Tim Price Blogging For D'Addario Woodwinds-Your music should be a launching point and a departure point for personal expression.

Your music should be a launching point and a departure point for personal expression. Whether speech or natural sound,and anything that's carrying a personal  impression should be creating this. In simplest form-just carefully take the word -Morning. Now repeat it 50 times. This is what a single note can convey from hearing it in its own position and it's on relation to itself. Sometimes thinking of something in this matter without any other instrumental parts around it or any other contacts requires that we call upon some quite extraordinary abilities that rely on personal expression in response intuition. In a matter of the improviser music should be built upon memory and the fluid reality. As you play your first note to the solo play almost at random you should begin to develop your soul into a harmonic contexts that does beginning suggest via self interpreting and being creative mechanically. Just like when you said that one word-your creative energy and your speech pattern can change that one word or one note, it's something that lays on a deep personal level , it's as important as your musical abilities. Just like when somebody calls you on the phone you recognize their voice-you don't automatically think oh it could be one out of 75 people.
Improvising should be a direct result of your past conditioning and reference-something that already exists in time just like when you speak. Language can be finite in other words to the sum total of every statement every configuration of words, it is possible to string together, or it is possible to continue inventing new statements with in that . This way you're dealing more with context and vastness of natural languages-both idiomatically and in terms of your own vocabulary. This should be similar to an internal world that you simply use for what you've already worked on and internalize to study. Just like when you learn to talk you study the language-that's the principal function of a human being as of artist or a seeker of things on the improvisational level, and internalizing your basic skills is an absolute must. ( If not, think of the babble of an infant who has not learned to talk or express themselves!  )
Improvised music should rely upon contrasting sounds with the player themselves and the ensemble, if you cut your harmonic activity to a minimum and think of groupings and textures within what your playing and make that your main vehicle of expression, in the beginning  new sonics and contrasting shapes will start to present themselves to you. You have to cross your boundaries zones! You'll find a musical universe of your own inside one note of the time this is what I call simplicity of expression and also your tuning in to your own thoughts as an improviser .

Through the history all the greats have re-imagined the music and also invited you into it to experience on a  unexpected personal level . Think about this try to apply it as you're doing this you're going to be awakening what you already know and also opening your ears more-unity and cohesiveness will become a new tool .

Hope this helps, as always  there's some technical builders and other material at the bottom of this blog. Keep in mind I am always looking for clinics and workshops worldwide-if you have a budget please consider me, or tell somebody about me. You can always contact me through my email at timpricejazz @aol.com.... I offer an ocean of possibilities, please keep me in mind.

Tim Price Bloggin' For D'Addario Woodwinds- Practical involvement and keeping the channel open.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION 1. of, involving, or concerned with experience or actual use; not theoretical 2. of or concerned with ordinary affairs, work, etc. 3. adapted or adaptable for use 4. of, involving, or trained by practice 5. being such for all useful or general purposes; virtual TRAINED BY PRACTICE. Get out there, and make the music stronger. I've been saying this. Sure. Thing is the guys that are my age when we went to Berklee in 1969, could already play a wedding, or bar gig. We were not Coltrane or Stanley Turrentine nor Stan Getz but we realized this music was- HANDS ON.


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 remember as Sonny Rollins said- " MUSIC IS AN OPEN SKY".

Michael Brecker, god bless him, was a great friend of mine. He knew tunes without a Real Book in front of him. Like my blog said last week- I hope people are taking heed and looking at that reality. Everything ain't Wayne Shorter tunes and " Inner Urge". Nor is it one chord funk jams- though we all love to play them. It's about a new reality and NOT trying to be like some guy you hear or read about. ~Beyond-the-classroom opportunities.ok? Search inside you for the the inner sources of spontaneous creation,where art in the widest sense comes from. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art,is about yourself.All the things in life you love to do, regardless of how well you or others think you do them. Whoever you are, and whatever you do, discover what creativity is, where it comes from,and how we can make it sizzle and on your own terms.Ypu do that with otheres on the bandstand, in the loft, practice room, garage, backroom bar and rehearsal room. But do it!Jamming becomes a shared manifestation of a single impulse at least an attempt at it – and when you all lock in together, there’s nothing like that feeling. If I had to choose between jamming and gigging, I’d choose jamming – just for the excitement of finding that groove with a different bunch of people. At its core jamming is all about collaboration, instinct and innovation. One musician may start things off but it is the obligation of every other musician to build on that, take it further, push the envelope and ultimately take it to a new place. To get jamming to work each player must pick up on other players thoughts, translate them, add to them and then pass it back to them for the process to perpetuate itself. Done well it creates a powerful chain reaction of energized collaboration and creativity that produces something new and wonderful.It also allows you to tap into a deeper, more diverse brains trust that can lead to ground-breaking new ideas for your organization.

