Wow, I love to play the trumpet! It's a daily thing for me. There's a few reasons why:
1) It's not the saxophone, my main instrument and the one I've played for 17+ years, so it's fresh and it's new.
2) It's challenging, and fun.
3) It punishes you severely if you don't play it every day, forcing you to be more disciplined.
4) I think it makes me a better musician.
5) It definitely makes me a better improviser.
#5 is really important to me. I think that playing trumpet makes me a better improviser because I'm so limited. Range-wise, I'm only up to halfway decent As (above the staff), and pretty rough Bbs. One time, I hit a D. And I think I hit a pretty bad C three or four times. I'm still not sure how I hit the D. As far as playing low, I practice down to very low F# in my daily chromatic workouts, lip slurs and little exercises I made up or heard somewhere.
Did I mention how much I love trumpet?!!
Other than the range limitation (below staff F# to above staff A and Bb), I'm limited by versatility. Obviously you can't be a virtuoso on trumpet in 2 years and 3 months of playing. Probably not in a lifetime, either.
With the trumpet in my hands, I feel like a true improviser. My real voice is saxophone, mostly alto these days, but the trumpet offers me something the saxophone cannot: remembering what it's like to be a beginner. Ideas pop in my head while I'm playing that never would have on saxophone. I just feel on top of the world every time I play it. The fact that I can't do what I can do on the saxophone on the trumpet drives me crazy and keeps me motivated!
Here's a few things I should add as well:
1) I started playing trumpet as a teaching tool for beginner bands. Saxophone is not only intimidating-looking but is a mess to try and hold and play (since you need a neckstrap and 2 hands!) while you direct. It also projects so well and the brassy sound spreads through the band so there is absolutely no doubt what the rhythms and notes are that I'm trying to teach.
2) I was also very terrible from the get-go sound-wise. While I learned the fingerings and some basics quite quickly (since I think it's very similar to the right hand on the saxophone), buzzing into a mouthpiece and getting a good sound was a nightmare for months on end. It still can be some days.
3) I have developed some not-so-good habits, like puffing my cheeks when I play and overblowing. When I practice alone, I play dynamically and mostly softly, but occasionally go for it and sometimes have no control. I get this strange buzzing or even splitting sound sometimes. This is the main reason why I have implemented the daily practice of slow chromatic warm ups no higher than middle C down to low F# below the staff and lip slurs. I also really try to control the puffing-cheeks thing. Maybe one day it will get better. I also adjust pitch with my mouth and don't move the tuning slide. This is partly a habit I developed due to having a stuck valve for the first year and a half of playing it and never getting it repaired. I just felt like I could adjust like I do on the saxophone and could overcome it. Playing super sharp and adjusting for that long must've really damaged my progress. Then again, maybe it didn't. Not really sure on this one! It's fixed now, though.
With all of those factors in mind, trumpet is such a great instrument for me. It's also something I wish I could really get good at, but I know it would take years and years and years and some serious private study. For now, it's just fun in the sun for me. I just eat it up. I try to play like Clifford Brown, I try to play like Lee Morgan and I really, really try to play like Miles Davis. It's kind of like when I play alto saxophone, I really, really try to play like Charlie Parker. I can only hope that somewhere down the line all these different influences and approaches will turn into playing like a very honest soul. For now, it's a lot of fun though, and that's something I really needed in my musical life was just pure and honest enjoyment, fulfillment and satisfaction.
Learning tunes on trumpet is a blast. While I spent a long while learning Cherokee in all 12 keys on saxophone, trumpet has been another story. I sure have trouble with fingering combinations in a few of the keys, like F# and Ab, but especially in C#. Eb, F, G and of course C all just make so much sense to me on the trumpet, as the fingerings make a lot of natural sense. Here's kind of what I mean:
C# Major Scale fingerings on trumpet consists of: 123, 23, 1, 2, 23, 1, 0pen, 12
Ab Major Scale ": 23, 1, Open, 12, 2, 1, Open, 2 What a nightmare!
Now compare to G: Open, 12, 2, Open, 1, Open, 2, Open
With saxophone in mind, this is a piece of cake: The open fingerings are G, C, E and high G. F# is 2nd and on saxophone, that's 2nd in the right hand. Low E is 1 & 2 on trumpet, and that's the same on saxophone in the right hand, and so forth and so forth.
Anyway--this gets me to my point. Cherokee's bridge forces me to solo in my trouble keys on the trumpet. It makes my mind stretch A LOT. I believe this is helping my saxophone playing immensely. With a stretched mind, suddenly saxophone is a little bit less complex and easier. With limited abilities on the trumpet, I feel like I can do so much more when I pick up the saxophone. Of course even after a nice practice session on saxophone, the saxophone is one of the most humbling of all instruments. It tends to kick you square in the face. It's mean and evil. But then it's sweet and apologizing sometimes too. It's funny how after playing this long, you can sound like devil's stepchild with just one bad reed. Guess trumpeters don't have to worry about that. That's a nice change. However, saxophonists don't chop out quite as severely. So we are blessed in that department. Never did I understand that until I started playing the trumpet. Man do I feel bad for jokingly ragging on complaining trumpet players in the past, even for the most gentle of ribbing. Now I know the truth:
"Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins."
