I've been inactive for quite a while. Sometimes parts of my life get stale, and so I don't do them for a little bit. Then it's usually refreshing to pick it back up. That's how I am with composing, and being proactive (ha.) and singing sometimes. Not that I don't enjoy them, it's just that sometimes they're overwhelming or I get distracted.
Now, I feel like I actually have something I could talk about. My life is a new kind of interesting, I guess.
This summer I marched with the Santa Clara Vanguard. It was the best summer I've ever had. Maybe I'll make a post about it. I'm back at UNT for classes, and I'm looking forward to them.
Today was the first day of school. I had one real person class: Jazz History. It sounds like it's going to be really fun; the professor's a nice guy, it's over a subject I really enjoy, and there isn't a whole of busy work, or a textbook. Hopefully, I'll just listen to a bunch of jazz while reading about jazz. Swingin.
I had my last auditions today, out of a pretty busy audition week, to say the least. Today I auditioned for which Concert Band I'll be in (hooray!) and which vocal jazz group I'll be in. I thought they both went significantly better than my other auditions, and I'll hear back about what I made really soon.
The other auditions were kind of a mess though. My first audition was the first round of concert band auditions. I hadn't played my marimba solo for three months, and I was nervous because I knew I didn't know it like I should. Instead of pumping myself up to see if maybe instinct would kick in and I would remember it, I got shaky and thought too much and couldn't remember... any of it. I just stopped after the first long phrase of the piece, because I knew it certainly wasn't going to get any better. Then I played the snare drum piece pretty well and sight-read in the wrong key.
Not even an hour after that was my jazz lab band audition. I kind of knew I wasn't as prepared as possible for it, since I couldn't practice at all this summer, but I had worked for a week or so, and I felt more confident than previous lab band auditions. I was the first auditionee, and I sat down and read the first chart pretty well, with a little logistical error, no problem. The second chart was the kicker, though, a fast samba, maybe not fast for some people, but too fast for me. I couldn't solo in the solo breaks, couldn't catch the hits in time, and was generally a mess. The third chart wasn't so bad, but I was still dealing with how bad the chart before it was.
Yesterday I had my orchestra audition. I woke up at eight, got to school at nine, had a little meeting, and waited. I sat and read through music, sang the excerpts in my head, went on a walk, got lunch, tried to take my mind off of the audition, and did everything I could do, really, before I auditioned. And even then, I still had extra time on my hands. My time finally came around five hours after I arrived, and, except for a minor slip up on the first little piece, I thought I did pretty well, about as well as I was expecting myself to, definitely in contention for... well, something. But the scores didn't reflect that, and I got dead last.
Those first three auditions are all different situations. In the first audition, for concert band, I knew I was going to do poorly, knew I played badly afterwards, and in the end, didn't end up in a good place. For the jazz audition, I was feeling good, but didn't play as well as I hoped, and didn't make a callback. In my orchestra audition, I felt great before, played as good as I could have hoped, and placed pretty badly.
There's something to learn from all of these situations, I think.
First of all, don't come in to an audition knowing that you're unprepared. Ever. That's something I definitely should have known anyways. And then, if you are, either play some head games with yourself and figure out a way to be confident, or, if it's bad enough, don't audition.
In the second situation, there isn't really too much to do but keep working. I'm not too upset with the results; realistically, I don't think I would go see a band with me drumming in it yet. So I'll keep reading and working on my chops and coordination and balance and time etc. etc.
The orchestra audition is the most concerning to me. What's the difference between what I heard and what they heard? Are my ears not good enough? Am I playing some weird rhythm sometimes and not even realizing it? I'm not upset at the panel or anything, because I definitely wasn't the best person at the audition, but I'm just curious to find out what the difference was between myself and the guys that got the job, because I couldn't tell a huge difference from my perspective. And that's kind of upsetting, to feel like you did well, but the people that really matter don't.