Charlie Mariano used to tell me- " YOU GOTTA PLAY".' With that, I'll close this blog- go play. Get off pro-crasta-net and play, shed, work in a new reed and DO IT. Practical application...real world. Get it? hope so.....it's life!!!!

My contribution is to spread love and inspiration through music. Check- and read the book above about R & B...You'll love it. In LA. 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....

PS- - If your looking for some stuff to practice-look no further. Below is a few study's of mine to practice- - hope you like them.

" All a musician can do is to get closer to the source"....John Coltrane

Tim Price Bloggin' For D'Addario Woodwinds- aspects about improvising & thoughts within.

Some of the most important aspects about improvising and playing jazz and also just plain improvise, playing in a jazz quartet, free playing, or behind a female vocalist or playing eight measure solo are rock 'n' roll gig. 

Each of your solos in the matter what the idiom… Should have a beginning… A middle and an end.

That's one of the age-old aspects of why something sounds good and has a focus personally. How somebody constructs that is as important as what notes they play and any other aspect that they apply.

Very simply-if your solo does not have a shape that includes a beginning middle and end-you're missing a very important part of your message.



If you take yourself and record 12 bars or eight bars and listen to it and listen to that shape you'll hear it right away. You can also use a solo transcription and graph it, if you do a solo by somebody like Cannonball Adderley or Louis Armstrong you'll see what I'm getting at immediately just take your pencil and graph out to solo.

You can hear this type of sound in anything from Louis Armstrong solos, Steve Douglas solos on early rock records, Steve Lacy solos and of course Monk solos. Of course Lester Young and Bird!


The ability to create space with others in this way has deepened as I’ve learned to be more present and aware within my own body and self. As I take time to connect with the whole of who I am on a daily basis, my mind has becomes quieter and I feel more in tune with my authentic self. From this space, I’m naturally able to be more present with others without loosing that inner connection to myself. Being present to someone in this way may not always seem ‘easy’. If you let yourself, you can easily become distracted by your thinking: including devising what you’ll say next; mulling over your judgements about the other person (or worrying about what they think of you); feeling a need to interrupt their speaking with your own opinion; or thinking about something else entirely. I’ve fallen into this trap too, many times.


Have you ever considered at what time are you the most creative or when is your mind highly productive? For some people it is when they just wake up in the morning or when they are about to go to sleep. Others find that they are most creative in the shower or when relaxing in the bath. I have also found that people are creative when they are driving along the highway or going for a relaxing walk. Interestingly, not many people actually state that they are most creative when at work, which could be the reason why our abilities to solve problems. The key to achieving a highly creative and productive mind is to move into a relaxed state of being, that is, when your mind enters the alpha state. Relaxation, music and mind set all equal a high creative state of mind.
I'm about not just playing jazz, or rock, blues,funk but making the music something lager than any word could describe. After all-the music is bigger than all of us! To get to a good train of thought requires practice and being aware of the world. You already have the answers...keep on your dreams and work hard. There's no quick fix or gear that will replace books, CDs and shed time. One bedroom video is only that, go out and play for REAL people.

I practice everyday, and I practice for at least 2 hours before I do anything. I don't do it because I think that Warren Haynes or Mike Stern or Bjork is going to call. < I wish they would > I do it because it's the one thing in life that has been a constant for me. So few things in life ever remain the same, if any. But the saxophone < and my woodwinds > is the same every day.To me, it's the best ever deal you can make in life. If you work hard and practice at your saxophone , you get better. It's that simple! Think about it. Still grateful to be playing and learning. Looking forward to each gig and rehearsal and student, trying to stay in that vibe. And learn what I can from it. All human beings are linked together through the timeless, universal chain of history and events.The musician links to the practice room and the bandstand. Various life developments have been born in both environs. ~ The first stage of the artistic process involves absorption of principles and techniques that have already been accepted as standard in the field , the artist personalizes past and contemporary styles, meaning active participation in real world. This is why, I've always felt the need to play with all kinds of musicians, any age and of course working heavily with students to develop their "real world" skills. So- till next week - practice hard and eat more vegetables and fruit. Don't forget to do something nice for somebody too, remember compassion is essential with each other......Tim Price Bloggin' For D'Addario Woowinds.

PS- Some stuff to shed below if your interested ;

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