Notebook 3: Yusef Bergonzi

A couple of weeks ago I was flicking through my old practice notebook. I came across a couple of pages of notes on rhythm exercises from a time when Yusef Lateef's Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns found a regular slot in my practice time. Although there is quite a bit of rhythmic variety throughout the book, I took some of the lines and started applying them to rhythms from Jerry Bergonzi's Inside Improvisation Volume 4: Melodic Rhythms.

I have notated some examples below, although when I worked on this I did not write out anything - I just internalised the rhythms and applied them to the original lines. I worked on this with and without using a metronome. You may want to use a play-a-long recording.

It's a simple idea really - take a rhythm and apply it to melodic material. It can be a nice way to break up practicing everything in streams of 8th notes or triplets. The same melodic material can sound very different when it is changed rhythmically. Although the examples of the melodic & rhythmic material below come from books, feel free to create your own.

Here are a few examples:
Excerpt from Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns (page 3) - "Major Triads in Cycle of Down a Major Third and Up a Perfect Fourth"

Two of the "22 Rhythms" from Inside Improvisation Volume 4: Melodic Rhythms (page 16).

Combing the first line of melodic material with the first rhythm:

Combing the second line of melodic material with the second rhythm:

Once you feel comfortable playing the lines with two or three different rhythms, start alternating between the different rhythms.

The next example uses a hemiola rhythm from Jerry Bergonzi's Melodic Rhythms (page 67)

The hemiola applied to the Yusef Lateef excerpt.

A little later on, I did the same with Volume 5 in the Bergonzi series: Thesaurus of Intervallic Melodies.

I also combined melodic material with the rhythms of melodies. Here the line(s) above are combined with the melodic rhythm of Charlie Parker's "Billie's Bounce." I'm using the rhythm as it appears in the Charlie Parker Tune Book by Fred Parcells (which you can download for free on his website). "Relaxin' At Camarillo" would be a nice one too - use any melody which appeals to you rhythmically.

Here, the Bergonzi intervallic lines are applied to melodic rhythm of "Billie's Bounce." Before jumping in make sure you have a solid grasp of the melodic rhythm - you may even start by playing it on one note (from memory, Steve Lacy mentions this in Findings).

Start off slow and build into it. Once you feel comfortable applying predetermined notes to the rhythms, start improvising your note choices with the fixed rhythm(s). As you can image, the rhythmic variations on a line are endless.

I used the free music notation software Muse Score to create the examples above.
Previous posts from my notebook can be found here: Old Music - New Music & One Free Note.

Practice Journal: December 8 2014

Monday:
(forgot to take notes today bit I remember working on the following stuff).
Ear Training - Training The Ear Vol. 1 by Armen Donelian arrived in the mail so I started some work from that. I have never really worked from an ear training book before (not including the Lars Edlund "Modus" books). I was trying to remember our ear training classes at school but only have vague memories (naming intervals, chords and chord progressions) and we had handouts from the tutors rather than a text book.
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (ascending chromatically)
Overtones
Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (descending chromatically)

Tuesday:
Ear Training
I had limited time today but felt the session was quite focused
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys using Lacy's "Magic Order."
Overtones
Started working on the melody of "Beauty Is A Rare Thing"

Wednesday:
Ear Training
Rhythm - Ewe bell pattern variations. I worked on these before playing the horn and then in between each of the following parts of the practice session. I didn't focus on one, just played few a half a dozen or so.
Long Tones - E at varying dynamic levels
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys (Lacy's "Magic Order")
Overtones - Working on a few lines from the Rascher book (page 16).
"Beauty Is A Rare Thing" - played melody solo and along with recording

After only getting 3.5 hours sleep last night things went better than I expected

Thursday:
Ear Training
Rhythm - Ewe bell pattern variations. I worked on these before playing the horn and then in between each of the following parts of the practice session. Focused on one rhythm each time.
Long tones on A - varying dynamics.
Overtones - having trouble with E & G off low C. Still working at it and the overtones off low B and particularly low Bb are getting being.
Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys around cycle of 4ths.
"Beauty Is A Rare Thing" - played melody solo and along with recording.Then started working on the harmony line played on the out head.

