Rick arrives at Brad's place at about 10 a.m. Dev is running late due to some unexpected travel difficulties. This is the first time anyone has met since the end of the season, so we warm up a bit with the 16 Bar exercise at a slower pace, somewhere in the 75 bpm range. Mirrors are added as desired. A few minutes of this, and then a few more minutes at something around 88 bpm to bring up the blood pressure. A brisk run through 3rd Relation to get the mind running along with the hands is probably a little faster than we should attempt, after the break, but assume the virtue. . . .
Diving into experiment mode, Brad presents a bitonal exercise. The first side is a simple ascension in Dmaj, on the 2nd-4th strings, using the I, the IV, and the vi chords. The second side uses the same chords in Emaj, descending in contrary motion. Rick gamely gives it a go, and then suggests the same approach, but using Abmaj instead of Emaj (the Bartok approach). A second twist is added by hocketing each side, with Dmaj on the downbeat and Abmaj on the offbeat. Then a false double-time feel is added every other chord (playing twice as fast, but remaining on that chord for an equal amount of time). We switch hockets (Dmaj on the offbeat) to further explore the idea, and decide that this is something that has quite a bit of value. We'll come back to this later.
A bit of discussion on various off-topic topics, along with a couple of possibly bright ideas about potential repertoire pieces.
Moving on, Rick shows a 7/4 figure in Gmaj to Brad that is the beginning of a piece that he has been working on for some time in a rock band context. Once Brad has this, then the next bit is shown: the same figure in Amaj, with a climb back to the Gmaj figure, with mirrors added. The next sections are slowly added on, with a couple of hocketing figures, a restatement in octaves, and a rejoining in Amaj. Challenging, but fun and listenable. As we finish working on this, Dev arrives at long last.
A circulation and improv with some good moments and very unusual key centers for us to play in.
We bring Dev up to speed with the bitonal exercise. A stated area-of-less-aptitude-than-others gives us a chance to focus on some chord shapes, which brings us up to the necessary leaving time for the two journeyman. A closing moment, a piece of watermelon, and they're off, leaving Brad to type up the minutes.
Diving into experiment mode, Brad presents a bitonal exercise. The first side is a simple ascension in Dmaj, on the 2nd-4th strings, using the I, the IV, and the vi chords. The second side uses the same chords in Emaj, descending in contrary motion. Rick gamely gives it a go, and then suggests the same approach, but using Abmaj instead of Emaj (the Bartok approach). A second twist is added by hocketing each side, with Dmaj on the downbeat and Abmaj on the offbeat. Then a false double-time feel is added every other chord (playing twice as fast, but remaining on that chord for an equal amount of time). We switch hockets (Dmaj on the offbeat) to further explore the idea, and decide that this is something that has quite a bit of value. We'll come back to this later.
A bit of discussion on various off-topic topics, along with a couple of possibly bright ideas about potential repertoire pieces.
Moving on, Rick shows a 7/4 figure in Gmaj to Brad that is the beginning of a piece that he has been working on for some time in a rock band context. Once Brad has this, then the next bit is shown: the same figure in Amaj, with a climb back to the Gmaj figure, with mirrors added. The next sections are slowly added on, with a couple of hocketing figures, a restatement in octaves, and a rejoining in Amaj. Challenging, but fun and listenable. As we finish working on this, Dev arrives at long last.
A circulation and improv with some good moments and very unusual key centers for us to play in.
We bring Dev up to speed with the bitonal exercise. A stated area-of-less-aptitude-than-others gives us a chance to focus on some chord shapes, which brings us up to the necessary leaving time for the two journeyman. A closing moment, a piece of watermelon, and they're off, leaving Brad to type up the minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment