So I haven't blogged in a while. This is due to the fact that while I'm at uni I let a lot of stuff get by me so when I finish I like to tidy my life up so to speak.
On the practice front, every day has been spent taking all the scales into 3rds, 4ths and 5ths.
On the transcription front I'm working on Coltrane's and Kenny Garrett's versions of Countdown and Giant Steps.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, more recital prep
So today started with 45 minutes of Long Tones and a big portion of that was spent on making the F# sound better and be more consistent.
On the scales I ran through them all at 160, 162 and 164bpm. Major modes, Melodic minor modes and harmonic minor modes. Blues and Pentatonic.
The following 6 hours of my day where spent between Transcribing Myron Walden's solos of Red River Revel, Soloing over all 5 of my Recital songs, Have You Met Miss Jones is coming along greatly! Confirmation has been having its moments so I'm going to spend a lot of time on it tomorrow. Dear Lord is going really good now thanks to transcribing Kenny Garrett's version off YouTube. Oh babe is fine on my part and should be sweet with the band. The last 8 bars of the form of Red River Revel is not going good, so need to work on that to.
On the scales I ran through them all at 160, 162 and 164bpm. Major modes, Melodic minor modes and harmonic minor modes. Blues and Pentatonic.
The following 6 hours of my day where spent between Transcribing Myron Walden's solos of Red River Revel, Soloing over all 5 of my Recital songs, Have You Met Miss Jones is coming along greatly! Confirmation has been having its moments so I'm going to spend a lot of time on it tomorrow. Dear Lord is going really good now thanks to transcribing Kenny Garrett's version off YouTube. Oh babe is fine on my part and should be sweet with the band. The last 8 bars of the form of Red River Revel is not going good, so need to work on that to.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Friday, 13 hour day
Friday started with 1 hour of overtones, working wonders with the strength of tone of the altissimo register.
I then had a full almost 2 hours of scales including the major modes in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths, and scale tone 7ths. not all amazing and at speed, but getting there. Then melodic minor and harmonic minor modes normally and in 3rds.
I then had a great rehearsal with the band.
Then a spectacular session transcribing some red river revel solos and some dear lord solos and doing the same work I always do on it. They have been going good, especially Dear Lord. I have learned a lot from the Red River Revel solo by Myron Walden there is so much rhythmic diversity and the choice of tones are so strong.
followed by almost 4 hours of teaching.
I then had a full almost 2 hours of scales including the major modes in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths, and scale tone 7ths. not all amazing and at speed, but getting there. Then melodic minor and harmonic minor modes normally and in 3rds.
I then had a great rehearsal with the band.
Then a spectacular session transcribing some red river revel solos and some dear lord solos and doing the same work I always do on it. They have been going good, especially Dear Lord. I have learned a lot from the Red River Revel solo by Myron Walden there is so much rhythmic diversity and the choice of tones are so strong.
followed by almost 4 hours of teaching.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday and Thursday
A lot of wasted time waiting for people to arrive at a rehearsal. Probably 3 hours gone for about 45 minutes productivity. Not good, however the 45 minutes worth of playing yielded good results. Ax and I worked for about 15 minutes on getting our phrasing tight on Confirmation.
I then spent about 1 and a half hours soloing through the changes of the 3 main tunes.
On Thursday I had a much more productive rehearsal. After starting my day with a solid long tone session, then major modes at 140-150bpm, in 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, and attempting 6th and 7ths, which are easier than first thought, I'm not solid on 6ths and 7ths, but I'll get there. Harmonic minor scales at 140-150 in 3rds as well, and diminished and blues scales at 140bpm.
Followed by 2 hours of soloing through the changes and 1 hour worth of transcribing Kenny Garrett's Dear Lord on YouTube. I got through the 1st chorus, before I had to go and teach.
I then spent about 1 and a half hours soloing through the changes of the 3 main tunes.
On Thursday I had a much more productive rehearsal. After starting my day with a solid long tone session, then major modes at 140-150bpm, in 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, and attempting 6th and 7ths, which are easier than first thought, I'm not solid on 6ths and 7ths, but I'll get there. Harmonic minor scales at 140-150 in 3rds as well, and diminished and blues scales at 140bpm.
Followed by 2 hours of soloing through the changes and 1 hour worth of transcribing Kenny Garrett's Dear Lord on YouTube. I got through the 1st chorus, before I had to go and teach.
Tuesday the 3rd
So on Tuesday I had my hour of long tones and on the F#, A, Bb, B and Up the tones are sounding really good and strong. G and Ab are becoming more consistent, but the tone doesn't sound like a sax, its that growning loosing your voice sound.
On the scale front I still covered my major modes between 132-138bpm. Thanks to smooth sailing in producing all the altissimo sounds I was able to play the major scales in the altissimo range at 70bpm. I played the scales in 3rds and I had the 4ths and 5ths happening! finally. I then followed the same routine with the melodic minor scales and played them in 3rds as well. So far no mistakes, everything was sounding smooth.
I then practiced written out solos over Confirmation, HAve You Met Miss Jones and Dear Lord, this was about 30 minutes worth.
Followed by Transcriptions of the above mentioned songs, trying to memorise the transcriptions.
Then Soloing unaccompanied with a metronome.