Friday:
Ear Training
Overtones - focus was on tone matching today.
Long tones - Changed things up a bit today. Held out long tone and then started alternating between notes a half step apart.
Rhythm - alternating between Ewe and Bemba Patterns
Modus Novas - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (Major 3rds)
"Beauty Is A Rare Thing" - melody and harmony line solo and with the recording

Then it was time to tune in to my friend Paul hosting a Jazz-Meets-Christmas show on Coast Access Radio (104.7FM)

Sunday:
Today's session wasn't very productive, I had a hard time with focus.
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (cycle of 4ths)
Revised some Ornette Coleman tunes - "Beauty Is A Rare Thing," "Broadway Blues" and "Feet Music."

Overtones - tone matching. I'm having trouble with some of the higher overtones from the C fundamental but I feel there has been some improvement.
Noodled around for 20 minutes or so. It was an unfocussed session.

Monday:
I took a break from the horn today but still got some work done.
Rhythm - Playing Bemba rhythm with different pulse beneath (4 and 3). Working on each separately and then alternating between them
Ear Trainning - more singing from the Donelian book

Tuesday:
Overtones and Tone Matching
Modus Vetus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys
Rhythm - worked a little on accenting lines in 3/8. Started by just playing one note and accenting 3/8 then moving to playing repeated triads with the accent. Eventually moved on to improvising (slowly) 8th note lines with the 3/8 accent.
Finished things off playing "Out of Nowhere." This was the first time I had played something from the "Great American Songbook" for quite some time. Things felt quite open which is always nice.

This week I'm without my horn so the practice journal will have to wait until after Christmas.

Practice Journal: 1 December 2014

Monday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys using an expanding minor 2nd cycle (C, C#, B, D, Bb etc).
Overtones
Modus Novus - finished off remaining 6 from yesterday much easier and did the first 6 again.
"Feet Music" - working on the melody solo and with the recordings.
Worked on rhythm in between each of the above. Playing a bell pattern with a shifting pulse beneath and then a bemba rhythm.

Tuesday:
Rhythm - playing 6/8 and counting 6, 4 and 3.
Letting It Fall.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys using the same pattern from Monday but with 5ths instead of 2nds (G, D, C, A, F etc). I'll probably write something on these cycles in the near future.
Overtones - tone matching into the Rascher book (the last 2 exercises on page 15). I was struggling with this today. After hanging in there for a while I changed my reed and it made all the difference. Even though I'm struggling with E off C (unstable and inconsistent) I'm still going ahead with regular overtone work and I feel they are getting better overall.
My concentration blew out but I managed to salvage things a little running through the melodies of "Broadway Blues" and "Feet Music"
Worked a little on a Bemba rhythm.
Modus Novus - this one was a little tricky about half way through it started coming together. I may return to this later in the week.

Wednesday:
Rhythm - playing 6/8 and counting 6, 4 and 3. Bemba Rhythm (I worked in this earlier in the day and while I was in line at the post office)
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys (Major 3rd Cycle)
Overtones - Letting It Fall, Rascher book - last two on 15 and first 3 on 16.
Modus Novus - this one was a little tricky as well but I hung in there with it. Some days these fall into place and other times they don't!

Thursday:
Rhythm - playing 6/8 and counting 6, 4 and 3. Started looking at some of the other bell rhythms. I spread this throughout the practice session.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys (descending chromatically)
Overtones - Letting It Fall, Rascher book - last two on page 15 and about half of page 16. A few mouthpiece scales to round things up.
Modus Novus - the last couple of phrases I've worked on gave me a work out but today things fell into place and it seemed much easier.
Ear training - singing and playing a couple of tracks from Elvo S. D'Amante's Ear Training Series (Vol. 1 and 2). Intervals and scale fragments.
"Feet Music" - playing the melody along with the recordings and solo. Felt like I had a better blend today.
Finished off with about five minutes of improvising.

Friday:

It was a slow start to the day and I'm surprised how focussed I was when I started playing.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys
Overtones, Letting It Fall and Mouthpiece Scales.
Modus Novus - another tricky phrase and I also stopped after 6 keys (just as it was falling into place) but then pressed on and finished it off.
It was a solid 75 mins blowing and then I hit the wall.
Today's practice was bookended by rhythm studies - working through the chart of bell pattern variations in Pure Rhythm.

