tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7945274185458137632024-02-19T05:41:58.195-05:00Practice MonsterLove your practice, love your work, love your life.David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-49302300934048512862023-02-23T23:19:00.004-05:002023-02-24T07:47:16.885-05:00Major Thirds on Minor Chords: How James Moody might have been the greatest improviser of all time<p> </p><p>The other day, I stopped to talk to a colleague at JMU (thank you, Donna Wampler!) who was placing donated cds on a table. I saw this Dexter Gordon album, The Tower of Power, and I snatched it up. I actually bought the record at Tower Records in Boston back in the 80s, when I was a teenager. I had very few records back then and I listened to this one over and over. I still have my vinyl copy, but I haven't listened to it in years. Having it on cd was too good to pass up. The next morning, I popped it in the stereo while I drank my morning tea.</p><p>I have been teaching jazz improvisation for thirty years. In that time, I have always taught that you can wiggle your way out of any note on any chord, as long as you do it with style and intention. There is one exception: you can't play the major third on a minor chord. I call it "the dreaded flat eleventh!"</p><p>The first track is a tenor battle between Dexter and James Moody on a minor tune with a cycle bridge. I listened to this album probably a hundred times when I was a kid. Remember, we didn't have the internet back then, so I had a handful of albums and listened to them over and over again.</p><p>Imagine my astonishment when I hear Moody absolutely slay a major third on a minor chord. Check it out below at around 3:30.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ONtLyQ2HLx8" width="320" youtube-src-id="ONtLyQ2HLx8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, he is using the major third as a super slick lower chromatic neighbor to the eleventh, which is a superb note choice on a minor chord, but he leans on that major third pretty hard. It is jarring to my adult ears, but in a very satisfying way. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And then, later in the solo, he does it again. I have questions!!! Is Moody doing this as an amazing prank? A bar bet with Dexter? Did he do it by accident and then wink at us by doing it again, acknowledging the accident? Or did he just hear this as sounding good?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It does sound good. Actually, it sounds great. It might be the most genius thing that I have ever heard. A major third on a minor chord is the most dissonant choice imaginable. You can play minor on major and it sounds bluesy. You can play different sevenths, as long as you resolve them correctly. But I never thought of sliding a major third up to the eleventh of a minor chord. Check it out. My mind is blown! Skip to around 4:55.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ONtLyQ2HLx8" width="320" youtube-src-id="ONtLyQ2HLx8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I am so grateful for this crazy discovery. It is a reminder that anything is possible, as long as it is played with conviction and style. James Moody spoke to me through a kind of time machine this week, upending my most core ideas about how to improvise jazz. If Moody could play major thirds on minor chords, I believe that anything is possible. Peace.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-60320956681276999452022-09-18T10:27:00.000-04:002022-09-18T10:27:10.800-04:00Eric in the Evening: A Remembrance <p> When I heard the news that Eric Jackson left us, I was hit with a heavy dose of nostalgia from my youth. I was an eager teenage musician in the 1980s, growing up near Boston. WGBH was one of the few stations that I had preset on my FM tuner, and it was mostly to listen to <i>Eric in the Evening.</i> This was my first true education in jazz music, and Jackson's expert curation of artists and albums had a large impact on my own musical tastes. I will always be grateful.</p><p>It is difficult for young people to understand what it was like to build a library of recordings in the pre-internet days. You had to buy, or borrow albums. I had very little money, so my collection was small and every record was precious. It was also hard to know what to buy, so you relied on friends and mentors to recommend "the good stuff." Although we never met, Eric Jackson was my friend and mentor.</p><p>I usually listened with a cassette loaded into the recorder, ready to jump at anything that struck me. Sometimes, I would record a minute or two and then decide it wasn't for me. Other times, I would go back and listen to a track over and over again, until I could either find the album at the public library, or scrape up the money to buy it. One particular evening, Jackson gave me a pole star that steers my ship to this day: Mingus Changes.</p><p>I was probably in the eighth grade, so I was just learning to play the saxophone. When the ferocious George Adams exploded through my speakers, it was as if time had stopped. Adams' virtuosity spilled out all over the place, but it was the way that the technique connected with his soulful, bluesy approach that really hit me in the chest. In the stillness of that evening in my little suburban bedroom, I received "the call." I knew that I would be a professional saxophonist and that nothing could stop me, if only I could unlock the mysteries of George Adams and Charles Mingus. Here is the track that knocked me over: Remember Rockefeller at Attica.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IM6vIURo5OI" width="320" youtube-src-id="IM6vIURo5OI"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I came to trust Eric Jackson's warm and thoughtful commentary. It was through him that I discovered some of the most important music of my life. When I moved away from the listening area of WGBH, I never recovered from the loss. Fortunately, I gained access to better libraries and I had more money to spend on music, and professors and classmates became my new advisers, but there was never anything quite as visceral as leaping to hit record on the cassette deck or clinging to the radio in hopes that Jackson would name the recording so that I could search for it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">WGBH posted the following, announcing his passing. Travel in peace, good sir. Thank you for being my teacher when I needed you most.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/09/17/legendary-gbh-jazz-host-eric-jackson-72-has-died" target="_blank">https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/09/17/legendary-gbh-jazz-host-eric-jackson-72-has-died</a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">#ericjackson #ericintheevening #wgbh </div><p><br /></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-87622461614692286302022-01-13T20:02:00.000-05:002022-01-13T20:02:15.956-05:00In Gratitude to Michael Brecker<p><i style="font-family: times; text-align: center;">This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, May/June 2007. Volume 31, No. 5</i> </p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Michael Brecker’s public battle with myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia had given us time to prepare ourselves for what we had hoped would not come, despite the odds against him. We had come to view him as something beyond a mortal. I can hardly believe that he is gone. Brecker's colleagues, some of the greatest musicians of our time, will all have something to say. While I defer to those greats that shared the bandstand with him, I still feel compelled to say something about my personal relationship with Michael Brecker’s music. It may be selfish for me to say anything at all, to somehow diminish his light by shining it on myself, but I am nonetheless compelled, if only by a need to express my solemn gratitude to a man that provided endless inspiration in my musical youth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Without cliché, Michael Brecker was a true titan of the tenor saxophone. In sound, style, and technique, he was a one-man tenor revolution. It was as if Coltrane, Paganini, and Hendrix had been rolled into one super-musician. There isn't a tenor saxophonist alive, at least one who has found their voice in the last twenty-five years, that wasn’t somehow affected by Brecker's gravitational force. Jazz composers scrambled to understand, and emulate, his innovative writing (Maria Schneider's <i>Wyrgly</i> immediately comes to mind). Whether you tried to be more like him, or less like him (to avoid unfavorable comparison), Michael Brecker was the 800 lb. gorilla. He was the Charlie Parker of the last quarter-century. You loved his music, or you hated it, but you couldn't avoid it. I met guys that bought their Selmer Mark VI tenors because the serial numbers were close to His. They paid big bucks to play His mouthpiece, and I even remember seeing reeds with His name on them (that sold for double what other reeds went for). Especially in the late eighties and early nineties, you could say “him” to a sax player, and they knew you meant Michael Brecker.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">My first experience with Brecker, other than incidental exposure to his inescapably prolific recording career, was his self-titled debut on Impulse. <i>Sea Glass</i> grabbed me right away, in that I had never heard anything like it. It was like an anthem, majestically announcing the new <i>new thing</i>. As I listened in my dorm room at the University of Massachusetts, I immediately felt that my musical direction was about to change because of this music. By the time <i>Syzygy</i> started, I was on my feet. The sense of awe widened as I made my way through <i>The Cost of Living</i> and <i>Original Rays</i>. It was like a torpedo had struck me between the ears. I didn’t even own a CD player, but I started buying Michael Brecker CD’s. When I listened to the opening track on “Don't Try This At Home,” <i>Itsbynne Reel</i> . . . I have no words for how awestruck I was. Everything about that track blew me out of the water. I listened to it over and over, and I didn’t make it to the second track until the following day. It was the same feeling that I had after hearing Coltrane’s <i>Giant Steps. </i>I couldn’t get it out of my head. After that, I began taking piano more seriously, so I could figure out how to emulate the harmonies I was hearing. I started practicing scales and patterns using alternate fingerings, to create Brecker-like technical effects. I changed mouthpieces, to focus my sound. I practiced scales a full octave above palm-key F. I wrote my own version of <i>Itsbynne Reel</i>, called <i>Pay the Fiddler</i>. At the encouragement of my arranging teacher, Jeff Holmes, I wrote a big band arrangement of <i>Pay the Fiddler</i>, which later became the title track of the UMASS Jazz Ensemble CD. Within a couple of years, I won the downbeat award for best collegiate jazz soloist, partially based upon my recording of <i>Fiddler</i>. <i>Itsbynne Reel</i> turbo charged me down the path that would lead to a successful career in music. I practiced those Brecker licks until I had tendonitis. I can still hear my old Franz metronome clanking away as I chugged through rapid-fire harmonics into the altissimo. It was a rite of passage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">All this inspiration, and productivity came at a price. I was soon unable to play without immediately calling attention to my master. I struggled to overcome the influence, but Brecker was like a drug habit that I couldn't kick. No matter how I tried, my solos were always peppered with Breckerisms. In desperation, I put all my CD's in a box and taped it shut (and I’m not making that up). I focused on pre-Brecker tenor players for my studies. Finally, I made an extreme mouthpiece change and worked on playing in the lower register, just to avoid sounding like Mike. It literally took me nine years to overcome the overwhelming influence of Michael Brecker. But it is important to note that, both in striving towards him, and away from him, I was artistically transformed for the better. His music opened my ears and my imagination.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">I recall seeing him live at Monroe Community College in upstate New York. He was on tour promoting “Tales from the Hudson.” It was a moderately sized hall, and I had a seat close enough to see Brecker very clearly. Everything about his playing was textbook perfection. He stood perfectly straight with no signs of tension. His embouchure was firm but flexible, and every note sounded as if it emanated from his vocal chords. You were unaware of reeds or mouthpieces; there was no machinery in the way. He played like he was speaking to you, directly and with his own, human voice. It blew your hair back. He used fingerings that I had never thought of, and I had to watch intently because his fingers hardly seemed to move at all. The poise and grace of his delivery belied the ferocity of what came out of the horn. I remember that the audience sighed, gasped, and even laughed in wonder and amazement. I have heard a handful of musicians with technical facility close to Brecker’s, but he had a way of using it to express something more than just sublime craftsmanship. When the shock wore off, he had a creativity and musicality that kept you interested. He was offering something that you simply couldn’t get anywhere else . . . something that will never be available again. We can only be grateful for the many brilliant recordings he leaves behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">As much as I remember seeing him live, my favorite Brecker-related moment came years later. It was a Sunday evening and my phone rang a little later than usual. When I picked up, I heard the nervous giggling of a group of my students. They were calling me from their first Michael Brecker concert, and he was about to go on. I laughed and told them to soak up every sound. I knew exactly how excited they were, and on Monday morning, I recognized the dazed look of awe in their eyes. Yet another generation was under his spell. It gives me pause to think that none of my future students will experience a Michael Brecker concert. Even as I write, another of my students is holed up in a basement somewhere, practicing Brecker’s unaccompanied performance of <i>Naima</i>. I cannot imagine being a student of the saxophone and not studying Michael Brecker. In a world of clones, drones, and charlatans, he was the rarified real deal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">I have had a lot of heavy influences in my career, but Brecker was in his prime when I was at the height of my personal search. When I was his disciple, he was on the cutting edge, which is what makes all of this so vivid for me. Unwrapping a new Michael Brecker CD always had me trembling with anticipation. I could never get the damned shrink wrap off quickly enough. Waiting for the disc to spin up and reveal the first track was an experience that has had few parallels for me. I can only imagine that he felt the same way, dropping the needle on a newly released Coltrane record. In both cases, each new piece of music contained a bit of secret code that could only be cracked in the shed, and only if you had the chops.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">If Brecker had died in the middle of his prime, we would perhaps exalt him to an even higher place. This is often the case, especially with folks like John Coltrane, Clifford Brown, and Scott LaFaro. We had just enough time to embrace them before they were ripped away, leaving us to wonder what the future would have held. Michael Brecker lived long enough for his brilliance to fall somewhat out of fashion. If you go to New York, almost every young tenor player is on a rubber mouthpiece. I have no doubt that this is in response to the need to NOT sound like a Brecker clone. Most everyone gave up trying to play EWI years ago. His force was so dominant, you simply had to deal with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Those CD’s from my younger days, and the more recent ones, are sitting in a stack in front of my computer monitor as I write this essay. Hopefully everyone knows the cover of “Don’t Try This At Home,” where he is balancing the saxophone on one finger. As if by some significant sign from the cosmos, that CD is sitting on top of the pile but showing the back cover. The saxophone floats in air, with Brecker’s image removed from the photo. I couldn’t imagine a more fitting metaphor. Travel in peace Michael. You will never be forgotten. §</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-63658362868366417602021-12-27T11:38:00.000-05:002021-12-27T11:38:31.205-05:00Reflections on Coltrane's A Love Supreme Live in Seattle<p> Let me start by saying that <i>A Love Supreme </i>is far from my favorite recording, or even my favorite John Coltrane recording. Now, before you get all excited about this, please take a breath and read on.</p><p>By the time I had my first listening experience with the original album, I already knew that this music had been placed on a pedestal before I was even born. There was no chance of me being able to have an authentically original opinion, and even if I <i>had </i>an opinion, it was irrelevant.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>An Immutable Stone Tablet</b></p><p>So <i>A Love Supreme </i>entered my world as a 2,000 year old stone tablet, an immutable monolith that had critically shaped a certain view of the jazz world for so long that nobody could remember a world without its influence.</p><p>I own a copy on cd, and a very nice copy on vinyl, and I never listen to either of them. I can listen to <i>Coltrane's Sound </i>or <i>Live at the Half Note</i> on infinite loop for days at a time, but <i>A Love Supreme </i>for me is like a heavy meal that you eat once every five or ten years, and maybe you enjoy it more because the Michelin star chefs tell you that it is the best meal in the world, but you find yourself half passed out somewhere between trauma and regret.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>A Torch to the Heavens</b></p><p>With all that unpacked (whew!), I have that music in my musical DNA as much as any other modern jazz musician - whatever that means, but you can interpolate that as you like. I find it a little cringey when musicians quote from it, but on my first concert after the pandemic lockdown, I found myself extending a solo by a chorus and uncontrollably witnessing <i>A Love Supreme </i>coming out of my horn like a torch to the heavens as the band responds in kind (link below)</p><p> <a href="https://youtu.be/UXToU7IdhWg?t=114" target="_blank">Madison Jazz Collective: Jack</a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/UXToU7IdhWg?t=114" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="791" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2XrObzWlHAmzzN8CNlYqR_cNSQcVx7uL-LjHBNCUaUGseC0fqPoGZacYaeOSsqQ3wgZXD10uHincj4keNDTIyvKo_-qUAFX4FGQtsDByDVlmFysu4-AZMtyEKnzNm6U0jYMt59o4ebaScO0nrtip6NHD77qdKVG_f65m6-QmJg37wG5I0D7rRZg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p>When the newly recovered live version was released, I admittedly dragged my feet before purchasing it on vinyl. I bought it more as scholar than fanatic - I mean, I cannot be a saxophone professor and not study this alternate universe that we can see through some dark and dirty mirror through time and space. And then, it sat on my shelf for two months. I couldn't bring myself to even unwrap the cellophane, never mind place it on the turntable. What will it say about me if I hate it? Or if I love it?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>On December 26, 2021, I could no longer reasonably procrastinate. The time had finally come.</b></p><p>There are some important considerations that make this live version very unique. Obviously, it is performed live with a few extra musicians moderately contributing (Pharoah Sanders and Donald Garrett). The movements and the soloing are extended, stretching over two generous vinyl discs. The setting is not exactly what you would call "sacred." The Penthouse was a jazz club that capitalized on the Playboy image of the time, with stylized rabbits in the decor and waitresses dressed as one might imagine.</p><p>The recording itself is like having a bad seat in the club. The drums are too close, and Trane seems to be far away, maybe on the other side of the piano. You strain to hear him, even though his sound is clearly massive and encompassing. But, this is a time machine and like many of the rare recordings, it is worth a bit of squinting to see through the fog of history to get a glimpse of real magic that was nearly lost forever.</p><p>Upon the first listening, I settled into the sound and established a mental focus on the scene. I hear some noodling, people talking, some applause - I am in the room. About 15 minutes into the first movement, tears well up in my eyes for no particular reason. I suppose that the intensity of the music and the auspiciousness of hearing <i>any</i> previously unheard music by this ensemble is always a heavy load to process.</p><p>The music itself is familiar, yet strangely different. Pieces of the old stone carvings are spaced out with more extended soloing. At times, it sounds less like the holy sacrament of the studio album and more like . . . well, like the classic quartet blowing in a jazz club. Because that is what it is - the John Coltrane Quartet at work.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Conclusions</b></p><p>The end result for me is quite unexpected. For the first time in my life, <i>A Love Supreme </i>is a living thing, as if the weight of that stone tablet is lifted. I feel a greater connection between this and my own work. When we place art/artists on pedestals, we tend to forget that they are made of the same star dust as everything else that we have ever known. Yes, <i>A Love Supreme </i>is a particularly unique and powerful masterpiece, but it is only music, created by musicians that walked the same streets and gazed upon the same sky as the rest of us.</p><p>I look forward to going back to the original recording to see how it will change with this new perspective, but I think that I will give it some time. After all, no matter how you experience it, this music is a heavy dose of jazz expressionism that requires attention and space.</p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-40630694867781601632021-12-11T19:02:00.003-05:002021-12-11T21:19:28.562-05:00Imposter Syndrome and Social Media<p> <span style="font-size: large;"> I had a brush with imposter syndrome last week that I am compelled to share in the hopes that it will help anyone that finds themselves in a similar situation. It all started when I posted a video two weeks ago . . .