In a first for our jazz combo, we came up with a play list well in advance of our concert, which is going to be April 13. Since we are technically students, our recital has to take a specific format, namely, we have to cover what are considered the four "main" areas of jazz performance, namely, swing, blues, ballad, and Latin. Our play list, in alphabetical order, therefore, looks like this:
Cherokee
D Natural Blues
Desafinado
Ruby, My Dear
Ruby is a carryover from our Valentine's songfest song, which we didn't get to perform as the program designer "picked" a different song for us. Cherokee was insisted upon by our director, despite at least two of us having a certain disinclination to perform it (including me). D Natural Blues and Desafinado we came up with on the fly, ran through them once or twice, and they sounded good enough, so we decided to stick with them.
And that was that.
I'm glad the selection process is out of the way, because now I can practice those songs diligently and confidently, knowing that every minute I put into improving them will not go to waste. Still, coupled with the four (maybe five) songs that the big band will be performing on April 17, that's eight songs I've got to get down pat and really be able to play. I should be able to master them, though, because I don't have much of anything going on between now and the concerts. There can be no excuses for not accomplishing some serious polishing of my chops on these tunes.
I'm almost as excited about learning these songs as I am about how I will feel when this semester is over and I can play whatever I want once again. The home stretch is the best part of studying jazz in school.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Break time
It’s spring break, so that means my Monday and Wednesday for this week are free from band practice and free from pressure to demonstrate a little progress and improved capability in playing the five pieces we are learning.
Yeah, right.
All it means is I’ve got to continue to practice and improve and demonstrate twice as much improvement once we get back in the rehearsal room. The way I figure it, the director is probably going to expect these pieces to be ready to go and sounding pretty much like they are going to sound on the night of the concert, a little more than one month hence.
Just the same, if I want to take it easy and then hunker down later, this is the last week I can do so until after April 17. Good thing that my new jazz blues lesson book arrived. It gives me something to look at and makes me want to sit at the piano and learn some new stuff, and after I get tired of that, I work on tunes. Plus, my piano instructor gave me a new practice method/exercise to develop my left hand stride ability, and it allows me to play a bunch of tunes that I like, albeit in a truncated, staccato fashion built solely on quarter notes.
Long story short: spring break is no time for rest.
Yeah, right.
All it means is I’ve got to continue to practice and improve and demonstrate twice as much improvement once we get back in the rehearsal room. The way I figure it, the director is probably going to expect these pieces to be ready to go and sounding pretty much like they are going to sound on the night of the concert, a little more than one month hence.
Just the same, if I want to take it easy and then hunker down later, this is the last week I can do so until after April 17. Good thing that my new jazz blues lesson book arrived. It gives me something to look at and makes me want to sit at the piano and learn some new stuff, and after I get tired of that, I work on tunes. Plus, my piano instructor gave me a new practice method/exercise to develop my left hand stride ability, and it allows me to play a bunch of tunes that I like, albeit in a truncated, staccato fashion built solely on quarter notes.
Long story short: spring break is no time for rest.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A slow beginning to Finale
In my continuing effort to spur the economy on and to keep my interest in music piqued, I recently purchased a software package I had been relishing for the longest time: Finale 2009.
I cut my teeth on the free version of Finale Notepad, and I found it adequate for my purposes. But once I started trying to arrange stuff for quartet and big band, Notepad didn't cut it anymore. I asked around and did lots of research online, and the consensus was that Finale was the package to get. There are lots - really, really lots - of notation programs out there, and they mostly have similar features. I really just went with the one I was most familiar with that also happens to have the largest installed user base (as near as I can determine). With my academic discount, it was reasonably priced, and it arrived very quickly. I loaded it into my computer with no problem, started it up, and
Did practically nothing.
My ability to notate music for piano is now basically unlimited, but I pretty much had that before with Finale Notepad. When faced with a big band quantity of staves, I was stopped in my tracks. The saxes all had three sharps and the trumpets two sharps on my key-of-C song.
Uh-oh.