Sunday:
Kicked things off 3 or 4 minutes of free Improvising to warm up the horn.
Long times with various dynamics before moving into improvising with focus on dynamics (this seemed to have quite an impact on the make-up of the lines I played).
Overtones - having a crack at the higher end of things with mixed success. From low Bb things are going pretty well, less consistent from low B and pretty average from low C.
Joe Viola's Technique of The Saxophone Vol. 2: Chord Studies - slowly played the first 10 or 12 exercises from Section II: Studies on Chord Sequences. I noticed that Eb minor didn't want to slip under the fingers today.
Played the melodies of "Feet Music" and "Broadway Blues." Looping each one separately and then alternating each melody.
A couple of minutes improvising to finish things off.

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: 17 November 2014

Monday:
Modus Vetus - I'm sticking with working with these books by Lars Edlund. I have found that this one in particular is a nice place to start a session and get the horn warmed up.
Overtones - I don't seem to get tired with working on overtones.
Modus Novas - 1 phrase in all keys.
Started learning Ornette Coleman's "Broadway Blues" - I purchased New York Is Now! last week from Reckless Records and this melody had been in my ear.

Wednesday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase around the cycle of 4ths.
Overtones - Letting It Fall (descending octaves without the octave key) and then working my way up to play around on the 4/5th overtones. Played a few bugle calls too.
Modus Novas - ascending whole tones
Balkan Tune - been a couple of days and I remembered most of it (still need to work on articulation a bit)
"Broadway Blues" - working on it slow and then playing it with recordings (both takes from the album).

Thursday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys
Playing against a drone (E) - long tones (E and B) Similar to Steve Lacy's "Bugle Boy" exercise but slower.
Overtones - I was struggling with them, a new reed seemed to be the culprit! I returned to them briefly later in the session and things were a little better.
Modus Novas - 1 phrase in all keys (cycle of 4ths).
Balkan Tune.
"Broadway Blues" - working on the melody slowly and then along with the recording.

Friday:
My mind was quite distracted today and I only had a 30-40 minute window to play during.
I blew a few long tones to get some air into the horn and then decided to do something a bit different - playing through some of Joe Viola's Technique of Saxophone: Vol 1 Scale Studies. I worked through a few of the "Pentads - Polytonal Variations" (see example below). I kept things nice a slow, occasionally raising the tempo a bit.

Saturday:
Felt like a pretty good practice session today. Just the usual stuff...
Modus Vetus
Overtones and tone matching.
"Broadway Blues"
Modus Novas
Balkan Tune - I feel like it is time to move on. I want to find some tunes similar to this one.
Finished things off with a bit of improvising.

Sunday:
Alternated sax and rhythm work today. Playing a bell pattern with various pulses underneath (6,4,3 and 2) from Pure Rhythm.
Modus Vetus - started the next chapter - Root to Minor 3rd.
Overtones - Letting It Fall and Top Tones (parts of page 14). A bit more luck with E off C fundamental. Still a bit unstable but I felt there was progress.
Modus Novas - 1 phrase in all keys around cycle of 4ths. Had a little bit of trouble focusing on this one, once I did it fell into place quite well.
Balkan Tune - there are just a couple of little bits that I forget.
Finished things off playing "Broadway Blues" and some improvising.

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.

Practice Journal: October 13, 2014

Here's what was up last week. For previous entries see here and here.

Monday:
And now for something completely ... slightly different..... An hour (or so) of tunes. It was getting late in the evening by the time I had a chance to play and I felt like playing some of my favourite tunes - "My Melancholy Baby," "All The Things You Are," "These foolish Things," "Out of Nowhere," "I'll Remember April" and "What Is This Thing Called Love."
There was straight melody, improvising on the form, free improvising, improvising on the song phrases (length of phrase) One thing I didn't do (but occurred to me as I was drifting off to sleep) was improvising on the melodic rhythm of the tunes. This is something I want to explore further.
===

Tuesday:
Warmed up listening and playing with "Wild is the Wind"from the Connie Crothers/Bob Casanova album Just For The Joy Of It. I'm not sure what made me head to this tune today, it was in my head so I went with it. Today I listened to the tune a couple of times (just the melody chorus) and then played along adding in notes here and there - not really really working it out, just feeling things out.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys. Singing and playing.
I followed this up with a bit more of "Wild Is The Wild" - getting bit of a feel for the melody on my horn.
Tried to do some work with Modus Novus but after about 5 mins it just wasn't happening so I scrapped it and so improvised a little before moving onto Bach Invention #2. I was a little tied sounding at first but things picked up as I dug into it.

I finished things of with a little bit of improvising - held tones and economic note usage. And wound up the night with what I could play of "Wild." 