</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="371" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rh4oMSbjgPM" width="447" youtube-src-id="Rh4oMSbjgPM"></iframe></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I collaborated with my friend and colleague at James Madison University on a project where he recorded some sounds that I made on my tenor saxophone, and then used granular synthesis to make virtual instruments to compose a kind of dreamscape, with the intention of me improvising with his soundtrack. He describes it as a kind of improvisational feedback loop, where the genesis and the final product are my improvisations, with his masterful sonic creation in between. You can learn more about Eric Guinivan, this project, and his work at his website: <a href="https://www.ericguinivan.com/howl.html" target="_blank">ericguinivan.com/howl.html</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">The performance had already been shared from my JMU concert back in September, but I finally got around to isolating the piece and syncing the video from the livestream with the fantastic audio recording by JMU's sound designer, Tom Carr. I honestly wasn't expecting much of a reaction, but I wanted to share the video with the intent of promoting the piece. The idea from the beginning was that the piece could be played by anyone, on any instrument, and I personally find Eric's work to be very compelling, a kind of sci-fi tone poem. In the first few days, the video slightly did better than my usual posts. Then, it suddenly caught fire. On Friday morning, I thought that it might hit 10,000 views. Soon, it was doing that much <i>per hour</i>! Eric and I were texting back and forth with excitement and awe at what was happening. In a matter of days, we passed 250,000 views.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Now, this was not the first time that I have had successful videos. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Popesax/about" target="_blank">My YouTube channel</a> had well over a thousand subscribers and over 400,000 views. Somehow, Howl surpassed all my other videos in a few days. I made no unusual effort to attract attention, and the video is far from clickbait. It is a 7 minute piece of fairly abstract art, and honestly, it seemed pretty unlikely to go viral. It was thrilling to accidentally hit the mark with something that we made with vision and integrity.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Then, the negative comments started.</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Someone snarked that the ratio of likes to views was sad and posted a barf emoji. Another user called it "appalling." Another comment was so nasty that YouTube took it down before I could even process it. I suddenly turned dark inside and my inner voice said, "This video is popular because people are making fun of you." Every bone in my body told me to take the video down before this got even more out of hand. I had a full blown panic attack.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I thought back to the recital, and how I was nervous because I was operating a lot of electronics for this first time in a live setting. Howl was the third piece on the program, and I started with a very challenging new work on tenor where I used a looper pedal, followed by a performance on duduk (a traditional Armenian instrument) where I created drones live with a pedal. When I went back to the tenor to play Howl, my reed was a little dry and I squeaked. I really don't like squeaking, but it happens, and I made the decision to not edit the video because I wanted to present an honest performance. Suddenly, I found myself rethinking that decision, now that 100,000 people had heard me squeak, and the views were growing exponentially.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">After about an hour of self-loathing, I had a moment of clarity. I took a look at the negative comments and noted that one of the users had very few followers and only one video that is four years old. Another had no followers or content at all! How could I have allowed myself to feel like an imposter over nasty comments by three one-thousandths of a percent of 100,000 viewers? It is so important to remember how much social media messes with our sense of reality.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I have been making pretty esoteric and abstract music for my entire career, and it isn't for everyone, but it is music that comes from my heart and soul. I am very proud of this work that I did with Eric Guinivan, and I am grateful that it reached such a large audience online. I am also grateful for this brush with imposter syndrome and how quickly I was able to shake it off.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">To me, the lesson is pretty clear: share your work and never let "likes" or comments determine your self-worth. The integrity of your preparation and efforts will be evident, and as one of my heroes, Bob Brookmeyer once told me, "If everyone likes your music, write better music!"</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><><><><></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>If you are interested in performing Howl, you can find the score video below, and Eric can supply you with a score transposed for whatever instrument you play. I hope you will give it a try. The audience loved it and because the sounds originated from my saxophone, it will be a little like playing a duet with me. How cool is that?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oDf59nosNq8" width="505" youtube-src-id="oDf59nosNq8"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ericguinivan.com" target="_blank">https://www.ericguinivan.com</a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">#impostersyndrome #socialmedia #howl #ericguinivan #YouTube</div><br /><p><br /></p></div>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-33668871488702416842021-12-02T10:24:00.000-05:002021-12-02T10:24:04.032-05:00Building Technical Dexterity for Jazz Improvisation (aka, the superfly exercise)<p><i style="font-family: times; text-align: center;">This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, March/April 2007. Volume 31, No. 4</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">[An interesting aside to this article is that my right hand is now completely recovered from the old injuries. I credit this mainly to reinventing my physical approach to the instrument, but also to learning to write in cursive with my right hand as a kind of physical therapy to develop the intrinsic muscles of my "opposite" hand]</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">It is a well-known fact that speed can only be developed by slow repetition. As with so many aspects of craft, the solution to a problem <i>seems </i>counter-intuitive. Any level of musical maturity allows us to see that the house is only as good as the foundation; effortless dexterity is the inevitable result of attention paid to the slow-motion details of technique. Obviously, it is important to practice playing rapidly, but there must be a balance that is weighted more towards perfection of the technique through slow-motion practice and analysis. The following is an exercise that I have been doing for the past several months. While the specifics of the routine may need to be altered to match the level of individual development, the core ideas of this exercise should be useful to any saxophonist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">When I was in my early twenties, I suffered tendonitis-related injuries in my right hand. I went from experiencing occasional pain while playing to being in constant pain, even when I was not on the horn. I had no choice but to take some time off and heal. My teacher at the time, Lynn Klock, had recently recovered from a broken hand. With his guidance, I assessed my technique and unlearned the bad habits that led to my injury. My main problem was that I held the horn up with my thumb in the hook, pulling my hand out of its natural position. This forced me to grip the horn, and to hyper-extend the first joint of my right ring finger. As a temporary measure, I removed the thumb hook from my horn completely. I learned to let the weight of the instrument hang from the neck strap, so I could float my right hand on the saxophone without trying to hold the horn up. In time, I was able to put the hook back, but only as a means of balancing the instrument. In other words, I unlearned my habit of applying upward pressure in the thumb rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">While my hand eventually came back, the injuries were serious enough that the recovery has never really been 100%. If you play in pain, and most of us do, STOP and figure out what is causing the pain. I often wish that I had solved my issues sooner. I can only be grateful that my experience helps me to teach others, so that they might stave off injury. Do not play in pain! If you cannot solve your problems on your own, seek the advice of a great teacher. I have students who have had great success studying Alexander Technique with a qualified teacher. We must never forget that musicians are elite athletes, using the tiny muscles that no one ever really sees. We must warm up, refine our technique, and protect ourselves just as a professional athlete does. While it may be impossible to avoid every injury, it should be possible to play without pain.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I am left-handed, and my right hand is weakened from injury, so I always start by warming up my left hand. For the following, refer to <i>Basic Dexterity Builder- Left Hand Emphasis.</i> These passages should be executed at sixty beats per minute. Each measure should be repeated as many times as necessary, until it can be performed with comfortable ease. It is extremely important to keep every part of the body relaxed. Focus your strength on diaphragmatic air support. Keep the shoulders low, the elbows loose, and the wrists fluid. Do not think about pushing the keys down, but rather think of getting the fingers out of the way of the keys. Let the springs do most of the work. The fingers should be low to the keys, and the hands should keep a relatively rounded position. Reach out as if you are going to shake hands with someone. This is the natural hand position that must be maintained: wrists straight, fingers curved, and thumbs approximating a 90° angle to the rest of the fingers. DO NOT move on to the next measure until you are satisfied that you can perform the current group of notes in a relaxed fashion. If tension is introduced into the process, the entire point of these exercises is lost.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwvTG8Ss3ZXHd_-ozKNQLbzmjyWaiLJJsV2EwAyi2L9Ym5IlRbw_5tu2yvtGdRC0qugZH1g3US_-vHa3vi5VcF-r7xWQfkw5evK8mOHW5ZwKNXrm2AxXi7_7bF1f6QvdyeO_p0QHJGQ/s792/Superfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="612" height="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwvTG8Ss3ZXHd_-ozKNQLbzmjyWaiLJJsV2EwAyi2L9Ym5IlRbw_5tu2yvtGdRC0qugZH1g3US_-vHa3vi5VcF-r7xWQfkw5evK8mOHW5ZwKNXrm2AxXi7_7bF1f6QvdyeO_p0QHJGQ/w529-h685/Superfly.jpg" width="529" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">As the notes come at a faster rate, concentrate on lifting the fingers. Again, keep them low to the keys, but emphasize the negative action (releasing the keys), instead of the positive pushing down on the pearls. At a certain point, it will become impossible to evenly divide the beat by thinking of the numbers. I have had success using the Indian syllable to divide fives and sevens (for more on this, check out Ronan Guilfoyle’s excellent book </span><i style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Improvisation</span></i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">), but anything from elevens on is more of a feel. If you can stay relaxed, just work on hitting the target notes on the downbeats and making the notes between as even as possible. When you really get down to it, the notes should feel like water flowing between the beats. This takes time and patience, and one must never attempt to play at a speed that requires pounding on the keys. The body, the hands, and notes should all be fluid, like liquid.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As I said, I am left-handed, so I begin with the left hand emphasized. On any given day, I will only work as far as I can without becoming tense. Once I reach the point of tension, I slow back down and begin the right hand emphasis exercises. The tempo should remain at sixty beats per minute throughout. Take great care in maintaining good posture, active air support, and gentle fingers. Repeat each measure at least ten times, increasing repetitions with the increased subdivisions of the beat. I will often play the faster measures for several minutes at a time. When a true feeling of effortlessness is achieved, and only then, it is time to move on.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The astute student will notice that these exercises only address the key of C. I alternate between two methods of taking these patterns through the keys. The first way is to go all the way through, and then begin again with an added flat. Subsequent repetitions will continue to add a flat until it makes sense to switch to sharps, again letting the sharps accumulate one at a time. If a particular cell of notes does not include the newly altered note, ignore the fact and play on until the changed note appears. A second approach is to stay on one measure, adding flats and then sharps, until all variations have been performed. Then move forward to the next measure, again working through all the variations. Clearly, some versions of each measure will be more difficult. When you have reached an alteration that you cannot perform with ease, slow it down, or move on to the next measure. In certain extremely challenging note configurations, I will perform the measure at half-speed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">This strategy for building dexterity is only the beginning of what is possible. These patterns could begin on different notes, or extend into the altissimo register. In certain keys, I will extend the upper register to altissimo D, E, or even F. Another great variation is to invert the intervals and play from the top down. Do not limit yourself to scalar motion, but try playing in thirds to make extended arpeggios. I can only imagine that the great John Coltrane practiced in this manner, developing a technique that freely fit as many notes between the beat as he desired. If you cannot perform at your speed goals, spend more time with the slower measures. Build a solid foundation for the house! Be creative with the concept behind this exercise and try to create your own variations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Speed is the illusive goal of many musicians. Never lose sight of the importance of <i>proper</i> technique as the vehicle towards speed. Tension, heavy handedness, and lifting the fingers up straight are all enemies in the process. The most benefit will be derived from the time spent working slowly for consistency. Over the course of several months, you should notice an increase in precision, speed, and relaxation. I hope this is helpful, and I welcome your thoughts at popesax@mac.com. Practice well! §<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">#superfly #dexterity #warmup #oppositehand #tendonitis </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-12647151898183983732021-11-30T21:29:00.001-05:002021-11-30T21:30:07.678-05:00 Diatonic Patterns With Neighbor Tones<p><i style="font-family: times; text-align: center;">This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, January/February 2003. Volume 27, No. 3</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> It goes without saying that part of the process of learning to improvise is mastery of scales in all keys. After scales come diatonic intervals, triads, and arpeggios. When improvising on chord changes, it is necessary to have a handle on scales, intervals, and simple patterns so that one can “play the right notes.” The next step in using these materials is to embellish the basic patterns. An easy way to dress up a simple pattern is to add neighbor tones. In this column, I will show some different ways of using neighbor tones to add interest to diatonic patterns. This method of practicing will not only build vocabulary for improvisation, but will also help develop technical dexterity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">DIATONIC THIRDS AND DIATONIC TRIADS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">For the purposes of illustration, we will look at two basic patterns: diatonic thirds and diatonic triads. Keep in mind that the basic principles can be applied to any diatonic pattern, such as fourths, seventh chords, or any melodic pattern. Example one shows the basic patterns, in the key of C. Before one attempts to embellish these patterns, it is important to be comfortable playing the unaltered originals. It is also best to have the patterns memorized, especially if the intent is to build an improvisational vocabulary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The first kind of neighbor tone is the diatonic neighbor. These neighbors are within the given tonality, or key signature. Example 2 shows the basic patterns with the addition of lower diatonic neighbors before each cell of the pattern. On the way down, the pattern inverts and the neighbors are upper diatonic tones.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIeXmu-R-yf0IsZAHaPj-A_TjaW0L7FR8wxNv-uz94r7luV8qZZ7xgodTT1q515bdHSftKaVRhUVeW-gZPvl2qhvzH8hercPyZCwXr7I9KKpv5Xv2cO1R6UVW3xk_3BsLSs0is_4czw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1161" height="884" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIeXmu-R-yf0IsZAHaPj-A_TjaW0L7FR8wxNv-uz94r7luV8qZZ7xgodTT1q515bdHSftKaVRhUVeW-gZPvl2qhvzH8hercPyZCwXr7I9KKpv5Xv2cO1R6UVW3xk_3BsLSs0is_4czw/w501-h884/SJ+EX+JF2003001.jpg" width="501" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">CHROMATIC NEIGHBORS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Another form of the ornamentation is to use chromatic neighbors. Instead of staying within the given tonality or key signature, always place lower neighbors a half-step below and upper neighbors a half-step above. Example 3 show a portion of thirds and triads with chromatic neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Playing through these examples should give the general idea of how neighbor tones work. Take these patterns through all twelve major keys, without look at music. Once the sound gets in your ear, these should come relatively easily. For clarity’s sake, the patterns in example 1-3 work well on the following chords: C major (ionian), D minor seventh (dorian), E phrygian, F major seven sharp eleven (lydian), G dominant seven (mixolydian), A natural minor (aeolian), and B Locrian. The whole process could (and should) be repeated for the modes of melodic minor, and any other diatonic scale system that might prove useful for improvisation, such as harmonic minor, harmonic major (ionian flat six), etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">YIELDING THE RIGHT NOTES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Practicing these patterns will build dexterity, and playing them will yield “right notes,” but the overall sound will be relatively bland and predictable. The next step towards building a dynamic vocabulary, or “hipping things up,” is working with more interesting patterns. Remember, neighbor tones will work on any pattern of repeating note cells. Example 4 shows the pattern “up a second, up a fourth” with upper chromatic neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">USING BOTH NEIGHBORS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Until now, we have been using one neighbor at a time. It is possible to use both neighbors, upper and lower, to encircle the target note. Example 5 demonstrates the same basic cell as Example 4, but embellished with double chromatic neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There are many other ways that neighbor tones can be applied to diatonic patterns. One way is to place the neighbor tone inside the cell, instead of at the beginning. Example 6 illustrates this concept by subscribing the lower chromatic neighbor to the third in diatonic triads.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">MAKING UP PATTERNS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">By practicing simple patterns for speed and comfort, it becomes possible to make up patterns on the spot, while improvising over chord changes. It also develops mental and physical dexterity to play longer, more challenging patterns. Example 7 shows a pattern which is larger and more complex than the preceding examples. The pattern consists of fully extended thirteenth arpeggios with alternating upper and lower chromatic neighbors before every note.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">USING MANY NEIGHBORS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">When playing a complicated pattern with many neighbors, it helps to mentally focus on the basic notes of the pattern. Visualize the neighbors in a different way, so that you don’t get tangled up in the chromaticism. I try to see the target notes as rungs on a ladder, and the neighbor tones are the spaces between the rungs. Another way might be to see the target notes as red and the neighbors as yellow, or whatever color scheme works for you. I practice improvising patterns with the metronome, forcing myself to stay in perfect time. IF I am unable to play the pattern precisely with the metronome, I keep turning the tempo down until I can play evenly and without pausing to think. From there, if the pattern is musically attractive to me, I’ll keep speeding it up.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">LESS THINKING MORE MOTOR SKILLS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In the early stages of practice, it is necessary to think about each note. As the motor skills take over, there is less thinking involved. The ultimate goal is to be able to turn a pattern on and let it fly with no mental effort. The mind is then free to be creative with the pattern. You might think about different rhythms to play, varying articulations, changing the time feel, or working with tone colors. Music can be made using patterns, but never forget that patterns alone are not music! Peace. §</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">#diatonicpatterns #neighbortones </span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-90072947558270356422021-11-29T12:38:00.001-05:002021-11-29T12:40:26.003-05:00Critical Thinking About Jazz Improvisation<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <i style="text-align: center;"><span>This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, Sept/Oct 1996. Volume 21, No. 2</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span> </span>It is important to feel good about your playing. If playing the saxophone were unpleasant, clearly a magazine like this one wouldn’t exist. For many saxophonists, it becomes very easy to “get comfortable” when a certain level of proficiency and (especially) technique is achieved. It is in these moments of satisfaction that we must be able to continue to look critically at our own playing. This is not be confused with beating yourself up, a practice which I wholeheartedly discourage. What I am suggesting is developing the ability to remain cognizant of what is really coming out of your horn.