Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Keeping The Channel Open

Daily practice also allows me to imprint the material in my mind until it becomes instinct. One long practice session will not do this. For most players, useful techniques can only be acquired through repetition. I always try to work new materials into songs, lines and grooves that I like. For me it's sort of like upgrading my musical mind so that my playing becomes reoriented in the directions I choose. Increasing familiarity with they materials is a good thing. It's like learning a language--music is a language. Through diligent , consistent daily work, a tangible musical substance is incrementally developed. First of all, you develop physical stamina through the repeated effort. Also , from day to day, you accumulate ideas and expand on the themes of your practice. If you are working Major chords; the first day you might just work on arpeggios, the next day you might see some connection with other musical sources, such as songs, or through or whatever is interesting to you. By continuing to work with focus on the same things from day to day, you will find that your level of proficiency has risen and expanded to include all these other sources. Your practicing every day results in the acquisition of technique, musical intelligence, improved tone, and stamina. Just the quest to continuously find something to practice will increase you creativity.

There are so many variations of scales melodies, and melodic patterns. So many sounds to make, articulations, songs to learn, music to listen to and analyze, technical problems to sort out. The only limitation is your focus and creativity. For example: let's say that you have adequately practiced your horn and now want something else to work on. You could sit down at the piano and transcribe a song, learn a song by ear that you may have previously learned by wrote. This , is one of the most beneficial practices you can do. Ear training, learning songs, listening to other players, hearing bass lines, melodies or whatever. Ok. Now you've spent a few hours and learned a tune the way its supposed to be played. You know the tune inside and out, in essence a great organizational mind skills study too. However your mind works. Don't overload-otherwise nothing sticks. Your capacity will increase.

Keep the channel open, and try your best.You'll learn something special. Been talking to my students about the many aspects of the creative mind set. Trying to just expand more ideas and thoughts. Here's some things that I'm coming up with ; Creativity is the bringing into being something which did not exist before, either as a product, a process or a thought. Right? So let’s apply this to ALL levels of saxophone playing, thought and improvisation. You would be demonstrating creativity if you: · Played something which has never existed before. · Reapply an existing lick or concept into a new area musically. · Develop a new way of looking at something (bringing a new idea into existence). · Change the way someone else looks at something. We are all creative every day because we are constantly changing the ideas which we hold about the world about us and our relationship with it. Creativity does not have to be about developing something new to the world, it is more to do with developing something new to ourselves !!

As we approach the summer- here is a list of on line topics of mine to practice. Check them out. Enjoy and remember as Sonny Rollins said- " MUSIC IS AN OPEN SKY". Material to practice & study on line- from Tim Price ( free) For what it's worth.

Monthly Jazz Saxophone Studies: http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/ all kinds of groovy stuff to play, check em'... Ear Training on Chord Tones - Phase 3, November 2004 Ear Training on Chord Tones - Phase 2, September 2004 Ear Training on Chord Tones - Phase 1, July 2004 Solo Sax Arrangement on "Happy Birthday", June 2004 Dom7 Chord Line using Your Ear, November 2003 Double Tonguing on the Saxophone July 2003 Major Thirds Moving In Whole Step Motion, July 2003 Bird-ology phrase study on "Ko Ko", July 2003 Rootless Major Chord Shapes - Bird-ology Study "Now's The Time", April 2003 Blues Scale Matrix on II-V Jazz Lines, December 2002 Analyzing Tunes, November 2002 II-V-I Patterns: Starting on the Tonic of the II Minor 7 Chord. This lesson in seven parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4| 5 | 6 | 7 |, August 2002 Book Review: Practice Like the Pros by Sue Terry June 2002 (Sue Terry's SOTW article: The Secret of a Good Sound with a foreword by Tim Price, July 2002) A Long Look At The Blues (Part 2) April 2002 A Long Look At The Blues (Part 1) March 2002 Melodic Improvisation August, 2000 Major Triads Sept. 2000 Minor Triads Oct. 2000 Dominant 7th Nov. 2000 ii-V7 Cord Change Dec. 2000 2-Bar Phrase Major Chords Jan. 2001 Bebop Idea Through Maj7th March 2001 Minor Exercises - Whole Step April 2001 V7 Through Cycle of Fourths May 2001 Dominant 7th Madness! June 2001 I - VI7b9 - IIm - V7 Change July 2001 Minor 7b5 to Dominant 7b9 August 2001 2 Bar II-V Phrases - via Entire Range of the Sax September 2001 Chord derived from 2nd Step - Jazz Melodic Minor Scale October 2001 Bird-ology Studies to Improve Time, Phrase Lengths, and Intensity Levels November 2001 AND- There's more.......sax studys and improv at... http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons.html Suggested Bassoon Recordings(HTML Format) Bassoon Reed Insights(HTML Format) Modern Intervalic Study On ii-V-I (Page1)(Page 2) Sal Nistico ii-V-I Exercise (.PDF Format) Bassoon Topics of Study and Practice (HTML Format) Tim's Longtone Exercise #2 (.PDF Format) Sal Nistico IIminor7 to V7#9 to Imaj (.PDF) Learning A Tune(HTML Format) Creative Purity (HTML Format) Using Your Saxual Mind(HTML Format) Dealing With Reeds(HTML Format) The Jazz Saxophone Player's Chord Workout (HTML Format) Note: This is a GREAT place for beginning students to start at! Communication and Imagination(HTML Format) Improvising Jazz Sax Flyer(.PDF Format) Sax Skills - Articulations (HTML Format) Tim's Db Scale Patterns (.PDF Format) Tim's ii-V Study On "Another You" (.PDF Format) Tim's Ab Scale Patterns (.PDF Format) Tim's E Scale Patterns (.PDF Format) Tim's Low Register Sax Workout (.PDF Format) Tim's F Scale Patterns (.PDF Format) Tim's Longtone Exercise (.PDF Format)

My contribution is to spread love and inspiration through music. In some small way I would like to think that this could make a difference. In the process I hope to inspire people to seek the truth in themselves and music, and get deep inside of the art form we love. It's all about that. As Lester Bowie said- " It all depends on what ya know". ~TILL NEXT WEEK....Keep on. Tim Price

Also- Study with Tim Price~ In NyC or Pa. Check it out at;http://www.timpricejazz.com/study.html Info on SKYPE SAX STUDY W/ Tim http://www.timpricejazz.com/skype2.html