1/6 - Transcriptions

Hey. I said I would put up transcriptions that I did last semester or have done over break, so here they are!

This first one is a tune called "Everyplace is a House," by Maps and Atlases.




The drummer, Chris Hainey, plays very actively, and plays a lot of different things at the same time. Sometimes he's sporadic, and sometimes he's inventive, but he sounds great whatever he's doing, and he's probably one of my favorite indie drummers right now.

everyplace





After the Maps and Atlases song, I decided to challenge myself. The band The Number 12 Looks Like You is about as math-metal as you can get (well, could, they're not a thing anymore). This song, "Imagine Nation Express," was always my favorite and confused me the most, so I sat down for a day and wrote it out. It's even weirder than I expected.



I don't know if all of the time signatures are correct, I couldn't hear some parts of it, and the fivelets are probably not even close to correct, but I think I got pretty close. And if I can't even hear it, how can someone play it? Metal drummers blow my mind in a completely different way than other drummers do.

imaginenex





This one is Tony Williams drumming on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven." I played it for my drumset jury this semester.




I like the way Tony's time feels, and he opened up my playing with his interesting comping ideas. It was a little fast for me, but I put a lot of effort into it, and I'm glad I chose this one.

Sevensteps


That's all of the drum charts I have so far. I'll put up a few others later.

M

1/6/2012 - Break

It's still winter break for me, and I've had a pretty productive one so far. Aside from seeing all of my friends back home and going to do fun things I was missing out on in Texas, I've worked on my musical stuff, whether that's practicing, composing, transcribing, or just studying things. I made a schedule at the beginning of break, and I haven't stuck to it very well, but I've still been working on the things I would like to get done before I go back to school.

Here's a little sampler of what I've been up to, I'll put everything in separate posts so they don't take up so much space:

I set up a bandcamp account, because it has a really accessible design and layout, it's free and I can put everything I make in one place. If you're curious, check mine out:

http://masonlynass.bandcamp.com/

I haven't been composing very much at home, but I did finish an arrangement of a traditional Javanese Gamelan tune:



And an arrangement of one of my favorite pieces of classical music (and there's a lot of classical music), 1812 Overture:



I'm pretty proud of that last one. The drum parts were pretty fun to write.

Let's see... I've been working on some transcriptions, mostly just for fun. I played Tony Williams' time on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven," I've finished writing out tunes by Maps and Atlases and The Number 12 Looks Like You, and I'm working on Jack DeJohnette's time on a recording of Chet Baker playing "Autumn Leaves." I'll put those up separately.

I'm almost finished with a simple piece called "Opening (from Glassworks)," written by Philip Glass. Hopefully I can record it and put it up here, and I'd like to play it on departmental when I get back to Denton.

Other than that, I've just been playing drums, finding good new music, and making shirts:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.337718482904839.94366.201132159896806&type=1

That's what I've been up to. Hopefully you're having a good break, or a nice warm winter, anyways.

M