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In recent years I have enjoyed a modest amount of success and attention.<span> </span>I would be lying if I said that those things don’t matter to me and I am unaffected.<span> </span>This would be clearly lying with the pretense of being modest. Never, ever do that.<span> </span>It is important to have a generous amount of humility in your overall vibe, but when someone pays you a compliment, no matter what you might think, smile and say “thank you.”<span> </span>This is a lesson that I learned from my former teacher and friend Lynn Klock, and he credits the lesson to his mentor, the late Larry Teal.<span> </span>It [<strike>would be, often]</strike> is very easy for me to feel quite good about myself, in certain contexts.<span> </span>Hanging out in the comfort zone for too long is devastating to progress.<span> </span>This is why it is necessary to find fault with your playing: not to take away from the pleasure of the moments in which high quality and artistry is achieved, but to know what needs to be practiced and worked out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I’ve included a “Mental Checklist” that I try to use sometimes before I improvise.<span> </span>Clearly it would not be possible to think about all ten things at once or even in the space of one solo.<span> </span>The key is to assimilate these things into the automatic processes one at a time, thus making it possible to make a new list of considerations.<span> </span>I think about most of these ten things, but usually end up focusing on two to four of them.<span> </span>Obviously, choosing a different focus in a particular solo will produce a different musical result.<span> </span>One time, I might be really concentrating on varying my articulation and time feel, but my tone might be relatively straight ahead and unchanging.<span> </span>The next time I might concentrate on leaving space for the solo solo to breathe and varying the tone colors, but I might neglect a different slant musically.<span> </span>This list is also ever changing.<span> </span>As one topic becomes automated, a new topic immediately takes its place in the checklist.<span> </span>There was a time when my checklist included topics like “Am I clearly outlining the harmony,” “Am I not starting on the root of every chord every time,” “and “Am I sitting up straight?”<span> </span>This is an illustration of the reasoning behind my checklist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mental Checklist<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I playing with my best possible tone?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I thinking about variety in the tonal colors?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Is my time feel connecting with the musical environment?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Are my rhythms varied and interesting?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Is my articulation varied and interesting?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I developing my ideas throughout the solo?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Is my body physically relaxed<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I leaving adequate space (rest)?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I just playing licks when I don’t know what to play?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Am I making a spiritual statement about my life through my instrument?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number one is about my tendency to sometimes get caught up in what the notes are instead of what the notes sound like.<span> </span>Who cares if I just played a tone row and then perfectly inverted it in retrograde if the tone is crummy?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number two is about my tendency to only think about my tone at the beginning and end of phrases.<span> </span>This relates back to my article on “Not Sculpting.”<span> </span>Number three is important in that it is often overlooked by immature players.<span> </span>Besides simply playing the notes evenly or with a good swing feel, how does my time fit in with the rhythm section’s?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Nothing is more uncomfortable to listen to than a soloist who is unable to coalesce with the drummer and bass player’s time feel.<span> </span>Many players will set up a dynamic of playing with and against the time feel of the band as a source of tension and release.<span> </span>This allows a new dimension in resolution.<span> </span>Number four is rather self explanatory.<span> </span>No one wants to hear a continuous string of unending eight notes without any variation.<span> </span>Number five is a strong point that many of us miss.<span> </span>A strong vocabulary of articulations can lead to an extremely personal sound.<span> </span>I got this feeling from hearing Joe Henderson in concert recently.<span> </span>The variation is way beyond just staccato and legato, but more within the many shades of gray which lie between the extremes.<span> </span>Other masters of articulation include Jerry Bergonzi, David Liebman, and of course Charlie Parker.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number six is seemingly obvious, but in the heat of the moment, it becomes relatively easy to just keep churning out material that sounds good rather than to deal with the material as a whole.<span> </span>For a real feeling of motivic development, check out the writing of Jim McNeely.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number seven is vital to good saxophone playing.<span> </span>By forcing the body into unnatural positions while playing, the best thing that can happen is what valuable energy will be lost absorbed by the action of setting up body tension.<span> </span>At worst, physical stress can spell tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome down the road.<span> </span>This is bad news and very easily avoidable if a certain respect for the human body as it related to playing the saxophone is maintained.<span> </span>I remind myself to not try to hold the weight of the saxophone in my hands; let the neckstrap do its job!<span> </span>If you need a better neckstrap, just get one.<span> </span>There is no excuse for causing bodily harm to oneself in the process of creating art (as far as I am concerned anyway!).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number eight is my way to keep from filling up every available space with a flurry of notes.<span> </span>It is important to remember that without silence, there would be no music.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number nine is extremely important for all improvisers to consider.<span> </span>Remember that playing a lick from the mental library simply because “it fits there” is the antithesis of improvisation.<span> </span>I like to connect this with leaving space.<span> </span>The solution to the problem is this: When in doubt, lay out!<span> </span>Nothing is more obvious than regurgitating patterns in the appropriate places in lieu of making any real artistic motion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Number ten is for me, the most important factor of them all.<span> </span>Music only moves me when it sounds like it is reflective of a particular experience.<span> </span>Yusef Lateef once told me that improvisation is a reflection of the human experience.<span> </span>If your music is not somehow connected with your overall aesthetic, what purpose does it serve, other than to chill folks out in the elevator or the dentist’s chair!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; 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</style></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Never forget that in order to get better, it is necessary to locate the weaknesses and refine them while keeping the strongs strong. Critical thinking about music is vital in order to maintain a healthy balance between feeling good and feeling inspired to move on. Until next time, practice hard. §</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">#improvisation #checklist #critical #larryteal #lynnklock #yuseflateef</span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-46647118689516944992021-11-23T14:11:00.002-05:002021-11-23T14:11:52.614-05:00In admiration: Matt Smiley<p> I was so happy to read this fantastic article about my former student and friend forever, Matt Smiley:</p><p><a href="https://theboldcu.com/2021/11/matt-smiley-riding-the-waves-of-free-jazz/?fbclid=IwAR115hMCnuJYlhHNM-CgAyxbyatOgVTDBJZUiD5N07YopxKlr0yjC-XyVj8" target="_blank">Matt Smiley: Riding the Waves of Free Jazz</a></p><p>Matt graduated from JMU in 2007, he took a number of classes with me, but most importantly, he spent several years as the bassist in my trio on a weekly club gig in downtown Harrisonburg, VA. When he started playing with me, he was not really ready for the gig. But whatever he lacked in knowledge and experience, he made up for with giant ears and boundless enthusiasm for the music. I pushed him very hard on the gig, often giving him extended solos and challenging him to "find a new gear" as we took the intensity higher and higher. I was able to watch him grow up in the classroom and on the bandstand. It remains one of the most memorable chapters of my career.</p><p>Five years after he left Harrisonburg to begin his career in Colorado, he invited me to record an album with another wonderful JMU grad and alum of my trio, Matt Coyle, their fellow JMU alum trumpeter, Josh Reed, and Colorado guitarist Ryan Fourt. I count this album as one of my finest recordings. To share the studio with former students who had become very much my equal was unforgettable. It is important to note that Brother Smiley treated me in a thoroughly professional manner, flying me out, setting me up with a very nice hotel room, food and drink, and he paid me my normal recording fee. There was also beautiful fellowship and meaningful conversations that still resonate in my mind.</p><p><a href="https://www.allaboutjazz.com/quartet-art-matt-smiley-dazzle-recordings-review-by-florence-wetzel" target="_blank">The album earned 4.5 stars in allaboutjazz and you can read the review here.</a></p><p>I remember the moment that I realized that Matt Smiley was going to be something very special. He was in my advanced improvisation class at JMU, performing a transcription of an unaccompanied bass solo by Dave Holland - I'm pretty sure that it was Solar.</p><p>As he started playing, I thought that the cd player must have stopped. His eyes were closed and I didn't want to stop him, so I got up and looked at the stereo. To my surprise, the cd was playing normally. Matt had learned every nuance of this solo so perfectly that his tremendous bass sound completely covered the album as it played on the large sound system in the classroom. My eyes widened as I sat back down and listened with my full attention.</p><p>Matt demonstrated the true art of transcription better than any other student that I have ever witnessed (no offense to my many wonderful students!). It isn't about the notes, or certainly not the notes alone. His huge fundamentals on the bass, his attention to articulation, to intonation, to phrasing, and most of all, to THE ENERGY of the recording elevated his understanding of music. Not just that one particular recording, but all music. I have told this story many times. I witnessed a transformation in his musicianship that turned into an unstoppable freight train. He was indeed "riding the wave."</p><p>There is a wide misunderstanding about so-called free jazz musicians. The modern free jazz artist must have a level of musicianship that equals any other virtuoso in any other style. They must also be capable of instantly imagining and creating in real time, reacting to the environment, all while allowing the music to rise and fall as organically as possible. Once a free improvisation begins, it flows like a river. The greatest free artists give life to an idea that becomes a living thing. They must feed the idea without unduly influencing its evolution. Free music rises from the air, tells a story, and comes to an end. It is a most exhilarating experience and it can only reach the ultimate heights when the musicians subdue their egos and submit to the integrity and momentum of the original idea.</p><p>It goes without saying that I have great love and admiration for Matt Smiley. He has become a complete artist and scholar, all while remaining a kind and generous human. His friendship means the world to me and he reminds me of the incredible privilege that teaching has given me over the years. Matt will soon be completing a doctorate and I imagine that some university will be incredibly lucky to hire him. He is a shining example of the performer-composer-improviser paradigm that is so important to the new generation of musicianship in higher education. He is leading the way and I can hardly wait to see what the future holds for him.</p><p>Keep riding that wave, my brother. 💜💛💜💛</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-70392110465867677922021-03-12T13:14:00.003-05:002021-03-12T17:56:56.461-05:00The Greatest Saxophonists in the World - and how the very idea is harming us<p> <span> The recent controversy in the saxophone world surrounding the release of "this year's model" tore the curtains back to reveal a deep and painful division. What is argued to be the greatest saxophone company in the world appeared to unintentionally work on a new instrument for eight years without consulting any women saxophonists. The problem, at least in my opinion, is that they had eight years to think about it and nobody ever noticed until it was too late. </span>A quick look at the list of their endorsing artists reveals a long list of outstanding women, so the questions remains. What went wrong?</p><p>I have been a university saxophone professor for over twenty years. A quick look back at my list of students reveals that about 40% of my class has been female. I can also think of a long list of incredible women that I have either studied with, performed with, or admired. You actually don't have to work very hard at all to come up with a list of highly accomplished female saxophonists.</p><p>When I asked friends and students what they thought about the absence of the voice of women in the big release, two answers were very common.</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I didn't really notice until someone pointed it out.</li><li>They [the company] just wanted to focus on the best players in the world.</li></ol><div>Point number one perfectly illustrates the underlying problem. If you are a woman, you noticed. If you are a man, it could easily sail right by you. That is how privilege works. We tend not to notice exclusion when we are not the ones being excluded. There is much to unpack there, but for now, let's look at number two.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>THE IDEA OF "BEST"</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I asked my students some questions about the second suggestion:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How do we know who are the best saxophonists in the world?</li><li>Who actually decides?</li><li>Who is helped or harmed by this list?</li></ul><div>For fun, I conducted a little experiment. I googled "best saxophonists in the world." I know, I know. This is a ridiculous thing to do, but I had no trouble getting a list. I went with the top hit and was instantly hit with some interesting information. In this "top ten," I found myself looking at a list of saxophonists that were entirely jazz musicians, almost entirely black men, and mostly deceased. I kept looking at lists, but google would only give me lists of jazz saxophonists. The only way that I could get any classical saxophonists was to include the word "classical" in my search.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>When I did include the word classical, I got a list from a British website that included Rascher, Mule, Rousseau, and three British saxophonists. One of those saxophonists had a business connection with the parent company of the site. This wasn't much of a list, but at least some of the saxophonists were alive, and two of them were women. At the end of my little experiment, and it was indeed <i>little, </i>I was unable to find a list that included classical and jazz saxophonists on a single list.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before we continue, I want to emphasize that this is probably the least scientific investigation that I have ever conducted. I fully realize that google won't even give us the same results, and search engines show us what is <i>popular</i> or what they are paid to show us. Google doesn't actually have expertise or an opinion on the matter. What follows is just some observations that may or may not have much value, but I think that we find some good fodder for discussion.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WHAT DOES GOOGLE LIKE?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Google tells us that the best saxophonists play jazz. Why is that? I will argue that jazz has historically been far more popular in terms of commercial success. Most of these saxophonists are dead because the golden age of jazz, at least in terms of selling records and generating profit through festivals and clubs, well, it is over. If we use record sales and media presence as metrics, modern artists cannot compete because the market has diminished greatly over the years. There is an unbreakable connection here between "the best" and "the most popular."</div><div><br /></div><div>If we continue on this path, jazz is historically far more popular than so-called classical saxophone. Larry Teal became the first full-time American saxophone professor in the United States in the 1950s, so it is important to note that the saxophone was a marginalized instrument. If you had the desire and the means to study music formally, it was very difficult to do that as a saxophonist. On the other hand, the saxophone was considerably more accessible to African American men that had severely limited access to music schools, and they could learn jazz from the recordings and from the community, essentially becoming self-taught. This seems to have been socially acceptable for men, but far less so for women, which illustrates the damage of being even farther marginalized.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>HOW DO WE MEASURE?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Getting back to the question of "best," how do we measure musical greatness? We can obviously make subjective observations, such as tonal beauty, phrasing, and perceived virtuosity. It is also possible to take some objective measurements, like accuracy of intonation, speed of articulation, and range. When I looked at my original list of "bests," two saxophonists (whom I love very much) threw this method of evaluation into chaos: Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ornette and Ayler make the subjective elements difficult to use as a meaningful comparison with more traditional saxophonists. If Ornette was our first expressionist, Ayler is our Jackson Pollock. I am firmly convinced that Albert Ayler didn't really play the saxophone very well [edit: Ayler is very important to me, but I am suggesting that he cannot, and should not, be evaluated in terms such as "accuracy of intonation"] because it wasn't a requirement for the music that he brought forth from his imagination. He was speaking in tongues and communicating more with waves of sound than with notes. It is extremely important to acknowledge that these avant-gardists had an important influence on many of the other "bests" on the list, including John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. That influence did not involve any of my suggested measures of musical greatness because Free Jazz transcends the sum of its parts. In other words, some music doesn't necessarily require perfect intonation or purity of tone.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>THE LIST HAS AN AGENDA</b></div><div><br /></div><div>My first google hit for classical saxophone demonstrates source-generated bias. Half of this list was British saxphonists, and while I agree that all three listed are excellent musicians. It was a little hard to imagine that Cecil Leeson, Donald Sinta, or Fred Hemke (for example) would not be on this list. Remember, this list came from the BBC, and one person on the list works for the BBC. As with most lists of "bests," whether we are talking about musicians or phone apps, the list has an agenda.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another curiosity that I encountered is that the classical list included Mule and Rascher, the pioneers of the style. As a student of the saxophone, one must study both of these founders. The jazz list, however, completely ignored Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Lester Young . . . even though they are the founders, and Hawkins is arguably the inventor of the extended improvisation in jazz. Every single saxophonist on the jazz list would be impossible without those founders. I believe that they are not included because Sonny, Trane, and Bird sold more records. They were commercially more popular, and that seems to be a metric that is hidden just below the surface of what is means to be "best."</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>"THE CLUB"</b></div><div><br /></div><div>When I was a young man, my goal was to be "the greatest saxophonist in the world." I practiced myself into physical and mental illness that endured for several decades. I practiced furiously, I continued to win awards and garner professional accolades, but I realized that I would never be able to break into "the club." The idea of being "the best" was very damaging to my personal happiness, and wellness. I started to get better when I made peace with the fact that "best" is an illusion that is generated by those with power. When we allow ourselves to believe that only a certain number of elite artists are the exclusive top of field, we are being manipulated into buying products. Worse still, as the echo chamber increases in amplitude, there is even less room for others to be recognized. This is how record companies, concert promoters, and product manufacturers invent an imaginary club called "best in the world," but I have concluded that the <i>real </i>club is almost everyone else in the profession; not being in the club <i>is </i>the club!