Anyways, sometimes life is a bummer. Sometimes you spend so much time focusing on one specific thing that everything else in life falls apart a little bit. But I'll get back on my feet, and find other cool crap to do besides play in orchestra and lab bands.
I'm taking lessons with Mark Ford and Henry Okstel this semester. I'm really excited to take lessons with Professor Ford, partially because he knows what he's doing, and partially because maybe the fact that he knows what he's doing will motivate me to be on my game. I'm really excited to be taking drumset again because I can practice in solitude again, and playing set makes me happy.
There's some other cool stuff going on but I can't put it all in one post! Besides, I have to go to bed, I have things to do in the morning.
M
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
3/7 - Update
It's been quite a while since I've updated this.
I have another busy semester this spring, but it's a lot of fun.
I'm taking lessons with Paul Rennick and Ryan Kilgore.
Paul is trying to teach me not to let go of the stick so much; that sometimes rebound isn't necessary and control is a better option. I don't really have too much to do with him this semester, but he's helping me with my technique and he always has cool stuff to say.
Ryan and I are mostly working on solo literature, which I've recently realized that I don't enjoy as much as I think most percussionists do here. I guess playing marimba has always been something that I've enjoyed doing, but has never felt like something I could do professionally, especially as a soloist; I think I would be fine in an ensemble setting, and wouldn't have trouble playing a part, but marimba has gotten a little stale for me as a solo instrument. Nevertheless, we're playing "Rotation IV" (Eric Sammut), which is a wonderful piece, one of my favorites, and Keiko Abe's "Wind Sketch."
Recently some people have asked me if I played something or was playing something because it was popular, or because a lot of people had played it before. That seems like a silly reason to play something, to me. If everyone was playing only Bach chorales, I would not only play Bach chorales. If everyone was playing the Rotations, I would still play the Rotations. My choices of what I like to play as a soloist aren't dependent on what anyone else likes to play. I play it because I like the piece, it sounds good to me, and I could make music with it. Not much more to it than that.
It feels kind of nice to not be working on barrier material very much. In the past, I've really stressed about it, and thought it was so important that I spent most of my time on it. I played through it all the time, but that wasn't necessarily the right approach. Paul has taught me the right way to look at the books I need to pass this semester, and even though I haven't played them in a while, I still feel more confident about them than I used to. I'll still practice them a lot before I have to perform them though, don't worry.
I'm also practicing a lot of drum set, because I think I want to be a Jazz Studies major. As a performance major right now, I like playing in classical ensembles and playing timpani, but I don't like playing so much marimba, and I don't like being in concert band. In my opinion, there is hardly any job market for marimba players, and focusing more on drum set would be much more practical. I would also like to learn how to improvise, and be musical on the spot, and there is almost none of that as a performance major.
If I was a Jazz Studies major, I would be playing in a lab band, and I would have a practice room where I could play drums whenever I wanted to and not bother anyone. I would be taking Improv, and Jazz Arranging, which I think is very cool, and I would be playing with friends and playing a whole lot of shows, which is one of the things in my life that I like the most. I would be focusing on a more practical instrument, and networking with people and performing in a real-life setting.
So I told Ed Soph, UNT drum set professor and awesome drummer/thinker/person in general, that I was interested in being a Jazz Studies major on Friday, and he told me to come play for him on Tuesday, which was 4 days to be prepared. Except I was gone all weekend (we'll get to that later), and busy Monday night (we'll also get to that later), so I didn't really have any time to prepare. So I just came in, dressed up a little, and hoped for the best.
As I sat down, he asked me some questions.
What are my strengths and weeknesses?
Strengths: Funky stuff, keeping time.
Weeknesses: Latin things, hi-hat integration.
How do I know I keep good time?
Practicing with a metronome, practicing with recordings.
There was another question, but I forgot. I was nervous, okay?
