Practice Pad
Technology, Programming, Music, Percussion, Drums and Stuff

I’ve made the decision to attempt to pass at least the next 2 semesters worth of Keyboard Skills this semester.  Basically, that means I take the Keyboard II midterm today, the Keyboard II final at Midterms, the Keyboard III midterm in the beginning of April, and the Keyboard III Final at the regularly finals time.

So far, it’s paying off.  I took the Keyboard II midterm + plus a bunch of repertoire quizes today.  Passed all the quizes and aced the midterm.  100%.  Nice.  The material on the test was: Harmonic Minor scales (parallel octaves over a 2 octave range, 16th notes at quarter note = 60bpm), Major and Dom7 chords arpeggios through all inversions, minor i-iv-i-V-i cadences, transposition, improvised harmonization of melody lines, repertoire and sight-reading.

Link: Playboy interviews Miles in ‘62 (SFW), and the first question they ask is about his temper and whether or not it’s true that he’s rude to his audiences. Miles has a lot to say about racial equality in society and particularly in the music industry. He says what he thinks, and generally, he paints an unapologetically bleak picture or racial relations. Despite this, Miles himself, in his day-to-day actions is extremely fair to his white musician colleagues, even to the periodic outrage of the black musical community.

I read Miles’ autobiography. I’ve listened to his music extensively, and studied parts of it in considerable depth, and I take every opportunity to learn more about him, especially when it’s presented in his own words. I still don’t feel I understand Miles’ off-stage public persona.

Was he trying to agitate for societal change? I don’t think so; I haven’t seen where he actually did anything other than gripe about racial inequality. Was he angry about the treatment of black people in America? Certainly. Would he have given me a shot, if I had been in the right place at the right time, or would I have just been another ofay trying to capitalize on the music black Americans had invented?

I think Miles was misunderstood by people in general, and I’m convinced he was often mis-characterized by the media of the day. The only thing about Miles that I know for sure is that he was and is one of the most important musicians in the history of American music. Miles is the only player I know of who consistently innovated over the course of his entire career. He categorically eschewed his earlier works in favor of what he saw as the new thing. Once he released a few “cool” albums, he was done with that. He moved on to post-bop, and then to fusion, and is generally credited as having been the guy who convinced Herbie and Chick to try out the Fender Rhodes piano. Later, with Bitches’ Brew and some others he experimented with overdubs and post-production composition, splicing together un-related material from hours of random studio exploration, and toward the end of his life was planning to work with Jimmi Hendrix on an album. He did all this even though it’s likely he could have made more money sticking with straight ahead jazz. The only time Miles reprised earlier material was in 1991, specifically in tribute to his long-time friend and collaborator Gil Evans who had died in ‘88.

February is Black History Month. The history (and future) of the music to which I’ve dedicated the next four years (and the rest) of my life are inseparable. I think I’ll use this space to highlight some black American musical history, the origins and development of jazz, and also the role of jazz and jazz musicians in the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s.

Here’s my schedule, as best as I know it:

Monday, Wednesday:

0730-0820 - Keyboard II.

0835-0925 - Theory II

Tuesday, Thursday:

0730-0820 - Musicianship II

1400-1520 - Jazz Improv II

Friday:

0835-0925 - Theory II

Yet to be schedule:

Rehearsal for Jazz Combo. Currently planning on it being one week-day evening and one weekend day.

Private Applied Lesson. This will likely be Monday morning after my theory class.

Beyond this, I need to fit in 40 hours of work at my computer job.

That is all.

It’s a shame, really. It’s absolutely the best band in the jazz program. They blew my mind at their concert this year. The problem is, my other classes are arranged at such a time that in order to take band, I have to wait around for a little over an hour. I’m also tasked with getting 40 hours per week at my actual job, as well as school, so basically, that means this three-hour class ends up costing me almost 8 hours of day-time hours.

So, that would mean I’d be at my office later in the day, which would mean it would be much harder to get in the practice that is my first non-parenting responsibility.

Upshot: I’ll be in a jazz combo, and that will be it for performance. So, that means I just need to make sure I book some extra gigs for the band this semester, and I absolutely MUST get no less than 2 hours practice per day.

