04/28/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 118)

12 Moons Solo Project Day 118

Date: 04/28/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: The rec room of my childhood home in Edmonds, WA

This is an energy piece exploring the wide angles possible with vibrato.  Traditionally vibrato on the saxophone is accomplished with either a slight tensing and releasing of pressure in the embouchure or through gentle fluctuations in air flow.  This improvisation uses the former paired with pliable fingerings that allow the pitches to bend in either direction much further than traditional notes.  

The improvisation was recorded at maximum volume, and I attempted to stay in the upper register throughout the piece.  It had an ascending shape overall that made reference to a handful of specific two-note pitch combinations.  

F–Eb  

F:  (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) High F# key

Eb: Same as above, remove the High F# key

Gb–F

Gb:  (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) High F# key, Side Bb

F: Same as above, remove the Side Bb

Ab–G

Ab:  (Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) High F# key, Side Bb

G: Same as above, also put down the A key in the left Hand

A–Ab

A:  (Left Hand) C key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) High F# key, Side Bb, Side C

Ab: Same as above, remove Side C

The other pitches, clusters and wide intervals were explored by opening and closing the palm keys in combination with the above fingerings, plus wily exploration with embouchure motion, or ad hoc fingerings to explore new sounds.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post is a “light beam with a curve.”

04/27/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 117)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 117

Date: 04/27/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

I’m trading work on my house for lessons with the parent of a student right now.  I struggled this morning to maintain focus and had very limited time to work because of a busy day.  This morning foundation work was being done under the house as I recorded.    I didn’t know the work would be going on this morning, but once it began, ironically the variety of sounds coming from beneath the house actually helped me to focus on a deeper level.  During the hour or so of work, I heard scraping, pounding, sawing, groaning, and the literal sound and feel of my house being jacked up from beneath my feet.  This piece features the consistency of a hammer sounding against the main support beam in the center of my house while I improvised with it.

-Neil

The image “Untitled 56” accompanying today’s post by Clyfford Still.

04/26/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 116)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 116

Date: 04/26/2013

Instrument: Soprano Saxophone

Location: Mountain cabin near Index, WA

Notes:

My wife and I spent the day at our cabin near the face of Mount Index, tucked in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range.  The cabin is only 10 x 12 feet, and was built with the help of my friends a few years ago.  With the return of Spring I’ve been looking forward to going back for months now.  The road is often impassable during Winter, and this was our first trip back up this year and my first time recording in this space.  In the right corner of the cabin is a small wood stove, and I recorded my improvisation today in front of the fire.

In this improvisation I aimed to capture the joy of this amazing day and the lightness of mood we carried with us.  During the recording I was very aware of my environment.  The air was warm and mild, my wife was scooping up leaves a few yards away, and the murmur of the distant Skykomish River could be heard.  Through this light hearted spirit I created a blues-inflected gesture around a central melody: E–A–G–G.  I would occasionally incorporate the major third (G#) against the G as well.  As the piece progressed I began to expand the original rhythmic and melodic shape by creating faster cycles.  This improvisation also uses as sharper tuning made by pushing the mouthpiece much further on.

The basic fingering was as follows:

Concert E.  (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C

Concert A   (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C, Side Bb

Concert G   (Left Hand) B-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C, Side Bb

Concert E.  (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C

-Neil

The painting “Lamp” by Philip Guston (1979)

04/25/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 115)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 115

Date: 04/25/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

I felt in me a brooding, quiet panic this afternoon.  Facing this I was compelled to explore a piece that did not overtly take advantage of it but tried to cut to the heart of this strange feeling within me.  I wanted to express in the music the mood itself and not my selfish interpretation of it.  It was not a deep for-boding feeling, but more a myopic layer in my mind.  The improvisation therefore explores the constancy of this mood and a small degree of evolution within it.

The improvisation oscillates between two fingering actions, both using the altissimo F as a common drone in the extreme upper register.  The two finger systems create very similar chord shapes in the lower register, centering around a Concert B and a Concert G# respectively.  I worked to capture a balance between the high altissimo F and these pitches.  At times I omitted the high pitch to instead explore the lower, and at the conclusion of the piece I then abandon the lower register to capture the high octave drone. The two fingering systems are:

Fingering 1.  (Left Hand) Bb Bis key, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) High F# key.  Trill the high F# key quickly (Right Hand), and the B key medium-fast (Left Hand).

Fingering 2.  (Left Hand) B-A keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) High F# key.  Trill the high F# key quickly (Right Hand), the B and A keys medium-fast (Left Hand).

-Neil

The image “Man in Constant Sorrow” by painter William Kentridge (1998-99).

04/24/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 114)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 114

Date: 04/24/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

The terror of war was on my mind during this improvisation.  Amid the torrent of machine-gun tat tat tat tat tat sounds is the alarm call created by playing the cycle without any tongue articulation.  I used this call as a precursor to the expected torrent of quick articulations that would return.  I worked to maintain as steady a tempo as possible from start to finish, and as a machine gun itself, I kept the volume static.  The exception to this is the mid point of the piece where I begin to bring the volume up and down a bit to create a new momentary focal point.  This was done to make the final escalation of energy in the last 20 seconds all the more jarring. 

This improvisation uses two basic fingering system centered around a Concert Ab.  In the tenor key, the fingerings are as follows:

System 1.  (Left Hand0) B key, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C.  Create a cycle opening and closing the G key (Left Hand) and the side Bb key (Right Hand).

System 2.  Low Bb fingering: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C.  Create a cycle opening and closing the G key (Left Hand) and the side Bb key (Right Hand).

-Neil