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>STOP USING SUPERLATIVES</b></div><div><br /></div><div>There are some very real things that saxophonists can do to heal our community. Firstly, I think that we need to stop using the language of superlatives. Coleman Hawkins and Marcel Mule are <i>essential</i>, but there is no reason to rank them, and even if you could, what would be the point? Second, we must stop believing in the idea of "best in the world." This is difficult because there are powerful forces that are purposefully <i>and/or </i>unintentionally reinforcing the idea of "best." I honestly believe that the company that started this controversy did not realize that they were believing their own list, the list that they created. That is how echo chambers operate, after all. Finally, we need to look for new artists and make our own determinations, and we need to support those artists.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>DIVERSITY IS REALITY</b></div><div><br /></div><div>When I was starting my career, I went to work for <i>Saxophone Journal</i>. I was told on the day that I was hired</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>We don't review, we only recommend (positivity and support)</li><li>We always feature classical, jazz, and rock/pop/smooth jazz artists</li><li>We always include racial and gender diversity because it reflects the real world</li></ol><div>I remember Dave Gibson, editor of the magazine, said that featuring women was important because they are literally everywhere in the profession. The approach was not to require token this-or-that every so often. The magazine strove to include everyone. I had no idea how ahead of their time they were. That approach continued with <i>Saxophone Today, </i>and I see a similar philosophy at <i>The Saxophonist. </i>It is easy to support diversity in the saxophone world because it exists.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>[Did you notice that Google didn't show me any rock or smooth jazz saxophonists? No Junior Walker? No Clarence Clemmons? No Candy Dulfer? No Kenny G?]</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Every facet of my professional life improved when I stopped trying to be the best, when I saw <i>the club</i> as an artificial construct. No matter how one tries to measure musical greatness, the bottom line is that we make beauty in the air, and if we try to measure beauty, we damage the music, and ourselves. There is room for everyone, but before we can invite people into the space, we have to make room in our own heads.</div><div><br /></div><div>Practice well, and share the light.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-74318682513656412862021-01-03T13:30:00.001-05:002021-01-03T13:58:51.698-05:00Remembering Benny Carter at the Eastman School of Music, 1996<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span> I was a first-year arranging student in the masters program at Eastman in the spring of 1996. Fred Sturm, my mentor and the head of the program at the time, arranged for Benny to do a short residency and Fred had asked him to send some charts. I will never forget when Fred showed me the old trunk that Benny sent with his original, hand-written parts! They were priceless manuscripts, and Benny just sent them to us.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also remember that in the first rehearsal, Benny teared up after hearing us play and he said something like, and this is a paraphrase from my memory, "I haven't heard this music live since we first played it in 1940. I can't believe that you young guys are even interested in it, never mind that you sound just like the original." I don't think that any of us ever got over that moment. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also remember that Benny's alto sound filled the Eastman Theatre. It was huge and warm. Listening back to his recordings from the 1920s, his style hadn't really changed, but it was an education to be in the room with a human time machine. He also apologized for not being able to play the trumpet anymore, but his chops were gone. Benny was 89 years old at this time!!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As a person, he was very generous and kind. I will never forget how warmly he greeted us. I don't think he looked at the clock once. Benny Carter was charming, funny, and self-effacing, so much so that you might forget that, along with Johnny Hodges, he literally invented the jazz alto saxophone. (He remarked that he wanted to play C-melody like Trumbauer, but he could only afford an alto, so that was it!)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Below are my notes from Benny's masterclass, where he was assisted by his biographer, Ed Berger. When Benny couldn't remember an answer, Ed would answer for him and Benny would say, "That's right! How do you remember more about my life than I do?" It was simply unforgettable and I'm so happy that I found these notes.</span></p><span><span style="font-size: large;"><a name='more'></a></span></span><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">David Pope’s notes from Benny Carter Masterclass<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">with Ed Berger (Benny’s biographer)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eastman School of Music, 1996<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Inspired by Frankie Trumbauer (“I’ll Never Miss the Sunshine, I’m So Used To The Rain”), Wayne King, Coleman Hawkins, Mamie Smith Jazz Band<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Contemporaries with Johnny Hodges<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">[Graciously skirted around the issue of the King of Thailand’s talent/sax playing]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Encouraged to play trumpet by Doc Cheatham, still uses mouthpiece given to him in 1932<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the direction of jazz: “Still progressing,” he was very positive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Taught off & on at Princeton: “I learned more than the students did!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Started arranging without scores, writing part by part, because he didn’t KNOW about scores!!!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I don’t think anything really fresh has happened since Charlie Parker”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Played with Duke Ellington in 1926 (when Harvey Boone was ill) and in 1968 (when Harry Carney was ill)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Always only use kind words: “I’d like to make the best of a bad picture”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I’m not really the grandfather of jazz, just a god son.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">When offered a film score gig in the style of Oliver Nelson, he said, “I could do it, but why not just call Oliver?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Said, “I avoided drugs by a lack of money and pure luck!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Are you writing anything new?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">A: “No . . . well, new to me. I thought you meant revolutionary!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Some of today’s music is very interesting, although I may not like it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Quincy Jones can do anything. He is the real renaissance man of the music business. He knows where the pulse of the public is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">On Ornette Coleman: “Very interesting and original. He calls it ‘harmolodic’ but I don’t understand what that is. I guess I’m not musically intellectual enough.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the movie, Bird: “I think that Clint Eastwood clearly had good intentions and loved the music, but he did Charlie Parker no favors with the film.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“ . . . I do listen to music I don’t like once in a while to see which way the wind is blowing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I’m glad I didn’t come along after Charlie Parker!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-68691225264802983412021-01-01T14:13:00.000-05:002021-01-01T14:13:35.764-05:00<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br />This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, March/April 2013. Volume 37, No. 4</span></i></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Creating Synthetic Bop Scales<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Improvisers are presented with the interesting challenge of figuring out “what to play.” Beyond the most basic chord/scale theory, there is a tremendous amount of flexibility for note choices, and you are “the decider.” In this issue, we will look at some ways of finding interesting linear additions to the most familiar of sources: the major scale. Hopefully, readers are already familiar with the bop seventh scale (containing both the major <i>and </i>the flatted seventh). This scale is a mode of the major bop scale, which utilizes the raised fourth degree as a chromatic passing tone between steps four and five. The following scales are all variations of the major scale, but with chromatic passing tones in different places. For lack of a better label, I call these </span><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">synthetic bop scales.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidaDM0PoPPWkJdDHFpO3E_EhVd9mqPexqvPyTbfTI8kS-PqdWFqSVYNxh_bAgAZ89j7elYhwKoFz24zp4WJgwJ7-CGRjMxKsOiZIWFxcYHsxLMBLAJgP6QF300MQEQ4Znm6UL4ATlGw/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1991" height="543" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidaDM0PoPPWkJdDHFpO3E_EhVd9mqPexqvPyTbfTI8kS-PqdWFqSVYNxh_bAgAZ89j7elYhwKoFz24zp4WJgwJ7-CGRjMxKsOiZIWFxcYHsxLMBLAJgP6QF300MQEQ4Znm6UL4ATlGw/w528-h543/synthetic.jpg" width="528" /></a></span></i></div><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">For reference, example 1 shows the major bop scale in G major, commonly used on tonic chords – for the rest of this article, all scales should be considered relative to a G major chord. It is worth noticing that adding a pitch to a traditional, 7-note diatonic scale results in an even number of notes. This means that we can span the octave in eighth notes, starting and ending on downbeats (or upbeats, if we choose). Symmetrical phrasing, if desired, is easily achieved with this arrangement of notes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The traditional version of the bop scale is found throughout the repertoire, but the concept of adding a passing tone to a basic set of pitches is actually at the core of the bebop tradition. In example 2, the passing tone is in a different place, connecting the second and third degrees of the major scale. This new scale has a bluesy sound, especially if we emphasize the chromatic note. Example 3 moves the passing tone upward, bridging the fifth and sixth. This scale has a brighter, or perhaps a more neutral sound than example 2. Adjectives are highly subjective in this context, so I encourage you to play the scales for yourself and to find your own way of describing the sound. Example 4 crushes the passing tone down to the sharp one. This is a particularly dissonant sounding scale, encroaching on the tonic note. This is a great choice for creating tension!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There is no reason to strictly adhere to one scale. Example 5 ascends with one scale, and descends with another. Naturally, it would also be possible to mix and match in whatever order you might choose, or to use chromaticism randomly, depending upon the musical situation. At a certain point, the randomness would cease to suggest scales, at least from the perspective of the listener. I find myself frequently aiming for a target and improvising the appropriate number of passing tones to get the right resolution. This takes practice, and the fundamentals of that level of improvisation are contained in a preliminary mastery of the scales themselves. At its best, this kind of improvising has an exciting, edge-of-your-seat kind of sound.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Another compelling property of this chromaticism is the potential for fitting more notes into a relatively narrow range than a diatonic scale will allow. For that specific reason, many trumpet players are exceptionally good at improvising these kinds of snaking lines, since range, and conservation of chops are more of an issue for them. Taken to the extreme, one could even use microtones to squeeze in even more notes into a small space. Example 6 places a quarter-step passing tone between the major seventh and the root (finger an F# in the normal way, and add the side F# key, raising the pitch an extra quarter-step). This is very dissonant, creating an almost <i>anxious </i>quality to the sound. I use a variety of these microtonal scales, which I will present in a future column. For the interested student, there are excellent quarter-tone fingering charts in the books of Londeix and Ronald Caravan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Back in the realm of more conventional bebop technique, example 7 provides three phrase endings that I associate with Charlie Parker, all based on the previous examples. Bird was the master of executing long, flowing lines that always managed to neatly punctuate with licks that have become the wonderful clichés of the bop language. Examples 8 and 9 show two sample lines, using elements from the previous examples, again to be played over a G Major chord. For contrast, the former is very scalar, spanning well over an octave, while the latter is very tightly compressed, for increased tension over a smaller range.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A truly great improviser gives the audience the feeling that they are hearing a unique voice. Sound is obviously the most important musical element, and the core of musical identity, but there are many players that are deeply associated with <i>the way</i> that they play the changes. Joe Henderson is a great example of both types of uniqueness, with his dry, compact tone and his highly individual (and virtuosic) arpeggiations. As you explore the possibilities, pay careful attention to the bits of language that sound good to you, and then work those musical bits and pieces into your approach with the highest degree of mastery possible. You will end up with more ways to play the changes, but you will also build a vocabulary that helps to define your overall sound. Practice well! §</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-15491963582181470002020-12-01T10:39:00.001-05:002020-12-03T23:51:49.367-05:00Developing an Improvisational Language<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">This article originally appeared in Saxophone Journal, May/June 2013. Volume 37, No. 5</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Jazz might be the music of poets and lovers, but it also attracts plenty of jocks and tough guys. Individual style speaks to the way that we see the world, and how we relate to our environment. Improvisation is usually interactive, and therefore a social activity, but it can sometimes be quite the opposite. In the moment, we can channel the quiet, internal world of the mind, or aggressively charge forth, all blood and guts. The language of each improviser is a unique and personal spectrum of expression, and the cult of jazz personality is sustained by heart-on-sleeve performances, even if the heart is one of cool, detached intellectualism, or even a heart of darkness. At a certain level of artistry, when the need for proving and posturing is over, we can fully become who we already were.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I recently played a short stint in Colorado with some truly fine musicians that I was meeting for the first time.<span> </span>On one of the breaks, a band member was asking me about some of the things that I had played in the previous set.<span> </span>He described the things that he had heard in a way that I hadn’t really thought of before, but he was articulating, in his own way, some of the deeper processes of improvisation.<span> </span>It was very interesting to get the perspective of a stranger with a highly developed ear, after carefully listening (and interacting in a supremely artistic manner, I should add!).<span> </span>This caused me to reflect on all the different ways that I think about improvising, and how I slowly accrued those methodologies, one by one, over many years of hard practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There is no single “correct” method for learning how to improvise.<span> </span>I know great players that used play-alongs and chord/scale theory, while others relied mostly on transcribing.<span> </span>Some shun transcribing altogether, for fear of sounding too much like somebody else.<span> </span>Furthermore, the nomenclature can very widely among a group of well-matched musicians, making it more challenging to talk about the music.<span> </span>Sometimes, a student can be totally hung up by a method of deriving information because it just doesn’t make sense to them.<span> </span>For example, when I was a student, I learned about something called the <i>super locrian</i>scale.<span> </span>It was explained to me as a major scale with the root raised by half-step.<span> </span>This made my brain hurt.<span> </span>Another student explained it to me as a locrian scale with a lowered fourth.<span> </span>This made the left hemisphere of my brain slowly melt out of my ear!<span> </span>I struggled for a long time, never really mastering that part of the language until the day that someone showed me that you could go up a half-step from the root and play the ascending form of melodic minor.<span> </span>For some reason, that explanation made very clear sense to me, and to this very day, I continue to think about altered dominants in this way.<span> </span>All roads lead to the same place, but we usually need to find the path that best suits our individual needs.<span> </span>Now and then, it is necessary to learn something a few different ways before the concept finally sinks in.<span> </span>There are no shortcuts in the learning business.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Jazz culture places soloists above all, and this leads to egoism. There is a strong tendency to act cool and aloof, even when we don’t know what the heck is going on.<span> </span>Especially when we don’t know what’s going on.<span> </span>The long-term damage of the shuck-and-jive routine can literally set you back by years.<span> </span>By admitting that you don’t understand something, you can keep trying to find a new way to comprehend a given concept.<span> </span>If you ask ten teachers to explain something, you are likely to get as many as ten different accounts of the truth.<span> </span>This can be confusing, but only until you find the way that makes the most sense to you.<span> </span>Never give up, and never be afraid to say, “I still don’t understand.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As a teacher, my philosophy is that the best way to solve problems is to distill each challenge into a clear statement.<span> </span>A problem should be expressed in a single sentence, in plain language.<span> </span>For instance, “I don’t know what to play on half-diminished chords.”<span> </span>If the problem is too complex to state in one sentence, try to break it down into a set of smaller, simpler problems.<span> </span>Once the problem is clearly established, the answers (and there usually are multiple solutions) can be laid out in the same, matter-of-fact language.<span> </span>One path for our sample problem might be something like, “Play a melodic minor scale on the third,” or, “Play a major seven sharp-five chord on the tritone.”<span> </span>Simplicity is about minimizing the number of steps necessary to solve the puzzle.<span> </span>Life on the bandstand is fast and furious.<span> </span>A moment of hesitation is all it takes to get lost.<span> </span>Get to the important stuff as quickly as possible, not by cutting corners, but by identifying the straightest path.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The issue of multiple solutions has a lot to do that expanding bag of tricks.<span> </span>Once we understand a particular way of negotiating a chord type, or a progression, we should master that method and then search for alternatives.<span> </span>If we only have one way of getting out of trouble, we will only use that way, and once your audience can easily anticipate your next move, they will be bored with you and they will stop listening.<span> </span>Much in the way that great writers constantly seek new metaphors and expressive devices, the improviser must expand his/her language.<span> </span>New sounds and melodic structures will keep solos sounding fresh, and provide a greater capacity for <i>choice</i>.<span> </span>The single most potent element of improvisation is the ability of the musician to make choices, on the fly, and in the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Long-time readers of my column know that I tend towards a wide variety of techniques.<span> </span>I have written about chord/scale theory, upper structures, modal approaches, voice-leading techniques, triad pairs, and even atonal systems and tone rows.<span> </span>An over-reliance on any one way of thinking will lead to predictability, and then monotony (for the listener <i>and </i>for the player).<span> </span>My training has given me flexibility to quickly adapt to different musical environments.<span> </span>I enjoy playing all kinds of music, and I can equally enjoy burning an up-tempo swinger or laying back on an atmospheric ballad.<span> </span>In retrospect, it is easy to see how I amassed the different techniques that ultimately formed my voice.<span> </span>Here are a few key points that have worked for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Never immediately discount anything, ever. Give it a chance, or put it away for future exploration.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Study with a master teacher for an extended period of time.<span> </span>Then find a new master.<span> </span>Repeat as necessary.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Transcribe one artist until you gain deep insight into his style.<span> </span>Then find a new artist.<span> </span>Repeat as necessary.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Respect the tradition, study history, and get the oldest musician in town to tell you her stories.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Don’t lie to yourself, and don’t quit.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Have a notebook.<span> </span>Fill it.<span> </span>Get a new notebook.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Be confident, but always assume that there is a better player in the band, and an even better player in the audience.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Be generous on stage and share the spotlight.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Regularly read all sorts of books, magazines, and newspapers.