===

Wednesday:
Quiet long tones - various notes held out at lower dynamic ranges.
Modas Novus - 1 phrase interrupted with the arrival of the plumber.
Overtones - page 13 from the Rascher book (not too bad considering I picked up the horn cold).
Bach Invention #2
Pure Rhythm - page 5, variation 4 on the bongos.  Then alternated between playing some rhythm and then playing Bach Invention 2. This was interesting and I think I will do more of this.
I ended with bit of a noodle and came up with an idea to improvise a group of notes (say 5 notes) and repeat it, then change 1 note (and repeat the new configuration), then change another note (and repeat the new configuration) etc etc. Maybe something to delve into later on down the line.
===

Thursday:
Quiet long tones - a few to ease the reed in and get some air in the horn.
Melodic Rhythm - took the melodic rhythm of "My Melancholy Baby" and improvised the notes. I want to explore this further.
Modas Novus - sing and play 1 phrase in all keys (chromatically). This is the one I could get into the other night but this morning it wasn't too bad.
Overtones - page 14 of the Rascher book. Today I was trying to play them quietly.
Alternating Bach Invention #2 with work from Pure Rhythm (tapping on my legs variation #4 on page 5)
===

Friday:
Singing and playing with "Wild Is The Wind." Today I listened and then sang with the melody. Then broke it down into phrases that I would sing with the recording then try and play on my horn, the play on the horn with the recording before moving onto the next phrase. This is how I often go about learning melodies.
Pure Rhythm  variation #4, 5 and 6 on page 5.
===
Saturday:
Singing with "Wild Is The Wind"
Rhythm - variation #4 alternating counting in 3 and 4. This morning I alternated between whatever I am working on and some rhythm stuff.
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys around the cycle of 4ths. Currently I'm working from the 3rd to the root.
Rhythm - started on variation #5.
Modus Novus - 1 phrase in all keys descending in Major 2nds.

Sound work - Letting It Fall and page 14 from the Rascher book. I played most of the page today - more than I normally would on it but I was on a roll.

Bach Invention #2. Felt like it was coming together today. Played it at a few different tempos.
"What Is This Thing Called Love" - taking the songs melodic rhythm and improvising the notes. This is a lot of fun and leads to some different places. Sometimes I found myself taking a few too many liberties with the rhythm - it's hard not to get carried away.

To finish things off I played around with the idea I came up with on Wednesday - improvising then altering groups of notes.
===

Sunday:

Rhythm - alternating counting in 3 and 4 on variation #5 and #6. Usually I find adding the count in throws me off. More to work on!
Sound - Letting It Fall (a great place to start). Page 14 from the Rascher book - today I focussed on just a couple of lines. Playing on only the mouthpiece (chromatic scale, major and harmonic minor scales, some arpeggios).
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys (sung then played as usual) around a cycle of minor 3rds.
Modus Novas - as above but in Maj 3rd cycles.
"Wild Is The Wind" - alternate singing a chorus of melody and playing a chorus of melody. Sometimes I muddled the lyrics so a sang with the record a couple of times to straighten me out.
===

Practice Journal: 6 October 2014

Monday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in all keys. I'm sticking with this although today I only had time work on the tonal material.
Overtones and Tone Matching - for me, these always work best once I have played for a little while.

For some reason Bach Invention #2 was on my mind so I tried to play what I could remember. It had been about a year since I last played it and was surprised how much I could remember. Perhaps the Inventions will return to my regular practice.

Those of you that have worked with Jerry Coker's books will recognise a familiar lick in the opening phrase.  I was immediately taken back to Improv classes at university with the class playing licks from Coker's Elements of the Jazz Language along with Band-in-the-Box, a play-a-long album or even a rhythm section. The "3-b9 lick" (see left) was one of those licks. It has been quite some time since I have worked on "material" in that manner. I can't really say I miss it.
===


Tuesday:
Overtones.
Modus Vetus and Modus Novus - singing and playing 1 phrase from each (in all keys).

Rhythm - 2 against 3 and 4 against 3. Swapping between hands and swapping between counting 3 and counting 4.

Bach Invention - worked on it slowly. Breaking down into phrases then linking them together.

