12 Moons Solo Project Day 19
Date: 01/19/2013
Instrument: Soprano saxophone
Location: The Headlands Wildlife Preserve on Whidbey Island
Notes:
This morning I went for a walk in day 4 of this heavy, persistent fog that just won’t seem to lift. I ended up back in the Headlands Wildlife Preserve in a clearing about a quarter mile down a dirt road. The morning air was heavy with dew and the birds were out in full force. I decided to record a piece that juxtaposed a more industrial sound with the natural sound cycles of the forest.
During this improvisation I used a single fingering: traditional low E fingering with the low C and low Bb keys down as well. I worked to create a siren-like call into the forest to create a jarring interruption in the ambient wildlife sounds. This fingering creates an amazing multiphonic on the soprano that has heavy, bright tones in it. I took in enough mouthpiece that my lips were touching the ligature and my embouchure strained to remain controlled. Along with a stop- tongue technique in the first of each 2 note phrase, I overblow the horn to try and fill out the muliphonic. The whistle-like, bright tones are achieved by blowing as much air as possible into the horn while maintaining a light hold on the mouthpiece.
-Neil
01/18/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 18)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Improvisation Day 18
Date: 01/18/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Edmonds, WA house
Notes:
Over the past two days the fog has sat still in the air throughout the puget sound. On my end of Whidbey Island the visibility has remained at no more than 30 or 40 yards this entire time. A melancholic mood has seeped its way into me these past two days, and my improvisation today reflects this.
I focused on creating a bluesy, two tone motive with a continuous rhythm. I love repetition, and the blues is the best place to find it. The fingerings used to create the pitches are based on two fingerings: the tenor low C# played as an overtone for the first pitch, and then continuing his fingering while opening the side C key for the second. Each fingering has a complimentary physical feeling as I play, making the two very fluid to play when put against one another. Throughout this improvisation I explore the overtone series on these two fingerings to create clusters of pitches and smears from one overtone to the next above or below it.
-Neil
01/17/2013 (12 Moons Project Day 17)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 17
Date: 01/17/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
This is an energy piece. My intention with this improvisation was to create a slight escalation of tension, with a moderate drop part way through and a reemergence of the high tension build towards the end. Throughout this piece the alarm call sound centers around a concert Bb–a fingering that can produce a minor third chord. With my embouchure I bend this pitch upwards and downwards easily within his range, then creating the bright alarm call sound.
In my study of chordal action on the saxophone I quickly learned that each of these chordal sounds seems to have a fundamental pitch center. If you gently blow into the horn there will always be a single tone that is produced naturally, and this is the sound I’ve come to define as the “center” for any given chord fingering. The remaining action of this piece, as noted above, is intended to be of high energy and avant exploration at a high volume.
-Neil
01/16/2013 (12 Moons Project Day 16)
12 Moons Solo Project Day 16
Date: 01/16/2013
Instrument: Alto saxophone
Location: Home studio (Clinton, WA on Whidbey Island)
Notes:
My deepest roots as an improviser coil back to the music of John Coltrane. In his music I found liberation. It represented to me artistic freedom and the glorious truth that an artist will push themselves, time and time again into uncertainty in their craft, only to emerge stronger for having done so. It was not a conscious choice today, but there is no question in my mind that the source material from this improvisation begins with Coltrane. I have always loved Coltrane’s melodies, and particularly those from his final period. Though his music was tense and aggressive, his melodies almost always retained a very folk-like, strongly pentatonic sound that seemed to always add a universal quality to all that he played.
In this piece I explored melodicism in a folk-like melody with the following pitches: Gb Ab Eb Ab Gb. These pitches were played with non-traditional fingerings in order to create a fluid and breathy melody. This melody begins in a fairly steady rhythmic pattern, but I worked to keep the melody loose and the meter malleable. As the piece progresses I augment the melody by playing surrounding pitches, and higher and low pitch punctuations. With the fingerings used in this melody and by adjusting my embouchure, a variety of natural split-tones and two note clusters entered into the sound spectrum as well.
-Neil
01/15/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 15)
12 Moons Solo Project Day 15
Date: 01/15/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Chief Sealth High School/Denny Middle school performing arts hall. Seattle, WA
Notes:
During a practice session or performance, I work to tame my mind and to control my focus on a task at hand. In many ways I feel that practicing music is engaging in a process similar to traditional meditation. Attempting a subtle, thoughtful activity such as meditation requires a calm mind, but also a very active engagement in the process of this “clearing.” My improvisation today explores this reailty and my own internal tendencies while engaging in any highly focused activity.
When I sit to practice, there is always “mental particulate” clouding my mind and preventing my ultimate goal of clear and vigilant focus. When I practice, it generally takes me about 1 hour to arrive at a state where I feel fully invested in my activity and I can begin to find these focus points. In this state I feel creative, in control and calm.
In this improvisation I attempted to create an atmosphere that represents this particulate. I play a variety of flighty quartertone pitches centered around a concert D. Some of these pitches are muted and cloudy, while others are brighter and more direct. As the piece progresses, I begin introducing two mulitphonic chords, which in the context of this improvisation represent my ultimate focus point. As this piece progresses the two chords become more and more a center of the overall sound. Near the conclusion of the improvisation they become the only subject matter, or rather, the ultimate area of focus remaining.
-Neil