05/26/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 146)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 146

Date: 05/26/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: My family house where I grew up.  Edmonds, WA

Notes:

In today’s piece I wanted to explore the idea of tiny variations within a predictable form.  While improvising I tried to focus on the constancy of evolution, and the idea that life may appear to be static but even the most predictable of human actions continues to evolve in time, often without our knowing it.  To represent this idea, I chose a two-part figure as the primary building point, and then introduced a second two-part figure that slightly augmented the first.  The First action was the concert Ab, played with a false fingering against it at a consistent tempo.  The Second action was the complimentary major chord mutliphonic, which I played at will after stating the First action for a duration of time.  Instead of allowing one action to dominate the other, I approached the playing of each figure in a natural way, simply moving from one to the other as I saw fit.

The variation occurred in the Third and Fourth actions.  The Third action included the use of a multiphonic that had a similar pitch and range distribution as the Third actin, but also included a more gritty half-step motion in the lower end.  The Fourth action included the same concert Ab fingering as in the First action, but also used momentary dots of lower register concert Ab’s.

The fingerings used were as follows:

First action

(Left Hand) Bis Bb key, Octave, Low B.  Trill open and closed the F-E-D keys in the right hand

Second action (major chord multiphonic)

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

Third action

(Left Hand) Bis Bb key, Octave, Low B.  Trill open and closed the F-E-D keys in the right hand, and also occasionally take off and reapply the Octave keys in the left hand.

Fourth action (multiphonic with half step in the lower range)

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low B // E-D keys.  Same as the fingering in the Second action, but without the octave key.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by Milton Resnic

05/25/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 145)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 145

Date: 05/25/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

After spending time working with a variety of textures during my practice session today, I arrived back at a familiar technique of singing into the horn while playing.  This technique is relatively simple with some pitces, but depending on what range is chosen the horn can fight back with an incredible amount of back pressure and physical discomfort.  Today I worked in this uncomfortable range and allowed my body to become acclimated to it’s new physical reality before recording this improvisation.  I sung a static drone and worked to maintain it from start to finish, though I drifted about a quarter step flat by the end of the piece.  I sang a concert Db in middle register and used a single fingering to cull out a variety of colors from my horn.

The fingering was as follows:

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

This fingering natural speaks a concert B in middle range, making the sung pitch a whole step away from what my ears heard as the pitch center.  Keeping my ear focused on the intervalic relationship of this whole step and trying to keep it in tune was a focus throughout the piece.  Weeding out all the other sounds at times and trying to zone on a simple two-note harmonic relationship helps me to maintain better intonation.  As the piece evolved I also created rhythmic and melodic cycles by opening and closing the B key (left hand) and the side C key (right hand) one at a time.

-Neil

The image “Screw You Peek-A-Boo” accompanying today’s post by artist Yuri Masnyj (2003)

05/24/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 144)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 144

Date: 05/24/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

After an amazing afternoon spent outside in my yard watching birds darting around the trees and overhead, I went inside and was transported to a very different place.  It dawned on me that I needed to take care of an insurance issue, and my high spirits suddenly became plagued and ill by searching online and making phone calls.  This improvisation was a response to the aftermath of this abrupt shift and my attempt to transition myself back to a place of calm and control.   I decided to work with delicate textures, using only a few pitches in the difficult altissimo range of the horn. 

This improvisation uses primarily the pitches Ab, Bb, and occasionally C.  I tried to play these pitches as carefully as possible, and they were recorded at a very low volume.  When returning to the Ab at the end of a phrase, I would use my embouchure and the slow depression of keys closing to bend the note evenly downward some distance.  There were pitches that seemed to naturally speak on their way down, and at a few points during the piece I paused and held one of these lower tones out to let it resonate

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by artist Kunie Segiura

05/23/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 143)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 143

Date: 05/23/2013

Instrument: Alto saxophone

Location: Practice room B at South Whidbey High School.  Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

Today I worked with non-tempered pitches that had a siren-like call to them, surrounded by undulating tones that were muted and presented at a steady pace beneath.  There were two siren calls, the first being in the upper register with very bright and present tones, and the second being in the upper-mid register with more of a subdued quality.  I thought of this improvisation as occupying two words, the first being the siren pitches and the second being the lower tones.  I attempted to keep the lower world, with it’s twisting, cyclic sounds coursing nearly at all times, whereas the upper siren-calls would only step into the forefront occasionally.  

There was a single fingering used during this improvisation, with side keys added or taken away to create the cycles.  The siren call in the upper register used the follow fingering:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) E-D keys.  Flick open and closed the Low C to allow the pitch to pop out at a high level of volume.  This create the notes (in the alto key) of High C, and High D (quarter step sharp).

The siren call in the upper-mid register used the same fingering, but had the Low C held completely down.  The undulating lower register tones used primarily the low F# and A, and were made with the above finger creating a cycle by opening and closing the Palm Eb and Side C one at a time in repetition.

-Neil

The image “‘61 Pontiac” accompanying today’s post by Robert Bechtle (1968-69)

05/22/2013 (12 Moons Solo Project Day 142)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 142

Date: 05/22/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This afternoon I worked with fixed scales that had a bluesy quality to them.  Eventually I began  transitioning the use of tempered pitches to more pliable ones with false fingerings.  My improvisation today use a fixed scale with six different findings.  This created a 7 note scale with non-tempered, de-tuned pitches.  Some of the fingerings used make it possible to play a minor third, or minor second simultaneously. For example, with the pitches Bb and B the melodic variation between the notes was achieved with movement in air flow and embouchure with a single fingering.  

The fingerings (from lowest to highest and in the tenor key)

1.  C# (slightly sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Side F#, Low C. 

2.  D (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.  

3. F (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.  There is also naturally a minor third F to D chord with this fingering that speaks at times.  

4.  F# (quarter step sharp) (Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Side F#, Low C.

5-6. Bb and B (Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low Eb.  To achieve each pitch bend with embouchure.

7.  C# (Left Hand) B key, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E-D keys, Low Eb.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post is of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who released a new music video today.