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).
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