He said that my strengths and weaknesses were too focused on drumming, and not enough about general musicianship. He said that my first goal should be to make music, and then to play drums; music is the art, drums are the tool. I should be focusing on things like dynamics, phrasing, tone, and balance.
Then we played Joy Spring, but just the melody, on just the snare drum. I was a little awkward at first. He then asked if I was thinking of anyone playing it in my head, and told me to think of the way Clifford played it. I was a little less awkward, and I got even better when I started singing Clifford's interpretation while I was playing it. And then we played time, and he told me my ride hand was too loud, which kind of makes sense, since I'm right-handed.
I have a lot to work on, but he offered to teach me lessons in the fall, and if all went well, then I could be a Jazz Studies major next spring. That seems like a long time from now at first, and it still does to me. I don't mind if I'm in school for a while though. As long as I'm not breaking the bank and I'm not bored, I'll be alright here. I like it here. People are good here, there is a lot of music.
I'm playing in Concert Band, South Indian Ensemble, the 12:00 Percussion Players, singing in Singers III, and sight-reading three days a week in Paul's Arranging class. I'm also arranging in that class, performing with Arthur Barrow and Tommy Mars in a band in the class on Frank Zappa I'm in, and playing in an ensemble led by performance artist Nick Cave. I'm pretty busy.
Outside of school, I'm playing timpani for the Santa Clara Vanguard. Our show is "Music for the Starry Night," and we're playing "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine," "Hymn to a Blue Hour," "Mars," and "Jupiter." I love the music, the horns already sound great, and Paul always writes great drum parts. I go to California every once in a while to rehearse with them, and I'll be busy with them all summer starting the 19th or 20th of May, all the way up to the second week of August.
I'm also in a band called Señor Fín, and we're pretty cool. We're playing more shows than usual recently, which makes me pretty happy, and we're working on recording an album or an EP or what not. We're playing a free show this Sunday, maybe a show on the 14th, and probably a few more shows soon, I'm not really the one who keeps track of these things. But we play cool music and I really like playing with those dudes.
There's a music festival called 35 Denton rolling in to town this weekend. I love lots of music, and I'm kinda bummed that I can't go to anything this summer, so I'm going to make the most of this event.
I also saw Radiohead for my birthday, and they were pretty great.
I'm also teaching a little bit, and managing a website, and some other smaller things. They don't really matter very much.
So yep, that's a summary of two months into about a half an hour of distracted writing. Makes me want to do more with my life so I have to spend more time writing about it when I chose to write about it.
M
I have another busy semester this spring, but it's a lot of fun.
I'm taking lessons with Paul Rennick and Ryan Kilgore.
Paul is trying to teach me not to let go of the stick so much; that sometimes rebound isn't necessary and control is a better option. I don't really have too much to do with him this semester, but he's helping me with my technique and he always has cool stuff to say.
Ryan and I are mostly working on solo literature, which I've recently realized that I don't enjoy as much as I think most percussionists do here. I guess playing marimba has always been something that I've enjoyed doing, but has never felt like something I could do professionally, especially as a soloist; I think I would be fine in an ensemble setting, and wouldn't have trouble playing a part, but marimba has gotten a little stale for me as a solo instrument. Nevertheless, we're playing "Rotation IV" (Eric Sammut), which is a wonderful piece, one of my favorites, and Keiko Abe's "Wind Sketch."
Recently some people have asked me if I played something or was playing something because it was popular, or because a lot of people had played it before. That seems like a silly reason to play something, to me. If everyone was playing only Bach chorales, I would not only play Bach chorales. If everyone was playing the Rotations, I would still play the Rotations. My choices of what I like to play as a soloist aren't dependent on what anyone else likes to play. I play it because I like the piece, it sounds good to me, and I could make music with it. Not much more to it than that.