On the scale front I still covered my major modes between 132-138bpm. Thanks to smooth sailing in producing all the altissimo sounds I was able to play the major scales in the altissimo range at 70bpm. I played the scales in 3rds and I had the 4ths and 5ths happening! finally. I then followed the same routine with the melodic minor scales and played them in 3rds as well. So far no mistakes, everything was sounding smooth.
I then practiced written out solos over Confirmation, HAve You Met Miss Jones and Dear Lord, this was about 30 minutes worth.
Followed by Transcriptions of the above mentioned songs, trying to memorise the transcriptions.
Then Soloing unaccompanied with a metronome.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Scales and Tunes
Today I spent almost 2 hours on Scales and about 2 hours on Tunes. Hense the title.
But for starters there was almost a full hour of long tones, with about a 10 minute break for a chat with Ax, thanks man. The Altissimo is coming a long as normal, sounding good and healthy strong tone on all notes. The G and Ab still aren't the easiest to produce, but when I get them, they have a very strong tone.
I spent an hour playing the major modes (at 130, 132, 135 bpm and varying between these tempos). I played them in my natural range, and then in the altissimo range as it is much slower. Then in 3rds, and altenating 3rds and I attempted 4ths and 5ths again, but my god I struggle to do that, I always get mixed up. I'll get there though, it just needs persistence. I played the pentatonic scales in 3 note cells as triplets, 4 note cells as quavers and 5 note cells as quintuplets. I found them easy to play in the altissimo however.
I spent about an hour transcribing some parts out of Oh Babe by Adderley. Nat Adderley's lines are hard, they are so bent!!! its awesome.
I then spent 2 hours playing confirmation and learning that Cannonball Adderley played it on a TV appearance on NBC in the late 50's, I'm tracking it down now. I spent a bit of time working on the melody of confirmation around 20 mins, then about 15 minutes playing one note with the metronome set on 2 and 4 at 200. I spent about 25 minutes playing the changes with the metronome set on 200, 198, 196, 202, 205bpm's, hard going, but I feel my time is coming together. Then half an hour playing some of the changes with the piano and improvising over the chords and half an hour with an aebersold.
I have also composed an awesome song. 7/4 Bossa song, with a melody inspired by an Adderley lick.
But for starters there was almost a full hour of long tones, with about a 10 minute break for a chat with Ax, thanks man. The Altissimo is coming a long as normal, sounding good and healthy strong tone on all notes. The G and Ab still aren't the easiest to produce, but when I get them, they have a very strong tone.
I spent an hour playing the major modes (at 130, 132, 135 bpm and varying between these tempos). I played them in my natural range, and then in the altissimo range as it is much slower. Then in 3rds, and altenating 3rds and I attempted 4ths and 5ths again, but my god I struggle to do that, I always get mixed up. I'll get there though, it just needs persistence. I played the pentatonic scales in 3 note cells as triplets, 4 note cells as quavers and 5 note cells as quintuplets. I found them easy to play in the altissimo however.
I spent about an hour transcribing some parts out of Oh Babe by Adderley. Nat Adderley's lines are hard, they are so bent!!! its awesome.
I then spent 2 hours playing confirmation and learning that Cannonball Adderley played it on a TV appearance on NBC in the late 50's, I'm tracking it down now. I spent a bit of time working on the melody of confirmation around 20 mins, then about 15 minutes playing one note with the metronome set on 2 and 4 at 200. I spent about 25 minutes playing the changes with the metronome set on 200, 198, 196, 202, 205bpm's, hard going, but I feel my time is coming together. Then half an hour playing some of the changes with the piano and improvising over the chords and half an hour with an aebersold.
I have also composed an awesome song. 7/4 Bossa song, with a melody inspired by an Adderley lick.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Getting slack
Don't worry! Not in my practice regime, in posting on this blog. my intention was to have a much better practice diary because 1 I wouldn't loose it, and 2 because I would keep posting as its online.
So on Tuesday, I woke up and had actually started to feel a little bit six as I had an ear ache and soar throat, was petrified that I was going to end up with some kind of flu and not be able to do my 2 exams. So after an hour of long tones in the morning I decided it would be best to go home and rest. Which is what I did.
I woke up on Wednesday and felt fine! I did a crammed version of practice as I had an Improv exam and a harmony exam that day. So my practice went for 2 hours and consisted of 20 minutes of Long Tones. 20 minutes of scales that consisted of all Harmonic minor stuff, and Melodic Minor in Particular the Eb and Ab harmonic and Melodic minor modes. All performed in variations of around 120 and then again at 130. I then attempted 20 minutes of my transcription of Hi-Fly in 6 keys, I worked on the double time parts in all 6 keys, working them from slow to speed. The second hour of my practice consisted of about 20 minutes of playing through the changes of Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones with the metronome set at various speeds around 120. Doing that all from Memory. I then had 2 good friends join me for around 30-40 minutes in which I played my Dexter and Kenny transcriptions of the 2 songs with the other guys tapping time along with me. I did the same for them listening to their various solos over the same tunes. Then in the exam, we ran out of time so I had to do my test on Friday.
On Thursday I spent 30 minutes on Long Tones, 30 Minutes on the Pentatonic Scales in 4 note cells, and the Blues Scales, Bop Scales and Diminished (Dominant) scales. These where performed up to 140bpm. Then I performed my transcriptions in about 18 minutes or so and then spent the remaining 40 minutes on trying desperately to memorise my list of 20 tunes. The one thing that I've neglected over the semester. While I should have (and will in the future) focused on a song at a time, I was trying too hard to get through the list of 20 tunes that in the end I only had 5 memorised and couldn't play them well anyway. NB for next year!!!!!
