03/23/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 82)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 82

Date: 03/23/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

I recorded this improvisation just after dawn this morning.  I caught the early light in a deep, greenish-grey hue with the muted tones that only happen when a clouded sky is certain.  This inspired me to record a transitory improvisation with an unstable tonal center.  I made use of tempered pitches and microtones within a range of the tenor middle octave D to middle octave G.  

In the improvisation I begin with a minor third chord with the concert key pithes of C to Eb.  I then raise the C by a quarter step and play an E above it.  The quarter step high C descends once again to the C, and the E pitch above it remains.  Every gesture I made in this improvisation centered around this 3-part motive.  In the above pure form I play it only once again at the conclusion of the piece.

There are two split tone chords in this improvisation, each roughly representing minor third chords separated by only a quarter step to a half step in transposition.  The first uses the pitches Concert C (quarter step sharp) and E:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low Bb // F# key, high F# key.  

The second chord uses the pitches Concert C and Eb :

(Left Hand) Fork F, C and G keys, Low Bb // F-E-D keys, Low C

-Neil

The painting “Cool White” in today’s post by Lee Krasner

03/22/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 81)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 81

Date: 03/22/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

This morning we woke to find snow on the ground.  It’s the third day of Spring and it was cold enough to blanket nearly the entire island.  Schools were closed and the morning came to stand still.  My wife and I had planed on driving up the island today to take a boat onto the mainland, but had to turn around about half way after we saw several cars in the ditch and at least four or five inches of unexpected snow on the road.  By the afternoon the sun had melted it away and life returned to normal.  I recorded this piece in the late morning as I watched the snow begin to loosen up.  This is the first bit of snow this year and likely the last we’ll see.  I’ve thought all day about the transformative power this small respite from the norm provided us.

In this improvisation I explored a small oscillation of pitches from a single fingering.  These oscillations are dependent on a so many criteria, including a necessary low volume, a lighter reed and subtle gentle amounts of pressure against the reed.  The fingering is as follows: Standard low F# fingering with the Low C and Low Bb keys depressed.  

Near the conclusion of the improvisation I introduce a new chord only a single time.  The fingering for this pitch is created with with following fingering:  (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low Bb, Octave // (Right Hand) F#-D keys, Low C.   This chord has two pitches that make a minor third in the upper register and I can move these tones up and down with my embouchure.  By taking the octave key away I am also able to maintain this minor third melody with a steady drone pitch in the lower register.

I played each oscillating chord only as long as a single breath would allow.  I viewed this chord as the norm sound–a recurring theme that could naturally change in the subtlest of ways each time I played it.  About 80% through the piece I introduced what I perceived to be the respite minor third chord above.  After a brief pause, the norm chord returns for a final statement.

-Neil

Today’s image “The town” by painter and intellectual August Strindberg

03/21/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 80)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 80

Date: 03/21/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone 

Location: Practice Room A at South Whidbey High School.  Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

My improvisation today uses a sine wave sound concept that I often explore on my soprano.  I used a single fingering today, which when played on soprano can create a brightly toned two-octave unison chord.  My current reed on tenor seemed to allow this fingering to speak with some fascinating results.  I’ll practice and practice, but at the end of the day there are some variables that I only have limited control over, one of those being my reed.  The past few days I’ve used a much lighter reed that I’m accustomed too.  The end result was an sound exploration that utilized an x-factor variable inherent in the instrument itself.  

The fingering is as follows: 

(Left Hand) C key, Octave, Low Bb  

(Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low C, Side F.  

I generally take in a bit more mouthpiece than most players, and to execute this improvisation I had to position my embouchure with a firm amount of pressure at the tip of both the mouthpiece and the reed.   I maintained a drone throughout the piece on a middle octave concert Db (a few cents flat).  To hold onto this drone requires a very specific kind of mouthpiece pressure in which I had to balance the volume of the drone with the pitches above it.  As is the case on soprano saxophone, the upper octave unison pitch (a few cents sharper than the drone below it) seemed to speak the most clearly.  Other pitches that spoke clearly included an altissimo Db, D and F, among others.  

-Neil

The image “Evening Melancholy” by painter Edvard Munch (1896)

03/20/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 79)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 79

Date: 03/20/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

Over the past three or four years, I’ve made the study of multiphonics my primary goal.  As part of this study, I transcribe my discoveries into traditional notation, writing out the particulars of each chord as best I can.  I’m fascinated by the reality that due to the finite nature of these chords, the tuning of particular notes defies traditional notation.  It’s easy to call a tone a “quarter step” off if it’s slightly out of tune, but in truth many tones lay between even a quarter step.  Semi tones are explored extensively in many musical cultures, but comparatively little in our own.  My improvisation today explores four pitches derived from a parent multiphonic chord with very close tuning to standard tempered notes.

The improvisation opens with two pitches, a Concert F and a Concert D, played with standard saxophone fingerings.  I then move into a multiphonic fingering which allows for two pitches relatively close to a Concert F and D to speak.  These notes can speak independently or as part of minor third chord.  As the improvisation moves forward, I introduce a Concert E into the lower register, then a multiphonic chord that allows for all three pitches to speak simultaneously in the same range–low octave E, middle octave F and D.  Finally, a Concert B is introduced in the upper register, and a multiphonic chord that speaks all four pitches is played–low octave E, middle octave F and D, high octave B.  I interpreted the playing of these multiphonic chords one at a time, but as the improvisation took shape I did not necessarily always play them in the same order.  

The multiphonic chords that produce the F,D // E, F, D //  and E, F, D,B combinations are actually derived from the same chord.  Adjustments in my embouchure allowed me to choose which one to play.

The fingering is as follows: (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave // (Right Hand) E-D keys, Low C

-Neil

The image “Piet Vorkink” by artist Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita 

The image “Piet Vorkink” by artist Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita 

03/19/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 78)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 78

Date: 03/19/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Performing Arts Hall at Chief Sealth High School.  Seattle, WA

Notes:

My reserved mood was welcomed by an improvisation to match it today.  The use of drones to elicit mood in music is a very powerful tool in my mind.  I’m interested in exploring drones with melodic counterpoint, and this improvisation makes use of a very simple example of this.  The physical nature of creating this particular sound requires a very breathy tone from the horn, which accounts for so much ambient sound captured in this recording.

I attempted to maintain a Concert Eb drone at all times while playing.  The melody above this drone focuses on a repetitive motion from a Concert B to a Concert Bb.  The Concert Eb and D pitches above the melody were played with a single fingering, though the sum total of sounds was created by using two.  In the final 20 seconds or so of the piece there is a momentary shift in tonality up a half step.  This was not intentional, and though the mistake is obvious I felt the overall spirit captured in this improvisation was stronger than other recorded attempts I made at it.

The Concert Eb drone can remain fully unbroken between the two fingerings below:

1.)  Concert B, D and Eb pitches plus drone: (Left Hand) B-A Keys, Octave Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C and Side F

2.)  Concert Bb plus drone: Same fingering as above but add the D key in the Right Hand.

-Neil

The image “Le Nu Sombre” accompanying today’s post by Pierre Bonnard (1941)