It feels kind of nice to not be working on barrier material very much. In the past, I've really stressed about it, and thought it was so important that I spent most of my time on it. I played through it all the time, but that wasn't necessarily the right approach. Paul has taught me the right way to look at the books I need to pass this semester, and even though I haven't played them in a while, I still feel more confident about them than I used to. I'll still practice them a lot before I have to perform them though, don't worry.
I'm also practicing a lot of drum set, because I think I want to be a Jazz Studies major. As a performance major right now, I like playing in classical ensembles and playing timpani, but I don't like playing so much marimba, and I don't like being in concert band. In my opinion, there is hardly any job market for marimba players, and focusing more on drum set would be much more practical. I would also like to learn how to improvise, and be musical on the spot, and there is almost none of that as a performance major.
If I was a Jazz Studies major, I would be playing in a lab band, and I would have a practice room where I could play drums whenever I wanted to and not bother anyone. I would be taking Improv, and Jazz Arranging, which I think is very cool, and I would be playing with friends and playing a whole lot of shows, which is one of the things in my life that I like the most. I would be focusing on a more practical instrument, and networking with people and performing in a real-life setting.
So I told Ed Soph, UNT drum set professor and awesome drummer/thinker/person in general, that I was interested in being a Jazz Studies major on Friday, and he told me to come play for him on Tuesday, which was 4 days to be prepared. Except I was gone all weekend (we'll get to that later), and busy Monday night (we'll also get to that later), so I didn't really have any time to prepare. So I just came in, dressed up a little, and hoped for the best.
As I sat down, he asked me some questions.
What are my strengths and weeknesses?
Strengths: Funky stuff, keeping time.
Weeknesses: Latin things, hi-hat integration.
How do I know I keep good time?
Practicing with a metronome, practicing with recordings.
There was another question, but I forgot. I was nervous, okay?
He said that my strengths and weaknesses were too focused on drumming, and not enough about general musicianship. He said that my first goal should be to make music, and then to play drums; music is the art, drums are the tool. I should be focusing on things like dynamics, phrasing, tone, and balance.
Then we played Joy Spring, but just the melody, on just the snare drum. I was a little awkward at first. He then asked if I was thinking of anyone playing it in my head, and told me to think of the way Clifford played it. I was a little less awkward, and I got even better when I started singing Clifford's interpretation while I was playing it. And then we played time, and he told me my ride hand was too loud, which kind of makes sense, since I'm right-handed.
I have a lot to work on, but he offered to teach me lessons in the fall, and if all went well, then I could be a Jazz Studies major next spring. That seems like a long time from now at first, and it still does to me. I don't mind if I'm in school for a while though. As long as I'm not breaking the bank and I'm not bored, I'll be alright here. I like it here. People are good here, there is a lot of music.
I'm playing in Concert Band, South Indian Ensemble, the 12:00 Percussion Players, singing in Singers III, and sight-reading three days a week in Paul's Arranging class. I'm also arranging in that class, performing with Arthur Barrow and Tommy Mars in a band in the class on Frank Zappa I'm in, and playing in an ensemble led by performance artist Nick Cave. I'm pretty busy.
Outside of school, I'm playing timpani for the Santa Clara Vanguard. Our show is "Music for the Starry Night," and we're playing "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine," "Hymn to a Blue Hour," "Mars," and "Jupiter." I love the music, the horns already sound great, and Paul always writes great drum parts. I go to California every once in a while to rehearse with them, and I'll be busy with them all summer starting the 19th or 20th of May, all the way up to the second week of August.
I'm also in a band called Señor Fín, and we're pretty cool. We're playing more shows than usual recently, which makes me pretty happy, and we're working on recording an album or an EP or what not. We're playing a free show this Sunday, maybe a show on the 14th, and probably a few more shows soon, I'm not really the one who keeps track of these things. But we play cool music and I really like playing with those dudes.
There's a music festival called 35 Denton rolling in to town this weekend. I love lots of music, and I'm kinda bummed that I can't go to anything this summer, so I'm going to make the most of this event.
I also saw Radiohead for my birthday, and they were pretty great.
