02/10/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 41)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 41

Date: 02/10/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

This morning I woke an hour before dawn to record this improvisation, and an old memory immediately came to me when I picked up my horn. When I was a kid my mother raised my siblings and I in the Catholic church. Near the end of mass there was an exchange that would occur. The priest, acting as a “crier” would name those to pray for and we would respond back with a phrase: (Priest) “for all those those that are sick and dying, lord here our prayer” (congregation) “thanks be to god.” This would go on for at least a few minutes, with a total of ten or so exchanges. This event would have a very strong, two-fold affect on me from week to week. Firstly, I discovered the amazing power of repetition in a group setting. Secondly, I was struck by the eerie feeling created in me when a crowd responded with a mono-tone phrase, regardless of its intent. My piece today explores this idea of the “crier” and the “response.”

For this improvisation I used a concert Db pitch (with the tenor low Bb key down) in repetition to elicit a tranquil, calm mood–that of the “crier.” I then change this pitch by putting down the tenor low C key, which drops it by a half step and begins a fingering for a mutiphonic. I hear this pitch as the response, though I tried to make it as natural and patient a transition as possible. The fingering is as follows: (Left Hand) B-A-G Keys and Low Bb (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, low Eb and low C keys. My overall goal was to create a calm and reflective mood through an exploration between two simple and complimentary gestures. 

-Neil

02/09/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 40)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 40

Date: 02/09/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

During a brief practice session this morning, I stumbled on a new fingering which became my inspiration for this improvisation today. This piece does not utilize this fingering alone, but instead uses it as more a point of balance. This fingering creates a very dark, melancholic chord.

The fingering is as follows: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low B // (Right Hand) F# key, Low C and High F# key. With only a small amount of pressure, this naturally speaks a minor third chord with the concert key pitches C# and E. By carefully adjusting my air flow and embouchure pressure an E# can also be introduced. This created a mutation of mood for me while playing. The aesthetic difference between minor third chord and major third chords is fundamental, and combining the two makes the color palate all the more vibrant. As the piece evolved, I also began introducing upper register drones on a concert F and B.

This minor/major chord became my sound foundation. I then created a “drip-like” affect by quickly opening and closing the Low Bb and Low D keys one at a time. By doing so, the chord is allowed to pull and flex instead of change pitch completely.. Throughout this improvisation I also played a recurring gesture with traditional pitches and a single multiphonic in the upper register. This created abrupt interruptions in the dripping approach. The overall affect of the piece seems to me to be one of a balance between constancy and interruption. It seemed to me almost like continuous rainfall, with occasional drips hitting the bottom of the gutters and pine cones striking a roof. 

-Neil

02/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 39)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 39

Date: 02/08/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

A few years back a student of mine traveled to India with his family and as a gift they brought back a recording of the great Indian Shehnaai Player Ustad Bismillah Khan. The first gesture of the album begins with an upward to downward bend, with a final upward resolution. The gesture used the scale degrees 7-9-7-8. This Shahnaai player was a true master of his instrument, and on the opening 10 seconds of the album and in just this single phrase alone, I heard a level of control and mastery well beyond anything I have achieved. I tried to channel this beautiful sound In my improvisation today, and I used a fingering that allows for a similar pitch bend.

The pitches used in this improvisation are as follows. In concert Key: B-D-C#-E, and there are actually two fingerings used in this piece. The first is used only to create the lowest pitch–the concert B. All three remaining pithes are made by carefully adjusting my air flow and embouchure pressure to bend the notes upward and downward. This fingering naturally creates a Concert E (in middle octave) drone. However, the drone only speaks within certain embouchure perimeters, and because I bend pitches the drone enters and exits when those perimeters are momentarily fulfilled. 

My overal health is feeling somewhat low today, and I searched while practicing to find a piece of music to lift me. A specific melodic gesture with the pitches B-D-C#-D-E-C# became very pleasing to my mind and body, and I used it as a kind of refrain throughout this improvisation. 

-Neil

02/07/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 38)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 38

Date: 02/07/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Practice room B at South Whidbey High School. Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

Practice room B at South Whidbey High school is one of my favorite spaces. This room, like it’s next door partner practice room A, is very small. Room B is no bigger than a closet and has 8 foots ceilings. The bulk of the room is made of concrete with some sheetrock, giving the space an alluring reverb and a quick response to any sound produced. 

To explore the small and reverberant sound of this concrete space I often practice at either very high or very low volumes. Today I explored the creation of extremely high pitches and tight intervals at a medium to loud volume. I would consider this improvisation a controlled noise piece. In my improvisations and performances I spend very little time focusing on what I would define as controlled noise music. Often I perform pieces that might sound akin to this, but unlike this improvisation I generally set particular actions in motion that I predict will create a result. An example of this would be a muliphonic fingering where I might make a slight embouchure adjustment that I’ve practiced many times over, that will create a pitch or pitches within a particular register. These pitches are often indeterminate, but more often than not I have some expectation as to what might come out. My improvisation today instead had the “controlled” element of a known fingering, but a noise component of indeterminate pitches. You will hear that when I come across certain sounds I did tend try and explore them in repetition. I would not define that practice than as being completely noise-oriented.

The fingering for this piece creates vibrant clusters of pitches and a very stable mid octave concert Eb drone. I used absolutely no vibrato of any kind on this piece, but instead focused my attention on air speed, mouth shape and lip pressure. My aim was to make the extreme upper register pitches the main melodic element with the clusters and chords as supporting elements. The fingering I used for this improvisation was as follows: (Left Hand) B and A keys, octave and Low B // (Right Hand) F key, Low C and side high F.

-Neil