12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project
Date: 01/24/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: 4x6ft practice room at South Whidbey High School (Langley, WA on Whidbey Island)
Notes:
There is a practice room at South Whidbey High school that I often spend time in while teaching each week. The space is approximately 4x6ft with 8ft ceilings, and a maddeningly tight reverberation in the room makes it virtually impossible for me to play in for more than about 20 minutes. Paired with this is a persistent whoosh of air being pumped into the room from an air duct, making the room feel claustrophobic. About 50% of the room is taken up by an old upright piano, which became my source of inspiration for this improvisation.
I placed my mic setup into the belly of the upright, directly in the center of the piano and about an inch from the strings. My foot remained on the sustain pedal throughout the duration of this piece. Though the lid was open, the sound of my horn is captured from outside the piano itself, so the sound you hear is strictly from the piano’s perspective. In this improvisation I use two fingerings, the first of which creates a single pitch and the second is a complex multiphonic. I discovered the fingering this morning while practicing between lessons and felt compelled to give it a shot on this recording. This multiphonic seems to only be produced with a loose but very controlled embouchure and a very breathy approach. I felt this breathiness would be well suited to the atmosphere of this space, particularly given the persistent sound of the air duct. This fingering for this multiphonic is as follows: Fork F and Middle C in the left hand // F and D keys in the right hand // Octave key // Palm Eb // Low C // Low Bb // Side Bb.
-Neil
01/23/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 23)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 23
Date: 01/23/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
I spent my practice session today dedicated to the use of “quarter tones.” Within an octave, there are traditionally 12 chromatic pitches. These are called half steps, but with the use of quarter tones you can double the number of pitches possible to 24. This is however a very imperfect system, as you you will hear in my piece today. In my study of Hindustani music, I learned that classical musicians can recognize up to 10 pitches within a half step. My ears are simply not this finely attuned, though I hope to someday have this level of sensitivity.
Quarter steps on the saxophone are achieved through not traditional fingerings or bending with the embouchure. To my ears, I have found quarter step fingerings from the saxophone’s low D up to altissimo C, with a gap between a G# and an A because of the particulars of the saxophone’s construction. However, when these pitches are played melodically, it is clear that these are not true quarter steps at all, but are instead a few cents sharp or flat of a perfect quarter step. I may achieve a quarter step above a middle C, and then play what sounds to me like a quarter step above a C#. If I had truly accomplished this, my interval would be an exact half step. As you will hear in my improvisation, this is not the case at all.
In this improvisation I aimed to create melodies that use quarter tone fingerings exclusively. As you will hear the end result is a kind of de-tuned piano result. As stated above, this is partially due to the finite relationship from one pitch to another, but also because many of my quarter steps are actually a bit out of tune. The vibe captured through playing with these fingerings is a kind of suspended, free tonality sound even if I am play a consonant melody. As a player, my ears become more and more attuned to this sound as I practice these fingerings and I find that I fall into a kind of dreamlike state while playing. When I move back to traditional fingerings it sounds so structured and limiting!
-Neil
01/22/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 22)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project
Date: 01/22/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Chief Sealth/Denny Middle school performing arts auditorium. Seattle, WA
Notes:
Many of my improvisations come to reflect work that I’ve practice that day or a conceptualized theme that led to an improvisation. My piece today does not use either of the these models. Besides drive time in my car, my only available recording time today was a 20 minute window between teaching students. Despite being under immense pressure to create this piece quickly and to perform it well, I felt quite relaxed and free to create.
This improvisation uses several “muted” tones centered around a concert Db. I tended to rely upon a particular fingering that is a favorite of mine. This fingering, when a balanced but firm amount of pressure is applied in my embouchure, produces a split-tone chord a major second apart: Concert Db and Eb. By using various tonging and embouchure bending techniques, I am able to make these tones very malleable. This accounts for the wide range of upward and downward bending used throughout. During the peak of intensity I utilize double and flutter tonging to help harden the beginnings of these pitches. I end this improvisation with the aforementioned fingering that produces the major 2nd split tone.
-Neil
01/21/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 21)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 21
Date: 01/21/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
I awoke this morning with the message of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on my mind. This patriot and man of peace made this nation a better place for us all. His message of love, justice and freedom continues to ring true today, and I feel indebted to his struggle and those that struggled with him. This struggle continues, and I believe we can all play a part in preserving the freedom that this county allows us as our birthright. Black, white, gay, lesbian, the forgotten impoverished–there is much to be done.
My improvisation today is a spirit song for the great Dr. King. I believe that the major and minor pentatonic scales are the mother sound–the scale that binds all music in all cultures throughout this world. This piece is centered around the Ab major pentatonic scale, with melodic diversions into the Ab major scale. To elicit Dr. King’s message of peace, I used strong, steady intervals in this improvisation. The Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th and Octave are used frequently, as is a constant return to the opening melodic theme with the scale degrees 6-5-2-1. A Dr. King would elevate his speeches with powerful repetition, I attempted to create a piece for him that used a similar model of strength.
-Neil
01/20/2013 (12 Moons Project Day 20)
12 Moon Solo Saxophone Project Day Twenty
Date: 01/20/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Utility closet in an apartment complex. Seattle, WA
Notes:
On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, I feel this year above others in the past I have been actively engaged in the rememberance of Dr. King and his message. I hope to celebrate this great American’s life on a daily basis, and I continue to be inspired by his perseverance and intelligence. My piece today was certainly inspired by his contribution to moving the world forward.
I recorded this afternoon inside a utility closet inside an urban apartment complex near Seattle’s university district. Having recently listened to a scholarly examination of Dr. King’s oratory development, I felt compelled to record a joyous improvisation. However, I carried a melancholic presence with me throughout the day, and looked for a way to incorporate this into my piece as well. This improvisation uses two major chords and complimentary secondary chords that accompany them within the same rage. Both of these chord progressions have a Tonic-Dominant relationship to my ears–perhaps the strongest harmonic relationship two chords can have. To juxtapose this stability, I play a cyclical fingering that quickly alternates between a concert G and an Ab. I use space between the harmonic action to punctuate the pairing of these consent and dissonant sonorities.
-Neil