10/12/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 285)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 285

Date: 10/12/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This afternoon I decided to quickly compose a series of 10 motives without any prescribed melodic, rhythmic or harmonic relationship to one another.  I intentionally used wide leaps in range to further distort any regularity of shape.  As is almost always the case in my writing, the motives bore a strong resemblance to one another after all.  After composing this series of motives, I took each motive and re-wrote the pitches from back to front (retrograde) and maintained the same rhythm.  With the motives now totaling 20, I re-wrote them on a fresh page in indeterminate order in what seemed to me to be an even spread in their orientation.  I then improvised the piece freely, combining motives together into strains of action in various lengths.

While recording this afternoon I found it to be extremely challenging to randomize my playing of these figures.  As is always the case when I perform such a piece, my natural inclination is to scan from left to right, or move directly above or below.  In the split second it takes to avoid this motion, my next most common move will be to go to the extreme opposite side of the page.  For example, if I read a motive in the upper right hand corner, once I’ve avoided looking directly below I very naturally want to simply jump to the bottom of the page.  Combatting both these tendencies is very tricky, particularly at the tempo I recorded at.  After several attempts, I chose my strongest take.  I waited until the end of the day to re-listen to the track and begin my written description, when I mistakenly deleted it.  In the immediate frustration of that moment I put my horn together, turned on the mic and did it again.  The energy in this take was much more focused, possibly because of my pent of energy and natural frustration at having deleted the take only moments before.  However I found my eyes darting around the page indeterminately in a much more randomized fashion, and  my mind was more strongly attached to sculpting the piece than it had been in the lost take.

-Neil

The image “Former War Factory” accompanying today’s post by Osaka Shomei.

10/11/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 284)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 284

Date: 10/11/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This morning I was emailing back and forth with Erin Waterman, the mother of my saxophone student Carli.  Erin is a passionate advocate for CureSearch, which “Funds and Supports targeted and innovative children’s cancer research with measurable results” (curesearch.com).  Just before Carli’s 4th birthday, she was diagnosed with Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.  Now in the 7th grade, she is a healthy, passionate kid and a very gifted young saxophonist in my studio.  In the coming months, Carli’s mother Erin plans to walk 26 miles in one day in support of CureSearch.  Today’s improvisation was inspired by Erin Waterman and her daughter Carli.

In this improvisation I worked with tonality, balancing fingerings and singing into the horn.  I wanted to create a beautiful, hopeful atmposphere in this piece and I felt that the inclusion of my natural voice would be key in this goal.   I’ve spent quite a bit of time singing into the instrument to pull out both consonant and dissonant textures, but I’ve spent comparatively little time working working on more traditional compositional approaches, such as consonant harmonic movement, voice leading, contrary motion, and non-parallel movement.  In this piece I wanted to directly tackle these areas, but above all I wanted to create an honest, open flow of sound that expressed my deep appreciation for what Erin has dedicated herself towards.  She is an inspiration to us all and I am deeply grateful to know her and her wonderful daughter.

This improvisation was approached freely, but a simple transcription of the first few seconds of the piece was as follows (written below in the tenor key of Bb):

Sung :         F#—————F natural—–F#——A quarter step flat———————F#—-

Fingered:   1……….2……………..1………………………………2…………………1…..

Above: The line (—-) should be interpreted as a sung pitch which is held out.  The dot (.) should be interpreted as a trill to be executed along with the fingered pitch associated with Fingerings Number 1 or 2.

Fingering 1:

(Left Hand) 1-2-3, Low B  // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C.  Trill the D key in the Right Hand constantly.

Fingering 2:

(Left Hand) 1-2-3, Low Bb  // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C.  Trill the D key in the Right Hand constantly.

*Erin will be walking 26 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail for the Ultimate Hike,  benefiting CureSearch for Children’s Cancer.  You can donate directly to Erin’s walking campaign Here:

http://www.ultimatehike.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1059263&supid=297786486*

-Neil

The image “Untitled” accompanying today’s post by Hayley Tompkins (2001).