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>10.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--> Teach! You will nurture the future of music by helping young artists, and by building new audiences. (You will also learn unexpected things from your students.)</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There are no shortcuts to becoming a master. You will make choices that relate to your values, musical and otherwise. You will face dark hours of intense doubt. There will be spectacular successes, and punishing humiliations. It takes a long time, and patience isn’t exactly cultivated in contemporary society. If you can muscle it out, endure the tough times, and keep your nose to the wheel, you will eventually get there. It is only a question of how badly you want it, and how much you are willing to sacrifice to get there. Everyone is unique, but nobody is born a master. It is a process of becoming. Practice well! §</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-92110837151823723822020-07-31T10:56:00.001-04:002020-07-31T10:56:56.295-04:00Should I take a gap year?<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Some interesting debates online about "should you change majors, "should you take a gap," etc. Here is my honest take - the same thing that I share with my students and my own children:</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">1. A gap year only makes sense if you have something better lined up than being a f/t student. If your plan is to live with your parents and drive food delivery or bag groceries, I don't think that is going to do much for your mental health. Worse still, you might end up living at home, sleeping all day and playing video games at night with no job at all. You'd be better off at least taking some classes online.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">2. A college degree is a degree. How many of us do something that is different from, or tangential to, our actual majors. I am primarily a classical saxophone professor, but my degrees are in jazz studies and jazz arranging. Closely related? Sure! But I took on the extra study and teaching outside of my required curricula, which took extra time and money.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">3. A degree will get you through the screening process of jobs that *require* a degree, but only YOU can develop the skills necessary to win a job. You are the architect of your future.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">4. Don't make a one semester plan. Make a 5-year plan. Allow for contingencies, of course. Have an optimistic top tier and a last ditch version, if nothing else works out. After my masters degree, I ended up at the bottom rung of my plan, but 3 years later, I was back on top.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">5. You certainly don't *have* to go to college. It is expensive, and we are all worried about having to go back online while the pandemic continues to wreak havoc. With that said, think carefully about how you spend, borrow, and invest. I still believe that education is an incredibly valuable investment.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">6. How you spend the hours is how you spend your life. It is over quickly. Be smart, be realistic, but don't give up just because things look bleak. This is temporary, and we are all sharing in the suffering.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Hang in there! If you are a college student, don't let anyone pressure you into doing anything. You have big decisions to make and they are YOUR decisions. The people that love you will support your decisions as well as they can.</div></div>David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-10791394981756833562020-07-22T20:02:00.001-04:002020-07-23T00:28:05.467-04:00What Makes a Great Performance? World Saxophone Quartet was the first sax quartet that I really listened to. 30+ years later, I am still listening. On the edge of my seat. Heart pounding. Arms up. I am still listening.<br />
<br />
However, there is a problem. I strive to play with perfect pitch. I preach to my students to play with magical blend. We strive for control: control of the sound, control of the articulation, play perfectly together. We reach for perfection, but World Saxophone Quartet was anything except perfection (I'm writing about the classic 1980s lineup). They were rough, raw, and often, OUT OF CONTROL. I'm a saxophone professor, sitting in my basement with a collection of recordings that allow me to hear just about anything that I want, and I am listening to what moves me: perfect imperfection.<br />
<br />
Looking at this paradox, I reflect on what I consider to be my best performances.<br />
<br />
1. Performing John Mackey's Concerto at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference, around 10 years ago. I had the opportunity to play it on a little tour with the JMU Wind Symphony leading up to VMEA, and I started experimenting with improvisation on the cadenza. It was high pressure, a packed hall, but I had just had a revelation through my studies with Michael Colgrass. I flung myself at the audience. It was not recorded, but the crowd seemed to like it. After it was over, I sat on the floor backstage and wept. Hard.<br />
<br />
2. Performing Gil Evans' "Meaning of the Blues" with the JMU Jazz Ensemble, supervised by visiting scholar Ryan Truesdell. This was the dress rehearsal, so again, it wasn't recorded. George Adams is one of my great heroes of the tenor saxophone and I was so honored to have a chance to play this arrangement with my students and my dear colleague Chuck Dotas conducting. The actual concert wasn't nearly as good, but in the dress rehearsal, I sort of left my body and watched a river pour through it from above. It was like the room went black and I levitated for a couple of minutes. I shook when it was over. I was unable to recreate the experience on the actual concert.<br />
<br />
3. Recently, on JMU's George West Jazz Festival, I finally played Bob Brookmeyer's arrangement of "Skylark," which is probably my favorite big band arrangement ever, conducted by my friend and colleague David Stringham. It was after a long day of listening to high school bands and giving clinics. I was tired. I was actually too tired to really think. As I finished the cadenza, I quietly burst into tears on stage, thinking about Bob Brookmeyer. There were audible gasps in the audience.<br />
<br />
I've had plenty of great performances, but these really stand out in my mind. They were not perfect. I've given performances that were technically much better, at least as far as I can remember, being that only "Skylark" was recorded (I posted that one on YouTube), I was reckless and free of fear. I trusted the integrity of my preparation implicitly.<br />
<br />
I think that what makes a truly great performance is the ability to let go. That freedom might come from being comfortable, or being uncomfortable. In each of these instances, I was very inspired. I felt great meaning in the moment. We need to teach THAT to our students. Strive to play perfectly and with control, but when the downbeat hits, let it go and remember WHY you are performing. Tell your story in your words. That's what World Saxophone Quartet does for me, and it is why I can't wait to take the stage again.<br />
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Practice well.<br />
<br />
<br />David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-50512248906652739092020-05-01T08:15:00.000-04:002020-05-01T08:15:30.740-04:00Jazz Education and Transcription: Should You Transcribe Solos?This topic has been rattling around in my brain for decades. Especially in higher education, there appears to be a consensus that transcribing the improvised solos of the masters is an important part of learning to be a jazz musician. I have a confession. I am not so sure.<br />
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Let me begin by saying that I have transcribed many solos over the years. It is a practice that strengthens connections between the ears and the musical mind. It is part of the process of learning the language of jazz. When I taught undergraduate jazz improvisation, I always gave transcription assignments. I have even made calligraphy scores of a few of my favorite transcriptions. My thoughts here are more about the long-term strategies for advanced students and professional musicians.<br />
<br />
My undergraduate experience was filled with contrasts. At the same time that I was taking improvisation classes that required transcription projects that were both written down and performed, I was studying with Yusef Lateef. Yusef was <i>very</i> against transcribing. He felt that the practice only made you sound like someone else, and that the whole point of being a musician was to be unique. He saw transcribing as a way to move backwards as an artist.<br />
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I have never been great at transcribing. I can do it, of course, but I'm slow and I don't enjoy getting all the details perfectly written down. I'm always second guessing how much detail to include. Articulations? Fingerings? Time feel? I find more value in playing along with the recording, at least when it comes to getting the details right, but I dread writing down things like "lay back," or "straight-ish swing eighth notes." Ugh. But I also find tremendous value in writing things down for later analysis, and for documenting the work.<br />
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In the twenty years that I have been a professor, I haven't transcribed many entire solos, except for a book that I wrote for Hal Leonard that was more of a project that I took on for professional development than passion for the subject. I have tended instead towards targeting <i>portions </i>of solos that I am particularly drawn to. From there, I try to reverse engineer the essence of the passage so that I can learn what made it stand out to me. I do the same thing with passages from classical music. For example, I have a page in my notebook of patterns from Astor Piazzolla's etudes that I have expanded into different keys and transpositions. <br />
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This falls inline with a practice from my lessons with Yusef. We would improvise (although he never used the word, preferring his <i>autophysiopsychic </i>terminology) and then go back and revisit ideas that struck us as interesting. He would point out if you happened to play something more than once, or if you developed a certain idea. He would encourage you to uncover the essence of the idea and expand upon it. It was a bit like transcribing yourself as a way of accessing your own musical subconscious. In this way, you could develop your own internal voice into a unique form of music expression.<br />
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I think that an initial period of transcribing entire solos is probably important, as it gives a tangible framework for building a set of vital skills for the improviser. Once those skills are in place, I think that it should be up to the musician. How many solos are enough? I guess it depends on the individual. I have had students that labor for weeks on one solo, and others that can pop them off in a few days, or even hours. <br />
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More importantly, if you enjoy transcribing, go at it! I enjoy hearing all the amazing work that people post on social media. I also find it very interesting to analyze written transcriptions that I might not have had the time or inclination to do on my own. For some people, transcribing is an important and rewarding part of the overall work on being a jazz musician.<br />
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My personal practice has sharpened into exploring how things work, and how I can rebuild them in my own way to make them distinctive. It's the same for me when I play Bach or Paganini. I'm not interested in being stylistic perfect or correct. I'm trying to find a unique way of performing material that is meaningful to me, knowing that if it is unique enough, I might build an audience that will recognize that they can only get that particular music by listening to me.<br />
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So, if you are a young student, definitely transcribe. Just try to see the big picture and to find a way to be true to yourself as you explore other languages and styles. Practice well!<br />
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<br />David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-63467038938135371622020-04-28T09:51:00.000-04:002020-04-28T09:51:05.803-04:00Integrity and the Creative Life<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #262626;"><i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, May/June 2017.)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I was blessed with some of the best mentors in the business. Although they are mostly retired now, and some are no longer among us, they live within me every day and their words unfailingly guide me through my career. One of these great mentors gave me a piece of wisdom that is with me always: “You must trust the integrity of your preparation.” This is no piece of refrigerator magnet wisdom; there is a depth to this advice that goes way beyond a catchy turn of phrase. You can believe in yourself until the cows come home, but this does you no good if you haven’t already *invested* in yourself. I keep a [handmade] sign outside my teaching studio that says “THE INTEGRITY OF PREPARATION.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I live by this motto, but lately I have been thinking about how little we do to teach integrity in the arts. We teach craft, and we hold our students up to certain standards, but where exactly does integrity come into the picture? In this issue, I reflect on my own experiences trying to keep integrity at the center of my work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Say “Yes”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I was a young man and an aspiring artist, I recognized that I had a long path ahead of me. I had a bit of chops and a general lack of fear on the stage, but I knew that I had major gaps in my musicianship. I learned early on that the young musician has to say yes to as many things as possible. I went to jam sessions, I played for cheap, and I said yes. A lot. I played musicals. I bought my first clarinet because I said yes to a gig that required clarinet. I bought it along with some reeds and a fingering chart. I showed up early, wearing the right clothes and a big smile. I practiced hard, and I tried even harder on the bandstand. I was never too good for a gig. I wish I knew how many weddings that I have played, but my best guess is well over a hundred. I played with blues bands, rock bands, pop bands, big bands, smooth jazz groups, jazz combos, classical saxophone quartets, and more. I played bar mitzvahs, wine fests, house concerts, and high school festivals. I said yes because I knew that I needed experience to develop craftsmanship. I needed to crash and burn (and boy, did I!) to identify the gaps that needed to be filled. I said yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Identify Your Values</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can’t be true to your values if you haven’t articulated them. Once I started building a resume, I imagined what I really wanted to do with my life. I knew that I didn’t want to play gigs forever. I wanted to play concerts, and to say something with music. I wanted to be an artist. When I was a student, I had the luxury of playing gigs outside of school while my academic life provided me with opportunities to perform more serious music. After I completed my masters degree, I took a year off and taught private lessons and gigged. It became very clear to me, and in very short order, that certain gigs were no longer of interest to me. In fact, they pulled me away from the time that I needed to invest in the music that I truly loved. Worse still, all those short rock solos were leaking into my jazz playing - you are what you eat, after all. I reevaluated my strengths and weaknesses, and I made a five year plan that moved me away from gigs and into a career that would feed my passions for teaching and creativity. In my case, that meant a focus on art music (of all styles), so that I could move towards a professorship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Say “No”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I got into a doctoral program and my wife and I packed up and moved from upstate New York to Miami. I made up my mind that it was time to say no to anything that didn’t directly move me towards my goals. I said no to weddings. I said no to gigs with synth backing and click tracks. I said no to a teaching gig that would have taken up too much time without adding anything uniquely meaningful to my resume. I sharpened up and dug in. Musicians are not good at saying no. We are taught to always say yes. We are also taught to always be on the defensive. This is good advice for a young person, but if you find yourself in a position of no longer needing the money, perhaps it is time to reconsider the value of your time. Be gracious, be humble, but don’t be afraid to say no to something that isn’t worth your time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not everything is as simple as a wedding gig versus a concerto or a commission. Sometimes it becomes very important to think it over. For example, in my early twenties I was offered a chance to write and record my music for multiphonic saxophone and jazz combo. I said yes, because I knew that it was a one-time opportunity and it was the chance of a lifetime. It was also a project that meshed perfectly with my long-term goals. Later on, I was offered that chance to do a project that was even larger in scope, but out of my wheelhouse. I ultimately declined on that one, even though it felt crazy to pass on such a great opportunity. In retrospect, I made a good decision. I didn’t have the broad skills necessary to knock that project out of the park, and with a little time to reflect, I knew that I would have had a hard time doing a really good job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">More than twenty-five years into my professional life, I have slowly but steadily become a saxophone soloist. I don’t even play clarinet anymore. I have the luxury of focussing on the instruments that I love, and the music that ignites my passions. I am still open to performing in a variety of situations, but only when there is a compelling reason to say yes. I might play a wedding for a person that I love, or with musicians that I admire. I know when to say “maybe,” and how to use my set of established values to think it over and to ultimately make the best decision for my career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Look to Your Heroes</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You have heroes. They are your heroes for a reason. They probably have, or had an incredible amount of integrity over their careers, which is how they became artists that you admire. Emulate your heroes. They obviously did some things right. Analyze their work carefully, and examine the path that they traveled. If you love an artist, figure out how and why you love them. Reverse engineer their successes, and incorporate their work into your own. Your preferences will illuminate your values, so pay attention to what you like, and to whom you love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Be a Hero</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many of my heroes are gone - some died before I was even born. As I enjoy what I gratefully call “mid-career,” I keep in mind that the younger generation is looking up to me. Like the story of Coltrane being mortified when Coleman Hawkins walked in on him “walking the bar,” I think about the message that my current work sends to my peers and to my students. I choose work that I am proud to hold up to the light. I do my best to emulate my heroes, and to use my artistic values as a compass. I hope to forge a path that will inspire the rising artists of the next generation. As my heroes melt away into history, I owe them a debt that can only be repaid by stepping up to take the torch. I will obviously never be Coltrane, or Yusef Lateef, but I will aspire to be the best version of myself, and to prepare with an intensity that will allow me to put full faith in the integrity of that preparation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Don’t Leave</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another of my great heroes, and a model of artistic integrity in the saxophone world, is Ellery Eskelin. When Ellery reflected on his decades of work in NYC, he gave an incredibly potent piece of advice: If you want to make it in New York, don’t leave. It seems obvious, but I know so many cats that saved up, moved to New York, ran out of bread, and moved home to save up for another attempt. Ellery has it right. Find a way to stay, and don’t leave. For me, a professorship was the equivalent of making it in NYC. I worked hard, kept at it, and refused to quit. Obviously, there will be times to retreat and regroup, especially when physical or mental health are on the line, but one must always consider the long-term cost of stepping back. It is normal to be frustrated, but do your very best to keep working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Know Yourself</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Part of becoming an artist is knowing who you are. It is vital to build craft, but those skills are only building blocks for your life’s work. You must clearly identify your long-term goals, and devise a pathway for success. This will involve serious practice, discipline, devotion, and a huge amount of risk. You will never know that you are an artist until it becomes the consensus of your peers, and that takes many years. At some point, you will stand alone with only your courage and the integrity of your preparation. Prepare well! §</span><o:p></o:p></div>