This is the beginning of my second semester in the Music Department at the University of Utah. Last semester went reasonably well. GPA a little over 3.7. One of my classes hasn’t turned in grades yet. He was supposed to have done that by December 28th.

Here’s what I’m registered for:

Music Theory II : This class focuses on 4 part writing and the proper use of voice leading. Very hard, lots of rules, but it’s fun.

Musicianship II : Aural skills relating to the theoretical information presented in the theory class.

Keyboard Skills II : 4 semesters of keyboard skills are required of all music majors. The class is go-at-you-own-pace, meaning, if you can pass the test for Keyboard IV you don’t have to take any more. I will attempt to pass the II and III levels of this course this semester.

Jazz Improv II : Last semester we covered dorian and mixolidian modes, major scales, major and dominant bebop scales, blues scales, and the basic concepts of chord substitutions. We played a bunch of good music. This semester is going to be harder. I think it’s about diminished and altered scales, mostly.

Private Applied Lesson: This is the number one reason I’m in school. I get a one-hour per week lesson with one of the top drummers in the area. I’m committed to at least 2 hours of practice a day on any day that the building is open (I don’t have the drums set up at home). Last semester we worked on transcriptions, and coordination, mostly.

Jazz Combo: I’ll be joining one of the jazz combos. I like the people that are in it with me. Good players, and they know they have to work hard to play well, so that’s why I agreed to join the group. Should be fun.

Here’s the one thing about which I’m still on the fence: Several of the faculty have been encouraging me to go out for the drum chair in Big Band I. This is basically the number one seat for drummers in the jazz program. Basically, I’d go in, point at the guy who’s got the seat now, and say, “I want his job” and then they’ll hand me music and strike up the band. I might get the job, and I might not. If I don’t they’ve suggested I play the vibraphone in the band. People don’t usually do that, and it would be and interesting change for the band. So, one way or the other, I think I could get in the band.

Here’s the problem. With a full time job and full time school and two ensembles, I’m afraid I’ll be rehearsing so much I won’t have time to practice. This would be completely unacceptable. If I didn’t play in the big band, I’d have an easier time getting 40 hours a week at work, and I’d have a better chance of getting the most out of my practice time.

It’s a dilemma.

Max Roach:

Three files here. The first is what Max plays on the head of the piece. He plays very be-boppy. Rather than straight-ahead swing time, he’s supporting the rhythmic figures in the melody. Joy Spring head transcription.

Transcription picks up in the 3rd-to-last chorus where Max trades fours with the band. Transcription: Max trades fours on Joy Spring

Finally, this transitions into the 2nd-to-last chorus: Transcription: Max solo on Joy Spring

Here’s the CD at Amazon.

So, what’s going on here? It’s August ‘54. Max is on the leading edge of a movement in drumming that is starting to take the simple phrases and one-bar figures that had been typical and enhancing them, tweaking them. For example, in bars 5-8 of his solo, he’s playing very simple figures. Two eighth notes with a flam at the beginning. What’s interesting is that he’s playing a single eighth note rest in between. So, he’s in 4/4 time, but he’s momentarily playing figures in 3/8. Clever. Similarly, in measure 12, he’s playing 8th-note triplets, but accenting every OTHER beat. This was pretty new stuff.

On a side note, less than two years later, Clifford Brown and Ritchie Powell (Bud’s younger brother), along with Ritchie’s wife Nancy would die in a car crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Hard to say what Cliff and Max would have got up to if that hadn’t happened.

Hey.  Many of you noticed my old blog had fallen into disrepair.  It was generating lots of spam comments and I just didn’t have the heart to keep it up.  Here’s my new blog.  It’ll be a chronicle of life as a Jazz Performance major, as well as a repository of thoughts regarding music, drums and various percussions, concert reviews and my personal practice log.  I’ve found, in my first semester of school that I’m able to perform well when I give a darn about what I’m doing.  For the first time in my life I have academic success, and it’s because my academic life is finally in tune with what I love.  Hopefully the same will be true of blogging!