Dizzy Gillespie on playing the trumpet
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Fun with Facebook
We definitely live in a great time! It's so great to have so many learning tools for music and other things of interest in life available. I really enjoy the communication I can have with people all over the world, both musically and personally. Of course both music and communication really go hand in hand.
Living in this day and time, we can connect with old friends in a single click of a mouse. We can communicate instantly, and it's so neat that I can be in Texas and talk to a friend living in Japan anytime I want, without having to worry about an expensive phone call!
Of course there are a few bad things about all this: no one calls anyone anymore (and if they do, they aren't calling me!). And if you use your phone, it's for texting or Facebook or some other means of communicating, besides the actual phone call itself that I so dearly miss! With Skype or IChat, this has been countered in that you can see and hear the person you are talking to. What a great combination. What a great time we live in!
Another downside is.....how does one stop using computers and take a walk or do something constructive, when it is so much fun, sometimes profitable and even educational, to sit in front of the computer instead? I recently used my undiagnosed but almost certain obsessive/compulsive disorder to my advantage, and made a chart that managed my time for me on the computer everyday! The site I was melting my brain at the most was Facebook. This is my chart just for managing my daily time on everyone's most favorite time-waster (I actually don't consider it a waste of time, if managed correctly--Facebook is quite the innovation and a huge necessity and just great in every way!):
Living in this day and time, we can connect with old friends in a single click of a mouse. We can communicate instantly, and it's so neat that I can be in Texas and talk to a friend living in Japan anytime I want, without having to worry about an expensive phone call!
Of course there are a few bad things about all this: no one calls anyone anymore (and if they do, they aren't calling me!). And if you use your phone, it's for texting or Facebook or some other means of communicating, besides the actual phone call itself that I so dearly miss! With Skype or IChat, this has been countered in that you can see and hear the person you are talking to. What a great combination. What a great time we live in!
Another downside is.....how does one stop using computers and take a walk or do something constructive, when it is so much fun, sometimes profitable and even educational, to sit in front of the computer instead? I recently used my undiagnosed but almost certain obsessive/compulsive disorder to my advantage, and made a chart that managed my time for me on the computer everyday! The site I was melting my brain at the most was Facebook. This is my chart just for managing my daily time on everyone's most favorite time-waster (I actually don't consider it a waste of time, if managed correctly--Facebook is quite the innovation and a huge necessity and just great in every way!):
FACEBOOK | Frequency | Frequency | |
Add Friends | once a week, Mondays | Add Photos | once a week, Fridays |
Happy Birthday | Every day | What are my friends up to? | 3 x's a week, Sat, T, R |
Private Messages | once a week & when needed, Wednesdays | Post Favorite YouTube video (not of you) | once a week, Saturdays |
Public Messages | 3 x's a week & when needed, R, Sat & T | Post something from other sharing site | once a week, Sundays |
Update Status | 3 x's a week, Sun, W, F | Post new YouTube music video (of you) | once a week, Sundays |
Add Blog Notes | once a week, Thursdays | Website Update Notice | once a week, Mondays |
Check General News Feed | 3 x's a week, M, W, F | Facebook Music Page Update Notice | once a week, Tuesdays |
What's great is that it will force me to get off the social network and do something constructive. I watched Family Guy last night (Sunday 2/13) and the point of the show was DO EVERYTHING IN MODERATION! Simply giving up something will drive you crazy (and I can't give up Facebook!), and overdoing it will too, but if you do things in moderation, you will find that you can have your cake and eat it too! Especially on a day like Valentine's Day, when you need to get off the computer and spend some time with your significant other.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Music in Japan July & August 2010: A dedication, past and present
The following was originally posted as a note on Facebook:
Music In Japan July & August 2010: A dedication, past and present
by Matt Sawyer on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 3:12pm
It was great seeing some old friends in Japan! Ami Hirai and Kazuki Nagashima were two of my college friends now living in Tokyo. The first night we were there, it was late and we crashed, but the second night, we met up with Kazuki and went to see our Denton friends at a small jazz club called Strings. The group was YT-Little D, headed by bassist Yuka Tadano. With her were old friends Brian Girley (from way, way back!), his wife Maiko--which is how I met my wife Yukari, as she was friends and worked with Maiko and then Brian and her started dating. Also there were some Denton friends of theirs and one I knew, Kana Tamura. Then Roberto Verastegui on piano, amazing as always. It was a special night, because our trips coincided, by complete coincidence. As Kazuki put it, a miracle! But really, it's not often that you meet your friends on the other side of the world at the same time, not planning the trips together, or even knowing we were planning! The music was great, and everyone played very well, including the rest of the band, Li Xiaochuan on trumpet and Japanese drummer Ko Omura, whom I met that very night! Li and I just missed each other, as I left North Texas in Spring 2007 as a full time student (although I wouldn't call "full time" lab band and saxophone lessons!), but knew of each other through our mutual friend Brian. It was really great seeing all these guys and girls and hearing them play on the other side of the world. This note acknowledges my happiness to be their friends and be a part of their music--support is key to keeping our music alive!!