On Friday I spent a half hour on Long Tones, In the scale department I spent a half hour on the major modes, harmonic and melodic minor modes, the pentatonic, Blues, Diminished and Bop scales at 200bpm. Some where not flash, but most where fine. I then spent about 40 minutes on my transcriptions. Then 80 minutes including 4 small breaks to have a quick drink and stretch. This 80 was on the tunes, yet again, I can see my problem was rushing through tunes trying to memorise every single one of them. While on the morning of an exam, I should have studied smarter and learned one at a time.
I the test I did ok up until the tune part in which as you could imagine I could only play 5 out of 20 which doesn't go well for a good mark! Then of the 3 I got to play, Confirmation, Miss Jones and There Will Never Be Another You, I stuffed all the melodies up and soloed like crap as well. So I'm very disappointed how I went, I know I could have done better. I don't know, I think it was a head space thing.
So on Tuesday, I woke up and had actually started to feel a little bit six as I had an ear ache and soar throat, was petrified that I was going to end up with some kind of flu and not be able to do my 2 exams. So after an hour of long tones in the morning I decided it would be best to go home and rest. Which is what I did.
I woke up on Wednesday and felt fine! I did a crammed version of practice as I had an Improv exam and a harmony exam that day. So my practice went for 2 hours and consisted of 20 minutes of Long Tones. 20 minutes of scales that consisted of all Harmonic minor stuff, and Melodic Minor in Particular the Eb and Ab harmonic and Melodic minor modes. All performed in variations of around 120 and then again at 130. I then attempted 20 minutes of my transcription of Hi-Fly in 6 keys, I worked on the double time parts in all 6 keys, working them from slow to speed. The second hour of my practice consisted of about 20 minutes of playing through the changes of Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones with the metronome set at various speeds around 120. Doing that all from Memory. I then had 2 good friends join me for around 30-40 minutes in which I played my Dexter and Kenny transcriptions of the 2 songs with the other guys tapping time along with me. I did the same for them listening to their various solos over the same tunes. Then in the exam, we ran out of time so I had to do my test on Friday.
On Thursday I spent 30 minutes on Long Tones, 30 Minutes on the Pentatonic Scales in 4 note cells, and the Blues Scales, Bop Scales and Diminished (Dominant) scales. These where performed up to 140bpm. Then I performed my transcriptions in about 18 minutes or so and then spent the remaining 40 minutes on trying desperately to memorise my list of 20 tunes. The one thing that I've neglected over the semester. While I should have (and will in the future) focused on a song at a time, I was trying too hard to get through the list of 20 tunes that in the end I only had 5 memorised and couldn't play them well anyway. NB for next year!!!!!
On Friday I spent a half hour on Long Tones, In the scale department I spent a half hour on the major modes, harmonic and melodic minor modes, the pentatonic, Blues, Diminished and Bop scales at 200bpm. Some where not flash, but most where fine. I then spent about 40 minutes on my transcriptions. Then 80 minutes including 4 small breaks to have a quick drink and stretch. This 80 was on the tunes, yet again, I can see my problem was rushing through tunes trying to memorise every single one of them. While on the morning of an exam, I should have studied smarter and learned one at a time.
I the test I did ok up until the tune part in which as you could imagine I could only play 5 out of 20 which doesn't go well for a good mark! Then of the 3 I got to play, Confirmation, Miss Jones and There Will Never Be Another You, I stuffed all the melodies up and soloed like crap as well. So I'm very disappointed how I went, I know I could have done better. I don't know, I think it was a head space thing.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday
On Monday I had a half hour of long tones getting the intonation of the altissimo down.
Then I had some people not show for a recital rehearsal and so I had an hour of scales. In the scales I am attempting to rectify any and all issues I have with my technical requirements that I need to get done by the end of the week. I've had a lot of troubles with scales in 4ths and 5ths, just keeping the correct interval on the descending line. In the 3rds I've had troubles only around the break of the register. The BCD region of the instrument. I've also got an issue with the Ab minors in 3rds, and the Eb minors, its a problem with the damn Gb. I've spent my whole life understanding the enharmonic spelling of notes, and always go from F# to Gb or whatever the note is very easily. But I've always seen Gb and said to myself F#, I've always seen A# and told myself to play a Bb. Which is causing some confusion when I go to play stuff that has these slight enharmonic differences. The problem being my theoretical knowledge of scales tells me immediately that an Eb harmonic minor scale is Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, D, Eb while my fingers tell me Eb, F, F#, Ab, Bb, B, D, Eb. So something to work on, getting my brain and fingers working better together.
I then had a 2 hour ensemble class when I did some playing of a great tune by Tom Fawcett and John Milton (watch those names!).
I then spent 2 hours playing through the play a longs of my 20 rep tunes. I found that some melodies I still haven't memorised, being most of them actually. I can play them fine, but not from memory. I noticed that the first couple of choruses I improvised over where a little bit sketchy, but in most cases by the end of the play a long I felt harmonically secure and having fun with the changes. Obviously this wasn't the case for some of the harder songs like Oleo, Confirmation and Miss jones.
I then looked at the troubling keys of my Hi-Fly transcription the keys of E, F# and G. Still lots of issues, for E its mostly the range, lots of Altissimo stuff.