I'm also teaching a little bit, and managing a website, and some other smaller things. They don't really matter very much.
So yep, that's a summary of two months into about a half an hour of distracted writing. Makes me want to do more with my life so I have to spend more time writing about it when I chose to write about it.
M
Friday, January 6, 2012
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
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
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
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
12/14 - General Update
Hey everyone. I haven't put anything up here for a while. This is partially due to slacking, but I've been pretty busy practicing, performing, teaching, studying, and all sorts of other stuff that hopefully I can write about here, if I can remember all of it.
In an online, informal way, this will kind of end up being like a christmas card.
In November, I attended an audition camp for the Santa Clara Vanguard. I went in hopes that I could play timpani, but would have been fine with a mallet spot even though my mallet chops aren't great. Over the course of the weekend, I split my time playing vibraphone and timpani, and had a great timpani audition. If all goes well in January, I should be playing timpani for the Santa Clara Vanguard this summer.
I've started to advertise myself as a private lessons teacher, and after putting up a bunch of fliers and printing business cards, I found my first student. The pay isn't much, and it's not a lot of work, but it makes me happy knowing that I'm contributing to someone's education and helping them do something that makes them happy. He's a quick learner and memorizes things pretty quickly, so I'm looking forward to all of our lessons in the future and whatever he becomes as a result of his practice and hard work.
In two days, I will have taken all of my finals and passed all of my classes. I've learned about the general acoustic properties of musical instruments. I've discovered the music cultures of various parts of Africa, India, Indonesia, Tuva, and the Navajo people. For my juries, I blazed my way through Tony Williams' drumming on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven" and learned Astral Dance, a pretty difficult marimba solo; I'm proud of what I got done in a short amount of time, but I'll definitely need to keep working on them. I performed with a lot of talented people, playing all kinds of different music, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Next semester, I'll be taking lessons with Paul Rennick, caption head at the Santa Clara Vanguard, winner of multiple DCI percussion caption titles, percussion composer/arranger and performer; and Ryan Kilgore, Bluecoats pit tech, winner of international marimba competitions, etc. That should be very demanding and rewarding.
I'm also taking some interesting classes next semester. Mr. Rennick teaches a Percussion Arranging class every spring semester, and I'm signed up to take it, which should be incredible. I'm taking a class on the music of Frank Zappa with the head of the composition department; it's only offered every other year, so I'm extremely fortunate to be able to take it. I'll be working hard over break to see if I can test out of Jazz Keyboard Skills, Jazz Fundamentals II and Jazz Aural Skills. I'm excited to be in South Indian Ensemble again, but upset that my schedule won't allow me to be in Jazz Singers or Brazilian this semester. I'm in a late English class on Tuesdays, and I'm taking the last levels of Theory, Aural Skills, and Piano. I should be very busy, but that's how I work best anyways.
My band, Señor Fín, played a bunch of fun shows this semester, at house shows, pizza shops, smaller clubs, and tonight, we'll be playing at Dan's SilverLeaf, where all of the big acts that come to Denton come to perform, including Pat Martino, Jeff Coffin, Bill Frisell, the Decemberists, and all of the big local acts. We're in the process of recording tunes that we've grown really comfortable playing, with some new gear and software, and we're always looking for more opportunities to spread our name around and to make music for people that want to listen.
There are some other little things, but nothing that seems to be too important at the moment.
I've done a lot of great things, and been through some times that helped me grow. I've been to new places and met new people, and I've become even more aware of how great it is to have a place to call home and people that you can call friends. I had a great semester, and I'm looking forward to another great one after I come back from winter break.
Regarding the future:
If I don't have very much time to write, kinda how the last half of this semester was, I might use this blog to post videos I found informative, cool songs or interesting composers and musicians. If I did that, I would write less, but probably post more frequently.
I'll put up some things that I thought were awesome this semester as a little sampler.