Singing with Roy

"September" - Still not really feeling the harmony so this was my focus.
===

Wednesday:
Singing with Glenn Gould playing Bach Invention #2

Long tones on low B and then octaves against pedal tone
Letting It Fall

Modus Vetus - 1 phrase all keys (random)
Modus Novus - 1 phrase all keys (random)

Bach Invention #2
Finished off with some free improvising which ended with a chorus of "My Foolish Heart"
===

Thursday:
Modus Vetus - 1 phrase all keys (minor 3rd apart). I have been playing these in time and, for the most part, quite slowly.

The other day I went to do some work with a tuner but couldn't get it going (and didn't have any spare batteries) so I downloaded this app - Practice + Tuner, Metronome, Recorder and More....

B(s) against pitch generator and tuner (played some other notes against tuner but mostly focussed on B)

Overtones focused on alternating fund a 1st overtone. This is always a bit confusing (fundamental (Bb) 1st (Bb) 2nd (F) or 1st (Bb) 2nd (Bb) 3rd (F) etc. Ive seen it both ways.

Finished off the morning session playing on September (the melody and then a choruses improvising)
===

Friday:
Modus Vetus - one phrase in all keys. This time I tried something a bit different - singing and playing the line against a pedal tone (which acted as the root and also doubled as some tuning work).

Overtones - focused on overtones from B fundamental which was went pretty well today. Then played through some lines in Top Tones.

Bach Invention #2 - pretty much have it memorised just need to smooth things out a bit. Tried it at a few different tempos and then had a crack playing along with Glenn Gould.

Rhythm - tapped out and counted 2 over 3 and 3 over 4 alternating hands and counting while I was waiting for to meet my wife downtown. It's feeling pretty good now so time to move on.
===

Saturday:
Modus Ventus - one phrase in all keys moving by a tritone and minor 2nd (F - B - C - F# - G etc).

Letting It Fall followed by some Overtones and then playing on the mouthpiece.

Modus Novus - one phrase in all keys (moving in the same cycle as above).

Bach Invention #2 - it's feeling better each day I work on it.

"September" - Alternated melody chorus with outlining the harmony. The harmony chorus started off pretty straight (arpeggiating the chords) and then things got a bit more flexible (less set patterns, chromatic passing notes etc).

Rhythm - In between each of the above I worked on a couple of rhythm patterns (see pic). These are from Adam Rudolph's book Pure Rhythm. Earlier in the year I was doing a bit of work with this - day I started getting back into it.
===

Practice Journal: 29 Sept 2014

I've kept a practice journal periodically ever since I was at university. They come and go and vary in detail.  Last week I started a new one possibly sparked by the arrival on a new soprano (a Buescher True Tone) a week or so before.

It's been fun getting used to the new horn. Overall the ergonomics are not nearly as bad as some would lead you to believe. The transition between low B & C# is taking a bit of getting used as are the different fingerings up top (not front f key). I haven't really looked into the quarter tone fingerings but I know I will need to make some changes as the mechanism is different. I've found that getting the horn well warmed up helps the intonation tendencies to settle down a bit. Here's a rundown of the week.


Monday
Sound:
Terrace Dynamics (a la Sigurd Rascher's Top Tones for Saxophone) on Low E.
Rascher's "Uniformity of Tone Character" - worked between low A and middle F.
Descending octaves without the octave key (aka Letting It Fall) from Low F-Bb
Overtones. Up to third overtone. Including tone matching the regular fingering with 1st, 2nd and 3rd overtones.

Ear Training:
Modus Vetus - taking a line, singing and playing it in all keys (and registers) (round the cycle of 4ths)
Modus Novus - ditto (in whole tones)
I've had these books a little while now but have only just started working with them. Expanding on the work I have done singing/playing interviews and chords.

Tune:
"September In The Rain." This tune popped into my mind one day (perhaps it was raining) so I felt it was a good sign to start working on it.
Looped melody, sang melody, played melody in a few keys. F, C#, G.

Rhythm:
All of these were played on bongos.
Warmed up on a 6/8 rhythms - counting 4/4 and 3/4 against the 6/8 accent.
Revised 3 over 2 and 3 over 4 (and vice versa).
Bell pattern over 4 pulse.
===

Tuesday
Letting It Fall
Overtones and tone matching
G with iTablaPro drone. Terraced dynamics, swells. then G and D (all registers) against drone.
Mouthpiece only - chromatic scale up and down. major scale up and down. Range is about a 10th

Sing with Nate King Cole "Star Dust"
Roy Eldridge "Star Dust" - singing with his solo (at half and full speed).

Modus Vetus - sing and play a phrase in all keys. Used iTabla Pro as a metronome.
Modus Novus - sing and play a phrase in all keys.

