That’s right, my saxes are the cool kids.
I present to you…the Denny International Middle School 6th/7th grade beginning saxes. Thrift Shop, featuring:
Hannah Hernandez
Ginny Sunde
Sydney Larang
04/09/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 99)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 99
Date: 04/09/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Performance hall at Chief Sealth High School. Seattle, WA
Notes:
I decided to work with a ghostly figure today. Singing into the horn is a technique I’ve practice quite a bit, but I’ve barely scratched the surface as to the breadth of what is possible. In this improvisation I sing into the horn while matching the pitch being played. In the first month of this project I performed a similar improvisation, and in that piece I stuck much more stringently to singing single note melodies that moved evenly. Today I approached it similarly, though I worked to bend in and out of the pitches, sometimes with the use of my voice and at other times using bendable fingerings.
The overall range of this piece is just shy of two octaves. Though I can sing from the lowest note on the horn–the low Bb, up to the highest traditional pitch–the high F, I decided to maintain a smaller range that was more comfortable. No matter what the level of volume, I tried to maintain a steady balance between the voice and horn. The natural balance seems to be about 60% saxophone and 40% voice. I explored pitches freely, attempting to anticipate where I was moving next to accurately hear the note in my mind before playing and singing it. This was a particular challenge not only during wide leaps, but also during the slow upward and downward bends.
Also of note in today’s piece, a custodian entered the hall swinging his keys and turning on the lights for me. This is audible during the recording but was not very distracting during my performance.
-Neil
04/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 98)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 98
Date: 04/08/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
I spent a portion of the day reviewing my notations on small intervals chord clusters. I’m in the process of committing to memory the fingering systems to all the split tone chords I’ve discovered so far. This inspired my improvisation today, which covered a total interval span of less than a minor third, in ascending order from a middle octave concert Bb.
There are 6 fingerings used in this improvisation. In the tenor key, the root of each two-note chord is as follows: C, C#, D quarter step flat, D, D quarter step sharp, Eb. The interval distance in each chord does not exceed a half step, and in a few cases each chord has tones that are only slightly larger than a quarter step. My aim during this improvisation was to create small pockets of energy that lasted no longer than a single breath would allow. Each chord was therefore only played once, and I punctuated space between the chords with a short amount of silence.
Because of the nature of playing these chords, there’s a great variety of waves created even within a single two note pair. Each chord is therefore naturally unsteady, and I explored this unsteadiness and the silent punctuations between them to create the illusion that the chords had not changed at all, just evolved in sound a bit. Even when played directly against one another the change in pitch is so slight and gradual from chord to chord it’s difficult to hear the ascending shape at all, and particularly so when silence is used between them.
-Neil
The image “America (Burnt/Unburnt)” by artist Claire Fontaine (2011).
04/07/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 97)
12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 97
Date: 04/07/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: A hallway inside the Comcast Arena. Everett, WA
Notes:
This afternoon I found myself in a very peculiar setting. These days my artistic energy is devoted to my own work and those closely associated to me. I had a performance tonight playing Duke Ellington music with the Everett Philharmonic Orchestra. In between the afternoon rehearsal and evening performance, I had a free hour that I dedicated to my improvisation recording. The event was held in the Comcast Arena, which looked as though the space itself was the exact personification of that company. The walls were painted a gravely color, with paneled ceilings and muted industrial carpet. The entire complex was sparkling clean with not an unnecessary object in sight. In fact, in the long, silent hallways I couldn’t find even a chair or moveable garbage can to set my microphone on. This sterol, controlled environment was so different that anything I experience on a daily basis, I became greatly inspired to record a response piece to the space itself.
During this improvisation I worked with pliable false-fingerings and double tonging. The particular style of double tonging in this piece usually creates sores on the tip of my tongue the next day, and because of the discomfort I generally reserve it for the right moments. While double tonging with the tip, I cup the middle section of my tongue and move side to side, back and forth across the tip of the reed. My level of volume was medium to loud overall, and I tried to create a center of harmonic action that had a climbing chromatic affect as the improvisation took shape. I went in between moments of controlled fingering cycles to pockets of energy on a few different pitches, to screaming into my horn. I maintained the double-tonging from start to finish.
-Neil
12 Moons Day 97 and 98 postponed until Tuesday night
12 Moons Day 97 and 98 will be postponed until Tuesday night because of technical difficulties.
I should be up and running then. And look at the bright side, you’ll have 3 to listen to in one day! Now off to record…