The following night, I performed with Ami and her group of extraordinary musicians at a jazz club called MEG-Jazz. I'll be posting some videos soon, but it was a night to remember! Thank you so much Ami for letting me be a guest and perform on the spot like that! The tune selection was great, and I was very honored to be a part of it. They performed creative originals and standards with nice arrangements, including Lover Man and Summertime. She allowed me to play a song without her singing, and I chose Time After Time (not Cyndi Lauper!), always a favorite of mine since hearing Sonny Stitt's version w/ strings (it's beautiful if you haven't heard it)...I couldn't find on YouTube, but did find a few nice Stitt solos, including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOOJPyYkRY4
Ami's group consisted of Yoshio Taniguchi on piano, Koji Tetsui on bass (a UNT alum! I had just missed him--came to UNT in Fall 2000 and he was a 2000 graduate!), and Ryo Shibata on drums. By the end of the night, I was really aching for more and wished we had more time to play, but was off to Osaka soon. Thanks guys for letting me create some music with you and it was a pleasure meeting all of you. At the end of the night, I got to sign the bathroom wall (the owner lets all musicians who perform in his club sign his bathroom wall) and just like everywhere I went in Japan, you are treated with respect and kindness.
After arriving in Tokunoshima, Yukari and I had a busy schedule of trying on and fitting into our clothes for professional pictures and a wedding reception, where we would re-celebrate our marriage (done privately with only my close family and Best Man Charles Tabangcora, middle school-high school friend--so don't feel bad if you missed it! It was in Paris, TX, where I went to school from childhood)...this time it was done Japanese style!
I performed solo alto saxophone (literally with no other musicians) the song "Shima Uta" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsKuLO0LPV0 --a very famous island song in Japan--and then, improvised alone over Time After Time, concluding with another solo performance of one of my favorite Japanese pop songs, "Itsuka kaze ni naru hi" translating to "a day you(or I) become a breeze". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTzGUIFq3cc
I performed it somewhat fast, in 3/4 alternating w/ some 4/4 on the chorus.
It's literally been years since I had performances as meaningful to me as the ones I had in Japan. I can literally make a list of the ones that stand out significantly, and these were at the top of the most meaningful. I think it has something to do with audience reception, and it is not something that comes very often to the musician that improvises. You can just feel it in the air--it's like you died and went to Heaven. I haven't felt like that in years. It's like playing alone on the beach near a beautiful ocean and beautiful view--you are doing what you love and only the ocean can hear. The ocean is always responsive with its waves. You experience all 5 senses and what you feel beyond that is a sixth sense. This is what I felt while performing in Japan.
One of the times in my past that I felt like this was very early on, performing in Kenton Hall at UNT in a quartet setting, with old friends Chris Hill (drums), Michael St. Clair (bass) and Andrew Page (piano). We were part of the Black History Month music celebrations, and John Murphy (Jazz Chair at UNT now following then Neil Slater) had organized it so all four groups performing that night would play John Coltrane's music. We opened the show, and I was pretty young at the time, 20 going on 21. Not that I'm old now at 28, but it feels like ages ago. I felt this sense of nervousness, which is what I got recently performing in Japan. I was nervous and excited and felt the audience giving off a feeling of "really eager to hear what we were going to do." Prior to our first note, John Murphy had put on an introductory video clip of Coltrane playing "Impressions"--it may have been something else--but his vibrato and passion set the standard for the night--I mean, it's awfully hard to follow Coltrane, even though he is not alive, but you could literally feel his spirit in the room. If you've ever been in Kenton Hall at UNT, and I'm sure most of you have that are reading this, you know what it looks like--well, it never looked like this before. It was lit up with candlelight, and posters, sort of like a shrine to John Coltrane. When we played, we had to be ready to bring it!! And I did more than I ever had in my whole life up to that point--and my fellow musicians certainly did. I wish I could do that again. It's one of my fondest musical memories. We played "Syeeda's Song Flute" and "Dear Lord." I remember it like it was yesterday. That's why I'm so passionate writing about it.