"September In The Rain."
Sing with Frank Sinatra
Alternate Playing Melody and sing melody.
Started learning harmony.
===

Wednesday
Rhythm - 6/8 and some 3 over 2.

Dynamics on high G

Tone Uniformity - middle F- high Bb. 

Letting It Fall
Overtones. Lots of tone matching overtone to regular finger (up to 4th overtone)

Modus Vetus 1 phrase round cycle of 4ths
Modus Novus 1 phrase round diminished cycle
September in the Rain melody in keys of E, Eb

Tune - "September In The Rain"
Alternate singing and playing the melody. Root Progression of Harmony. Outlined harmony - no set patterns - some choruses were in time others were rubato. Alternated melody with free improvisation.

Sing - Roy on "Stardust" (1/2 and full speed)
===

Thursday
Started today singing with Roy Eldridge on "Stardust."

Letting It Fall. I find this a nice place to start and find myself returning to it during practice sessions when I want to clear my mind or relax my embouchure.
Bending notes - taking a note and lowering it a semi-tone, whole-tone, minor third, as far as I can go with it. Taken from Steve Lacy's book Findings - I forget what he calls the exercise.
Mouthpiece only.

Rhythm - 6/8 counting 4 and 3.

Modus Vetus - 1 phrase in whole tones.
Modus Novus -1 phrase in min 3rds.

"September" - sing/play melody, outline the harmony. Improvise on the tune to finish things off.
===

Friday
Rhythm - alternating hands between 4 pulse and bell pattern. Worked on this throughout the day in short spells (taking a break from school work, practice break etc).

Warmed up with a couple of minutes freely improvising.

Modus Vetus and Modus Novus - one phrase each in all keys around the cycle of 4ths.

"September" - alternating sing one chorus, play one chorus. This always brings back memories of my lessons with Richard Tabnik.

Singing with Roy's solo on "Stardust." My version seems to be a semi-tone-ish high. I found some versions on youtube that seemed to be at the correct pitch. I may switch over to those versions.
===

Saturday
Warmed up looping the melody of "September." I then returned to work on tune in various ways (melody/singing/Harmony/Improvising) in between my other work.

One phrase from Modus Vetus in all keys moving up in whole tones.
"September"
One phrase from Modus Novus in all keys moving down in whole tones
"September"
Overtones - Once I worked with the first 3 over tones of various fundamentals I focused a little on the top end (4th/5th/6th overtones) off Bb fundamental.
Mouthpiece only.
"September"

Rhythm - bell pattern , alternating hands, various tempos

===

Notebook 2: One Free Note

Here's part two from the Notebook Series (Part one is here).  

This exercise was part of my lessons with Richard Tabnik. What struck me was the simplicity, fun, and effectiveness of Richard's ideas.

He introduced this exercise to me when we started working on free improvisation. It most definitely had a flow on effect when I played tunes too - loosening and opening up the lines I played. 

Over the years I have worked on it by myself, with friends (great for duos), used it as a daily warm up, and applied it to tunes (this is something I want to do more of). 

Start with a single note. Hear and feel the note. Play the note - it can be loud, quiet, long or short - whatever you feel in the moment.

Relax, breathe, listen and play your next free note.

The note is what it is in that moment - don't aim to control it. Let it be free. Listen to it as you play. 

Stay playing single notes until it feels right to move on to two notes - Don't rush, take your time.

Now's the time for two free notes. The process is the same. Play the note you hear in the moment, listen to that note and then play your second free note

Hear and feel the note-to-note connection between the two notes!

Relax, breathe and listen before moving onto your next two free notes. It becomes quite meditative.

Again, continue until it feels right to move on to three free notes. And so it goes on through up to seven free notes - phrased in one breathe with rhythm, articulations, dynamics, tempo etc as you feel them in the moment.

Once you spend some time playing seven free notes it feels quite natural to move into free phrases - these do not need to be more than 7 notes (they can be though).  Approach the free phrases the same way as you have the 1-7 notes groupings.  Relax, breathe, listen and then play a free phrase - repeat.

Working your way back down from free phrases to seven free notes all the way back to one free note can be a blast. How does playing one free note differ now to when you started?

Find someone to trade free notes with - this is a blast. I have done this with a couple of friends, working from one note up to free phrases. Just simply trade notes - you play one free note, they play one free note etc. Eventually one player will change to two free notes, then three free notes and so on.

