Practice Journal: 25 November 2014

Monday:
It was a late practice session today and the mind and body were quite tired but it turned out to be a good session.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in cycle ascending and descending in whole tones from the starting point (E, F#, D, G#, C, A# and Eb, F, Db, G, B, A). It's nice breaking up the order in which you practice things.
Overtones - lots of tone matching and some overtone scales.
Balkan song - just a couple of spots that keep slipping my mind.
Improvising - emphasis on tonal/pitch variation and dynamics. The music itself seemed to move between quite tonal and more abstract.

Wednesday:
When I came to type up my notes I discovered I hadn't written any for today. From memory I worked on the following.
Overtones.
Modus Vetus and Modus Novas - 1 phrase in a cycle that follows the same shape as the Monday session (but from a different starting note).
"Broadway Blues" - alone and with the recording.

Thursday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in a cycle that follows the same shape as the Monday session (but from a different starting note).
Balkan Tune - about 2 or 3 minutes into working on this a spring broke (right hand D). In about 20 years of playing sax that's only the second spring to break on me (the other was when I was at music school I think).
Overtones - something you can practice without worrying about springs not working!
Was going to finish up after that but then realised that the rubber band the keeps my reed case shut was staring me in the face. I hooked it up and continued.
Started working on Ornette Coleman's "Feet Music" from both versions on In All Languages (which I picked up at Reckless Records along with New York Is Now!). The album splits his original quartet with Prime Time (playing some of the same tunes).

Even though the spring broke I still felt that the session was pretty good.

Sunday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys this time in an expanding semi-tone cycle (F, F#, E, G, Eb, G#, D, A, Db, A#, C, B)
Overtones - warmed up with Letting It Fall before moving on to the Rascher book (the last line of page 15 and the first two lines of page 16).
Modus Novas - 1 phrase in 6 keys - this one took me a while to get in to so I will finish it off during my next practice.
"Feet Music" - although I hadn't played for a couple of days I did my best to keep the sound of this melody in my mind. It's coming together - I played it solo and along with the recording(s).
Rhythm - I started off the session today working on playing a bell rhythm in my left hand with a shifting pulse beneath (6, 4, 3 and 2). In between each of the above I continued working on it (just for a couple of minutes).

Practice Journal: 10 November, 2014

Monday:
I forgot to write down notes from today but it was something along the lines of the following:
Overtones from the second half of page 14 in the Rascher book.
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in whole steps... I think).

Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase (worked my way around the keys I didn't get to before when playing this phrase).

Balkan Song

Rhythm - working on bell rhythms from Pure Rhythm.

Tuesday:
Following work, doctors and a run I decided to make today a rest day, although I did get in some rhythm work later in the evening.

Wednesday:
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in major 3rds)
Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in whole steps)
Balkan Song - worked on memorisation (I'm getting there slowly).
Finished things of with some improvising. It wasn't my longest practice session of late (about an hour) but I felt like I was focused and when my mind drifted I snapped back into place quickly.

Thursday:
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in minor 3rds)

Letting It Fall into Overtones and the 2nd half of page 14 and start of page 15 from Top Tones. E3 of C fundamental is giving me some problems. 

Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (ascending in whole steps). This one was a phrase in 4ths that came together pretty quickly.

Rhythm - tapped out some bell patterns later in the evening.

Friday:
Balkan Tune - focused on the articulation today which is helping to bring together the rhythmic aspect. Some of the melodic shapes have them fall into place and others are less obvious

Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in minor 2nds)

Letting It Fall into overtones - focus on the 5th and 6th (i.e. D and F from Bb fundamental). From Bb and B it was not too bad but I'm finding it hard to get E and G to speak cleanly from the C fundamental.

Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in Major 3rds).

Saturday:
About an hours practice today. My schedule changed at the last minute but I felt that I had quite a focussed session.
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (in minor 2nds)
Overtones - Letting It Fall and start of page 15 from Top Tones. Mixed success up high.
Balkan Tune - memorisation is coming together and the piece is feeling more solid overall.

Improvising - finished things off with some improvising. Again, trying to not overplay and let things go were they want.

Sunday:
I did a few different things for this afternoon's session.
Started things off with some of the Joe Viola scale studies as a warm up.
When I was backing up my computer I came across an untitled folder containing 100 chords and decided to work with it today. Sometimes I would sing a note along with the recording and then try and play it and other times I would just play. I mixed things up - playing just a few notes or more of a line and other times working out parts of the chord. I worked through about 30 of the chords - playing each 2 or 3 times at the most. Here's one of the tracks (my first crack at uploading audio here):


I have no idea where these chord recordings came from. Drop me a line if you know the source.

Worked some more on the bell rhythms in Pure Rhythm. So far it has been a lot of fun working with this. I am a long way from being a percussionist but it is fun playing (or trying to play!) these rhythms on bongos.
Finished things off my some free improvising.