This musical energy is so hard to come by that I have only experienced it sparingly. I write this as a dedication to all the musicians I have played with, past and present. Despite all the practicing musicians do, a lot of the growing is done in the performance aspect, I believe. The groups I had formed from years past helped shape me into the critical music thinker I believe I am today, and want to go beyond. I want to have more performances like the ones mentioned above, and am grateful beyond belief. This note is long overdue. I wanted to tag as many of you as possible, and it will be tough not to leave someone out. You were all special to me, and still are. My teachers and colleagues are in there, too. Thank you for your generosity and for giving me lots of information to absorb. I am working on a dedication website past present and future with every project I was involved in between 2000-now along with future involvements. It's not for the world to know--it's for you guys' eyes to see. Anybody that has performed music in any setting knows the relationships that come and build and continue to get stronger, even during periods of falling out. We never forget these friendships and musical relationships, and to the MUSIC--that's this dedication.
Two quotes I remember strongly about our music (jazz) from when I was in school were: "Hey Matt, Keep It Goin'!"--Jimmy Heath to me and "Be a musician!"--Phil Woods, indirectly to me. He said it many times though. Phil Woods meant that you can't just play jazz, that's truly one dimensional thinking. He said "be a musician"..."write something," "play your doubles," "play classical..." He said dammit a lot, too. I can't give an exact quote to the money, but think about it: you are so narrow-minded if you believe you just play jazz. There is obviously something we each specialize in, or are better at than other things. For me, that's playing jazz saxophone. But when he said that, I knew that I had to really work hard at all other musical aspects. I came from a family of a deep love of rock n roll music--classic rock and anything good that rocked since. I had a deep love of classical saxophone and its rare use in an orchestra setting when in high school, and all my lessons in high school were classical, from my teacher Roy Allen. When done very well, it can be as beautiful to my ear as the most wonderful Charlie Parker solo, like the one here on Just Friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlkiz6r5Hb0 Parker was inspired by classical music, and the best musicians I know all play it and/or love it and have a respect for everything. Those are such powerful words, Mr. Woods! Hopefully it will inspire everyone else, too. Before this quote was given to me, I had thought I was just a jazz player. Now I realize I was giving up too much, and even with the practice you miss not practicing jazz, you gain so much more in musicianship it should eventually overcome this. Mr. Heath's quote was meaning to say, keep it goin--as in keep jazz alive. Keep our music alive. To do that, you have to reflect on the past and change the future. I sure respect all of my friends out there playing on a daily basis and making a living. It's a hard thing to do, and you don't know how hard until you have tried!
If you know me now days, you know I can't get away from Lady GaGahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3R3KqrJAI4 and KISS FM. There is much passion in that woman, and you could argue, but you can't dispute her talent and ability to mesmerize people. I wish I could sing and play piano. I play more piano than saxophone these days, not to get good at it because I feel that is too impossible at this point to "start over"...but I feel that the chordal aspect is too good to pass up. I sure was stubborn back in the day, believing I could hear it all without the piano. I just practiced jazz alto saxophone--transcribing, listening to jazz, improvising and learning tunes, and used my previous classical experience and fundamental study as my musicianship qualities--including scales, sound and just technique in general. With this idea to open my mind up musically, and to play the saxophone as if it's not a saxophone anymore, it becomes just good music. It's all good music then!! I believe my buddy Clay Pritchard said that, play it like it's not a saxophone. It's just like any other instrument, and can be...so vocal and beautiful, and it's my instrument. Just like some people play the piano. With all that prowess!! That's the goal.
I've learned so much from everybody and hate that I kept it so bottled up all these years. It's a lot to chew on, I know. Music is so powerful that you lose your head in it. It's a good feeling. This is what I have reflected on while finally visiting my wife's country. It has brought me a sense of peace like never before. She hadn't been home in 5 years, and it was all because of her decision to marry me. When I finally visited and met her entire family (literally!) it was then and there what I realized I had deprived her of. She had me, but missed her family dearly. They were wonderful people and I can't imagine not being home in 5 years. For this I owe my wife, forever. It's a good thing we are married!
15 Albums
The following is from a Facebook "game" where you had to think of the 15 Albums that most inspired you, even still today. This is my list: (only change was the Nirvana album--I originally chose In Utero, but decided recently that Incesticide was much sicker!)
1. A Kind of Blue Miles Davis
2. A Night at the Opera Queen
3. Appetite For Destruction Guns N' Roses
4. Bang! Zoom Bobby McFerrin
5. Bocelli Andrea Bocelli
6. Charlie Parker with Strings Charlie Parker
7. Chega de Saudade João Gilberto
8. Dookie Green Day
9. Incesticide Nirvana
10. Newport '63 John Coltrane
11. Nomad Soul Chitose Hajime
12. The Fame Monster Lady GaGa
13. The Professor Jimmy Heath
14. The Shadow of Your Smile Astrud Gilberto
15. Transition John Coltrane
Improvising
In addition to my main job as a Music Instructor/Band Director for more than 10 private schools in the D/FW TX area, I also teach privately. As a private lesson music teacher, I mostly work with students that want to improve their improvising. I currently only have the time to have 3 or 4 students, and each is dead set on their goal to be a better musician, focusing on jazz improvising and creative playing.