I then spent a whole hour getting my Dexter Gordon Confirmation and Kenny's Miss Jones up to speed. Made some changes to both transcriptions. Feeling pretty steady about both songs and playing them with the CD. having a lot of fun playing Dexter's solo in the actual range getting a lot of his wicked phat vibrato tone.
I spent about 30 minutes running through some lines I'm trying to memorise in 12 keys. struggling with it all.
Then I had some people not show for a recital rehearsal and so I had an hour of scales. In the scales I am attempting to rectify any and all issues I have with my technical requirements that I need to get done by the end of the week. I've had a lot of troubles with scales in 4ths and 5ths, just keeping the correct interval on the descending line. In the 3rds I've had troubles only around the break of the register. The BCD region of the instrument. I've also got an issue with the Ab minors in 3rds, and the Eb minors, its a problem with the damn Gb. I've spent my whole life understanding the enharmonic spelling of notes, and always go from F# to Gb or whatever the note is very easily. But I've always seen Gb and said to myself F#, I've always seen A# and told myself to play a Bb. Which is causing some confusion when I go to play stuff that has these slight enharmonic differences. The problem being my theoretical knowledge of scales tells me immediately that an Eb harmonic minor scale is Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, D, Eb while my fingers tell me Eb, F, F#, Ab, Bb, B, D, Eb. So something to work on, getting my brain and fingers working better together.
I then had a 2 hour ensemble class when I did some playing of a great tune by Tom Fawcett and John Milton (watch those names!).
I then spent 2 hours playing through the play a longs of my 20 rep tunes. I found that some melodies I still haven't memorised, being most of them actually. I can play them fine, but not from memory. I noticed that the first couple of choruses I improvised over where a little bit sketchy, but in most cases by the end of the play a long I felt harmonically secure and having fun with the changes. Obviously this wasn't the case for some of the harder songs like Oleo, Confirmation and Miss jones.
I then looked at the troubling keys of my Hi-Fly transcription the keys of E, F# and G. Still lots of issues, for E its mostly the range, lots of Altissimo stuff.
I then spent a whole hour getting my Dexter Gordon Confirmation and Kenny's Miss Jones up to speed. Made some changes to both transcriptions. Feeling pretty steady about both songs and playing them with the CD. having a lot of fun playing Dexter's solo in the actual range getting a lot of his wicked phat vibrato tone.
I spent about 30 minutes running through some lines I'm trying to memorise in 12 keys. struggling with it all.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Long Day
Today started with a half hour of Long Tones and a half hour of Major, Harmonic and Melodic minor scales at 185bpm (and varying the bpm by very small percentile).
I then had a 2 hour rehearsal with a band that went pretty well.
I then had the first lesson in about a month with my teacher. It went ok and the determined factor that I need to look toward is to get fluidity in my improvised lines and to improve the phrasing as well. In order to achieve this he wrote out a solo over Have You Met Miss Jones and it was using a lot of chromatic movements and long flowing lines. As opposed to the intervalic and appegiatic solos I had been working on in the past weeks.
I then had a brief rehearsal with another horn player and we jammed on a single unison phrase that we are playing together in my end of year recital. It was very successful.
I have since spent some time on my transcriptions and have Dexter's Confirmation at 132bpm, Kenny Garrett's Miss Jones at 110bpm, and Cannonball's Hi-Fly at speed, in the key of Eb at 110bpm, in the key of F at 100bpm, in the key of G at 90bpm, and the keys of A and Bb they are still sitting around 80bpm. More needs to be done on those keys over the next week.
I'm now taking a break from music before going and teaching for 3 and a half hours.
I then had a 2 hour rehearsal with a band that went pretty well.
I then had the first lesson in about a month with my teacher. It went ok and the determined factor that I need to look toward is to get fluidity in my improvised lines and to improve the phrasing as well. In order to achieve this he wrote out a solo over Have You Met Miss Jones and it was using a lot of chromatic movements and long flowing lines. As opposed to the intervalic and appegiatic solos I had been working on in the past weeks.
I then had a brief rehearsal with another horn player and we jammed on a single unison phrase that we are playing together in my end of year recital. It was very successful.
I have since spent some time on my transcriptions and have Dexter's Confirmation at 132bpm, Kenny Garrett's Miss Jones at 110bpm, and Cannonball's Hi-Fly at speed, in the key of Eb at 110bpm, in the key of F at 100bpm, in the key of G at 90bpm, and the keys of A and Bb they are still sitting around 80bpm. More needs to be done on those keys over the next week.
I'm now taking a break from music before going and teaching for 3 and a half hours.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Back In to it
So on Friday I got my Selmer back from having what turned out to be almost an entire overhaul (Sax isn't exactly mine, its the universities, and had been played for a number of years with out a service) Thanks Dirk! It plays great. But I didn't start practice again until Monday, the finger is fine now, a little tender on the nail, but its cool, I can bear it now.
So on Monday I had an almost 2 hour rehearsal with my band for my recital. I felt a lot of ground was covered however it didn't go to well. Lots of work to be done.
This was followed by a 2 hour ensemble class, where a group plays random charts that people bring in. Which is good, and I felt my playing was really average, a bit hit and miss.
The afternoon was filled with finishing my Dexter Gordon Confirmation solo and Hank Mobley Confirmation solo and decided for my Improv exam on Wednesday I'll be learning Dexter's. Its much easier, and more practical to have it ready for Wednesday. I spent a little bit of time playing through the major, melodic minor and harmonic minor modes in 12 keys.
