2 summary June 30 - 2015

Happy 4th of July Jazz Folks!

If you missed Jazz Colony or you have foggy summer memory, you may benefit from this summary of our last session. Mr. Bergevin's comments are followed by Max Bennett's comments in italics.

Congrats to Joel Steinke for the great guest DJ session last night on KPLU.
If you missed it, take a look and listen:
http://www.kplu.org/post/guest-student-dj-joel-steinke-ushering-next-generation-jazz

Next Sea Jazz Gig is hosted by Jack, Luis, Rahul 5-7 PM on Wednesday July 8.
Tyler Pritchard has signed up for Sunday July 12.

Summary of June 30 evening from Mr. Bergevin's viewpoint.

Mr. Bergevin's initial greeting stressed two concepts: 

1) we should have a heart of gratitude for the Jazz Colony - show gratitude by:

• attending faithfully
• practicing
• arriving (and leaving) on time
• being a helpful team player and encouraging each other
• exhibiting enthusiasm for learning and community 

2) we should be interdependent learners and try to get more out of the sessions by learning from each other and not just the instructors.

• pay attention to what others are playing
• ask what others are listening to and practicing

Mr. Bergevin encouraged everyone to sign up for the "REMIND" app - if you need instructions, email Mr. B.  

Mr. Dugdale and Mr. B gave out free t-shirts for the purpose of reviewing the previous session and catching up anyone who may have missed that gathering. More t-shirts and prizes may be given away to students modeling the key elements of a Jazz Colony member.

New Colony instructor, Michael Glynn, did a great job with a very large group of rhythm section students.

There were about 11 students in the band room for this session. Michael focused on the idea of keeping internal time and trying to get this huge group to find a pulse together (playing for 2 measures of quarter notes, then resting for 2 measures, then coming back in without any visual or sonic cues). He also modeled some excellent technique.

Ornette Combo Summary 

Mr. B helped with Steve's combo (ornette). I love the idea of breaking into smaller groups as it really helps everyone engage. In attendance were Rimmy, Brandt, Edward, Hugh (with his own drum kit - kudos to him!), Liz, Jack H, Jason W. Mr. B played guitar.  

In the Ornette group there was an assignment for students bringing in their own compositions or portions of compositions. Nobody followed through with this so we "improvised". I recommend that everyone involved realize the power of basics i.e. 

• have a pencil
• bring your own stand to your rehearsal space (and put it back when you're finished)
• if you bring in ideas in writing, transpose them so everyone is comfortable
• having ideas in writing speeds up a rehearsal quite a bit - it also improves editing and memory for the next session or rehearsal
• spend time thinking about orchestration - who's playing which sections?
• strive for sonic clarity so it doesn't sound crowded (these combos are big)  

We spent most of the time memorizing chords to Ladybird by Tadd Dameron. 

Here's a modern rendition I found on youtube - nice piano solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMbjqjgcWlI

I asked students to play roots for a bit until we all had it. We did all of this using our phones (iRealb app) and no music stands.

We worked on it in a very slow funk groove. We focused on sonic clarity and planning our attack when improvising. We talked about the idea of setting a goal before you begin playing so you have something intentional that you're working on ... instead of just playing whatever pops into your head.

At the end kids shared what other things they are excited about in music right now. Some kids talked about literature that their private teachers were working on. Some talked about recordings they're excited about right now. Hugh is enjoying Herbie Hancock's "The Prisoner" record.

Brandt and Jack H offered to bring in some original material (in writing) for the next session.

The upstairs gallery location is not ideal for a jazz combo as it's so loud and ringy. I did unlock the piano and will leave it unlocked. We'll try another location next week.

Summary from Max Bennett

For the workshop portion Alex Dugdale and I focused on rhythm as a big concept. We worked from the JC packet on the page with one measure riff rhythms and traded 8 and 16 bar solos on So What. We discussed all the different ways you could make 3-4 notes sound good (ie rhythm on or off beat, volume, pitch, rhythmic placement, note choice).  There were only 3 sax players who showed up to this masterclass but it meant for more playing time and more personal feedback.

The "homework" for this masterclass was to go home and transcribe the rhythm of a blues head and one chorus of someone's solo. Then they would write their own notes to the solo. The goal of this assignment would be to analyze and identify riffs rhythms within the solo while also allowing the students to be creative with the note choice.  

Next session we will present those transcriptions. Also, Alex and I talked about bringing in some recordings of some players who really focus on developing short motives in their solos (ie Sonny Rollins on Newks time, Coltrane on Acknowledgment, various Miles Davis solos). We will also continue with the one bar riffs. 

The Blakey combo learned "Moanin" by ear and also worked on some roots in the solo section. This took up about the whole time. 

Goals for next time would be to play through the head and start working on the solos for Moanin.  

Also the small practice room got hotter than I thought so we might play outside if possible next time.