I've done a lot of thinking about this, and my main thing when it comes to learning how to be a good improviser is LIVING IT! You must eat, drink, breathe it all in, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I believe you do this by practicing with and away from your instrument through every source out there. Jazz isn't just a type of music, it's a lifestyle, no matter how corny that may sound. You don't live it 9-5, punch out, and go home and turn your brain off to it. You don't take the weekends off. You don't call in sick. You don't take vacations. It's every day, all the time.
Part of the learning process for jazz playing is reading and writing about it. When I took saxophone lessons early on in college from a very intelligent player and teacher, David Lown, who played lead tenor in the One O'clock Lab Band at UNT, he had a goal for me to pick one player to transcribe that was around before 1965 (so it couldn't be anyone modern), and focus on them. After I finally picked John Coltrane, he would have me do the following per solo: 1) transcribe the solo by ear 2) write the solo down on paper by hand 3) harmonically analyze the solo 4) put it into Finale 5) circle my absolute favorite lines from the solo and learn them all in all 12 keys 5) write a paper on it.
This is what I mean by writing about it. This leads me to my point: I am a very scatter-brained person, and with my students, the information I lay out for them is not intended to be by the lesson. This is why I always encourage my students to sign up for 10 lessons in a row, all paid-up-front, not because I'm greedy--but so money isn't the issue. As long as I give them the time they paid for (which would be 10 hrs. if they signed up for 1 hr. lessons), I try to make the lessons work on a quality basis. If the student tires out after 45 minutes, I leave. I write down that I owe them 15 minutes and at some point, this 15 minutes will be made up. I usually throw in a whole bonus hour or even more sometimes. Quality over quantity. That all being said, I also keep in good communication with all of them--they can call and ask questions anytime. That's also what these blogs are for. Jazz is a lifestyle. You have to read and write about it, as well as practice and listen. Go see shows. Now, go practice. Then write your own journal entry about what you experienced! And then tell your friends. Share everything. You really think if you reveal something cool in your playing your friend will use that information to get ahead? Jazz isn't a competition. The best player doesn't win. We don't play music for medals. It's all meant to be shared.
I've done a lot of thinking about this, and my main thing when it comes to learning how to be a good improviser is LIVING IT! You must eat, drink, breathe it all in, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I believe you do this by practicing with and away from your instrument through every source out there. Jazz isn't just a type of music, it's a lifestyle, no matter how corny that may sound. You don't live it 9-5, punch out, and go home and turn your brain off to it. You don't take the weekends off. You don't call in sick. You don't take vacations. It's every day, all the time.
Part of the learning process for jazz playing is reading and writing about it. When I took saxophone lessons early on in college from a very intelligent player and teacher, David Lown, who played lead tenor in the One O'clock Lab Band at UNT, he had a goal for me to pick one player to transcribe that was around before 1965 (so it couldn't be anyone modern), and focus on them. After I finally picked John Coltrane, he would have me do the following per solo: 1) transcribe the solo by ear 2) write the solo down on paper by hand 3) harmonically analyze the solo 4) put it into Finale 5) circle my absolute favorite lines from the solo and learn them all in all 12 keys 5) write a paper on it.
This is what I mean by writing about it. This leads me to my point: I am a very scatter-brained person, and with my students, the information I lay out for them is not intended to be by the lesson. This is why I always encourage my students to sign up for 10 lessons in a row, all paid-up-front, not because I'm greedy--but so money isn't the issue. As long as I give them the time they paid for (which would be 10 hrs. if they signed up for 1 hr. lessons), I try to make the lessons work on a quality basis. If the student tires out after 45 minutes, I leave. I write down that I owe them 15 minutes and at some point, this 15 minutes will be made up. I usually throw in a whole bonus hour or even more sometimes. Quality over quantity. That all being said, I also keep in good communication with all of them--they can call and ask questions anytime. That's also what these blogs are for. Jazz is a lifestyle. You have to read and write about it, as well as practice and listen. Go see shows. Now, go practice. Then write your own journal entry about what you experienced! And then tell your friends. Share everything. You really think if you reveal something cool in your playing your friend will use that information to get ahead? Jazz isn't a competition. The best player doesn't win. We don't play music for medals. It's all meant to be shared.
Journal Entry from 8/18/2004
The following is a journal entry from 8/18/2004, an unbelievable 8 years ago! It pretty much describes what I was up to at the time, mostly musically:
"I'm in Blossom, TX visiting family and practicing! I came home by 7:00 PM after calling my grandma to wish her a happy belated b-day to see only my dad being home--my mom would be home any minute--and so he showed me this coyote wood carving my uncle Willie did--pretty neat stuff...then I unpacked my stuff, my mom came home--we ate grilled steaks (sure is nice to come home!) and watched more of the Olympics (swimming)--Awesome! Then I started my practice routine:
I listened to my newly-burned CD from the library--The Billy Strayhorn Songbook--discovering my not liking most of it--Stan Getz's, Dizzy's, and Joe Henderson's recordings were so amazing. Versatility, confidence in melody alone and interpretation of it--So Amazing. So I picked up my flute and played w/ the CD for a little while--following that up by by daily flute routine: 1) sounds & scales; 2) improvising; 3) classical etudes. Fun stuff. No really, it's fun stuff! I also listened to Maria Schneider's Evanescence, and studied my score book. I was then inspired to write, so I worked on my big band version of my already-written song Ama No Gawa: The River In the Heaven. Then I did 50 sit-ups (a lot of this is probably out of order, but these are all the things I did)--while listening to my Strayhorn's Songbook CD.