On Tuesday I did my long tones for an hour, I played my major, melodic, harmonic minor scales in 12 keys, and diminished and diminished dominant scales. I then had a really helpful and productive Jam session with a great young Alto player Joe Lloyd, We started with Dear Lord by Coltrane. Joe showed me some great techniques to use over that song that are often employed by Coltrane by more so by Brecker and even more so by Kenny Garrett. It was good, we then played through the Aebersold books All Bird and Sonny Rollins books. This was really good and helpful to be playing and talking through this stuff with an older player from the uni. The Jam went for around 2 hours, really good fun and I got a lot out of it.
That afternoon I went home and spent another 2 hours playing through Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones and Dear Lord, about 40 minutes on each tune divided into 10 minutes solo with the metronome on varying the tempos by tiny increments around a set tempo (120, 118, 122, 124, 120 etc). 10 minutes of playing transcriptions with the recording. 10 minutes of playing with the Aebersold and another 10 minutes of work shopping certain chords, or phrases or turnarounds that kind of thing, in particular Miss Jones Bridge, and the dam G#-7 chord, I don't know it just does my head in, its like the one chord that pops up in a tune and makes me flip out every time, I guess its because when I play scales I think Ab Melodic minor, Ab Harmonic, Ab Aeolian, Ab Dorian and so forth and then up pops G# in a chord progression and my mind just freaks but getting there. Confirmation is now sitting comfortable at 220bpm, and Miss Jones at 200bpm.
Wednesday involved a short stint of long tones and scales in the morning before a day of class, as did today.
So on Monday I had an almost 2 hour rehearsal with my band for my recital. I felt a lot of ground was covered however it didn't go to well. Lots of work to be done.
This was followed by a 2 hour ensemble class, where a group plays random charts that people bring in. Which is good, and I felt my playing was really average, a bit hit and miss.
The afternoon was filled with finishing my Dexter Gordon Confirmation solo and Hank Mobley Confirmation solo and decided for my Improv exam on Wednesday I'll be learning Dexter's. Its much easier, and more practical to have it ready for Wednesday. I spent a little bit of time playing through the major, melodic minor and harmonic minor modes in 12 keys.
On Tuesday I did my long tones for an hour, I played my major, melodic, harmonic minor scales in 12 keys, and diminished and diminished dominant scales. I then had a really helpful and productive Jam session with a great young Alto player Joe Lloyd, We started with Dear Lord by Coltrane. Joe showed me some great techniques to use over that song that are often employed by Coltrane by more so by Brecker and even more so by Kenny Garrett. It was good, we then played through the Aebersold books All Bird and Sonny Rollins books. This was really good and helpful to be playing and talking through this stuff with an older player from the uni. The Jam went for around 2 hours, really good fun and I got a lot out of it.
That afternoon I went home and spent another 2 hours playing through Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones and Dear Lord, about 40 minutes on each tune divided into 10 minutes solo with the metronome on varying the tempos by tiny increments around a set tempo (120, 118, 122, 124, 120 etc). 10 minutes of playing transcriptions with the recording. 10 minutes of playing with the Aebersold and another 10 minutes of work shopping certain chords, or phrases or turnarounds that kind of thing, in particular Miss Jones Bridge, and the dam G#-7 chord, I don't know it just does my head in, its like the one chord that pops up in a tune and makes me flip out every time, I guess its because when I play scales I think Ab Melodic minor, Ab Harmonic, Ab Aeolian, Ab Dorian and so forth and then up pops G# in a chord progression and my mind just freaks but getting there. Confirmation is now sitting comfortable at 220bpm, and Miss Jones at 200bpm.
Wednesday involved a short stint of long tones and scales in the morning before a day of class, as did today.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Delay
Hey guys, Unfortunately the last few days have not yielded good times for me. I jammed my right index finger in a door so I have been in quite a bit of pain and have not practiced clearly as it would be a little painful.
Will post again when I get back into it
Will post again when I get back into it
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Like a Snare Drum
Today I started with my long tone practice, I managed to get up to High B in the Altissimo today. My yamaha As-100 is wierd in that playing extremely high is very easy however from F# to A# is nearly impossible to get a reliable tone out of. I normally have a hard time hitting G and Ab but I can always hit them on my mark VI. Another weird factor is that I can almost get up to a high A, but its a lot of effort to get it, but it comes so easy on the yamaha!
On the scale front I played the major modes, major modes in 3rds, alternating 3rds, and have tried to learn the 4ths and 5ths, and scale tone 7ths. I did this alternating between 120, 118 and 122 bpm, and as Will Vinson suggested to me, I was really bad at that, I guess playing so much stuff at 120 meant that it was very natural to me. I soon learnt that I was rushing everything I played at 118 and dragging everything at 122. Something to think about! I went on to play the melodic minor scales in 3rds and alternating 3rds. That took me up to nearly 3 and a half hours with lots of small breaks in between. Hunger struck me and I needed a break and unfortunately I did not go back to scales.
I spent half an hour of playing through the Hi-Fly transcription in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, and E (Alto pitch). The key of A is awesome ok. Bb had a lot of problems and needs a lot more work. Key of C, D and E need work in the parts that go into the altissimo and the work just needs to gain more confidence in doing so. And also the 5 double time lines in the solo, actually the sequence line over the ii-7 V7 I is ok in each key as it is the diminished dominant scale so the keys use similar notes in it.