10/10/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 283)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 283

Date: 10/10/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

Today’s improvisation used a repetitive cycle with 3 fingering actions.  The overall sound concept was derived from exploring the extreme elements inherent in only of those 3 actions.  These fingerings were as follows:

Fingering 1 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Side Bb, Low C

Fingering 2 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C

Fingering 3 (Left Hand) Fork F, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C 

Fingering 1 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Side Bb, Low C

The sound shape that opens the piece uses the above three fingerings in the following order:

Fingering 1 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Side Bb, Low C

Fingering 2 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C

Fingering 3 (Left Hand) Fork F, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C 

Fingering 1 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Side Bb, Low C

Despite the heavy, quick movement of fingerings in this improvisation, the overall sound concept was taken from Fingering 2: Fingering 2 (Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Low C# (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C.  This multiphonic has three distinct sound ares which became my point of departure for the entirety of the improvisation.  I thought of the three sound areas as Low, Medium and High.  The Low area included a split-tone chord between a Concert Db and D.  The Medium area breaks into the upper-mid register with more brittle, colorful tones that included the lower Db and D.  Finally, the High area created a variety of split-tones and overtones.  

During this improvisation I kept these sound areas in my head at all times, but by cycling Fingerings 1-3, new chords and shapes were possible as well.  My aim was to balance the 3 “pure” multiphonic sound areas from Fingering 2 along with the more interactive sound environment created by cycling all 3 of the fingerings.  As the improvisation progressed, during more rapid passages I also began incorporating the Side C, and trill the G key in the left hand.

-Neil

The image “Huile sur toile” accompanying today’s post by Vladimir Velickovic (1974).

10/09/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 282)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 282

Date: 10/09/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

After finishing my practice session I set to work with the immediate goal of trying to find a new sound texture on the horn.  After searching for some time I developed a fingering for a wide range multiphonic chord with a series of 3 clustered pitches in the upper register.  Each pitch could be isolated or played in harmony.  But after playing the shape melodically and in sound cycle format, I  realized that I had learned this shape some time ago and forgotten it.  That was a testament to the fact that these discoveries, if not implanted in my brain or at minimum properly notated down, can tend to disappear.  For those who are curious, the fingering was as follows:

In ascending order and in the tenor key of Bb, the pitches were:

-Bottom most pitches: D quarter step sharp, G quarter step flat.  

-Upper register 3-tone cluster: Eb, F quarter step flat, Gb

(Left Hand) Fork F key, 2-3, Octave // (Right Hand) 2-3, Low C, Low Eb

I stopped for a moment in frustration, and when I picked the horn back up, strangely another long-forgotten shape came immediately into my fingers.  The sound of this second shape resonated with me much deeper, and I decided to perform a blind improvisation and re-discover some of its possibilities.  The overall sound shape explored in this improvisation was built off of the Low Bb fingering while barely opening and closing the Low Eb key.  I blew into the horn with an air flow that helped to pull out a myriad of overtones.  The warbling vibrato sounds were made by trilling open and closed the Octave key.  Other techniques included intermittently tilling the Palm D and Eb keys, and the gentle and extremely quiet lower register upward bends were made from the initial burst of air escaping out of the low Eb key.  These bends occurred at various points during the improvisation for a second at most.  An example of an upward bend can be heard at 1:17

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post is a bird nest created by Weaver Birds.

10/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 281)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 281

Date: 10/08/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: The orchestra room at Chief Sealth High School.  Seattle, WA

Notes:

In today’s improvisation I worked with a close-knit split-tone sound that I used as a drone.  I let it flex up and down and worked to create interruptions of “action” on top of it.  I wanted these points of interruption to feel like like a clear departure from the established oscillation of the split-tone, but I also wanted these melodies to feel as though they were naturally born out of the drone itself.  This particular split-tone has a hollowness to it that I found to be beautiful, and I tried to sculpt the interruptions in kind.    I perceived these interruption “actions” as sound flourishes.  To create the illusion of reverb, I primarily used the Side C, Side F, Side F# while opening and closing fingerings in the left hand.  This helped to bind the sounds together into longer, more sustained phrases.  I’ve recorded in the orchestra room at Chief Sealth 3 other times during this project, and I’ve discussed in the past how remarkably dead this room is.  Throughout this improvisation I tried to work against the room’s natural tendencies.

During this improvisation I visualized an arch of sound with the mid point occurring at the busiest point of the interrupting melodic action.   After the mid point of the improvisation I changed the split tone and began bending between the lower register B and an upper register C.  I then gradually shortened the length of the melodic interruptions, and worked to bring down the volume and pacing of action to the approximate levels used in the opening of the improvisation.  

The split tone oscillated between a Concert B and C, and used a fixed fingering:  

(Left Hand) 1-2-3, Low B // (Right Hand) 2-3, Low C

*Near the mid point of the improvisation a series of booming sounds take place that occurred in the rafters above where I was recording.  These sounds were not intentionally a part of the recording.*

The image “Three Parts” accompanying today’s post by Susan Rothenberg (1987-88).