12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 65
Date: 03/06/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
In my improvisation today I searched for an elegiac mood. It was not that I necessarily felt in an elegiac mood myself, but the impulse inside me wanted that release. I had a discussion with my wife after recording this piece, that I felt as though I came closer to something in this improvisation today. No matter how abstract my improvisations or compositions may be, I’ve come to realize that what I’m ultimately seeking is clarity in my art. I’m searching for a clarity of something, and this is where I’ve yet to pint-point it. Maybe it’s clarify of mood, or form, or structure. I’m not sure. This improvisation seems to be closer to it though. I would personally say that this improvisation is an easily accessible piece for most listeners. I understand that a considerable amount of my output requires a great deal more from my listeners than this piece. But with that said, in all of it I’m still searching for that same ultimate, elusive quality.
I use two fingerings during this improvisation. Fingering one: Low C fingering // Fingering two: Low B fingering. The steady, melodic pulse is created in both cases by opening the closing the the G key in the left hand. In the mid point of the piece I begin a sixteenth pattern that now includes the high side F key as well.
-Neil
03/05/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 64)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 64
Date: 03/05/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Performance Hall center stage at Chief Sealth High School. Seattle, WA
Notes:
Key clacking and the depression of the key cups themselves can create a world of tones and textures inside the saxophone. The horn is a conical shape, and therefore an excellent vessel for sound to travel through whether blowing into the instrument or not. My improvisation today focused on the area of rhythmic cycles achieved through fingering selected pitches, then opening and closing keys against the body of the horn.
I decided to use the same fingering I explored in my improvisation yesterday (Day 63), but instead of remaining in a fixed position I explored the opening and closing of keys at will. (Left Hand) B-A-G, Low Bb keys // (Right Hand) F-E-D Keys. Primarily, I found myself opening the G Keys, Side C, Side Bb, and Side F keys against this fingering. When performing an improvisation or composition with key clacking and key depression, I am simply amazed at the range of sound the horn in able to create.
During this piece I attempted to create small melodic themes as well, and many tones rung open while others seemed to live only aslong as the brief moment when a key is closed against the body. I worked to maintain a steady rhythmic pulse in sixteenth notes that is maintained throughout the bulk of the improvisation.
-Neil
03/04/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 63)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 63
Date: 03/04/2013
Instrument: Alto saxophone
Location: Hallway outside the the SWHS band room. Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
Last night I watched a masterful performance by saxophonist Wally Shoup and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Corsano. This was my first time seeing Chris, and I was amazed by the range of sound he pulled out of the drum set. His vocabulary seemed so natural to him it was as though he were taught from the outset of his life to bow the rims of his toms or hum with his face pressed against kit. Wally was in a particularly enlightened state in this performance. In Wally’s playing, I always hear a joyfulness that fills the room. He seems to take any idea that comes from his instrument and sculpt it into a clean, crystalized version of what had come out the moment before. My improvisation today was inspired by his work.
During this improvisation I use a very common saxophone multiphonic fingering: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys. Inspired by Wally’s work, I decided to start the improvisation with whatever sound by body and instrument seemed inclined to begin with. I made it my aim to approach this piece without ego, and to let my horn and mind take me where they wished to go. At times I would come upon a new sound and choose to explore it in repetition, or to build a slight phrase around it, or even explore tonality as I did at the close of the piece. At other times I would attempt to execute a gesture and the horn would not speak it, so I would take the sound that the horn offered me and begin anew. It seems that with this approach as an improviser, there is no limit to what you can explore and no end to what can be done in even a single piece.
-Neil
03/03/2013 (12 Moons Project Day 62)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 62
Date: 03/03/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
Today is a pre-dawn improvisation. After a late night recording session and only a few hours sleep, I woke up and got straight to the point. I felt a gathering storm in my horn this morning, and this improvisation reflects that mood. This was one of those mornings when energy trumped the need to sleep.
The improvisation uses a fingering system that I’ve covered before on the 12 Moons project. (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, octave // (Right Hand) F-E Keys, Low C. At will, I also create trills, flutters and pitch loops by opening the G key and side Bb. With the above root fingering I explored textures by using embouchure control and changes in my air flow. I worked to create a sound concept that allowed pitches to enter and exit the sound field when the music deemed it necessary. It’s of note to say most these changed are intentional, but others are indeterminate. New colors that unexpectedly enter in become opportunities for exploration.
Over the past several years I’ve learned that the air that naturally escapes the horn while playing is as good a learning tool as are pitches themselves. The same can be said for the “junk” tone that is created by air moving around the neck and mouthpiece of the horn while playing a note with a non-traditional embouchure. Slight changes in air flow, say if I hear the air bending up instead of having expected it to bend down, it can give me some expectation of where the horn might be leading me. In this sense, even tones that come out unexpectedly often have some kind of pre-curser to them.
-Neil
03/02/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 61)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 61
Date: 03/02/2013
Instrument; Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
When I was in New York several years ago there was a small painting in the Museum of Modern Art. The artist’s name escapes my mind right now. His painting was composed mostly of whitish dead air space, with a washed-out orange and cream colored line down the center. The line went top to bottom as though it ran right off the canvas with no beginning and no end. I remember that on the placard description the creator had called this piece “a major breakthrough” in his work. It went on to say that this single line represented the first visual point of focus in the entire body of this painters work. At this early stage in my musical development, I remember being struck by this definition of “breakthrough,” that for this artist the most basic of shapes with the most basic usage could be so shattering for him as the creator. My improvisation today was inspired by this idea.
A point of interest for me lately is creating a musical statement that is direct as possible. The 12-tone melody is an established musical form and extremely common. A 12-tone melody is composed of all 12 chromatic pitches, each performed in turn with no repetition of a pitch until all 12 have been stated. With this simple concept lays a world of possibility for the great composers of this style, and many separate but related scales can be derived from the single parent or “prime” scale. My improvisation today uses only the prime scale–12 pitches performed with a pause afterward it is complete.
The 12 tone scale I improvised uses the following pitch order (in the tenor key): D, A, E, F#, C#, F, B, G#, C, Bb, D#, G. However, on some repetitions I also implement the use of overtones to create these pitches as well–they are also played in the same octave that the original statement places them in. To create the 12 notes, I used 5 fingerings with overtones built off the low octave pitches Bb, B, C, # and D. When I play this 12 tone row with overtones, each pitch then has a tone in the lowest octave that accompanies it. These lower tones do not follow a 12 tone shape.
-Neil