I spent 20 minutes memorising my Kenny Garrett have you met miss Jones transcription which is going well!
I spent about an hour on exersises on Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones, when I used the altering speed slightly technique which is hard and needs lots of work.
I spent the rest of the day transcribing Myron Walden's work on Brian Blade's "Red River Revel".
On the scale front I played the major modes, major modes in 3rds, alternating 3rds, and have tried to learn the 4ths and 5ths, and scale tone 7ths. I did this alternating between 120, 118 and 122 bpm, and as Will Vinson suggested to me, I was really bad at that, I guess playing so much stuff at 120 meant that it was very natural to me. I soon learnt that I was rushing everything I played at 118 and dragging everything at 122. Something to think about! I went on to play the melodic minor scales in 3rds and alternating 3rds. That took me up to nearly 3 and a half hours with lots of small breaks in between. Hunger struck me and I needed a break and unfortunately I did not go back to scales.
I spent half an hour of playing through the Hi-Fly transcription in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, and E (Alto pitch). The key of A is awesome ok. Bb had a lot of problems and needs a lot more work. Key of C, D and E need work in the parts that go into the altissimo and the work just needs to gain more confidence in doing so. And also the 5 double time lines in the solo, actually the sequence line over the ii-7 V7 I is ok in each key as it is the diminished dominant scale so the keys use similar notes in it.
I spent 20 minutes memorising my Kenny Garrett have you met miss Jones transcription which is going well!
I spent about an hour on exersises on Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones, when I used the altering speed slightly technique which is hard and needs lots of work.
I spent the rest of the day transcribing Myron Walden's work on Brian Blade's "Red River Revel".
Monday, October 5, 2009
New Lesson
In Canberra We've just had a long weekend, of which it was my mother's birthday a few days before. So I have been pretty slack.
This morning I warmed up with a few minutes worth of Low Bb and then at 120bpm every scale!!! thats right every single one of them! Then I had a lesson via skype with Will Vinson, a great New York (London born) Sax player. After the lesson his greatest revelation about my playing is that my time needs to be greatly improved. So he advised me to start thinking and practicing like a Bass player. To start listening to bass players and such. Another exercise was to think of playing the song like a drummers snare pattern. So one note, select a time on the metronome and play. Another was to only have slightly changing tempos during your practice. For example 2 hours of 120, 2 hours of 122, 2 hours of 118 and so on...
I'll be working on this idea for quite a while.
This morning I warmed up with a few minutes worth of Low Bb and then at 120bpm every scale!!! thats right every single one of them! Then I had a lesson via skype with Will Vinson, a great New York (London born) Sax player. After the lesson his greatest revelation about my playing is that my time needs to be greatly improved. So he advised me to start thinking and practicing like a Bass player. To start listening to bass players and such. Another exercise was to think of playing the song like a drummers snare pattern. So one note, select a time on the metronome and play. Another was to only have slightly changing tempos during your practice. For example 2 hours of 120, 2 hours of 122, 2 hours of 118 and so on...
I'll be working on this idea for quite a while.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Half A Day
Today I started with the usual long tone practice and with my altissimo register I had made quite some improvements. First I did my usual trying to blow the saxophone apart with my air stream, then I tried to play softly while still producing a good tone and good projection.
On the Scale front I first realised that yesterday I forgot to do the Whole Tone scales, so I did those first today. Then the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor modes over the range of the horn at 200 bpm. I found the Eb Harmonic minor modes the hardest and had a little trouble with the fingering between B and D, I don't know I kept wanting to put some form of C in the middle there. Then followed by the diminished scales.
I spent an hour on my Hi-Fly Transcription in the keys of A, C, D, and E, I was just working on ironing out any faults and building confidence on all of the lines, and in the keys of D and E I spent a lot of time getting the altissimo lines happening.
I spent 20 minutes on my Kenny Garrett Have You Met Miss Jones Transcription. mostly on the double time section.
I then spent an hour working on my lines and solos for Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones.
Then... I've had a stiff back and neck all day and it started getting the better of me so I stopped.
On the Scale front I first realised that yesterday I forgot to do the Whole Tone scales, so I did those first today. Then the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor modes over the range of the horn at 200 bpm. I found the Eb Harmonic minor modes the hardest and had a little trouble with the fingering between B and D, I don't know I kept wanting to put some form of C in the middle there. Then followed by the diminished scales.
I spent an hour on my Hi-Fly Transcription in the keys of A, C, D, and E, I was just working on ironing out any faults and building confidence on all of the lines, and in the keys of D and E I spent a lot of time getting the altissimo lines happening.
I spent 20 minutes on my Kenny Garrett Have You Met Miss Jones Transcription. mostly on the double time section.
I then spent an hour working on my lines and solos for Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones.
Then... I've had a stiff back and neck all day and it started getting the better of me so I stopped.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Average Day
Today started with the usual Long Tones that where fine, however I attempted to learn some slap tonguing and it is a thousand times harder than it seems, and it seems hard!
On the scale front I went very well, yet again accuracy is the goal! I performed the diminished and diminished dominant scales at around 100bm over 2 octaves, in 3rds, opposing 3rds, scale tone 7ths. Then I tried the major and minor pentatonic's in 12 keys in 4 note cells as quavers, 3 note cells as triplets and 5 note cells in 5/8 time. This proved my teachers theory of short bursts being more beneficial. After about 2 scales (keys) my brain was fried and I couldn't get into the new key. So I'd take a break and then sit down and nail the new key! I then finished with the Blues scales and the Augmented scale (C,D#,E,G,Ab,B).