Then I studied my Japanese book, just pronouncing and writing the language. Definitely just trying to work on the basics for now, writing mine and Yukari's name, etc. I also practiced alto sax, sightreading my Advanced Rhythms book. This has been a huge part of my new daily routine. I worked up to QN = 200 (tough) (without perfection of course) and then I did more reading practice, reading out of the Strayhorn Aebersold. Fun, but I was disappointed w/ my improvising, sound, etc.
Maybe this daily routine is good for me. Then it was 12:30 AM and I called Yukari. Then I went upstairs to the computer and checked my e-mail (always junk) and worked hard on my website pictures for a good 3 hrs. or more, then burned CDs for another hour or so. It's now getting really close to 5 in the morning, and my hand has a terribly wicked cramp. But in close--I read the liner notes to Coltrane's Interstellar Space. WOW! Interesting stuff. Then I called Yukari to wish her a good night. Oyasumi! And tomorrow (or today, rather) I will wake up at 9:30 AM--rough--not enough sleep, but I must establish my routine now before school starts back."
A few things strike me as very interesting about this journal entry. First of all, my wife and I were definitely night owls. Secondly, it seemed I had established a little bit of an exercise routine, however small, but at least an attempt. Thirdly, I was practicing my doubles and my saxophone daily. I was also attempting to learn some of my wife's language. Apparently, I was also promoting a new website and adding pictures. And finally, I must have been eating pretty well!!
So here we are, 8 years later, and my then-girlfriend Yukari has become my wife. I'm still fond of the night, because it's quiet and gives me time to work and think on/about whatever I need to do. I've actually finally upped my exercise routine to P-90X! I don't practice my doubles and saxophone daily, mostly because I teach so much, and most of my practicing is on trumpet and piano these days. Here recently, I've tried really hard to up my doubling practice and add the oboe and clarinet to the mix. It's tough to keep the daily thing going. And my Japanese these days is still terrible, although I'm almost at the 2 year old level now!
I think what I learned from this entry most of all is this: The things that were important to me in 2004 and are still very much important to me now in early 2011:
1) My Health
2) My Personal Life
3) Practicing
4) Listening to Music
5) Family
6) Music Promotion
Although not in that order, those are still important to me. Music is very big in my life, and I'm always working to balance that with everything else, but mostly, my personal life and family time.
"I'm in Blossom, TX visiting family and practicing! I came home by 7:00 PM after calling my grandma to wish her a happy belated b-day to see only my dad being home--my mom would be home any minute--and so he showed me this coyote wood carving my uncle Willie did--pretty neat stuff...then I unpacked my stuff, my mom came home--we ate grilled steaks (sure is nice to come home!) and watched more of the Olympics (swimming)--Awesome! Then I started my practice routine:
I listened to my newly-burned CD from the library--The Billy Strayhorn Songbook--discovering my not liking most of it--Stan Getz's, Dizzy's, and Joe Henderson's recordings were so amazing. Versatility, confidence in melody alone and interpretation of it--So Amazing. So I picked up my flute and played w/ the CD for a little while--following that up by by daily flute routine: 1) sounds & scales; 2) improvising; 3) classical etudes. Fun stuff. No really, it's fun stuff! I also listened to Maria Schneider's Evanescence, and studied my score book. I was then inspired to write, so I worked on my big band version of my already-written song Ama No Gawa: The River In the Heaven. Then I did 50 sit-ups (a lot of this is probably out of order, but these are all the things I did)--while listening to my Strayhorn's Songbook CD.
Then I studied my Japanese book, just pronouncing and writing the language. Definitely just trying to work on the basics for now, writing mine and Yukari's name, etc. I also practiced alto sax, sightreading my Advanced Rhythms book. This has been a huge part of my new daily routine. I worked up to QN = 200 (tough) (without perfection of course) and then I did more reading practice, reading out of the Strayhorn Aebersold. Fun, but I was disappointed w/ my improvising, sound, etc.
Maybe this daily routine is good for me. Then it was 12:30 AM and I called Yukari. Then I went upstairs to the computer and checked my e-mail (always junk) and worked hard on my website pictures for a good 3 hrs. or more, then burned CDs for another hour or so. It's now getting really close to 5 in the morning, and my hand has a terribly wicked cramp. But in close--I read the liner notes to Coltrane's Interstellar Space. WOW! Interesting stuff. Then I called Yukari to wish her a good night. Oyasumi! And tomorrow (or today, rather) I will wake up at 9:30 AM--rough--not enough sleep, but I must establish my routine now before school starts back."