Have a great break.
M
In an online, informal way, this will kind of end up being like a christmas card.
In November, I attended an audition camp for the Santa Clara Vanguard. I went in hopes that I could play timpani, but would have been fine with a mallet spot even though my mallet chops aren't great. Over the course of the weekend, I split my time playing vibraphone and timpani, and had a great timpani audition. If all goes well in January, I should be playing timpani for the Santa Clara Vanguard this summer.
I've started to advertise myself as a private lessons teacher, and after putting up a bunch of fliers and printing business cards, I found my first student. The pay isn't much, and it's not a lot of work, but it makes me happy knowing that I'm contributing to someone's education and helping them do something that makes them happy. He's a quick learner and memorizes things pretty quickly, so I'm looking forward to all of our lessons in the future and whatever he becomes as a result of his practice and hard work.
In two days, I will have taken all of my finals and passed all of my classes. I've learned about the general acoustic properties of musical instruments. I've discovered the music cultures of various parts of Africa, India, Indonesia, Tuva, and the Navajo people. For my juries, I blazed my way through Tony Williams' drumming on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven" and learned Astral Dance, a pretty difficult marimba solo; I'm proud of what I got done in a short amount of time, but I'll definitely need to keep working on them. I performed with a lot of talented people, playing all kinds of different music, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Next semester, I'll be taking lessons with Paul Rennick, caption head at the Santa Clara Vanguard, winner of multiple DCI percussion caption titles, percussion composer/arranger and performer; and Ryan Kilgore, Bluecoats pit tech, winner of international marimba competitions, etc. That should be very demanding and rewarding.
I'm also taking some interesting classes next semester. Mr. Rennick teaches a Percussion Arranging class every spring semester, and I'm signed up to take it, which should be incredible. I'm taking a class on the music of Frank Zappa with the head of the composition department; it's only offered every other year, so I'm extremely fortunate to be able to take it. I'll be working hard over break to see if I can test out of Jazz Keyboard Skills, Jazz Fundamentals II and Jazz Aural Skills. I'm excited to be in South Indian Ensemble again, but upset that my schedule won't allow me to be in Jazz Singers or Brazilian this semester. I'm in a late English class on Tuesdays, and I'm taking the last levels of Theory, Aural Skills, and Piano. I should be very busy, but that's how I work best anyways.
My band, Señor Fín, played a bunch of fun shows this semester, at house shows, pizza shops, smaller clubs, and tonight, we'll be playing at Dan's SilverLeaf, where all of the big acts that come to Denton come to perform, including Pat Martino, Jeff Coffin, Bill Frisell, the Decemberists, and all of the big local acts. We're in the process of recording tunes that we've grown really comfortable playing, with some new gear and software, and we're always looking for more opportunities to spread our name around and to make music for people that want to listen.
There are some other little things, but nothing that seems to be too important at the moment.
I've done a lot of great things, and been through some times that helped me grow. I've been to new places and met new people, and I've become even more aware of how great it is to have a place to call home and people that you can call friends. I had a great semester, and I'm looking forward to another great one after I come back from winter break.
Regarding the future:
If I don't have very much time to write, kinda how the last half of this semester was, I might use this blog to post videos I found informative, cool songs or interesting composers and musicians. If I did that, I would write less, but probably post more frequently.
I'll put up some things that I thought were awesome this semester as a little sampler.
Have a great break.
M
Sunday, October 23, 2011
10/23 - Minimalism
Usually this is a music blog, but I will take this post to talk about a subject that includes music, even though that's not its main focus.
I used to collect everything when I was a kid. I would keep all of my A papers, and all of the little things I wrote, and even recently, I kept all of the letters anyone wrote, concerts I went to, and things I did, and proudly displayed them for anyone who wanted to see.
