Monday, June 11, 2012

Tim Pice Bloggin' For Rico Reeds- Tracking ( via improvising )

.....Tracking THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WILL IMPROVE YOUR PLAYING. . . . Tracking is the ability to listen to yourself. This is one of the most crucial things in melodic playing. Tracking is the ability to identify your own ideas and build on them. Music is not the combination of as many different ideas as possible in the shortest amount of time, (e.g. playing a lot of notes fast and all over the place) but, the flow and elaboration of a few ideas in a logical and coherent manner. The secret of tracking is to listen to yourself. Again, each idea should have a beginning and an end. Pause and listen to your last idea. Your next idea should be related to the last. Whether you repeat a rhythm, note, shape, or even stop and begin with a new idea, this will help you to direct your lines and phrases into a specific area. What you will hear coming out of yourself will be your own musical ideas. They are shaped by your feelings and the interactions of the people you are playing with, as well as your technical condition. All this will grow richer as you study more and practice harder and learn the repertoire. The secret is to create in the now, and not simply play all your memorized licks. The more you practice, the more you will be able to hear, and your abilities as a jazz improviser will grow and expand. Remember, what you hear is more important than what you know. ...... SUGGESTED LISTENING- CHARLIE PARKER ON DIAL. Volume 8 Recorded: Nov 8, 1947 – Sep 1948 The final volume of the series featured tracks taken primarily from a radio broadcast on November 8, 1947, where Parker played with Barry Ulanov and His All-Star Metronome Jazzmen. The group featured Bauer on guitar, Allen Eager on tenor saxophone,John LaPorta on clarinet, Fats Navarro on trumpet, Tommy Potter on double bass, Buddy Rich on drums, Tristano on piano, and, singing on "Everything I Have Is Yours", Sarah Vaughan.[7] Additional material was taken from a set with Tadd Dameron's Orchestra, featuring performances by Eager and Gray. LISTEN TO JOHN LA PORTA....On clarinet. One of the greatest in jazz clarinet and the teacher at Berklee who took the time to get "tracking" into my mind set as a young player/student. This man, played with Mingus and Bird.....jazz education needs more like him. Hope this helps you open some new doorways in what you do. TILL NEXT WEEK- Tim Price

3 comments:

  1. As usual great stuff Tim. Btw this Wednesday morning I am going out to a local high school near the college where I teach saxophone part time. I will be doing a saxophone/clarinet/jazz improv demo with my Jamey Aebersold CD's in an attempt to win some students for the summer session at the college I teach part time at. Wish me luck Tim. I figure if the students and teachers don't know about this program I'll take the program to them in an attempt to fill out my schedule and get some of these kids playing.

    See ya later Tim,

    Larry W

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  2. Larry - as always thank you...you are an important person in this life....don't ever change.

    Tim Price

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  3. Tim:

    Thanks. I talked about saxophone/clarinet. I demonstrated playing the saxophone and the concept of jazz improv by playing "Don't Get Around Much.." with 1 of Jamey's CD's. I then talked about the music theory behind what I did. I then did a blues head out of Dan Greenblatt's book, "Blues the Essential Elements of Jazz Improvisation." First I did it, then I had 2 students try to solo using the concepts I gave them. I had them listen to Charlie Parker play "Now's The Time". I taught them how to play Birds opening solo lick by ear after I play it for them. I demonstrated playing through all the keys by playing Bird's lick and the 123-5 lick through all the keys around the cycle. I also explained the Cycle of 4ths and the Natural Gravity of Music, which is 5 to 1. You know C to F, F to Bb etc, etc. So much to cover and so little time to do it in. Hopefully I will get some students out of this.

    Later Tim, have a great day.

    Larry W

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