David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-8770423117977159262020-04-27T10:35:00.000-04:002020-04-28T10:03:25.578-04:00Curiosity, Creativity, and Kitchen Fires<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "cambria" , serif;"><i>(This article <span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 38, 38);">originally</span> appeared in <b>Saxophone Today,</b> March/April 2017.)</i></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve been teaching at the university level for a long time. I’m in my forties now, and tenure and promotion to full professor are years behind me. All those boxes have been ticked, the hoops have been jumped through, and I find myself contemplating “what’s next?” To find the way forward, it can be helpful to look back, to assess what worked, and what didn’t. Were there dreams and goals brushed aside as a matter of practicality? It might be possible to remove old obstacles, or perhaps some of those hurdles disappeared without notice while we were working on other things. When I reflect on my humble successes, they can all be distilled down to a single defining characteristic that instigated it all: curiosity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even when I was a child, I had a searing passion for understanding the world around me. One of my experiments gone awry involved testing the flame in the gas stove with a tissue, to see if it behaved like other forms of fire. So at five years old, I set the kitchen on fire (no one was harmed but the linoleum and my dad’s feet as he stomped out the flames). I built working fuses out of foil and I shorted out my model train transformer - again resulting in a small fire. I liked to take things apart, and sometimes they wouldn’t go back together, but at least I learned something along the way. My parents were very patient with me, and when they couldn’t answer my questions, they would take me to the library. My research slowly shifted away from disassembling telephones and creating small electrical fires when I discovered the saxophone. The mysteries that unveiled themselves on spinning black vinyl, and later on shiny aluminum discs became my new obsessions. I practiced like I was conducting experiments, trying to decode the secrets that my keyed brass megaphone held like a vessel with a tiny opening, only trickling out the answers as I slaved away in the practice room. It was curiosity that took me down the path to mastering multiphonics, eventually launching my career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I was a junior in high school, I finally made my all-district concert band, and then the Massachusetts All State band. That year, our conductor was the great John Paynter, the legendary director of bands at Northwestern University. One of the pieces on the program was Fred Fennell’s transcription of Wagner’s <i>Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral.</i> This was the first time that I remember being utterly consumed by emotion while performing; tears streaming down my cheeks, I just tried to keep playing. The experience changed everything for me, because my curious nature left me totally preoccupied with the <i>why: </i>why did that experience overwhelm me? Was it something inherent in the music itself? Was it the quality of the conductor or the performers? Was it the fact that I was exhausted from rehearsing for two long days? As a young musician, I desperately wanted to have that experience again, and as many times as possible! It was the difference between <i>craft </i>and <i>art.</i> I knew that from that moment forward, I wanted to be an artist, and to surround myself with art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That tearful performance was the first of many, and it was the beginning of my heart opening up to a new way of experiencing art, in a variety of media. I have spent time beyond measure contemplating the art that I love, and the specific elements that bring that rush of emotion. It can be as simple as the strain of a flatted-sixth, yearning to resolve downward, or as complex as a tone row that I can’t manage to sing back. The first time that I saw <i>Water Lillies, </i>I was swept up by the unexpected size of the work (I had no idea how huge it is). I have tried to learn from every experience, whether it was a Buddhist sand mandala or Bach played on a great organ in a huge cathedral. It’s not that I analyze in the moment, but that I use contemplation as a mental exercise to scrutinize after-the-fact, so that I might be able to reverse-engineer the event. My curious nature drives me to understand. Even in the kitchen, I like to use a recipe once, figure out what makes it tick, and then improvise my own version. This approach occasionally spoils a meal or two, but my favorite recipes are my own creative experiments, and they are always works in progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> In our modern society, curiosity is becoming an endangered quality of character. It isn’t our fault. When I was a little kid, setting fires and getting electric shocks in the late 1970s, a computer was a novelty to the average human. The answers to our questions took effort to discover, often searching through large and heavy books with hundreds of pages. Today, most of us carry super-computers in our pockets, and we can find the answers to many questions by saying, “Hey, Siri!” When I consider how many phone numbers and addresses I used to have memorized, I can only shake my head at how lazy I have become. With the mega-brain of the internet at our voice command, we have little reason to memorize how many ounces are in a cup. I wonder how many young people today can even read a map, and why should they care? The GPS in their cell phone can get them anywhere that they need to go without knowing the name of a single street. If this is the age of the death of curiosity, we are all in trouble. Curiosity seems to be necessary for progress, and if our curiosity becomes limited to “how can I make more money,” we will be trading our prophets for profits, and losing our souls in the process. In recent generations of university students, I see a huge decline in natural curiosity, and even worse, a willingness to accept information without any need for fact checking or research. This has given rise to what I call the plagiarism of carelessness, not to mention “fake news.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I consider the path forward for the second half of my career, I find myself returning to the satisfaction that I have always found in taking things apart. I want to break my saxophone and find a way to make it play in a new way. I want new sounds that I haven’t even imagined yet. I want to find a compelling reason to add a new key to my horn, so that it will do something that I have never done before. I want to work with visual artists and research scientists, I want to be moved to tears by a piece of math, and to make friends with people that I might never have met without my raging hunger to experience more. I want to be more, so that I can feel more, and say more. I want more. This seems to be a time when people are thinking more about isolationism, but I want to go beyond boundaries, and to grow in ways that I haven’t even considered. I feel lucky to have chosen an instrument that has given me fascinating friends from around the world. We saxophonists tend to be a curious bunch, creative to the core, and for that, I am grateful. §<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-61332714034926711202020-04-22T08:53:00.000-04:002020-04-22T08:53:18.423-04:00Preparing for Auditions<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #292929;"><i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, November/December 2016.)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have officially been in this business long enough to have a son that just auditioned for all state jazz band. It has been many years since I took an audition, but being with my son in the warm up room really brought back the memories. Hearing all those musicians shedding the same excerpts, not to mention the cats showing off with their flashiest licks . . . I felt like a teenager again, and not in a good way! In this issue, I am happy to share some strategies to have a good audition experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>You Cannot Cram</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These days, audition requirements are almost always listed online. Get the music as early as possible, and start preparing right away. The details are important, so don’t miss the specifics about things like scale requirements, tempo markings, articulations, etc. Around all state season, I always see a spike in private lesson requests. No, I cannot teach you how to make district band when the audition is in two weeks and you haven’t learned the etude and can’t tongue your chromatic scale at the required tempo! When you do this, you are wasting everyone’s time, including your own. Make sure that you have adequate time to prepare. You cannot cram for an audition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Long-term Private Study</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rather than desperately trying to fix all your problems right before an audition, take regular private lessons over a long period of time. That way, you will have a foundation of skills that you build slowly. When a student comes to me asking for help with an audition excerpt, I often find that they really need help with basics like tone production, articulation, and good technique. These things require sustained, disciplined practice. If you can’t tongue a chromatic scale in sixteenth notes at 100 BPM, there is nothing I can do to get you to 120 in a few weeks. I don’t have a magic wand, and if I did, I would charge a lot of money and retire as soon as possible!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Did I Mention Details?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When you are performing an audition excerpt or etude, be sure to extract every bit of information from the score. Things like articulations and dynamics are not mere suggestions. Chances are, the judges will be using a rubric to score your audition. Be extremely clear with your interpretation. Exaggerate the dynamics, demonstrate all the articulations, and execute the rhythms with precision. Translate every foreign language term in the score, and know how to interpret accordingly. (I recently had a student try to play a <i>stringendo </i> by dramatically slowing down . . . wrong guess!) Play with your most beautiful tone, and be true to the style. For example, a Duke Ellington part would have very different vibrato and overall style when compared to something more contemporary. Show that you know something more than just what is on the printed page. For a classical audition, don’t show up with your Otto Link 9* and a Vandoren Java reed! You will be judged immediately on your tone, then on your style, and finally according to how well you nail the material. Experienced judges can tell the difference between a little slip and a general lack of preparation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Warm Up Room Etiquette</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The warm up room is a terrible place. I got a rush of anxiety just dropping my son off in that noisy band room! Be respectful of others and give your fellow auditionees their own space. This is not the time to play altissimo exercises and try to play ten clicks faster than the in the other corner of the room. Try to relax and play some long tones and scales. Make sure that your G# and C# keys are sticking, and that your reed is working well. Have extra reeds, just in case something goes wrong, and bring a screwdriver in your case – screws have a way of backing out right before auditions and performances! If you have a lot of time to kill, don’t blow your chops out in the warm up area. Bring a book and a light snack, and definitely bring a water bottle! The water will keep you hydrated, but can also be used to wet your reed, in case it dries out. Be friendly to the other folks auditioning and remember that they are just as nervous as you, and they want to pass the audition just as much as you do. Don’t be overly chatty, but don’t be afraid to say hello and to introduce yourself. It is worth mentioning here that attire should be appropriate for the audition. For example, something like khakis and a polo shirt might be ok for a district band audition, but a college audition calls for a tie, or business attire for ladies. Dress comfortably, but never risk being embarrassed by being under-dressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Practice Sight Reading</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sight reading is often a part of any audition. You must practice sight reading. For more on this subject, check out my blog post at the following link:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://practice-monster.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-practice-sight-reading.html" target="_blank">How To Practice Sight Reading</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a jazz audition, regularly read sample jazz band charts and etudes; the Greg Fishman series is highly recommended! Good sight readers are familiar with lots of rhythmic clichés. Practice with a metronome and record yourself, so you can go back and analyze your mistakes. Sight read with your best tone and try to be true to the rhythms, even if you can’t catch all the right notes. Practice counting, and whatever you do, don’t stop and start, and especially refrain from groaning (yes, I have heard auditionees mutter “oh crap” after making a mistake – this is certain death!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For classical auditions, be familiar with a variety of styles. Saxophonists should be ready to play marches (marches are HARD to play well) and well-known excerpts, such as pieces by Percy Grainger, and famous orchestral parts like <i>Bolero</i> and Prokofiev’s <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>. There are a number of good excerpt books out there, and you can always ask your band director if you can look at sax parts from the school or university library. The more music you know, the less you will worry about sight reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Day Before</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Leading up to an audition, take it easy on your chops. Play a normal amount, but no more. You don’t want a sore lip or a swollen wrist on audition day. Something as simple as being adequately rested can make the difference that pushes you over the top. Eat healthy, nutritious meals the day before an audition, and try to eat lightly before the audition. You can always celebrate afterwards with a heavy meal, but you don’t want a belly full of pizza on the big day! Likewise, don’t make yourself shaky with caffeine and sugar, and for you college students, steer clear of alcohol. You want to feel comfortable, strong, and in control. Did I mention sleep? Nobody plays well when exhausted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Practice Like Every Day is an Audition Day</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Far and away, the best approach to being prepared is to <i>always</i> be prepared. Any serious classical saxophonist should have Ibert, Glazunov, Creston, and the last movement of Tableaux de Provence in decent shape at all times. Check out the audition requirements for military band auditions (these are always posted online when there is a vacancy). Preparation is a state of being. Cultivate a culture of preparation and you will never have to work too hard to get ready, as you will be accustomed to working hard as a normal mode of operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Perspective</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Remember that anyone that is judging your audition has probably been on your side of the room many times. I never even made district band until I was a junior in high school, and I didn’t make district or all state jazz band until my senior year. I was rejected by Busch Gardens and Disney. It felt terrible at the time, but I turned that disappointment into fuel. By my junior year in college, I won the DownBeat award for Best Collegiate Instrumental Soloist. I never gave up, and I won a professorship when I was only 27 years old. I was focused on the long game, I practiced and studied like crazy, and I never lost focus on the importance of fundamentals. Practice, and audition well! §</span><o:p></o:p></div>
David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-5533175930080092292020-04-20T08:56:00.000-04:002020-04-20T08:56:04.650-04:00The Temporal World of the Creative Mind<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, July/August 2016.)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this column [<i>Beyond Boundaries: 2014-2017</i>], I have often written about creativity in very practical terms. Creativity requires practice, and once developed, creativity becomes a habit. Of course, even the most productive artists will experience the dreaded blockage. Sometimes, the muse refuses to show up to work, leaving us with nothing but frustration. Here are some thoughts about ways to get through a stubborn patch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Timelines</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you are working on a specific project, don’t just have a deadline - have a timeline. Start working early, and set mini-deadlines along the way that will help to keep you on track. Never, ever make your personal deadline the *actual* deadline! Try to set up a schedule that has you doing a set amount of work each day, with the hope of completing things a full month ahead of the true deadline. In the best-case scenario, you will have that extra month to polish things up, do some editing, or start on the next project. A little “cushion” can also be a lifesaver for times when you will inevitably fall behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Time for Reflection</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Creativity is not just about the act of making stuff. It is absolutely vital to spend time thinking about what you are going to create. This time should be completely focused on reflection. I like to sit in a quiet place with no distractions and imagine the finished product. For example, if I am working on a new composition, I try to imagine what the score will look like. What will it sound like? I imagine the premiere performance, and how it will be received. I do this in as much detail as possible. This time must be spent with great discipline. Disconnect from the Internet, put your phone in another room, and concentrate completely on your goals for the work. When you have a detailed image in your mind, it will be easier to get down to business. Having a clear vision of the finished product can provide guidance in the process, and even allow you to mentally work backwards and fill in the blanks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Give Yourself a Break</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Creativity burns a lot of fuel, mentally and physically. When the spirit moves you, be prepared to work as hard as you can for as long as possible, but don’t run yourself into the ground. It is important to eat well and to get enough sleep. I do most of my writing by hand at a large table, but I try to get up and move around at least once an hour. I like to schedule my time in blocks and I make my best effort to honor the schedule as much as possible. We all have bad days, so setting a somewhat conservative schedule will also allow you to occasionally take a break when things just aren’t happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Actively Seek Inspiration</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Inspiration usually doesn’t just fall into your lap. You have to go hunting. Read books, watch movies, attend concerts, go for long walks, and <span style="color: red;"><b>PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING</b></span>. Seek inspiration outside of your discipline. Go to art galleries and museums. You never know what is going to stoke your artistic fire. The muse sometimes communicates through a series of coincidents, or synchronicities. We could argue whether perceived meaning in these linked events is real or imagined, but the effect is the same. For example, I was trying to decide if I was going to write some music based on the poetry of William Blake. In a period of weeks, a friend gave me an anthology that was sitting on her desk and I recognized uncredited Blake quotations on the radio and at a choral concert. It felt like the universe was sending me a message to push onward, and I had renewed energy to complete my project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Have a Mentor</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the arts, private instruction is a vital part of the process. Once in a while, a special teacher will enter your life. That teacher will be more than just a communicator of a trade. If you are fortunate, you will forge friendships with masters of your discipline that go deeper. A mentor will invest in you as a person, and will be a person that you can go to for advice, support, or even just a friendly ear. When you find that special mentor, keep in touch and foster the relationship over the years. (Also, remember to *be* a mentor, when the time comes.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Gravitational Force of the Deadline</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As many of us know from experience, sometimes we are unable to get anything done, and we procrastinate. (One of my former students had a tee-shirt that said “Procrastinators Unite . . . tomorrow.”) There is an undeniable bit of magic that can happen right at the last minute. The pressure kicks in and the brain submits to “it’s now or never.” When faced with the stark choice of completion or failure, we usually get that boost of survival energy to get the job done. Cranking it out at the last minute can be very stressful, and for mental health reasons, I don’t recommend relying on this method on a regular basis, but coming up to the deadline can pack a particular creative punch. There is also a theory, with good merit, that all that time procrastinating has the effect of reflection, soul-searching, and stumbling into inspiration in unexpected places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Creative Life</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t know very many people that are occasionally creative. Creativity is a philosophy, a way of seeing the world, and most importantly, a lifestyle. Creative people have a unique way of approaching things, and it seems to seep into even the most mundane aspects of their daily lives. So get out there and live the creative life! §</span><o:p></o:p></div>