These things showed how awesome I was, and gave my life meaning; I was worth something because I saw the Who live, or went to Patrick Roy's 1,000th game, or got a letter from the coolest teacher ever on my birthday, or was accepted by the Berklee School of Music. I could pull out things from when I was a little kid when I was feeling down and see not only how cool I was back then, but how much better I am at stuff now, which is definitely uplifting.
Popular society nowadays is very materialistic. People buy nice cars that aren't necessary for their lifestyle, or houses that are beyond necessary. I don't really have to explain it, I'm sure, but it makes me sad to think that there are people that go out and spend a bunch of money just because it makes them feel good.
I have decided to start passively rebelling against that whole notion, since it is one of my least favorite notions. I have been considering it for a while, but today I cleaned out my room... well, started to anyways. So far, I have taken down most of the things from my wall and filed it away, put ads up on Craigslist for things I don't need (don't worry Mom and Dad, only reasonable offers), and already have a clothes hamper full of clothes to give away or resale.
I guess the rebelling against materialism thing is cool, but for me it's not really all about being angry about something, it's quite the opposite actually. If I have less stuff, I have less stuff to worry about, less stuff taking up space, less things I can't find, and less eyesores to keep in my room.
I will have a couple of complications though. Percussionists, and timpanists in general, are pretty notorious for hoarding mallets, drums, music, etc. So I won't keep myself from having proper equipment, since it's my job, but I won't keep things that I don't have a use for either.
I'm also a student, so I have to keep plenty of papers and notebooks and things, and it can get pretty cluttered sometimes. I haven't had a desk since I've moved in, so I work on my bed or the couch in the living room, and the surrounding areas get pretty disastrous after a few days, but I'm getting better at it.
Soon, I will take to the kitchen to get rid of extra utensils, dishes, and things, because the fewer kitchen things you have, the better you are at washing them. And I'll do my best with the rest of the house without making everyone else weirded out by not having art and decorations and stuff in them.
M
I used to collect everything when I was a kid. I would keep all of my A papers, and all of the little things I wrote, and even recently, I kept all of the letters anyone wrote, concerts I went to, and things I did, and proudly displayed them for anyone who wanted to see.
These things showed how awesome I was, and gave my life meaning; I was worth something because I saw the Who live, or went to Patrick Roy's 1,000th game, or got a letter from the coolest teacher ever on my birthday, or was accepted by the Berklee School of Music. I could pull out things from when I was a little kid when I was feeling down and see not only how cool I was back then, but how much better I am at stuff now, which is definitely uplifting.
Popular society nowadays is very materialistic. People buy nice cars that aren't necessary for their lifestyle, or houses that are beyond necessary. I don't really have to explain it, I'm sure, but it makes me sad to think that there are people that go out and spend a bunch of money just because it makes them feel good.
I have decided to start passively rebelling against that whole notion, since it is one of my least favorite notions. I have been considering it for a while, but today I cleaned out my room... well, started to anyways. So far, I have taken down most of the things from my wall and filed it away, put ads up on Craigslist for things I don't need (don't worry Mom and Dad, only reasonable offers), and already have a clothes hamper full of clothes to give away or resale.
I guess the rebelling against materialism thing is cool, but for me it's not really all about being angry about something, it's quite the opposite actually. If I have less stuff, I have less stuff to worry about, less stuff taking up space, less things I can't find, and less eyesores to keep in my room.
I will have a couple of complications though. Percussionists, and timpanists in general, are pretty notorious for hoarding mallets, drums, music, etc. So I won't keep myself from having proper equipment, since it's my job, but I won't keep things that I don't have a use for either.
I'm also a student, so I have to keep plenty of papers and notebooks and things, and it can get pretty cluttered sometimes. I haven't had a desk since I've moved in, so I work on my bed or the couch in the living room, and the surrounding areas get pretty disastrous after a few days, but I'm getting better at it.
Soon, I will take to the kitchen to get rid of extra utensils, dishes, and things, because the fewer kitchen things you have, the better you are at washing them. And I'll do my best with the rest of the house without making everyone else weirded out by not having art and decorations and stuff in them.