A few things strike me as very interesting about this journal entry. First of all, my wife and I were definitely night owls. Secondly, it seemed I had established a little bit of an exercise routine, however small, but at least an attempt. Thirdly, I was practicing my doubles and my saxophone daily. I was also attempting to learn some of my wife's language. Apparently, I was also promoting a new website and adding pictures. And finally, I must have been eating pretty well!!
So here we are, 8 years later, and my then-girlfriend Yukari has become my wife. I'm still fond of the night, because it's quiet and gives me time to work and think on/about whatever I need to do. I've actually finally upped my exercise routine to P-90X! I don't practice my doubles and saxophone daily, mostly because I teach so much, and most of my practicing is on trumpet and piano these days. Here recently, I've tried really hard to up my doubling practice and add the oboe and clarinet to the mix. It's tough to keep the daily thing going. And my Japanese these days is still terrible, although I'm almost at the 2 year old level now!
I think what I learned from this entry most of all is this: The things that were important to me in 2004 and are still very much important to me now in early 2011:
1) My Health
2) My Personal Life
3) Practicing
4) Listening to Music
5) Family
6) Music Promotion
Although not in that order, those are still important to me. Music is very big in my life, and I'm always working to balance that with everything else, but mostly, my personal life and family time.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
My Dump Truck
In the summer of 2002, I studied Jazz Improvisation with Mike Steinel, one of the many amazing minds at the University of North Texas. I'll never forget what I learned. In fact, it's what truly shaped me into the musical mind I have today.
Mr. Steinel had said to me once: "What kind of improviser are you? There's kinetic, melodic...." I immediately went for melodic. To me, I wanted to be a melodic improviser. That meant I could be brilliant one day--in my head, a truly brilliant improviser is so spontaneously melodic. Well, you should have seen my face when he said: "I think you are a kinetic improviser. You know why? Because you practice a lot." See--I was a machine for a couple of years. I've had my lazy moments, or times at least where I practiced much less. I still always have had my musical brain going. But there was a period, around 1999-2003 where my life was made up of nothing but practicing. Some periods were heavier than others. But one thing was for certain: I had developed A LOT of muscle memory.
Mike Steinel said that it wasn't a bad thing, and to not treat it as such. He also mentioned that he knew I had a lot of ideas and knew kind of what I wanted to do, improvisation-wise--my approach, he meant, to soloing. But he added that he didn't think I really understood what I was doing. I had edited my playing to the point of exhaustion, just trying to truly hear what I thought sounded good over whatever tune I was playing. It was at that point that I knew he was right. I had so many holes in my playing---I just kept jumping over them. To me, learning jazz is like climbing a ladder. And sometimes, you skip some steps on the way up. For example, my "holes" all existed on a fundamental level. I had skipped some basic knowledge for the CHANCE that I would get better anyway. I could play a blues, but not tell you what the chords were, for example. I can hear something musically, and not be able to explain what it is. Still to this day, there are these holes. I'm always working to fill them up.
Another great thing Mike said was that when you start out in jazz, and you are learning some ideas, you start with a shovel. And you only have that shovel to fill your ideas with. Eventually, you get you a little dump truck, and you start shoveling your ideas into it. Sooner or later, that little dump truck is full, and you need a bigger one.
This is me thinking out loud now: Some people have giant dump trucks, waiting to spill over. It takes a lot of time and patience and hard work to get one of those. Charlie Parker and Stan Getz had such huge dump trucks.
What it really comes down to is this:
At first, there is a little distance between your brain and the fingers--and this distance shrinks the more experience you have. For players such as Charlie Parker, the distance is quite small. I guess that's our biggest goal as improvisers is to work on a solid execution and improve on as many musicianship details as possible.
One of my Greatest Inspirations
One of my absolute favorite resources for musical thoughts and study was and is www.danhaerle.com. When I attended the University of North Texas in Denton, I had some opportunities here and there to catch Mr. Dan Haerle discussing his musical thoughts, giving very motivating and honest critiques to performing small groups in his Jazz Forum class, and performing with the UNT Jazz Faculty. One of his absolute greatest gifts to the jazz world, and the musical world in general, was this: http://www.danhaerle.com/partingthoughts.html.
While Mr. Haerle did retire in 2002 (I hope I got that right!), he has continued to perform on the campus and be around to offer his insight. I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time and catch him before his retirement.
Dan Haerle once critiqued my very own small group. I was playing with Chris Hill (drums) and Daniel Sledge (bass) as a young tenor player, around 19 I believe. We were playing a tribute to John Coltrane's music, a challenging program I had put together consisting of A Love Supreme Part 1: Acknowledgement, segueing into an arrangement of My Favorite Things, in 11/4, in the style of John Coltrane. There were a couple of other songs we did--I'm having trouble recalling exactly what they were right now--but we did close w/ Coltrane's The Promise.
