02/16/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 47)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 47

Date: 02/16/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

After practicing and searching for new textures and improvisational ideas for a few hours today, I stumbled upon this improvisation.  Without blowing any air and by opening and closing any key against the body of the horn, there is a pitch that is always audibly be heard.  Generally this pitch is only a momentary stacatto with no sustain, but other fingerings actually allow the pitch to ring a bit.  My improvisation today explored this area.

After practicing for some time today saliva had welled up in the bottom of my horn.  When I tilted the horn at an angle and held it against my body, I noticed a particular pitch would speak with the following fingering: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F key, Low C key.  When gently or firmly striking the F# key in the right hand, the horn would resonate a Concert D pitch.  In fact, when doing this fingering I could hear the Concert D even when tapping any point on the body of the instrument.

I found that the pitch would resonate the loudest and clearest if I struck the key with my index finger.  I suspect this fact has nothing to do with the horn itself and more to do with the muscles in my index finger.  In this improvisation I explored the natural “clack” when striking the key and the resultant D pitch.  I divided the improvisation into sections A and sections B.  Sections A included a steady rhythmic pulse and an exploration in levels of balance between the clack and the pitch.  In section B, I tried to create a “roll” with my index and middle fingers.  In order to maintain the Concert D pitch however, I had to float my fingerings on the key.  Normally each key is fully closed and fully opened when played, but to get the pitch to speak I was only able to close the key about half way during the roll.  

-Neil

Live @ the Twelve Tiny Explosions CD release last night

02/15/2013 (12 Moons Solo Improvisation Day 46)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 46

Date: 02/15/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: A room in my mothers house.  Edmonds, WA

Notes:

With the release of my new solo saxophone album tonight, my spirits are high and my energy is coursing.  I recorded this improvisation today without any kind of pre-scripted model or preparation before hand.  This is an energy piece centered around small motives, and developed with a steady line of intensity throughout.

A few weeks ago I performed Roscoe Mitchell’s amazing composition Nonaah in which I played a transcription of the piece verbatim from his landmark recording “The Solo Concert.”  The moment I began this improvisation today I was struck by the spirit of this piece.  Unlike Roscoe’s recording, which maintains repetitive traditional note themes with crystal-clearn precision, I approached this improvisation with smaller melodic fragments.  There is some melodic repetition, but this is done very little.  I use false fingerings to mute at least 50% if the pitches, which, when overblown, these muted tones often speak mulitphonics.  Instead of allowing these multiphonics to resonate, I clipped them off with my tongue to create a harsh, halted action on each pitch.  This created the puckish sound heard throughout.  

-Neil

02/14/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 45)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 45

Date: 02/14/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Practice room B at South Whidbey High School.  Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

My ears were bent towards interloping chords today.  As I have stated before, the practice room B at SWHS is a fantastic, resonant space to play.  My improvisation to today focuses on the use of chord clusters with fluttering inside tones.  

There are many ways to create chords on the saxophone.  In the last few years I have become particularly interested in creating chords with moving lines beneath or above a sustained pitch.  My improvisation today uses a fingering system that creates a very consonant chord, with the concert key tones of Gb, Ab (middle octave) and Eb (high octave), among other pitches that intersect these notes.  The high Eb in this case is the sustained pitch, and by opening and closing my Eb palm key I am able to quickly trill between a Concert Db and Cb. 

Because of this resonant space, there is quite a bit of activity that carries through the room, but even in a very dead space this improvisatory gesture is a busy one.  As the piece progressed, I began introducing less consonant tones, such as the Concert B and lower octave Concert G.  There are higher tones above the high Eb that seemed to want to come out, but I worked to hold these back in order to perform a piece that uses a limited range of just under two octaves.

-Neil

02/13/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 44)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 44

Date: 02/13/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

In our practice routines, woodwind players often take a single pitch and attempt to do a seamless crescendo or diminuendo.  This strengthens our embouchure and steadies our air flow.  This has always been a part of my daily practice routine but I also incorporate overtones into this process.  When playing particular fingerings on the saxophone, the horn seems to naturally want to jump up or down an octave as you let the note grow, and particularly so when you let the note diminish.  My improvisation today is a hybrid of the common crescendo and diminuendo practice technique and the natural octave displacement that wants to occur.  I used a single pitch Concert B in three octaves throughout this improvisation.  

I begin the piece by quickly capturing the high and middle octave Concert B at the same time.  Though this is also possible with a traditional fingering, in this piece I used the following fingering for the high and middle octaves: (Left Hand) A-G Keys, Low C# (Right Hand) F-E-D Keys, Low C.  This is a “split tone” fingering that can simultaneously make a Concert B and A, but in this piece I only play the Concert B.  The low B is played by the traditional tenor fingering of a Concert B (the tenor C#).  The transition into middle octave concert B from the low B is played through an overtone.  

My overall goal with this improvisation was to create a piece that uses careful transitions and abrupt transitions from one octave to the next, with the occasional use of two octaves at the same time.   I feel such a profound level of concentration when playing an improvisation with only a single note, even if that pitch moves into different octaves.  There is a crystal-clear picture as to what is communicated to the listener, and it is a true challenge to perform cleanly in this style.  

-Neil