I then spent a round 2 hours practicing the solos and lines that I have written out for Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones
I then spent half an hour on the double time section of the Kenny Garrett Have You Met Miss Jones transcription.
Before settling in to play the two songs for a couple of hours.
All evening I have been working on transcribing Brian Blade's Red River Revel and Joshua Redman's Jazz Crimes
On the scale front I went very well, yet again accuracy is the goal! I performed the diminished and diminished dominant scales at around 100bm over 2 octaves, in 3rds, opposing 3rds, scale tone 7ths. Then I tried the major and minor pentatonic's in 12 keys in 4 note cells as quavers, 3 note cells as triplets and 5 note cells in 5/8 time. This proved my teachers theory of short bursts being more beneficial. After about 2 scales (keys) my brain was fried and I couldn't get into the new key. So I'd take a break and then sit down and nail the new key! I then finished with the Blues scales and the Augmented scale (C,D#,E,G,Ab,B).
I then spent a round 2 hours practicing the solos and lines that I have written out for Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones
I then spent half an hour on the double time section of the Kenny Garrett Have You Met Miss Jones transcription.
Before settling in to play the two songs for a couple of hours.
All evening I have been working on transcribing Brian Blade's Red River Revel and Joshua Redman's Jazz Crimes
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Huge Practice day
Today I started off with the usual 1 hour of long tones. I have been playing a Selmer Mark VI which unfortunately needs a good service which it is getting on Monday. So until then I'm going to be using my old faithful Yamaha AS-100. Which is interesting because on the Selmer I was having a little trouble with the 1st Altissimo G, but could comfortably reach high D, and had been working on going further and I had been hitting G and G# on occasion. However with the Yamaha I struggle to hit G, G#, A, A#, but I can then play from B up a whole octave, leaving less than an octave on most piano's. The finger all needed to be changed and its quite funny how changing the saxophone has flipped my altissimo range upside down.
I have been asked by my teacher to try practicing incorporating more breaks. I was practicing for an hour to 3 hours straight without a break. However its been brought to my attention that my brain is probably fried after half an hour let alone 3 hours. So I have been taking a 5-10 minute break every half hour, which I think has helped. Probably a little too early to tell though.
My second and third hour of practice (including 3 5 minute breaks) I played scales again. I have again neglected pentatonics, blues, diminished, whole tone, Augmented and so on, so tomorrow I am going to work on all of these scales. Today I practiced the Major Modes, Harmonic Minor Modes and Melodic Minor Modes; over the entire range (excluding altissimo as I can't hit from F#-A#), then in 3rds, then alternating the 3rds, then in scale tone 7ths, then Joseph Viola's Pentads and Hexads exersises, all of this was practiced at 100bpm, and was very accurate, I was actually proud of the effort (Does not mean that I'm awesome at these exercises, I just happened to not make many mistakes today).
I then spent an hour on some licks and Bebop ii-7 V7, Imaj7 licks in 12 keys, paying close attention to the keys that are utilised in the bridge of Have You Met Miss Jones. I tried to memorise and bring the speed of these licks up.
I then spent 2 hours playing some solos that I had written out on both Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones. I then spent about 40 minutes improvising with the Aebersold play alongs. I recorded this part again, but have not yet listened to it. I felt harmonically secure again, how ever on Confirmation I felt that I was getting really repetitive, on Confirmation I felt I was flowing a lot more through the bridge. I had in mind to use a lot more leaps and rhythmical variations.
I finished todays practice by transcribing some songs for my recital that is on the 13th of November, and will be spending the rest of the evening typing parts up for my band in Sibelius.
Thanks for reading, Happy Practice
I have been asked by my teacher to try practicing incorporating more breaks. I was practicing for an hour to 3 hours straight without a break. However its been brought to my attention that my brain is probably fried after half an hour let alone 3 hours. So I have been taking a 5-10 minute break every half hour, which I think has helped. Probably a little too early to tell though.
My second and third hour of practice (including 3 5 minute breaks) I played scales again. I have again neglected pentatonics, blues, diminished, whole tone, Augmented and so on, so tomorrow I am going to work on all of these scales. Today I practiced the Major Modes, Harmonic Minor Modes and Melodic Minor Modes; over the entire range (excluding altissimo as I can't hit from F#-A#), then in 3rds, then alternating the 3rds, then in scale tone 7ths, then Joseph Viola's Pentads and Hexads exersises, all of this was practiced at 100bpm, and was very accurate, I was actually proud of the effort (Does not mean that I'm awesome at these exercises, I just happened to not make many mistakes today).
I then spent an hour on some licks and Bebop ii-7 V7, Imaj7 licks in 12 keys, paying close attention to the keys that are utilised in the bridge of Have You Met Miss Jones. I tried to memorise and bring the speed of these licks up.
I then spent 2 hours playing some solos that I had written out on both Confirmation and Have You Met Miss Jones. I then spent about 40 minutes improvising with the Aebersold play alongs. I recorded this part again, but have not yet listened to it. I felt harmonically secure again, how ever on Confirmation I felt that I was getting really repetitive, on Confirmation I felt I was flowing a lot more through the bridge. I had in mind to use a lot more leaps and rhythmical variations.
