12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 132
Date: 05/12/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Oroville Dam in Oroville, California.
Notes:
Now on day 7 of our tour, Bad Luck plays tonight in Chico, California. On our drive up from Sacramento, we decided to burn some time exploring the Oroville Dam. After a bit of searching we eventually arrived at the massive vista point we were searching for. We set up camp to do some playing on the South facing side of a massive man made river that flowed hundreds of feet from the top of the dam. The platform for the river appeared to be of concrete, with six or so enormous cubes breaking up the water’s flow before it pounded into the river below it. We shot a few music videos, one of which was a solo improvisation that accompanies this post.
During this improvisation I approached the piece more from a place of energy than any pre-scripted model. I focused on the massive torrent of water in front of me, and from the outset of the improvisation I gravitated towards a sound gesture with medium intervals that was created using a multiphonic fingering with a trill key set against it. Later in the improvisation I used an alternation of trill keys in the right and left hands to create the quick, cyclical cycles heard throughout. Near the end of the piece I began watching the water flow from the top of the river shoot towards the bottom where it slammed against the man-made, massive blocks of concrete. This helped to inspire the fluctuation in range towards the upper register squeals.
-Neil
The image accompanying today’s post is a man-made river descending from the Oroville Dam.