12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 68
Date: 03/09/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
In my practice session today I worked on flutter-tonging, and trying to control my use of this tonging in the middle to upper register. Flutter tonging is akin to rolling your r"s for an extended period of time. This is a technique I’ve only worked on for about two years or so, and I have a long way to go as far as control and flexibility are concerned. The challenges for me in using this style of tonging are in controlling the consistency of the sound produced, and being able to phase in and out of the tonging.
During this improvisation I attempted to have an escalating shape in energy and density of the chord. Using the same fingering, I would stop the flutter tonging and switch to straight and steady tones with no tongue at all. The fingering used in this improvisation is a multiphonic: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C. During the periods of sustained tones, I would occasionally punctuate the sound field by quickly opening and closing my left hand G key or right hand D key. While flutter tonguing, it’s far easier for me to approach it from more of a high pitch squealing sound, but more difficult to achieve these high tones while maintaining some reference to the lower octave notes. Overall, I tried to make the multiphonic chord sounds more dense and complex as the piece went on, progressively adding these upper shrill tones.
-Neil
03/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 67)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 67
Date: 03/08/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
My current reed is at a stage where it’s flexibility is beginning to fade. The clarity of tone is there, but the reed is beginning to fight me in areas such as intonation and overall ease of playability . With my particular set-up, it’s ironically at this stage in the life of my reed that staccato playing becomes the easiest for me. My improvisation today focused on staccato articulation with a declining tempo, spread over a six minute period of time.
I made an effort to try and maintain a steady stream of sixteenth notes, with the initial tempo as fast as possible, down to a medium-fast tempo at the end of the piece. There was no tonal focus in this improvisation, though I did center around the mid range of the horn, and found myself referencing a concert A to concert Bb a minor 9th above quite a bit. I did also seem to carry this concept of dissonance and chromatic octave displacement throughout this piece.
The sixteenth articulation pattern remains static, but I gradually evolved away from my initial articulation model. In the opening minute or so I would articulate the same pitch two or three times before moving. This, along with more air, made certain notes sound much more articulated than the rest. As the piece went on my articulation gradually began to focus on only note-to note articulation. This smoothed out the wrinkles and the accentuation needed to come mostly from more forceful tonguing.
-Neil
The image “circles” from painter Louise Schanker
03/07/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 66)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 66
Date: 03/07/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Practice room B at South Whidbey High School. Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
From dawn to past dusk today was filled to the brim with teaching–changing clothes in the ferry bathroom and eating soup out of a tupperware container in my car. It was a good, solid working day that made me feel like I contributed my all by the end of it. I had attempted at various times throughout the day to sneak away and record a piece, but with no results I could be satisfied with. My improvisation today came out of the horn at the end of the day, when I was exhausted and my energy having already been sapped out of me. With every passing second in this improvisation I could feel it surging back.
This improvisation uses a single fingering: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys. This fingering creates the basis of sound explored in this piece. To create the pulsations I quickly opened and then shut the low Eb and Palm D keys simultaneously. I approached the improvisation as a slow, ominous build that immediately enters from a heightened place of energy. This was not anger, but a last ditch utterance of my industry.
-Neil
Image by painter Max Ernst
03/06/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 65)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 65
Date: 03/06/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
In my improvisation today I searched for an elegiac mood. It was not that I necessarily felt in an elegiac mood myself, but the impulse inside me wanted that release. I had a discussion with my wife after recording this piece, that I felt as though I came closer to something in this improvisation today. No matter how abstract my improvisations or compositions may be, I’ve come to realize that what I’m ultimately seeking is clarity in my art. I’m searching for a clarity of something, and this is where I’ve yet to pint-point it. Maybe it’s clarify of mood, or form, or structure. I’m not sure. This improvisation seems to be closer to it though. I would personally say that this improvisation is an easily accessible piece for most listeners. I understand that a considerable amount of my output requires a great deal more from my listeners than this piece. But with that said, in all of it I’m still searching for that same ultimate, elusive quality.
I use two fingerings during this improvisation. Fingering one: Low C fingering // Fingering two: Low B fingering. The steady, melodic pulse is created in both cases by opening the closing the the G key in the left hand. In the mid point of the piece I begin a sixteenth pattern that now includes the high side F key as well.
-Neil
03/05/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 64)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 64
Date: 03/05/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Performance Hall center stage at Chief Sealth High School. Seattle, WA
Notes:
Key clacking and the depression of the key cups themselves can create a world of tones and textures inside the saxophone. The horn is a conical shape, and therefore an excellent vessel for sound to travel through whether blowing into the instrument or not. My improvisation today focused on the area of rhythmic cycles achieved through fingering selected pitches, then opening and closing keys against the body of the horn.
I decided to use the same fingering I explored in my improvisation yesterday (Day 63), but instead of remaining in a fixed position I explored the opening and closing of keys at will. (Left Hand) B-A-G, Low Bb keys // (Right Hand) F-E-D Keys. Primarily, I found myself opening the G Keys, Side C, Side Bb, and Side F keys against this fingering. When performing an improvisation or composition with key clacking and key depression, I am simply amazed at the range of sound the horn in able to create.
During this piece I attempted to create small melodic themes as well, and many tones rung open while others seemed to live only aslong as the brief moment when a key is closed against the body. I worked to maintain a steady rhythmic pulse in sixteenth notes that is maintained throughout the bulk of the improvisation.
-Neil