David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-85699340547048830232020-04-18T15:25:00.000-04:002020-04-18T15:25:13.363-04:00Teacher vs. Mentor<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, May/June 2016.)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Music, along with arts and humanities, is one of the last disciplines to rely heavily on the master-apprentice system. When a music student chooses a school, the teacher should be at least equal in priority to the institution itself. There are, of course, complex equations where one must weigh out the value of a “brand name” school where one will study with a secondary teacher or graduate student versus a lesser-known school with a fabulous primary teacher. I advise students to plan on attending several different schools, and perhaps saving the big school for a graduate degree, to save money and to have a better shot of studying with the main teacher. I am biased in that this was my own path, but it had great influence on my goal of becoming a saxophone professor at a large, comprehensive, public university. Sometimes, things work out just right! In this article, I address what I see as the difference between teaching and mentorship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First of all, let’s get one thing out of the way before we begin: <b>the best teachers are also the best artists.</b> <b>Period.</b> You cannot be a great music teacher without also being a great musician. Different people will possess the two skillsets in varying proportions, but a great teacher didn’t fall back on a second career. With that said, being a great performer is no guarantee of being a great teacher, so don’t be fooled by someone’s resume or recordings without actually getting a lesson. You are investing in your future, so make certain that your choose a master artist-teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>What is teaching anyway?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Teaching at its most basic form is simply the transmission of knowledge from the master to the apprentice. Teaching takes many forms, and a great teacher will be able to adapt teaching style to different students. At the foundation of my own teaching philosophy is the belief that we cannot solve a problem without first stating the problem itself, ideally in a short sentence and without fancy words. Clarity is a natural product of simplicity, and we should always strive for both.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For example, a beginning student needs to be taught the various fingerings for b-flat. That should begin with one fingering (I start with side). When that is firmly in place, we can begin to introduce other fingerings. It helps to introduce a new fingering with a passage that illustrates its usefulness. Using an excellent example as a vehicle for the initial learning is very valuable. A master teacher will sense when the student is ready to start problem solving independently and he/she will provide situations where the student must discern the best fingering from the context. (Ferling etudes are brilliant for this!) At every step, a great teacher will explain thoroughly in as simple terms as possible. It is my hope that a student will leave a great lesson with a thorough understanding of “why,” even if the concept isn’t solidly learned. I never want to have to say, “do it this way because I say so!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“But I’m a visual learner . . .”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stop. Please. There is no research that shows that anyone learns differently. Learning is a result of disciplined repetition. Before you start the hate emails, please keep reading. We all have preferred ways of <i>conceptualizing</i> things, and that might be through visual imagery, reading about it in book, or stumbling through trial and error. Once that door of understanding swings open, the hard work of practicing begins, but there is a difference between understanding the problem and actually learning. “Getting it,” isn’t the same as mastery of a technique. Think visually all you want, but when it comes to learning, find a teacher that shows you how and what to practice, and then go put in the work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Teaching Environment: “Vibe”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A great teacher understands that the environment and the mood has a tremendous effect on the process. There needs to be a balance of elements to facilitate a positive experience for the student. For example, a teacher that is constantly late or irregular in managing the teaching schedule will create a feeling of not caring much about their students. Students at every level thrive on a regular schedule. It helps them to be accountable for their work, building trust and shared responsibility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every teacher will find a balance between formality and informality. Some teachers will insist on being called by their title (“Professor,” “Doctor,” etc.) while others are happy going on a first-name basis. There is a danger in being too informal, but excessive formality can also leave a student feeling too uncomfortable to do their best work. Whether the studio vibe is strict or loose, there should always be a feeling of safety. Students need to feel safe to confide in the teacher, to ask dumb questions, and to fail without being shamed. Accountability for preparation and outcomes is clearly vital, but not at the expense of trust and respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Student-centered<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In my opinion, a master teacher is always focused on the student. Artists and egos tend to go hand-in-hand, but a good teacher will never put their own ego ahead of the welfare and learning of their students. Any good teaching philosophy is student-centered. If a teacher says things like, “but I’ve invested so much you,” or “How can you do this to me?” run away and never look back. A master knows that the apprentice can, and must fail, and sometimes fail spectacularly. A great teacher is secure enough to allow a student to crash without obsessing on how it reflects on <i>them.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Shine the Light</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A master teacher will do all the things that I have written here, but mentorship requires a deeper relationship. I’ve often said that a teacher provides information, but a mentor shines a light down paths of possibility. No one can do the work for you, but a great mentor will lead by example and illuminate various routes to success, tailored to the individual student. Long-term goals are the culmination of careful planning, thoughtful decision-making, and hard work. A mentor will show you what is possible and facilitate the work by lighting the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Finding the Match</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every student is unique, and the same holds true for teachers. If a student requires a lot of nurturing and patience, a very formal and strict teacher might not be the best match. Take the time to visit different schools, and take sample lessons before you make any commitments. Look for a teacher that makes you feel safe, but also pushes you to improve. Insist on clarity with assignments and explanations. Most of all, try to find a teacher that makes you want to practice. If you have a clear sense of the work and an illuminated path before you, you are sure to succeed. Practice well! §<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-27007762997621798252020-04-17T19:06:00.000-04:002020-04-17T19:06:34.735-04:00Practice Techniques for Stress Free Technique<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, March/April 2016.)</i><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a recent saxophone quartet coaching session, I had a group sight read a string quartet transcription that had a somewhat challenging little passage that passed around the group. Each time a new voice had to play the stream of articulated sixteenth notes, I took note of something that was consistent across all the players. As soon as the lick started, the saxophonist leaned forward, the shoulders came up, everything tensed, and, as one might predict, it did not go well. This stress posture is seemingly universal. Where does it come from, and why do take on this physical position that makes playing the saxophone even more difficult?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I was a younger man, I had terrible headaches. I eventually ended up doing biofeedback therapy, which proved to be incredibly helpful. The doctor connected sensors to my forehead that measured electrical activity in the muscles, translating into muscular contraction, ergo, stress. The electrodes fed a tone generator that produced a pitch that went down when the muscles relaxed. I practiced progressive muscle relaxation, and sure enough, even relaxing in my feet and legs produced a measurable (and audible) lowering of tension in the forehead. It’s no wonder that we get headaches from any sort of excess tension. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another helpful treatment involved a fingertip thermometer. The doctor explained that humans have evolved to protect the core organs from perceived threats. Imagine, if a wild animal attacks a person, that person could potentially survive the loss of a limb, but a bite to the torso could easily be fatal. In reaction to stress, the body sends a rush of blood to the internal organs, and this can easily be measured as a drop in temperature in the extremities. Nerves can give us cold hands, enough to be measured with a thermometer. The doctor gave me mental exercises to warm the hands. Much to my amazement, deep breathing and imagining a warm fireplace was very effective at raising the temperature of my fingertips. From a headache perspective, the rushing of blood to the core causes sudden changes in the blood vessels of the head and can cause migraines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It occurred to me that the raising of the shoulders, the collapsing of the chest, and the leaning forward are all related to this stress-induced need to protect the thorax and abdomen. Every day, I see students tense up under pressure and assume this stress posture. If a bear was attacking, this position would probably be wise, but it certainly doesn’t help one to execute a complicated musical passage. In fact, this physical reaction chokes off the air, constricts voicing and resonance, and interrupts the smooth motion of the fingers. Therefore, we need to actually unlearn this reaction that is deeply embedded in our DNA. We need to relax, and we need to relax <i>the most</i> when it is <i>the least </i>natural thing to do. It is possible to overcome this natural tendency, but it requires disciplined practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It should go without saying that we must first learn to relax in a controlled environment. For many of us, this is hard enough! The modern world does not really encourage us to be quiet and concentrate on being relaxed. For starters, try sitting upright in a comfortable chair. Start by tensing your toes, and then relaxing them. Work through every muscle group that you can identify – first tensing, then releasing. Go through the muscles of your legs, your hips, your belly, and your chest. Squeeze your hands into fists and let them go. Raise your shoulders and drop your arms at your sides. Tense and release your neck, your throat, you tongue. Scrunch up your face and then release. As you do this, remember to take deep inhalations and long, slow exhalations. When you have gone through all your muscles, reassess the way you feel and look for any unresolved stress in your body. Take a few minutes to really experience the relaxation, and try to burn it in to your memory. With practice, you will get better, and quicker at achieving this feeling of centered calm and physical ease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once you can achieve this feeling of relaxed stillness, start your saxophone practice with a quick session of progressive relaxation. Once you are there, play some long tones, and then move on to scales and technical passages. As you practice, continually assess your level of physical stress. Strive for good posture and loose muscles. I find it helpful to think about soft hands, heavy and warm. Never play with cold hands or any tightness! Work your way from easy and familiar things to more challenging technical exercises and faster tempos and articulations. I like to do this with the “mechanism” exercises from Larry Teal’s <i>The Saxophonist’s Workbook.</i> Make the purpose of your practice to stay relaxed. Bring the saxophone into your world of good posture and calm relaxation. Never lean into the horn, squeeze keys, or let the shoulders rise. This is easier said than done, which is where the disciplined practice comes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It isn’t always easy to just “fake” a stressful situation. This can require some creativity. I used to practice reading tone rows (“tropes”) from Yusef Lateef’s <i>Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns </i>with the metronome, gradually increasing the tempo. As the notes come faster and faster, I would focus on keeping relaxed and allowing wrong notes to slip out, rather than to clench up and fall out of time. These days, I do a scale practice that my students coined “The Super Fly,” where I gradually work from eighth notes to triplets, sixteenths, and groupings of five, six, seven, etc. As the notes go faster and faster, I focus on keeping totally relaxed, to the point of barely closing the pads. It helps to think about finger technique as lifting, rather than pressing down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have recently become a serious student of calligraphy, for music, handwriting, and art. I read a quote from an 19<sup>th</sup>century master of Spencerian handwriting that said something like, “Remember to breathe as you write.” I chuckled when I caught myself trying to draw a long flourish, only to blow it because I was tensed up and, you guessed it, holding my breath! To live is to breathe, and relaxed and natural breathing is the soul of good technique, whether one is playing the saxophone, driving a racecar, or painting at the canvas. A concerted effort in learning to easily access that place of centered tranquility will undoubtedly result in a better chance of maintaining that calm when the difficult passage comes at you. In a future issue, I will refer to some significant research being conducted by my current students on performance-related stress and measurements of the stress hormone cortisol. For now, practice well, and don’t forget to breathe! §<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-89848875628391585172020-04-15T08:57:00.000-04:002020-04-15T08:57:19.924-04:00Should I Make a CD?<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, January/February 2016)</i><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I recently upgraded my work computer to a new laptop. It is small, relatively light, and super fast. It has no hard drive, as the storage is solid-state, internal flash. It is also lacking an optical drive . . . so there is no way to rip, or even play a cd. This has turned out to be more frustrating that I initially expected, but progress marches on. This “progress” reared its head when I recently encouraged a student to listen to recording of somewhat obscure version of a classical piece that he is working on; I offered to loan him the cd, but he politely declined because, “I’d have no way of listening to it.” This gave me pause, and not for the reasons that might first pop into your head. This young person is a perfect representative of a major target audience for what I would call “saxophone art music,” that is, music that is going to be most interesting to serious students and academic musicians. If the target consumer of the product doesn’t even have the technology to listen to a cd, should I even consider making a traditional recording? How can I justify the expense of producing a piece of media that is clearly of no interest to young people? Is it worth all that money to what amounts to a fancy business card?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sidetrack: I’ve been a big fan of David Bowie since I was a teenager. I wore out my cassette copy of <i>The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.</i> I moved on to cds, and now I have a healthy collection of Bowie on vintage, and newly produced, vinyl records. His last album really caught my attention when he made the incredible decision to record a track with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, “Sue (Or In A Season of Crime).” His newest album comes out in January, and I jumped when I saw that Donny McCaslin returns as the tenor soloist with a small band that includes Ben Monder on guitar. The title single, <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol", sans-serif;">★</span>(pronounced “Blackstar), was released ahead of the album on YouTube. It is a ten-minute piece of theater, and from a saxophonist’s perspective, Donny McCaslin sounds like a million dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It should be no surprise that you can preorder the album as a download for $8.99. If you want to buy a physical copy of the cd, that will cost you an additional $2.99. I wonder how many cds they will sell, as compared to straight downloads. Here is where it gets interesting. For between $20 and $50, you can get a cd with a limited edition lithograph (you get to choose one of three different artworks), a clear vinyl LP, the vinyl with your choice of lithograph, or the deluxe package of the vinyl with all three artworks. You can only get all three lithographs with the deluxe edition. These are also specified as the preorder prices, so it is unclear what happens after the official release in January.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For artists, this is a business model worth examining. First of all, the initial track is essentially free, if you can stomach watching an ad. Vevo racked up over two million hits in the first couple of days! Now that Bowie has your attention, you are offered a menu of purchasing options to suit your budget and your level of interest. Neither David Bowie nor Columbia Records invented this approach. I first saw it happening with independent artists, releasing a download-only for a small amount of money, but a more expensive piece of physical media for the real fans. Many of these endeavors were crowd-sourced, which is only one step removed from a structure of pre-ordering. Some of my former students have also been releasing boutique vinyl pressings as an alternative to cds. The vinyl has the appeal of being “special.” You can’t copy vinyl (at least not in a practical way), and it requires a certain investment in equipment for playback. It involves dedication, pride of ownership, and the ritual of relatively complicated playback. Artists and record labels are figuring out that cds aren’t terribly “special,” but vinyl can be offered in a variety of colors, with elaborate packaging and artwork. You can even print artwork directly on the vinyl record! This is a new concept for anyone born after the end of the first age of the LP. Everything old is new again, sooner or later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are plenty of middle-aged, tweed jacket wearing intellectuals that have fancy stereos and turntables for their precious collections of 180-gram deluxe pressings, but guess what? I have students that have no way to play a cd, but they own a phonograph and have a stash of used records. They won’t bother to buy a cd because they couldn’t be bothered to buy a cd player, but they like the feeling of owning something special. One student told me that he even likes a little surface noise, because it makes it sound “real.” Young people are abandoning an old technology and, at least in certain cases, they are returning to an even more archaic media. We could write them off as hipsters, but I would be careful. I still have my father’s wool overcoat because even some fifty years old, it is better than anything that I could buy in the store today. Call me a hipster, but there is no denying quality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We can argue about what any of this means, and whether analogue sounds better than digital, but one thing is clear: the market is rapidly changing and nobody can predict precisely where we are headed. There is definitely still a certain prestige involved in <i>making</i> a cd. I’m just not certain that it is a smart investment to actually produce a physical cd, and definitely not if it is only for the purpose of qualifying oneself as a legitimate artist. The advantage to selling downloads is obvious, in that there is no costly artwork, packaging, or shipping involved. On the other end of the spectrum, vinyl is expensive and is a hassle to produce, but the potential markup is going to be higher, and a small run for the “real fans” might be worth the effort. I would carefully do the math before embarking on such a venture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A good decision should be steered by understanding the purpose of your recording. Are you trying to make money by selling the recording itself, or are you trying to promote your live shows? Perhaps you are making a cd to grow your reputation in the field. A composer could be interested in getting his/her music more known, in order to sell the sheet music to other performers. There are lots of reasons to make a recording, and the motivations can range from a desire for profit to pure vanity. A reasonable determination of the best business plan would require a grasp of the intended audience, and an understanding of how that audience consumes music, not to mention the expected scale. Selling one hundred copies is a lot different from selling a thousand, or ten thousand!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">People expect to get a lot for free these days, but I honestly believe that fans still have an interest in connecting with the artists that they love. (I was recently on a gig and the artist ran out of cds, and two people just gave him the money anyway!!!) We have an opportunity in this moment to find new ways of distributing our music, and to create new ways of generating income. Whether that means a menu of options and upgrades, special artwork, autographs, meet-and-greet release parties – you can control your own business, but one thing seems pretty clear to me: the clock is ticking on the shiny silver disc. §<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-72939431992871658232020-04-12T13:10:00.000-04:002020-04-12T13:10:05.697-04:00A Simple Approach to Voicing<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, November/December 2015.)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Voicing</i> is one of those words that saxophonists use all the time, but I often discover that many students have a limited understanding of what is really meant by <i>voicing for the notes.</i><span> </span>Voicing is absolutely vital for good sound and intonation.<span> </span>Furthermore, mastery of overtones, altissimo, and multiphonics is completely dependent upon good voicing.<span> </span>In this article, I will share some of the ways that I teach voicing to my students, and some of the practice techniques that I use to improve my own tone, intonation, and control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We must always remember that the laws of physics apply to everything that we do, and we live in a universe of particles and waves.<span> </span>Molecules of water come to together to form the mighty waves of the oceans, just as subatomic particles of energy race through the galaxies in waves of radiation.