Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 03/05/2015
Location: Practice Room B at South Whidbey High School. Langley, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone / piano

Notes:

I had a bit of unexpected time to myself between teaching students this morning, and I used it to work on creating cyclical, diatonic actions focused in the key of C major. I wanted to impart a feeling of continuance and some predictability in the scalar motion, but used intermittent tonguing punctuations to break up the phrasing and incorporate the allusion of arpeggiation. I would rise up in the scale, then back off a bit, climb a bit further, then maybe much further up the scale. I largely limited myself to the tenor range of a Low D to a High E for some time, but I eventually began incorporating outside tones into the scalar motion as well, working to create a kaleidoscopic sound.

During this piece I placed my mic setup into the belly of an old upright piano, played with my bell against the shell and put down the sustain pedal.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by Cheyney Thompson