M
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
10/11 - Today in Ethno
Pretty cool, right?
Yup. We watched West African videos all day, and even though I was pretty sleepy, I stayed awake and loved every minute of class today.
That's Bassekou Kouyate, one of the finest ngoni players in West Africa. Ngoni, as well as akonting and and instrument called xalam, are all multi-stringed instruments that are thought to be predecessors of the American banjo. Music really makes its way around the world.
A few of you might know of my admiration of Bela Fleck, the banjo player; he started as a bluegrass guy, and made his way over to the funky side of things, started his own group called the Flecktones, and has played with Victor Wooten, Chris Thile, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, Tony Trischka and all sorts of cool people. He's one of my favorite musicians of all time.
Not only is he an outstanding player, but he appealed to my ethnomusicologist side by going to Africa and producing a documentary called "Throw Down Your Heart." His mission was to find the roots of the banjo, and on his way he jams with all sorts of African musicians... mothers at work, a blind kalimba player, an ensemble centered around a huge marimba built into the ground, and some ensembles that had ngoni and akonting in them, and, well, they were very similar.
In Mali, and West Africa in general, there are musicians called griots, that are almost always families, where the tradition of music is passed down from generation to generation. In the past, griots would accompany higher, warrior-class families, and the two were inseperable; every emperor or warrior family must have a griot, and every griot must have an emperor. So they were pretty high-class, and for good reason, because the griot were not only musicians, but they were poets, translators, spokesmen, and storytellers too.
These griots produced some pretty amazing musicians, on all sorts of interesting instruments, and I'd like to share a couple with you.
Toumani Diabate is playing an instrument called the kora, which is pretty similar to a harp. It has 21 strings that can be tuned by sliding the rings around the "neck" higher and lower. It is played with two fingers on each hand, the thumb of the left hand for the bass, the thumb of the right for the melody, and the two index fingers for improvisation. Good kora players should be able to carry the bass line and the melody while improvising on top of that, and I think that's amazing.
I talked about the gyil much earlier in this blog, but that specific instrument falls in the balafon category of idiophones. Balafons are similar to marimbas, but the resonators are made with gourds, and the gourds have spider's eggs attached to them.
Notice that it doesn't have any accidentals, which would make playing easier, but in relation to a western mallet instrument, it's backwards. The higher notes are on the left side, perhaps to give the bass line more importance? I really don't know. What amazes me is the speed of some of his runs and his ability to keep two different rhythms and ideas going at the same time so fluidly.
Let's not about the spider's eggs, either. They produce a rattle in the resonators that is characteristic of African sound. The keyboard instruments do it, kora usually have beads attached to the strings to make them rattle and buzz, and some African influenced musicians have found ways to get the buzz in their sound:
There is a very strong vocal tradition in West Africa, as there is in all of Africa, and my favorite African singer is Oumou Sangare, who was in Bela's documentary:
West African vocal music is interspersed with plain-spoken thoughts, ideas, or messages a musician would like to add to a song. A singer could say that they are happy that they are singing today, or make a dedication, or state their opinion about politics in any song, and it would be just fine. I like that.
This is the best example I've shown you that has a hint of Islamic music culture in it, and there's a reason why. Spain, Morocco and much of West Africa was influenced by Islam much earlier than it was influenced by Christianity, and there's been enough time for Islamic music traditions to work their way into West African music. Notice in Ms. Sangare's singing and in the vocals of the Ngoni Ba, there are ornaments and melisma that are very reminiscent of Islamic prayer chant, and the kora and balafon have found ways to add these ornaments into their music as well. The Islam-influenced music accompanies danced celebrating Islamic gods, and West Africans often read the Qu'ran. That's definitely not what I thought of when I first heard anything about West Africa.
I want to make all of these instruments. I'm going to look into how much it would cost to find the parts.
M
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