Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 02/06/2015
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Notes:
The image “Eskimo Nebula” accompanying today’s post by NASA, courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 02/03/2015
Location: Performance Hall at Chief Sealth High School. Seattle, WA
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Notes:
This morning I searched for an approach to the instrument I have not yet taken. I worked in vain for some time, reflecting on my current improvisatory interests and thinking about the directions I would like to explore further. I decided to enter into this goal through the modus of singing into the horn, a technique that seems to occupy a lot of my artistic effort these days. As I’ve worked primarily on creating harmonic texture with two or more total tones, I decided to focus instead on single pitches. I often sing unison pitches into the horn, but rarely do I ever simply sing into the instrument without actually sounding a played pitch. I decided to focus during this improvisation on singing with my voice alone into the horn while exploring fingerings against the flow of my air. I then incorporated slap tonguing into the sound spectrum. I found that the room became an absolute essential part of the resultant sounds explored here.
The image accompanying today’s post by Andre Gilbert Schmucki.
Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 02/02/2015
Location: The bathroom at my home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Notes:
During this improvisation I worked with the illusion of higher pitch, “whistle” tones. Though I am singing into the horn, the extremely high pitches captured in this piece are actually altissimo notes that I worked to balance dynamically. This created the allusion of upper register whistle tones within a chord, such as those heard in Tuvan throat singing.
The image accompanying today’s post by Jessica Rimondi.
Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 01/31/2015
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Notes:
This morning I was preparing for a later performance at Cafe Racer where I played music inspired by the great storyteller John Coltrane. Drummer Gregg Keplinger and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes also joined me that evening. During my practice session early that day I worked to create threads of melodic activity centered around simple thematic concepts. During this improvisation I occasionally interrupted the melodic activity by playing repeated single pitches that I would articulate and re-articulate repeatedly. I would then briefly move on but quickly return to focus on a pitch one half step below that previously articulated single note.
The image “Collapsing Architecture” by Seth Clark.
Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 01/30/2015
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Notes:
During this improvisation I worked with a “walking trill” technique in my right hand, where I alternated quickly closing and opening a the F# key with my right hand index and middle fingers.
The image accompanying today’s post by street artist Borondo.