Thanks everyone for a great summer! Really enjoyed hearing you all play last Wednesday. I will be out of town on Tuesday for our last session. Have a great year--make lots of killing music.
-ST
Thanks Max for taking notes last Tuesday:
Practicing Round Table Discussion
Dan:
- Practicing with a purpose
- Thinking about practicing in terms of the “1 degree shift”: Working on something consistently
and being diligent on making some sort of improvement in your skills. Its best to work on
something challenging and its fine if your improvement is gradual
- Learning all different styles and feels in order to be versatile
Michael:
- Be focused: 2min of focused practice > 30min of messing around playing
- If you’re not focused when you sit down to practice, it’s okay to take a break and come back
when you are focused.
- Listening is practice too
- Mix up challenging or theoretical practice vs. fun things like playing tunes
- Try to make some set practice times
Steve:
- Practicing with goals
- Anything you are playing, make it musical. You are playing for this moment, not necessarily for
some future event down the road
- Success is not the amount of hours, it’s the grit (the passion, discipline and work ethic you bring
to playing your instrument)
- What are you excited to get out of bed for? Use that as a starting place
- Structured practiced vs stream of consciousness
- Listening, going to shows, teaching = practicing too
Mr. B:
- Books and systems
- Not trying to practice too fast. There are no shortcuts to the top.
- Isolation and slowing down your practice is a good idea
- Journal – writing down your goals and the things you’ve accomplished
- Patience
- Be motivated by something
- Technique!
- Don’t be afraid of the institution – there is a musical community out there that can support and
push you to be better.
- Be hungry
- Positive mental visualization: spending quality time reflecting on your practicing and
musicianship
Pete:
- There are no limits to what you can do
- If you’re waiting around for something to happen or for someone do it for you, its not going to
happen
- Be organized
- Time management
- Opportunity is everywhere
Max:
- Find a sound model on your instrument and listen as much as you can
- Spend quality time with your instrument – start with something that excites you (ie transcribing
killin solos, composing, playing hip music, working on etudes)
- Go to jam sessions and play gigs – you will learn things from these experiences that will be very
beneficial.
o For example: getting on stage to play a tune and not knowing it and having to sit down.
This makes me want to go home and learn it for next time.
o Ex 2: messing up a melody, or losing the form. Go home and practice that tune
- Start to break away from using music when you can.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Friday, August 14, 2015
Jazz Colony #8
As a group, we worked on singing scale degrees in solfege along with a C drone (see JC packet) to experience the unique character and tenancies of each scale tone. I like using the Cello Drone recordings, but you can also stream the drone tracks that accompany with my book here. We listened to which notes sounded smooth and which had more dissonance. We experienced how scale degrees 1, 3, and 5 are the most consonant, and scale degrees 2, 4, 6, 7 are more dissonant and have tenancies to resolve to the nearest consonant note.
We then moved on to singing through and improvising on all the paralel modes along with a drone (see JC packet). We began on Lydian, the brightest mode, and moved down the list to Phrygian, the darkest mode. (Locrian isn't a stable mode because it doesn't include the interval of a perfect fifth, so we tossed it out for this exercise). This approach provides a much richer experience than playing the modes that are diatonic to a single key signature--i.e. C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, etc sounds like an exercise in C major and you don't get to experience the character of each mode.
Be ready to have a focused rehearsal on Tuesday, because our final Sea-Jazz Performance is this Wednesday August 19th at 5:00 PM. Please arrive by 4:30 to listen to the first performance of the new College Place Middle School Jazz Colony! The kids are doing awesome and have their whole set memorized already!
We then moved on to singing through and improvising on all the paralel modes along with a drone (see JC packet). We began on Lydian, the brightest mode, and moved down the list to Phrygian, the darkest mode. (Locrian isn't a stable mode because it doesn't include the interval of a perfect fifth, so we tossed it out for this exercise). This approach provides a much richer experience than playing the modes that are diatonic to a single key signature--i.e. C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, etc sounds like an exercise in C major and you don't get to experience the character of each mode.
Be ready to have a focused rehearsal on Tuesday, because our final Sea-Jazz Performance is this Wednesday August 19th at 5:00 PM. Please arrive by 4:30 to listen to the first performance of the new College Place Middle School Jazz Colony! The kids are doing awesome and have their whole set memorized already!
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Jazz Colony #7
We started the session by reflecting on our first Sea-Jazz gig this summer. We discussed strategies for talking on the mic.
- Introduce JC Program
- Introduce band members
- Announce titles, composers, interesting info about compositions
- Promote tip jar
- Prepare a couple (appropriate) jokes
We also listened to "Simple" by my mentor, saxophonist George Garzone and had a short discussion. The piece alternates between a simple, almost square melody (with hints of dissonance) and short interludes of rubato, intense free jazz. Great solos!
Because attendance for several combos was low, and we had an abundance of saxophone players, we divided into a rhythm section workshop and a saxophone workshop. In the sax workshop, we listened to sound models and worked on our tone through working on mouthpiece pitch. Here is the handout I put together:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6BGmxv2DkrEbkxqTjJYMml0d2c/view?usp=sharing
Here are notes from Michael Glynn:
- Introduce JC Program
- Introduce band members
- Announce titles, composers, interesting info about compositions
- Promote tip jar
- Prepare a couple (appropriate) jokes
We also listened to "Simple" by my mentor, saxophonist George Garzone and had a short discussion. The piece alternates between a simple, almost square melody (with hints of dissonance) and short interludes of rubato, intense free jazz. Great solos!
Because attendance for several combos was low, and we had an abundance of saxophone players, we divided into a rhythm section workshop and a saxophone workshop. In the sax workshop, we listened to sound models and worked on our tone through working on mouthpiece pitch. Here is the handout I put together:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6BGmxv2DkrEbkxqTjJYMml0d2c/view?usp=sharing
Here are notes from Michael Glynn:
We discussed a number of things in the rhythm section workshop, but spent the most time working on the jazz "2-feel." This is a common feel used most often on medium swing tunes for the melody, and sometimes parts of the solos. Here are a few recordings of bands playing in a 2-feel.
Things to listen for and think about:
-How long or short are the bass notes? How does it change the feel when they are shorter or longer?
-What is the drummer playing? How does it interact with what the bass is playing?
-When do they change to a 4-feel (if at all)? Do they set up this change musically somehow?
-Compared to the 4-feel, does the 2-feel seem lighter or heavier? Are there other ways you might describe the difference?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP7C--YxpVw&list= PLf54dkJsWJ3MiI66H2- M4mnAs8B4Juthn&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36wafFjFdYs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkgT38i5HWg&list=PLdAYdM0K- ygYKXwTZFIfEq65hE9tRgOXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHwZXSj6IXM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64T0GjbKBdw&list= RD64T0GjbKBdw#t=104
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Jazz Colony at Sea Jazz Gig #1 2015
First Colony Gig was a success. Keep up the great work.
Here are a few photos.
Here are a few photos.
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