As I said earlier, this was passed onto me by Richard Tabnik - a wonderful alto player. Be sure to check out his music. His latest recording is Symphony for Jazz Trio (New Artists Records 2012) with Adam Lane (b) and Roger Mancuso (d) - a 2CD set featuring live and studio recordings of his three movement work "A Prayer For Peace" (plus half a dozen other pieces too).  His work and teaching have had a profound impact on me - Thanks Richard!! 

Here's the original notebook page typed up.

=============================================================================================

* One Free Note (RT) *

• Play It => 1 note! (could it be any easier?)
• Hear It
• Feel It
• Long, Short, Slow, Fast
• FF, pp
• Free It
• Sing It
• ! Be Relaxed !
• 2 Free Notes, 3, 4, 5 etc (up to 7)
• One Free Phrase (hear it, feel it)
• Another
• Another

+ Great to play/trade with another person/other people

+ Try it when playing a session/on a tune

+ By the time you have done 7 free notes for a while, Free Phrases will naturally flow - trade Free Phrases with someone.

+ After playing 1, 2, 3 etc Free Notes after Free Phrases work backwards... Free, 7, 6, 5 etc to 1 - it's quite a different feeling.

============================================================================================

Notebook 1: Old Music New Music

On and off I keep a notebook of thoughts on music and saxophone playing. Earlier this week I flicked through the pages of one that is about a year old and decided to start posting some of my pre-blog ramblings.

=== == === == === == === == === == === == === == === == === == === == === == === == === ==

* Don't Be Afraid Of Old Music * * Don't Be Afraid Of New Music *

About 12 years ago I asked a pianist friend of mine who they were listening to - Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau were the answers.  I followed up by asking if they listen to any pianists from earlier in the jazz lineage - "Not really" they replied.  Why not? They figured their favorite players were influenced by the earlier masters and that influence would be passed on to them.  Plus they didn't like the sound of old recordings!
One of the most in demand players in town and they had never checked out the likes of Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Bud Powell.  I was very surprised. Perhaps Teddy Wilson could have opened some new avenues to explore that weren't apparent in the music of Keith Jarrett.
I have always loved going back and listening to those who influenced my favorite artists.  Here's a page from the notebook (click on it to enlarge) where I've plotted players around saxophonist Richard Tabnik - it doesn't take long for the web to expand (and it is by no means complete). Some of these artists I am quite familiar with, others less so but I have listened to them all.

What's new to you may be contemporary, from another era, underground or mainstream.  It may be old to others.

In 2009 I attended over 100 gigs during a six month stay in NYC - lots of great music, plus plenty that did nothing for me - It's good to find out what you don't like! Why don't you like it? Revisit it - tastes change.  I first heard Evan Parker in concert. It was intriguing so I had a listen to a couple of recordings and didn't like them at all (these were full-throttle type things). I shelved him. Then a couple of years ago, I spotted an album (Time Will Tell) and gave it a shot - this time I quite enjoyed it. Whilst I can't say I enjoy all of his vast discography there are a few nice ones in there for me (they tend to be at his mellower end).

The Music Village workshop in Greece opened my ears to a lot of new music - Alexander Berne, Morton Feldman, Kaum Quartet, Fo[u]r Alto, Stockhausen among others. Working on Stockhausen was another new challenge and I took those pieces with me (they are still a challenge). Frank Gratkowski's composition for 14 Alto saxes playing multiphonics was not like anything I had been part of before. It was very exciting playing this music to a crowd of people that arrived not knowing what to expect and left having been part of a great night.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This page has been a nice reminder to give Chu Berry a spin.... Sittin' In, Chuberry Jam, Limehouse Blues, Monday At Minton's, Blowing Up A Breeze, Body & Soul have been playing as I type. NICE!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why Keep a Log?

Going through some musically frustrating times led me to reflect on things as well as set some goals. One of those goals was to keep a music journal. For some time I have kept notebooks briefly detailing concerts that I have attended and during my travels I have written journals of my daily activities including thoughts on music. This will be an online journal concerning my ongoing work with music and thoughts that arise  from that work. 

At times I may give specific examples, other times may be more abstract. As a saxophonist there will be some focus on the horn -  a lot of the content will be on the process and the music itself regardless of the instrument.

Will writing things down help me through those times for frustration? Time will tell. 

The first step is to get writing - something each day if I can. Will it end up here? Possibly… stay tuned.