I finished todays practice by transcribing some songs for my recital that is on the 13th of November, and will be spending the rest of the evening typing parts up for my band in Sibelius.
Thanks for reading, Happy Practice
1st Blog
Yesterday I started by warming up for an hour with a long tone exercise given to me by my teacher John Mackey. The exercise involves playing a pedal note either a low Bb or the highest note, then jumping to the highest or lowest note depending on what your pedal point was, then working down chromatically to your pedal point. The point of the exercise is to learn how to play big intervals correctly, cover the entire range of your horn, to get your ears to start hearing bigger intervals, as well as the normal things that come with long tone practice, that is to improve intonation, tone and embouchure etc. While I practice long tones I constantly consider what Sigurd Rascher discusses in the start of his book "Top Tones For the Saxophone" That is that you will keep a nice even tone, control ever aspect of the air flow, uniformity of tone over the entire range (especially between registers and the break between the two octave keys). The third thing I incorporate into this part of my practice regime is to play with a tuner and a piano. The tuner stays on to tell me if the piano is in pitch, while I play chords on the piano that include the note I'm playing I then use my ears to hear whether the note I'm playing is in tune with the piano chord. I find at least that while tuners give you a good sense of what is happening, a lot of younger musicians keep their eyes on the tuner and have no concept of what a note that is going in and out of tune sounds like. When they play with a band there is no magical line and green light telling them that they are in tune. Thats why I think comparing your intonation to a piano is more important, its better training for the job.
My second practice session involved the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor modes. I have noticed recently that when I use notes that are played by my pinky's and the left hand palm keys that the notes are kind of sloppy! So Yesterday I practiced by playing all of the above scales over the entire range of the saxophone as per the Joseph Viola "Techniques of the Saxophone: Scale Studies" at 80 bpm. After an hour and a half of doing so I had brought my speed up to 132 bpm, and again I say absolutely accurately. If I made a mistake on any scale at any speed, I had to do it again 5 times.
I spent about 40 minutes working on a transcription of Cannonball Adderley from the album "Quintet in San Fransisco" called "Hi-Fly" by Bobby Timmons if I remember correctly. I have previously learned the transcription, but this semester I am learning it in 6 keys and then the other 6 over summer. So yesterday I spent 40 minutes working over some of the double time lines in the keys of C, D and F, however F goes mighty high! This is still very much a work in progress. The original key and the key of C are fine to play with the recording (obviously I don't play the key of C with the recording but I can play it quick enough).
My final section of practice for yesterday was about 2 hours worth of Have You Met Miss Jones stuff. I first worked on some ii-7 V7, Imaj7 licks and then on my transcription of Kenny Garrett's solo over the tune off the album "Introducing Kenny Garrett" in the original key and the key of Bb. I then spent an hour playing with the Aebersold play'A'long of Have You Met Miss Jones. I recorded the whole Aebersold session and after listening back to it last night I can say that my harmonic security over the song particularly the bridge has come a long way since I first started playing the song. However as my teacher discussed in my last lesson some times the chords don't connect when I play, meaning the notes I play over the chord may be strong harmonically, or are interesting tensions, but are not really well connected to the bars surrounding them. But there was still some good stuff in there, and I did notice some Garrett esk melody quoting in some parts of the 10 or so plays through the play a long.
So Today I intend to keep going, but I would like to incorporate more enclosures and approach techniques, chromatics and the like into my playing!
Cheers, Have a good one
My second practice session involved the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor modes. I have noticed recently that when I use notes that are played by my pinky's and the left hand palm keys that the notes are kind of sloppy! So Yesterday I practiced by playing all of the above scales over the entire range of the saxophone as per the Joseph Viola "Techniques of the Saxophone: Scale Studies" at 80 bpm. After an hour and a half of doing so I had brought my speed up to 132 bpm, and again I say absolutely accurately. If I made a mistake on any scale at any speed, I had to do it again 5 times.
I spent about 40 minutes working on a transcription of Cannonball Adderley from the album "Quintet in San Fransisco" called "Hi-Fly" by Bobby Timmons if I remember correctly. I have previously learned the transcription, but this semester I am learning it in 6 keys and then the other 6 over summer. So yesterday I spent 40 minutes working over some of the double time lines in the keys of C, D and F, however F goes mighty high! This is still very much a work in progress. The original key and the key of C are fine to play with the recording (obviously I don't play the key of C with the recording but I can play it quick enough).
My final section of practice for yesterday was about 2 hours worth of Have You Met Miss Jones stuff. I first worked on some ii-7 V7, Imaj7 licks and then on my transcription of Kenny Garrett's solo over the tune off the album "Introducing Kenny Garrett" in the original key and the key of Bb. I then spent an hour playing with the Aebersold play'A'long of Have You Met Miss Jones. I recorded the whole Aebersold session and after listening back to it last night I can say that my harmonic security over the song particularly the bridge has come a long way since I first started playing the song. However as my teacher discussed in my last lesson some times the chords don't connect when I play, meaning the notes I play over the chord may be strong harmonically, or are interesting tensions, but are not really well connected to the bars surrounding them. But there was still some good stuff in there, and I did notice some Garrett esk melody quoting in some parts of the 10 or so plays through the play a long.
So Today I intend to keep going, but I would like to incorporate more enclosures and approach techniques, chromatics and the like into my playing!
Cheers, Have a good one
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