05/23/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 143)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 143

Date: 05/23/2013

Instrument: Alto saxophone

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

Notes:

Today I worked with non-tempered pitches that had a siren-like call to them, surrounded by undulating tones that were muted and presented at a steady pace beneath.  There were two siren calls, the first being in the upper register with very bright and present tones, and the second being in the upper-mid register with more of a subdued quality.  I thought of this improvisation as occupying two words, the first being the siren pitches and the second being the lower tones.  I attempted to keep the lower world, with it’s twisting, cyclic sounds coursing nearly at all times, whereas the upper siren-calls would only step into the forefront occasionally.  

There was a single fingering used during this improvisation, with side keys added or taken away to create the cycles.  The siren call in the upper register used the follow fingering:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) E-D keys.  Flick open and closed the Low C to allow the pitch to pop out at a high level of volume.  This create the notes (in the alto key) of High C, and High D (quarter step sharp).

The siren call in the upper-mid register used the same fingering, but had the Low C held completely down.  The undulating lower register tones used primarily the low F# and A, and were made with the above finger creating a cycle by opening and closing the Palm Eb and Side C one at a time in repetition.

-Neil

The image “‘61 Pontiac” accompanying today’s post by Robert Bechtle (1968-69)

05/22/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 142)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 142

Date: 05/22/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This afternoon I worked with fixed scales that had a bluesy quality to them.  Eventually I began  transitioning the use of tempered pitches to more pliable ones with false fingerings.  My improvisation today use a fixed scale with six different findings.  This created a 7 note scale with non-tempered, de-tuned pitches.  Some of the fingerings used make it possible to play a minor third, or minor second simultaneously. For example, with the pitches Bb and B the melodic variation between the notes was achieved with movement in air flow and embouchure with a single fingering.  

The fingerings (from lowest to highest and in the tenor key)

1.  C# (slightly sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Side F#, Low C. 

2.  D (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.  

3. F (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.  There is also naturally a minor third F to D chord with this fingering that speaks at times.  

4.  F# (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Side F#, Low C.

5-6. Bb and B (Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low Eb.  To achieve each pitch bend with embouchure.

7.  C# (Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low Eb.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post is of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who released a new music video today.

05/21/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 141)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 141

Date: 05/21/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Small Theatre at Chief Sealth International High School.  Seattle, WA

Notes:

The physical landscape outside looked like a perfect grey scale today, and the radio was filled with harrowing stories from survivors of the devastating Tornado in Oklahoma.  This improvisation is dedicated to those folks now recovering.  This sound exploration surveyed a mood of melancholy that I carried with me through most of the day.  I seemed to feel every physical motion and mental experience very personally today and with an unusual amount of sensitivity of thought.  In my improvisation I tried to capture this depth of mood as best I could, exploring brooding melodic figures mixed with the constancy of a continuous, slow trill in the lower end of the instrument.  

This is an unusual melodic and harmonic action, in that the continuous whole-step melodic figure in the low end was achieved but pressing and releasing the octave key.  This created a muted figure that was only audible at a low volume.  At the same time, the fingering produced quiet bends in the upper register from a Concert Eb to an E.  This forced me to split my mind completely, focusing simultaneously on maintaining an even tempo in the slow trill, and bending, warping and sliding melodic figures in the upper register.  It truly was a marriage of two completely different trains of the thought.

The fingering was as follows:

(Left Hand) Fork F, A keys, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.  To create the trill, open and close the register key with the thumb.  The melodic shapes above are achieved with the embouchure.  Other rhythmic and melodic cycles were made by opening and closing the side Bb, C and High F keys while also trilling the B key in the left hand.

-Neil

The image “White Painting” by Albert Kotin (1950’s).

05/20/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 140)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 140

Date: 05/20/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

The use of double-tonging was a focus during my practice time this afternoon.  I’m still a relative novice at the use of this technique as I’ve really only delved deeply into it for about two or three years.  I’m currently surveying my ability to use the technique within specific ranges of the instrument, as certain regions have higher or lower relative levels of natural resistance.  This results in the technique having extremely different overall levels of fluidity from one part of the horn to another.  Today I worked with specific alternate fingerings in the mid range of the instrument that allowed for an extremely rapid exchange of pitches.  These particular fingerings are of interest to me because closing or opening a key will only adjust the pitch minimally, but the actual changes in volume and presence of sound can be much more drastic. For example, one pitch may be muted and stuffy where another may be bright and medium volume.

I approached this improvisation as though I were playing traditional chromatic fingerings spanning a middle octave D to middle octave F#.  However, the the Fork F and Low C keys were pressed down throughout.  This created quarter tones resulting a larger number of intervals between this major third intervalic range.  As stated above, this fingering system allowed some pitches to naturally speak more than others and to provide drastic variations in sound color.  I attempted to maintain a consistent and persistent use of double-tonguing throughout the improvisation.

-Neil

The image “Shadow Dance” accompanying today’s post by Nicolas Carone