Session #6 summary

Honeysuckle Rose Combo

Thank you all for your continued focus as we near the home stretch of this year’s Jazz Colony. At this point everyone is aware of what they need to be working on… so please do so! Three Flowers continues to stump us; remember, there are only 3 major tonalities that you need to concern yourself with. Become comfortable playing those 3 major triads and their inversions WITH a metronome. Add complexity from there, aiming to also play the dominant b7 chords that belong to each major tonality. That makes 6 discreet triads for you to focus on. Please take the 30-40 minutes necessary to explore these 6 triads and apply them in time with the form of the song. Looking forward to a few more sessions!

 

As always please reach out to me at joelsteinke@comcast.net with any questions. Happy practicing!

 

Joel

Little Sunflower Combo

On Tuesday, we started by playing through our two tunes. When playing Little Sunflower, we decided to experiment with the form and see what it was like when we changed the form to ABA as opposed to AABBAA. It felt very off, but overall it was a good experience for the students so they could be introduced to new musical concepts in a stress-free environment. After, talked about the music in general. Specifically, Connor played a video explaining how music is a language. We then reflected on that, and the students shared their thoughts on the video. One thing from the video that resonated with the students was that since music is a language, we should play with fluent speakers as much as possible and encourage mistakes, similar to how we learned our native languages when speaking with fluent adults.

We went back inside, played the blues again, and then we talked about how trading 4s should be one continued solo among multiple people instead of each person doing their own thing and passing it off to the next. 

To illustrate this, Liam shared a recording of Larry Mckenna and Veronica Swift playing some live music (attached). Listen very closely to how it seems as if they almost finish each other's sentences. 

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

 

This I Dig of You Combo - Bergevin/Weber

8/15 - Bergevin, Alex

In a band room as hot as a greenhouse, appropriately :)

We started by playing Sweet Georgia Brown and talking about how to play jazz music authentically, it's important to respect the "founders" of jazz. Instead of jumping straight to fast and difficult bebop, master the basics of the blues so that you can learn how to improvise over something simple. We learned that drum solos sound great even if it's one simple snare lick repeated for the entire solo!

We memorized a few small sections of the Dig soli and were encouraged to memorize the rest. Relying on memory rather than music on paper will help the authenticity and soul of the music. Accent the first, highest, and last note of the phrase if you're a horn and 2+4 if you're rhythm/especially drums with brushes. We also decided on a tentative order of operations for one of our songs on the 30th: 1. Dig head 2. Solos in a circle (likely trading with drums) 3. Written soli 4. Sweet Georgia Brown head

Check out the background for This I Dig of You Ralph Moore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3vUT45T2uc 

We each soloed and traded 4's with drums to work on simplicity, cohesion, and connection between players. It's more fun to play when you move around a little and look at the people you're playing with! 

Finished off with Jodi Grind and St. Thomas for fun (unless we can pull one together for the gig!) Any music will improve your jazz musicianship, and jazz will improve your general musicianship for other genres. Time, rhythm, and articulation are relevant to all music!

Homework: memorize Dig Soli, learn dig head, make sure to keep up on your other stuff! Play along with recordings using headphones? AW