05/08/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 128)

12

Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 128

Date: 05/08/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: A field near the freeway outside Gilroy, CA.

Notes:

I’m always struck by the bare, earthen expansiveness of Southern California.  The fields look so pristine from the freeway but underfoot the dirt is clotted, cracked and smells of manure and chemicals.  The piece was recorded in mid-day, on a sunny, clear afternoon outside Gilroy.  I had my band-mate Chris drop me off at the side of the freeway on his way to the gas station.  I recorded at the base of a small hill that separated the freeway onramp from a brown, dusty wheat field that went on for miles.  I set the recorder in my case and knelt on the ground to record.

During this improvisation I created puckish sounds on the horn, selecting tones that had a ringing quality when articulated short against one another.   I indeterminately selected pitches to create these melodies, and as the improvisation evolved I began threading the pitches together.  I used a new technique to do this, lowering my jaw considerably while using a great amount of back pressure.  I held my tongue against the reed and used my air while cupping the back of my tongue against the reed to create pops of sound.  I was surprised to hear the sustain between the percussive pops and smears. 

 -Neil

The image “Ram’s Head” by Georgia O’Keeffe

05/07/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 127)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 127

Date: 05/07/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Bathroom at the 7 Feathers Casino rest stop in Canyonville, Oregon.

Notes:

Today is the second day of the Bad Luck West Coast tour.  Last night we decided to keep driving after our show in Eugene, OR and ended up sleeping in the car about 80 miles from the California border.  We stopped for the night at a rest stop tucked in the green hills of the Calf Creek area in the southern region of the state.  We woke in a hybrid landscape, surrounded by thick, lush forest to the North, East and West, and a massive parking lot and casino to the South.  I decided to respond to the landscape this morning by recording in a bathroom at the rest stop.

This improvisation focused on the surprisingly beautiful resonance of this bathroom.  The room had an approximately 15 foot ceiling, with a floor space of about 6’ x 10’.  I centered the piece on a single multiphonic fingering that punctuated specific pitches within it.  They were punctuated with both embouchure adjustments and by adding or taking away a new key.  The primary fingering was as follows:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb //Right Hand F key.  Trilled keys included the Side C, Low C, G key, Side Bb and Middle C.

I would occasionally hold out selected pitches or lightly dot them amidst the clusters of sustained notes.  The beginning of the piece focuses on the mid to upper range, but near the mid-point I began to introduce action in the lower range and fade out the upper.  The space seemed to welcome the tight clusters of pitches and smaller singular notes in equal measure.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by Arthur Dove.

05/06/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 126)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 126

Date: 05/06/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This morning I found myself thinking about a study I heard a few months ago which sampled people of various age groups, who were asked to quantify their social values, and then asked if they think their values will change drastically over the next 10 years.  It was found that most people believe their values are for the most part largely fixed, and that they will be maintained over that period.  Interestingly, in every age group studied, from those in their 20’s to their 80’s, in each decade of a persons life there is a gradual transition that takes place. This shift in values is not dependent on age and there is no lull in the shifting nature of it.  With this fascinating topic on my mind, I decided to record a piece with two phases, the first being an initial set of “values” and the second being the transition of those values.  

I made it my aim to create a two-part piece with a similar shape.  The piece begins with the fullness of a beautiful chord that is played in repetition, which then gradually fades out into almost inaudible silence where it holds still in a moment of limbo.  The second phase then enters with complimentary chord tones, but augmented with a new whole step till in the lower end as well as dots of bright high tones in the top.  I view it in comparison as a grittier, almost diminished version of the former beauty.  This again fades into a shadow of what was before it.

Phase 1: Pitches E (quarter step sharp) C, E (quarter step sharp)

(Left Hand) B-A keys, Octave, Palm Eb (slowly trilled) // (Right Hand) quickly trill the F clutch key

Phase 2: Pitches D, C, E (quarter step sharp)

(Left Hand) B-A keys, Octave, Palm Eb (slowly trilled) // (Right Hand) quickly trill the G key

-Neil

The image “Transition of Virgin into a Bride” by Marcel Duchamp (1928)

05/05/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 125

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 125

Date: 05/05/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone 

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

Notes:

I recorded just after dawn this morning, on a clear, bright morning.  I decided to work with complimentary multiphonics mixed with tempered pitches to create a chord progression and melody.  I recorded several interpretations of this improvisation before finding the correct interpretation that met my mood on this bright new day.  The improvisation centers on 3 primary sounds (in the tenor key) : a low F#, F#/C# multiphonic, and a D/E multiphonic.  I used the bottom most F# tone as a springboard for action, and the two multiphonics above it as the harmonic accompaniment.  

There was an intuitive central pulse to the piece, which was the rhythm 1–e(&)–a, however I viewed the first beat as being extremely malleable in time and phrasing and would bend it throughout the improvisation.  I would articulate this low F# at will, often following the model of slow to fast articulation.  The minor 3–2–1 melodic phrase with the pitches A–G#–F# was added more as an ornamentation to the overall gesture.

The fingerings in the tenor key were:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low B // (Right Hand) E-D keys

Notes: F#

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) E-D keys

Notes: F#,  C# (Quarter step sharp) 

(Left Hand) Fork F, A-G keys, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) E-D keys

Notes: D (Quarter step sharp) E

The pitches A-G#-F# were fingered with traditional fingerings.

-Neil

05/04/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 124)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 124

Date: 05/04/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

My improvisation today is a singular phrase with three primary components, and one secondary component, for a total of four gestures.  After struggling with my reeds this morning I came upon one that had a resonance to it that helped me to gain a full, direct tone.  This piece was the coming together of both my artistic interest and the mechanics of my tool.  The improvisation was performed at a steady tempo throughout, with only modest dynamic shaping that ebed into the low end of volume rather than the high.

The improvisation uses three fingerings, each capable of producing a “false” unison tone but also capable of sounding a secondary tone below.  I chose to limit the secondary tone to the highest of the three fingerings, the concert B.  On all the pitches I used the false tone to help punctuate each strong beat by swallowing the sound on the off beat.  I tried to perform the improvisation without any real fanfare, but instead a very direct performance approach that relied on the beauty of the melody itself versus the shaping of it.  The fingerings, in the tenor key were are follows:

Middle octave Bb: finger the common low Bb pitch but play the first overtone (an octave above), then open and close the middle C key in the left hand.

Middle octave B: finger the common low B pitch but play the first overtone (an octave above), then open and close the middle C key in the left hand.

Middle Octave C#: finger the common low C# pitch but play the first overtone (an octave above), then open and close the B key in the left hand.  

On this pitch I occasionally create a fourth sound, which is the C# on the strong beats and a split-tone B/C# on the off beats.  This was done with the same middle octave C# fingering above, with with an adjustment of the embouchure.

-Neil

The painting “Onement I” by artist Barnett Newman (1948)