Friday, July 7, 2017

#2 - July 5 - 2017 - Jory Tindall

Here are the combo updates ... thanks to all contributors.
Michael Glynn offered this summary of his group ....

This week we played a Bb blues (Easin' It), Work Song, St. Thomas, and Listen Here.  We talked about picking a couple of tunes that everyone will be able to play on, but will also be interesting for the more advanced players.  We discussed finding a couple of contrasting songs to provide variety for the band and for the audience.
I would like the students to listen to the following YouTube tracks to get an idea of how the original versions of some of the tunes we discussed sound, and to move towards finalizing our song picks.
Eddie Harris - Listen Here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHtO_i4qzM
Cannonball Adderley - Work Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCqRYneOdIM
Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2XIWZxMKM
Miles Davis - Eight One - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUAkWhr_8EM
We took turns soloing over the blues and tried using the blues scale. 

Blues Scale:
1 b3 4 #4 5 b7 1
in G: G Bb C C# D F G 

We also started to learn the concept of connecting 3rds and 7ths when going from chord to chord. 

The 3rd of one chord is usually a half step or whole step away from the 7th of the next chord. 

Example,

  • First four bars of a G blues are G7 C7 G7 G7
  • B and F are the 3rd and 7th of G7, E and Bb are the 3rd and 7th of the C7
  • The B in G7 connects to the Bb in C7 and then goes back to the B in G7
  • The F in G7 connects to the E in C7 and then goes back to the F in G7

19 y 42 (Tune 2):

We started working on an arrangement of this tune where some people started playing harmonized parts of the melody. 

Assignment:
  • Work on memorizing the harmonized part or normal melody for 19 y 42 (Tune 2)
  • Practice the 3 minor scales (natural, harmonic, and melodic) in multiple keys.
  • Work on connecting the 3rds and 7ths of chords in a blues. (You can find blues backing tracks on youtube or download the irealb app on a phone)
FODDER FOR THE FIRE ENTRY 2:
Kyle Gaul's summary of Perdido Combo
We started our session by reading an arrangement of Perdido--which sounded great! Work at home with your metronome so that the parts all line up together well at the next rehearsal. In addition to the arrangement, work on the Perdido Etude lovingly composed by Dan. It read nicely, but continue practicing the lines slowly to achieve fluidity and poise. Everyone improvised on the Perdido changes using the "turn back to two" technique with the harmonic minor scale on the Dominant b9 chords (7 b9). We then read Cattin' (F blues) and learned the Minor Blues scale (1, b3, 4, b5, 5, 7), and the Major Blues scale (1, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6). Practice playing the Major Blues scale over the I chord, and the Minor Blues on all the others. Near the end, Dan handed out a Blues Étude in Bb. Though our Blues is not in Bb, see if you can apply the patterns in F. Looking forward to next week--keep the flame a'flicker in the meantime!

Here's what I remember doing on July 5--  

First I ran the saxophones through my "workout," trying to make sure they understand:
  1. Why each of the exercises is important, both to their development as saxophonists and to their development as improvisers.
  2. How each exercise can be adapted, tweaked, expanded beyond what's written on the page.  This is especially important in a big, varied group like that where some are at a pretty elementary level and others are more advanced and may look at what's on the page as "too easy."  If it's "too easy," then here are some suggestions of how to make it challenging.
I tried to keep a balance between actually doing the workout (i. e., horn on face) and explaining the whys and hows (horn in lap while Greenblatt blathers).   The goal of the Colony is catching fire as improvisers, and improvisers are by definition composers--they've got to get in the habit of using their heads/ears to create the music they play.  If it's just playing written saxophone exercises it doesn't contribute much to improvisational skill.  So I gotta talk them through the exercises and get them figuring out what to play next rather than just reading it.  My hope is that as the weeks go by I can do less and less talking.


Combo rehearsal.  I think our two tunes will be Perdido and Cattin', which is an F Blues head by Mal Waldron.  If we get those together then I'll add either a contrafact I wrote on Blue Bossa changes or some other accessible Latin groove tune, maybe Samba de Orfeu.  So we just did normal rehearsal on the two main tunes.  I wrote a somewhat tricky arrangement for Perdido, on which we made progress, but it still needs work.  And everyone got to solo on it.  Basically same thing with Cattin,' which we just played the head and soloed.  I'll add to that arrangement next week.

That's about it.

DG

Night and Day Combo summary by Max Bennett

The Joe Henderson group worked on Night and Day. We realized that in order to play it at the tempo of the recording, we need to play it slower at first and work up to the fast tempo. Bar 9-12 are especially hard, so it's helpful to take it slow and work on good voice leading and playing melodic lines over it. The rhythm section should avoid letting the tune slow down. 

Secondly, we worked on Nathan Eklunds tune. This will be our primary focus next time as he will be with us. Please listen to the recording and make sure the melody is solid. Start looking at the changes next. 

The option to bring in tunes is still available... 

Ken Weller's summary of the Green Room Combo

Our session for July 5th started with a short discussion about pieces to focus on and play for the summer. We started with playing Four by Miles Davis.

We're quite comfortable on this song and it's likely to be in our repertoire.
We then proceeded to play through three other songs including:


The assignment that was given for this week was on Four, to pick and transcribe a 4 bar lick from any of the soloists and be able to play it for the rest of the combo.

Required for the assignment:
Tempo
Personnel (players only, not audio engineers etc)
Album
4 bar lick



Jack Hillman wrote this ...

Trombone Sectional:
First, we talked about the importance of long tones. The focus was keeping a full tone consistently through all partials on the instrument. Second, we talked about false pedals. I first explained the concept of false pedals, and then explained how they can be used to open up the lower register and help cultivate a more open tone in general. Then, we talked about lip slurs. The focuses were keeping  a good tone through all registers of the horn, as well as gradual increases of speed. Then, we talked about the circle of fifths and how it can be used as a tool to practice major scales. Finally, we talked about ii-V-I patterns and the importance of learning things in all 12 keys.

Combo:
Our combo chose to play the tune Walkin' by Miles Davis. We talked about different improvisation techniques, including using the melody, using the minor blues scale, using space, and repetition. The group listened to the recording multiple times in order to learn the melody as well as listen to Miles' intentional use of space. We also focused on using repetition within solos, and how a single simple idea can be stretched and shaped into an entire solo. Sonny Rollins' solo on Saint Thomas was used as an example of this technique. 


 Tim Volpicella wrote this ...

I was very impressed with Natalie's (Groovin High) and Jared’s (Blue Bossa) ideas for arrangements.
We talked about arranging and played through some improvisation ideas. Damn they're very talented.
Looking forward for the actual band to get together. 

This from Mason Fagan .... Barbados Combo

On Wednesday, we discussed repetition in improvisation, the concept of quoting, and how to feel the groove of a tune. We used simple tunes like St. Thomas and billies bounce to get the idea across. We focused on making the students comfortable with their instruments in order to make it easier for them to have inspiration.

Here are the links to the youtube for Jory’s group playing and his presentation for you to put on the Blog.

https://youtu.be/25UxcL04KKo

https://youtu.be/LrMLj_OZGH0

And, here is a link to my dropbox for photos of the Jory stuff also…..:    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h8ligsl72e6g4ot/AAAEM40yVNc-y8P-q4UuRPj7a?dl=0

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