07/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 189)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 189

Date: 07/08/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Practice Room A at South Whidbey High School.  Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

This afternoon I worked with rougher, unfinished textures to try and create tiny microcosmic worlds with a wide range of color inside of them.  My improvisation today is my shortest recording to date on this project, and was intended to be a very focused, bright burst of color.  This piece uses a single fingering, which traditionally produces a very stable, de-tuned major chord multiphonic, but in this case was used to create a much wider range of sound.  This fingering was as follows:

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

A month ago I participated in a concert with the legendary saxophonist Roscoe MItchell.  In his adaptation of Nonaah for Cello Quartet, the torrent of sound rises to a climax in the final pitch of the piece, which held out at full volume in a terrifying chord which then slowly, achingly falls away into silence.  Listening to it from the audience I felt like I was a body at the shore line being uncontrollably pulled out into the ocean.  There was a power to it that simply amazed me, and during this improvisation the source of my ending almost certainly stemmed from this concept.  

-Neil

The image “Drawing for Tansient Rainbow” by Cai Guo-Qiang (2003)

07/07/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 188)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 188

Date: 07/07/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This morning I woke up, went into my practice space and immediately recorded an improvisation.  I decided to go with my gut feeling, and arrived at a piece that explored the cross fading of sounds at a low level of volume.  I’m amazed that every fingering can be made to elicit a world of sounds when  simple changes in perspective are applied.  A large part of this process is simply imagination.  I imagine what sound I would like to come out of the horn and more often than not, if I am aware and open to possibility the horn will respond in kind.

During this improvisation I worked within the mid to upper octave in the horn’s traditional range.  I used alternate fingerings to create ebbs and flows in the sustained pitches, and as described above I imagined the creation of sound.  This included lower pitches, higher pitches, or the fading of one pitch into two or two into one.  I went directly to the horn this morning to get that initial burst of creative energy that takes place before the duties and obligations of the day began to weigh on me.  I did only have 20 or so minutes to work and record, but I was amazed at how focused I can become under situations where time is precious.  But unlike most days, this morning time felt new.  

-Neil

The image “Mapping the Internet” accompanying today’s post by Barrett Lyon (2003)

07/06/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 187)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 187

Date: 07/06/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

The morning I worked on playing a challenging piece of solo music that I’ve written as part of a new large ensemble piece.  The music is inspired by the saxophonist Julius Hemphill, and in my brief study of his music, I’m amazed by his compositional structures.  He will pair an improvisation with the unlikeliest of melodies, or set multi-horn writing to melodies which sound solo specifically like an avant solo line.  The the idea of pairing strong elements together to create a unique whole became the theme for my practice session today, and also my recorded improvisation.

I decided to work with a fundamental element–the triad.  This improvisation is in the key of G major, with the first pitch staring on the 3rd, and the triad is played in a very common pattern called “thirds."  I cycled this same triad at the same tempo, with the same articulation multiple times.  I decided to vary only the potential volume use and the length of the final concert G altissimo pitch.  The abrupt shift to the noisier, block chord multiphonic represented pairing of "strong” compositional elements.  There are two multiphonics used here, which are each, as the triad, very commonly used.  The first is a G major chord which is slightly sharp, and slightly de-tuned, and the second is a de-tuned G major multiphonic with a center a bit closer to tempered pitch.  The fingerings used for each multiphonic were as follows:

G major chord #1

(Left Hand) B-G keys, Octave, Low C# // F-D keys, Low C

G major chord #2

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

-Neil

The image “Untitled” accompanying today’s post by Rosalind Nashashibi (2003)

07/05/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 186)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 186

Date: 07/05/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

In my improvisation yesterday I worked with a very active sound environment with a looser sensibility.  Today I decided to perform the antithesis of that improvisation, and worked on improvising a piece with a very centered, very controlled environment.  This piece was recorded quietly and I worked for some time to eliminate as much air and saliva crackles from my sound as possible.  As my friend Ivan Arteaga calls it, I tried to achieve the “pure saxophone sound."  The fingering system used during this improvisation was a very noisy one, partially because of lost motion on the octave clutch, where there is a fraction of a millimeter of movement that takes place before the key engages.  This results in a bit of extra noise coming from the keys.  This improvisation also simultaneously uses the secondary octave key on the side of the horn.  Again this has a bit of lost motion in it as well, where the key does not quite make contact with the clutch that is intended to stop it from rising any further.  Because of both bits of lost motion, there is a fraction of a millimeter where the two overlap, causing a very unique sound environment in both the pitches produced and the key clacking.  This would not interfere at all while playing the horn under most circumstances, but I focused specifically on exploiting it during this improvisation.

The two pitches that served as springboards were the Concert A, and the Concert C (a bit flat).  The finger system used was as follows:

(Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) Slowly open and close the G key (normally used in the ring finger of the left hand).

The fingering notation above is only a starting point.  The pliability of sound, including the bends, split pitches, octave leaps, and "dripping” notes were achieved by listening very carefully to the horn, focusing on air flow, and thinking hard about where I would like the sound to move to next.  

-Neil

The image “Untitled” accompanying today’s post by Stanislav Kolibal (1975)