Dan's critique was quite memorable. He complimented our energy. He complimented our preparation. He spoke to us as if he knew we all enjoyed playing together and there was tremendous chemistry. Then came the words I'll never forget: "You did this. Now move on." What he meant was, concentrate on something else. It was true: we all three needed a new direction of study. If you want to be a great musician, you must branch out. I'm not sure if I got the message completely right, but that's what I made of it. He also said that what made Coltrane so great was that he had worked so hard to learn how to play all the standards and approach chord changes and tunes in every way he possibly could. This enabled him to have the necessary vocabulary to branch off and do whatever he wanted with music. In a way, Dan was telling us that getting our vocabulary together is very important. Trying to play something like A Love Supreme was really getting ahead of myself and my current level. It was time I really studied up and my goal was to learn jazz vocabulary inside and out, and make everything I learned my absolute own.
I encourage everyone to take a look at Mr. Haerle's website. Really look at his "Books" section and look at the free materials below. Chew it all up and store it away in your musical brain. It's all wonderful, lifelong information. It'll definitely make you a better person and better musician once you absorb it all.
While Mr. Haerle did retire in 2002 (I hope I got that right!), he has continued to perform on the campus and be around to offer his insight. I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time and catch him before his retirement.
Dan Haerle once critiqued my very own small group. I was playing with Chris Hill (drums) and Daniel Sledge (bass) as a young tenor player, around 19 I believe. We were playing a tribute to John Coltrane's music, a challenging program I had put together consisting of A Love Supreme Part 1: Acknowledgement, segueing into an arrangement of My Favorite Things, in 11/4, in the style of John Coltrane. There were a couple of other songs we did--I'm having trouble recalling exactly what they were right now--but we did close w/ Coltrane's The Promise.
Dan's critique was quite memorable. He complimented our energy. He complimented our preparation. He spoke to us as if he knew we all enjoyed playing together and there was tremendous chemistry. Then came the words I'll never forget: "You did this. Now move on." What he meant was, concentrate on something else. It was true: we all three needed a new direction of study. If you want to be a great musician, you must branch out. I'm not sure if I got the message completely right, but that's what I made of it. He also said that what made Coltrane so great was that he had worked so hard to learn how to play all the standards and approach chord changes and tunes in every way he possibly could. This enabled him to have the necessary vocabulary to branch off and do whatever he wanted with music. In a way, Dan was telling us that getting our vocabulary together is very important. Trying to play something like A Love Supreme was really getting ahead of myself and my current level. It was time I really studied up and my goal was to learn jazz vocabulary inside and out, and make everything I learned my absolute own.
I encourage everyone to take a look at Mr. Haerle's website. Really look at his "Books" section and look at the free materials below. Chew it all up and store it away in your musical brain. It's all wonderful, lifelong information. It'll definitely make you a better person and better musician once you absorb it all.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Great Quotes
"With most of us, after we get the technique and basic conception, the biggest problem is to find the right medium in which to express ourselves."--Quincy Jones
"Oh, yeah, I'm not in that box that's called a jazz musician. I mean, that's my foundation, that's where I come from, it's the jazz ethic that I use whenever I'm playing. So, in an extended sense, in a broader sense, whenever I'm involved with music, I'm coming from the place of being a jazz musician, even when I play classical music, because that's so ingrained in my head, the idea of being in the moment."--Herbie Hancock
"BE A MUSICIAN!"--Phil Woods
"Keep it [our music, jazz] goin'!"--Jimmy Heath
"When I was your age, I was skinny as a rail. And you know what happened? Cheese."--Jim Riggs
"You took advantage of my friend, you cur!"--Charlie Parker
"John [Coltrane] was always practicing, constantly researching, and exploring new musical concepts. Once I asked him, 'What is your favorite song that you've written?' 'I do not have one,' he replied. 'Why?' I asked. He said that he was looking for a linear theme that could go toward infinity and reveal itself through its own potentiality."--Alic
"Oh, yeah, I'm not in that box that's called a jazz musician. I mean, that's my foundation, that's where I come from, it's the jazz ethic that I use whenever I'm playing. So, in an extended sense, in a broader sense, whenever I'm involved with music, I'm coming from the place of being a jazz musician, even when I play classical music, because that's so ingrained in my head, the idea of being in the moment."--Herbie Hancock
"BE A MUSICIAN!"--Phil Woods
"Keep it [our music, jazz] goin'!"--Jimmy Heath
"When I was your age, I was skinny as a rail. And you know what happened? Cheese."--Jim Riggs
"You took advantage of my friend, you cur!"--Charlie Parker
"John [Coltrane] was always practicing, constantly researching, and exploring new musical concepts. Once I asked him, 'What is your favorite song that you've written?' 'I do not have one,' he replied. 'Why?' I asked. He said that he was looking for a linear theme that could go toward infinity and reveal itself through its own potentiality."--Alic
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