<span> </span>Sound is simply another expression of particles moving as waves.<span> </span>The air inside your saxophone forms standing waves called <i>resonances</i>, and when we apply energy in the form of air, the saxophone converts the directional energy of your air (i.e., you blow in one direction) into vibrational energy, moving back and forth and propagating as a wave to anyone with ears to listen.<span> </span>On an alto saxophone, if we finger an F-sharp at the top of the staff, the horn is set up to vibrate at 220 Hz.<span> </span>As soon as we provide energy to the standing wave, the reed starts opening and closing at 220 times per second.<span> </span>This is the frequency of the wave, and it determines the pitch that we hear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the reed vibrates, it is reacting to the natural resonance inside the saxophone, which is why a change of fingering causes the reed to vibrate at a different speed, corresponding to the length of the air column within the instrument.<span> </span>This shouldn’t be news to anyone that seriously studies the instrument, but there is another side to the story, and it is literally happening on the other side of the mouthpiece; just as the saxophone is vibrating, there is a second wave vibrating inside your body.<span> </span>I refer to this wave as the <i>resistance wave</i>.<span> </span>The resistance wave is easily experienced when we play a low B-flat and feel the vibration in our chest.<span> </span>Higher notes have shorter wavelengths, so the feeling shifts from our torso to the throat and oral cavity as the notes ascend in pitch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In order to understand the relationship between the front wave (sound), the back wave (resistance), and the reed/mouthpiece interface, I like to use the analogy of the horseshoe shaped tube and the law of equilibrium.<span> </span>Simply put, if we pour a bucket of water into a horseshoe shaped tube, the level of the water will be the same on either side of the tube.<span> </span>This is a state of equilibrium, and from a molecular perspective, the water is spread out in an even fashion and under a minimum of stress.<span> </span>If we were to close one side of the horseshoe and start pumping air pressure into the closed side of the tube, the water level would go down on one side, and it would rise a corresponding amount on the other side.<span> </span>At the level of the individual water molecules, some would be pressed together, generating friction that would cause some energy to be lost in the form of heat.<span> </span>Water on the other side would be forced apart.<span> </span>This is an uncomfortable situation for the water and as soon as the air pressure was released from the closed side of the horseshoe, the water would return to a state of equilibrium, equalizing on both sides and reaching a maximum state of relaxation in the system of molecules.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we apply this analogy to the saxophone, it goes like this:<span> </span>the saxophone is the open end of the tube, your body is the closed side of the tube, and the waves of air represent the system of water molecules.<span> </span>If we use our body to exert a force that is inharmonious with the standing resonance in the saxophone, the air will vibrate with the same kind of irregularities that we saw in the water molecules (some bunched up, some spread out).<span> </span>In musical terms, the reed will not be able to vibrate fully because it will be losing energy to compensate for the difference between the resonance in the saxophone and the resonance in your body.<span> </span>This is where voicing comes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Voicing actually means <i>resonance matching</i>, and this concept of matching is the key to getting the reed to vibrate in a full and organized way – in other words, getting a good tone!<span> </span>If you can whistle, whistle a high note and then slide down as low as you can go.<span> </span>If you can’t whistle, singing works as well.<span> </span>As you move downward, try to feel the position of your tongue.<span> </span>You should notice that the arch of the tongue changes.<span> </span>Lower notes are created by an increased volume of air within the body, affected by the arch of the tongue.<span> </span>Also, try saying the vowel sounds in <i>heeee, hay, </i>and <i>hooooo.<span> </span></i>Tongue position creates a resonating chamber in the oral cavity, and acts as a gateway into the throat and chest.<span> </span>Voicing for the saxophone could be likened to <i>silent singing</i>, in that we are creating the proper resonance for the desired note, but singing vibrates the vocal chords, whereas playing the saxophone shifts the vibration to the reed/mouthpiece – the vocal chords of the saxophone!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Low notes require a large resonating chamber, which translates into a low tongue, an open throat, and a relaxed chest cavity.<span> </span>Higher notes are voiced by raising the tongue to shrink the resonating chamber.<span> </span>I have heard Claude Delangle, professor at the Paris Conservatory, refer to playing the higher notes with the feeling of whistling.<span> </span>The more closely we match the note of the saxophone with the resonance of our voicing, the more harmoniously the reed will vibrate, translating into a full, rich sound.<span> </span>While it might seem extremely difficult to match our voicing with every single note, it is really no more difficult than singing, which we do quite intuitively!<span> </span>For this reason, I encourage my students to sing, and to sing <i>into the saxophone</i> to get a feeling for how easy good voicing can be, with proper practice, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Years ago, I started using the Sigurd Rascher book <i>Top Tones</i> as a touchstone for learning about overtones, voicing, and good sound throughout the registers.<span> </span>Yes, the book is also about altissimo, but it is equally about mastering the bottom register of the horn, and you cannot approach the former without first mastering the latter.<span> </span>For overtone studies, I have my students go through the following procedure, and for illustrative purposes, let’s use part of the overtone series on low B-flat:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Play the low B-flat and get the pitch in your ear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">With the lips closed around the mouthpiece and low B-flat fingered on the horn, sing a loud B-flat into the horn.<span> </span>(Men can generally sing in the octave of the instrument, but women will need to sing one octave higher, which is perfectly acceptable.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">When the voice is smoothly projecting through the saxophone, slowly stop singing and let the reed vibrate into a normal tone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Play the note again, this time hearing the note in your mind while mentally “singing.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is very important to notice that singing out of tune will result in a warbling of the voice.<span> </span>Try singing a B-natural into the horn while fingering low B-flat.<span> </span>You should almost feel a choking sensation, and your voice will be pushed back into the proper resonance for the horn.<span> </span>It is important to master vocal matching in the low register, as the saxophone has very strong resonances on low notes, meaning you will clearly know if you are voicing properly, based on a smooth sound coming out of the saxophone when you sing.<span> </span>Higher notes have very weak resonance, so the saxophone is early overpowered and will give very little instructive feedback, comparatively speaking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This same procedure should be applied as you ascend the overtone series, and you can use the excellent overtone variations found in <i>Top Tones </i>as material for study.<span> </span>So, while fingering a low B-flat, you would repeat on the next octave B-flat, then F, then the high B-flat, and so on.<span> </span>Remember to always finger low B-flat, and always sing with the lips closed around the mouthpiece.<span> </span>Sing out strong, and freely change octaves to find the most comfortable part of your vocal range.<span> </span>Repeat on the overtone series for low B, low C, and low C-sharp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For an overview of my approach to the altissimo register, please refer to my YouTube video on the subject:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Good voicing requires practice.<span> </span>It is important to use singing as a way to ensure that you are in the correct vocal position for a given note.<span> </span>Once intuition is established between the voice and the ear (or perhaps <i>the imagination</i>), it will feel very normal and voicing will be integrated into your playing so that you hardly notice that you are doing it.<span> </span>With that said, you will certainly be aware that something is wrong when you make a poor tone quality, or miss a partial (for example, fingering a middle D but having the A above sound – which is the next note up the harmonic series for low D!).<span> </span>Remember that good sound is the most important aspect of playing any instrument and that good sound will always be accompanied by good intonation and excellent air support.<span> </span>To practice one, we must practice them all!<span> </span>Practice well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also, be sure to check out flutist Robert Dick’s excellent videos on <i>throat tuning, </i>which is essentially the same technique.<span> </span>Robert is one of my heroes, on any instrument!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-794527418545813763.post-34091815587595429152020-04-10T14:19:00.000-04:002020-04-10T14:19:26.608-04:00Tips for Mastering the Soprano Saxophone<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>(This article originally appeared in <b>Saxophone Today</b>, September/October 2015.)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After a recent, all-soprano saxophone performance in Europe, a musician friend said to me, “I don’t normally like soprano sax, but I really enjoyed your playing.” I’ve heard that more than once, and while it is flattering, it also makes me wonder why people don’t like the soprano. It’s a marvelous instrument with an array of colors, brilliance, and agility. Then again, I’ll hear someone trying to play it without seriously approaching the distinctiveness of the little horn, and I totally understand the somewhat popular aversion to the instrument. In this issue, I offer some practical advice for mastering the soprano saxophone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Double, Don’t Dabble</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As my old friend Chris Vadala would say, you can double, or you can dabble. Soprano is not something that you can just pick up and play without sufficient practice to negotiate its unique problems. First of all, when compared to the larger horns, the soprano is very small, so tiny adjustments have a big impact on what comes out of the bell. To the player, the horn can seem fussy and the pitch can be wild, to say the least. Playing the soprano with a good tone, even response, and excellent intonation requires patient and thorough practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before we get too detailed, let’s make the assumption that we are talking about the straight version of the soprano. Unlike its serpentine counterparts of various sizes, the straight soprano is almost completely conical. Straight sopranos with interchangeable necks introduce a short length of cylinder at the socket, but the effect is somewhat negligible. (It is worth noting that the early versions of the Selmer Series III suffered from this design problem and later versions added an internally threaded section to the neck socket.) The relatively uninterrupted conical bore of the soprano results in a few interesting changes from what we normally expect on altos and tenors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Altos tend to play sharp on low Bb, but flat on low B, C, and sometimes C#. This flatness results from the curvature of the bow creating turbulence and under-venting of those notes. Sopranos, however, tend to be sharp throughout the lowest tones. We also come to expect the middle C# to be quite flat, but sopranos are usually a bit sharp on the open note! The octaves also can be wide on the shorter fingerings, resulting in a very sharp extreme upper register. Instruments that use the Mark VI style “doughnut key” attempt to resolve this issue by automatically deploying a small ring over the C-key to lower the pitch of the upper register, starting at high C#. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At any rate, the intonation anomalies of the soprano can make it difficult for the novice to correctly place the mouthpiece on the cork. Compensating for the sharp notes by pulling out on the cork leaves the instrument grossly out of tune with itself. For this reason, I have my students start by pushing the mouthpiece in fairly far on the cork. From there, they slowly test all three octaves of C and the two octaves of G. When they have pulled out a bit, we go on to test middle C# and high C#. If the C#s are very high, we might need to pull out a little more. This takes some practice, but it is worth the time. I also have the student mark the cork with a marker or a piece of tape, so that they will have a ballpark reminder for the future. This spot will change as the player develops, but it is helpful to have a benchmark for comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mouthpieces and Reeds</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are more mouthpiece choices today than ever before, but I am very dubious of using exotic designs and extreme tip openings for soprano. Some of the best players that I have ever heard play moderately sized rubber Selmer mouthpieces. I use a Selmer C** for classical settings, an E for situations that require a bit more volume, and a Selmer Super Session H for jazz. I’ve had a few other mouthpieces from popular makers, but the Selmers give me the most flexibility and ease of response through the registers. Easy is good, and I don’t want to be thinking about mouthpieces when I am performing! I use French-filed #3 reeds on all of my soprano mouthpieces, again avoiding anything fancy or unusual. When choosing reeds, I make sure that they are soft enough to play quietly in the low register (more on that in a moment), but that they have enough stiffness in the tip to play clearly in the extreme high register. Ideally, I am looking for reeds that will easily speak on low Bb while offering altissimo up to high C. This requires a break-in period for new reeds and the patience to identify the few in a box that will actually work. For perspective, I recently prepared for a soprano concert and started out by breaking in twenty reeds. I ended up with around five that met my basic criteria, and it came down to two reeds that I was willing to use on the concert. It’s a lot of work to get the best reeds, but it is well worth it to have a setup that you know will be reliable on the gig. In other words, do your reed homework.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tips for the Low Register</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Soprano plays with relative ease in the middle register, but the lowest notes can be very challenging. As you approach the full length of the cone, these bottom notes have very high resonance and low resistance. This means that you don’t get much back pressure and when the note speaks, it does so with force. If one is not careful, those low notes can really squawk and honk. I have my students start by practicing the low notes with a double-lip embouchure, by which I mean that the top teeth are temporarily not touching the mouthpiece (in every other way, the embouchure should be totally normal). This prevents biting and lets the reed vibrate fully. By getting the feeling of full vibration, one can learn to find the appropriate amount of openness with the jaw, and firmness with the lips. If this is very difficult for you, start on a low D and then work your way down. Strive for the best sound, and play with the softest dynamic possible with a full sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Subtone is also very useful on soprano, especially when trying to darken the tone of the low notes. (See my last article and YouTube video for tips on embouchure and subtone.) By rolling the lip outward (drawing the chin inward will help), the upper harmonics will be dampened and the notes will be smoother and rounder. I practice transitioning back and forth between subtone and full tone, working downward from G in the staff. The ability to mix subtone into the low register in varying amounts allows for a wide variety of colors and dynamics, and it especially helps to play with a softer, prettier tone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Approaching the Palm Keys</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many beginners will find the palm key register very challenging. In contrast to the lowest notes, this part of the horn has low resonance and very high resistance. For this reason, firm support (without biting, of course) must be combined with accurate voicing. I have my students begin by practicing overtones at the second octave. For example, finger a low C while sounding a high C, two octaves above the fingering. Once this is possible without too much effort, try sounding a high D while fingering a low Bb. The exercises in Sigurd Rascher’s “Top Tones” will be especially useful when learning to voice for the difficult high notes on soprano. Practice with a drone and a tuner, to keep the intonation in check. Tuning intervals with the highest soprano notes against a drone will produce very loud difference tones. It is helpful to learn to hear these difference tones, as it will assist the player in placing the finicky palm keys with good pitch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>To Neckstrap, or Not</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Finding the correct angle for the mouthpiece to enter the mouth requires some tinkering. Too straight and the horn will honk, and unnecessary strain will be placed on the right hand that must lift the horn up and out. Too angled and the reed will be choked off. To find a happy medium, many players will use a curved neck and use a neckstrap to take some of the weight off the right thumb. Unfortunately, a completely straight soprano is very difficult to use with a neckstrap, as it makes the angle of the mouthpiece too steep and it draws the player’s head downward, choking off at the throat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The curved neck is a good compromise, although not everyone likes the potential issues caused by a removable neck and the possibility for reduced resonance by breaking the bore so close to the mouthpiece. There are several horns manufactured with one-piece bodies and seamless curved necks, including the Rousseau model Yamaha (a nod to the much revered original, tipped neck model 62). There is another option which I have been using for over ten years, with great success: the saxello-style, tipped bell soprano.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My particular soprano is a Rampone & Cazzani “half-curved” soprano. The neck curves back towards the player, while the bell gently curves up and outward. This results in a very comfortable center of gravity for using a neckstrap. This was the main reason that I pursued this option, as I was suffering with tendonitis in my right hand, making holding the weight of a traditional soprano unbearable. The design of this instrument allows me to completely support the horn with a neckstrap. This design was first used by King in the 1920s with their “saxello,” which is one of the coolest and most collectable horns out there. Unfortunately, they are clunky and do not play with good pitch. Roland Kirk famously played the saxello - check out his solo on “Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma’am” from Mingus, Oh Yeah!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The modern version of this design plays very well. The slight curvature of the bell section actually improves the pitch and resistance of the low C and B, making it behave slightly more like an alto. There are also a few options for a completely curved soprano, including some notable vintage horns (like Buescher, King, and Conn) and we must include the renowned Yanagisawa. Rampone & Cazzani might be the only manufacturer to offer a fully curved soprano with a non-detachable neck. I haven’t had the chance to play one of these, but the great Jan Garbarek (one of my favorite saxophonists of all time) has recently started playing the Rampone curved model.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Beware the Cheapo Soprano!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One last bit of advice - it is very difficult to manufacture a high quality soprano saxophone. The tone holes are very small and close together, and the tolerances are tight. There are a lot of off-brands and stenciled, assembly house sopranos out there. You usually get what you pay for and I have played some visually attractive sopranos that seemed like a great bargain, but the pitch was absolutely unmanageable, and the metal was frighteningly soft. Be prepared to spend some money on a serious instrument, or look for a high quality used horn. That $950 curved soprano on ebay is a bad idea. Please save your money and invest in something that will be playable and will retain some value, in case you ever need to sell it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hope that these pointers are helpful. Remember, soprano is a unique instrument that can become a very personal extension of your voice. Some of my favorite soprano players are Wayne Shorter, Dave Liebman, Claude Delangle, and Tim McAllister, and everyone should check out Christopher Creviston’s amazing recording of the Poulenc flute sonata, transcribed for soprano . . . WOW! These artists approach the soprano as a distinctive instrument with special qualities and capabilities. As with everything else, mastery takes a tremendous amount of work, but the payoff will be in direct proportion. Practice well!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Check out Stephen Page’s fascinating low A modification to his soprano here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://stephen-page.com/cpt_news/saxophone-modifications-part-ii/">http://stephen-page.com/cpt_news/saxophone-modifications-part-ii/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05271589744713681479noreply@blogger.com0