Now, I can make a few logical guesses as to how to go about notating a song, and certainly, I know enough about how to transpose to be able to move the notes up to the keys of D and A, but I have nothing but questions even after I make those assumptions. Like, do I write for the instrument or write for the piece? Namely, do I put the notes in the instrument's key, or in my key? What's the range of the instruments? Is there some way to transpose that automatically so I can write in a more familiar key and print in the key the musicians need to see the notes in? And what other restrictions are there on the individual parts? (Like, how many quarter notes can a trombone player play legato at 112 before he turns blue and passes out?)
I could go on.
Anyway, I've got probably the single most powerful tool for writing and composing music, but now I'm not only facing the daunting learning curve of the comprehensive application, I've got to actually know about composing music in order to get it down properly. I'll probably buy myself a composition book (of which I found several on Amazon) and try to learn composing and the software simultaneously. Maybe by summer I'll be ready to go.
In the meantime, that's $200+ injected into the economy by yours truly. Don't say I'm not doing my part.
I cut my teeth on the free version of Finale Notepad, and I found it adequate for my purposes. But once I started trying to arrange stuff for quartet and big band, Notepad didn't cut it anymore. I asked around and did lots of research online, and the consensus was that Finale was the package to get. There are lots - really, really lots - of notation programs out there, and they mostly have similar features. I really just went with the one I was most familiar with that also happens to have the largest installed user base (as near as I can determine). With my academic discount, it was reasonably priced, and it arrived very quickly. I loaded it into my computer with no problem, started it up, and
Did practically nothing.
My ability to notate music for piano is now basically unlimited, but I pretty much had that before with Finale Notepad. When faced with a big band quantity of staves, I was stopped in my tracks. The saxes all had three sharps and the trumpets two sharps on my key-of-C song.
Uh-oh.
Now, I can make a few logical guesses as to how to go about notating a song, and certainly, I know enough about how to transpose to be able to move the notes up to the keys of D and A, but I have nothing but questions even after I make those assumptions. Like, do I write for the instrument or write for the piece? Namely, do I put the notes in the instrument's key, or in my key? What's the range of the instruments? Is there some way to transpose that automatically so I can write in a more familiar key and print in the key the musicians need to see the notes in? And what other restrictions are there on the individual parts? (Like, how many quarter notes can a trombone player play legato at 112 before he turns blue and passes out?)
I could go on.
Anyway, I've got probably the single most powerful tool for writing and composing music, but now I'm not only facing the daunting learning curve of the comprehensive application, I've got to actually know about composing music in order to get it down properly. I'll probably buy myself a composition book (of which I found several on Amazon) and try to learn composing and the software simultaneously. Maybe by summer I'll be ready to go.
In the meantime, that's $200+ injected into the economy by yours truly. Don't say I'm not doing my part.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Milestones
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of this blog, but with work and school, I decided to go ahead and commemorate the event a day early with this entry.
All I can say is, the blog has made me zero dollars, but I am still having fun doing it and I've had a lot of comments, both on and off the blog, from friends, family and new acquaintances who enjoy it. I truly think it has helped my music because I get the chance to sit and think about what I've been listening to, or what I've been playing, or what I've been learning, so it serves as reinforcement of what is going on in my head and heart musically. It's all good.
Speaking of Milestones, I just picked up that wonderful CD from the Jazz Heritage Society. The recording is really good and if you are into jazz piano, it is worth it just for Red Garland playing on Billy Boy. Gosh, that song is great and Garland's block chords are the bees knees, man, I'm telling ya!
So, congratulations to me for one year of Late to Jazz. Toast me when y'all think about it.
Coming soon:
-Yoity Tot List updates and changes
-My preliminary experience with Finale notation software and learning to arrange music
-Practicing hard during spring break
Stop back soon!
All I can say is, the blog has made me zero dollars, but I am still having fun doing it and I've had a lot of comments, both on and off the blog, from friends, family and new acquaintances who enjoy it. I truly think it has helped my music because I get the chance to sit and think about what I've been listening to, or what I've been playing, or what I've been learning, so it serves as reinforcement of what is going on in my head and heart musically. It's all good.
Speaking of Milestones, I just picked up that wonderful CD from the Jazz Heritage Society. The recording is really good and if you are into jazz piano, it is worth it just for Red Garland playing on Billy Boy. Gosh, that song is great and Garland's block chords are the bees knees, man, I'm telling ya!
