yellownuisance

[yellownuisance]

Endgame

it's hard to add more because it feels like of the things i have mentioned here, it is already too much. But i have been working slowly and steadily on the fundamental skills that will help me in the long run understand better the audio and written notes i have taken during class. in a sense i will slowly decrypt the mysteries of my own writings haha. practicing time has gone down from about 4-6 hours a day to around 2-4. but it honestly feels like i am being way more productive and i am so much more mentally challenged. having to think so consciously during practice. it may sound boring to most but practicing the pentatonic scales and rhythms are so fun to me despite the difficulty

[yellownuisance]

Blues?

Had to learn this bluesy song. andrew told us to learn it by heart via singing first and only then do we play it on our instruments. he made it a game where he would call out one of the 12 keys and two people would play the parts in unison until someone made the first mistake and thus would be eliminated. we had a small competition and it was really fun and funny

[yellownuisance]

Milestones

A really tough tune for me harmonically. Andrew made us write a solo over it and it was such an interesting experience. i first started by writing it purely on musescore and when i played it, it sounded really bad haha. so eventually i came up with this and i quite like it

[yellownuisance]

Licks

trying to understand harmonically what these licks are achieving and then writing them down in 12 keys so i can really know the notes too instead of just the shapes. Certian keys are very tough for me at the moment. (B, Ab and Eb)

[yellownuisance]

Transcribing songs

Always had the notion that i am not skilled enough to fully transcribe a song's harmony accurately. proved myself wrong by transcribing lala means i love you. not a hard or jazz song but still a big win in my books

[yellownuisance]

Combining Pentatonics with rhythm

Started to practice my pentatonic scales in the same rhythms i have been working on off the saxophone and it has been really cool to see how they sound but i think i still need more time to shore up just my rhythm before i add too much stuff. Andrew mentioned that i should learn at most 2 things at one time. Try to nail one thing as close to perfection as i can at my current level and understanding, then add another element to see how well the first concept still holds in my head. i will keep the pentatonic groupings simple and stay with 4 notes but use the different arrangment of notes to add a new ingredient in my practice with rhythm

[yellownuisance]

Finding my identity

I still like jackie mclean and mingus but i think what drew me to them was the extremely strong blues influence in their sound (for jackie mclean) and their compositions (Mingus). I had a conversation with a couple of my friends and i came to the realisation that i liking 'jazz' is such a fake construct. It is so hard to categorise jazz let alone say you like a specific era of it. i think everyone just has their own sensibilities and preferences. Andrew said that no matter the genre or style of music, the same basic skills are the same. Sight reading, rhythmic and harmonic control etc. The more skilled one is at these fundementals, the less the constraints of genres is imposed on an artist. Aaron then showed me a video from smalls jazz club of Sulivan fortner a jazz pianist, singoing blue christmas and sounding so much like the old mowtown singers like marvin gaye. really blew my mind

[yellownuisance]

Music i like

I've made a list of songs that I feel are more in line with the music I love. i feel that I have been pressured to like certain genres of music by those around me and this year I have really been taking the time to figure out what I really love. Spotify attached but here are a few of the things I am listening to. La La (means I love you) - Delfonics What's going on - Marvin Gaye God Made Me Funky - The headhunters Outside help - B.B. King Lord here we are again - southeast inspirational choir Dern Kala - Khurangbin Tighten up - Archie bell and the drells Sneaky Pete - King Curtis and Jack dupree Everyday I have the blues - B.B. King You send me - Otis Redding Chitlins con carne - Kenny Burrell People please - Sam Fribush A few more kisses to go - Issac hayes

#Spotify

[yellownuisance]

Focusing

I am trying to make the rhythms feel good and it's taking a lot of time but it is very fun. It will take a long time and the improvements are slight.

[yellownuisance]

[yellownuisance]

scramble eggs more! part 2 and 3

more of the same! videos on google drive

[yellownuisance]

Scrambling the eggs - Part 1

Basically mixing up the different groupings! lets go!!!!!!!

[yellownuisance]

the 'practical' aspect of the exercise

[yellownuisance]

Rhythm practices

Started realising my time feel is the most glaring issue I have. i have come up with a way to address this, with the help of andrew my main study teacher. attached is a rhythmic figure that I have been practicing. i would use drum sticks for this and only after being confident on them, would I move to my saxophone.

[yellownuisance]

A note on Overtones

Previously, I discussed some overtone practices with Tim Stocker while on holiday in Melbourne. I have been struggling with getting the 4th overtone to sound without using false fingerings to help me find the note first. Tim explained that Overtones should not be overly hard. There should not be that much physical exertion. A focus on more precise exertion is the key. He described playing overtones as hopping around a cloud to get to the top versus jumping through the cloud. He recommended i start by blowing air and listening carefully to how the airflow changes when i change the shape of my throat diaphragm and mouth.

[yellownuisance]

Pentatonics #5

While exploring different groupings, with the 4 note grouping that we started with, I will change the arrangement of notes. where previously it was in ascending series (A C D E) now we will include some variations. E D C A (Descending) A C E D (Ascend 2 descend 2) A E D C (up 3 then descend) etc etc

Did some math and there are potentially 120 different variations for the 4-note grouping. . .

[yellownuisance]

Pentatonics #4

Adding another layer to the mix

Grouping my pentatonic scales differently. A C D (group of 3) A C D E G (group of 5)

seems like a tiny change but it changes everything. looking forward to the grind.