So, congratulations to me for one year of Late to Jazz. Toast me when y'all think about it.
Coming soon:
-Yoity Tot List updates and changes
-My preliminary experience with Finale notation software and learning to arrange music
-Practicing hard during spring break
Stop back soon!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I'm helping the economy, a little. You?
Back in August, I bought a new car that included an XM Radio introductory package. After the free 90 days was up, I had the opportunity to sign up for another three months for $6.99 per month, which I did, and after that, the price was to go up to $12.99 per month. Right before the price was due to go up, I decided I would cancel the membership anyway. My logic was simple: I'm only in my car for 40 minutes a day five days a week, mostly, and it isn't worth $13 a month to listen to a handful of songs a day, especially with my burgeoning jazz music collection to keep me company on drive time. Naturally, I used this fact as a catalyst to start buying some more CD's for my collection. Then I called XM to cancel.
As soon as I told them it wasn't worth the high price to renew, they offered me five more months for $3.99 a month. Now, I sort of figured they would offer me something, and I thought that they would likely give me another three months for $7 a month. With this much improved offer, I was hard pressed to say no, and in fact, said "OK".
But I didn't stop my CD buying.
In addition to discovering the Jazz Heritage Society, I also started scouring e-bay for things on my music want list. This is a lot harder than it sounds, because my first search of e-bay for "jazz cd" turned up 140,000 matches! Still I was able to pare it down, and between my five introductory CD's from JHS and my purchases on e-bay, which average around $4 each, including shipping (!), I picked up the following:
Cross Country Tour by Ahmad Jamal
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea and Gary Burton (signed)
Milestones by Miles Davis
Focus by Stan Getz
The Complete Last Concert by the Modern Jazz Quartet
Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock
Concert by the Sea by Erroll Garner
some Stan Kenton
some Kathy Kosins
Bingo by Rova
Blue Train by John Coltrane
Ahmad Jamal and MJQ both will be on the Yoity Tot list, just as soon as I figure out who to shunt out of the list in their favor. (Don't worry. I plan to start a "Formerly on the Yoity Tot List list".) Most of the other stuff I haven't even had a chance to listen to yet, since I'm still listening to XM in the car and practicing playing music almost all the time when I'm at home. Anyway, the point is that e-bay can be a valuable resource for purchasing music on the cheap, as can the JHS (which has the advantage that everything you purchase is new), and that when I find new resources, I like to use them.
As always, I continue to do my meager part to get the economy rolling again. I say, Let's Jazz America!
As soon as I told them it wasn't worth the high price to renew, they offered me five more months for $3.99 a month. Now, I sort of figured they would offer me something, and I thought that they would likely give me another three months for $7 a month. With this much improved offer, I was hard pressed to say no, and in fact, said "OK".
But I didn't stop my CD buying.
In addition to discovering the Jazz Heritage Society, I also started scouring e-bay for things on my music want list. This is a lot harder than it sounds, because my first search of e-bay for "jazz cd" turned up 140,000 matches! Still I was able to pare it down, and between my five introductory CD's from JHS and my purchases on e-bay, which average around $4 each, including shipping (!), I picked up the following:
Cross Country Tour by Ahmad Jamal
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea and Gary Burton (signed)
Milestones by Miles Davis
Focus by Stan Getz
The Complete Last Concert by the Modern Jazz Quartet
Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock
Concert by the Sea by Erroll Garner
some Stan Kenton
some Kathy Kosins
Bingo by Rova
Blue Train by John Coltrane
Ahmad Jamal and MJQ both will be on the Yoity Tot list, just as soon as I figure out who to shunt out of the list in their favor. (Don't worry. I plan to start a "Formerly on the Yoity Tot List list".) Most of the other stuff I haven't even had a chance to listen to yet, since I'm still listening to XM in the car and practicing playing music almost all the time when I'm at home. Anyway, the point is that e-bay can be a valuable resource for purchasing music on the cheap, as can the JHS (which has the advantage that everything you purchase is new), and that when I find new resources, I like to use them.
As always, I continue to do my meager part to get the economy rolling again. I say, Let's Jazz America!
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