12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 172
Date: 06/21/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
Today I worked on sound clusters with a hidden internal melody. This melody then becomes the focus of action. I recorded this piece at a medium volume and used a very tight, closed-off air flow while growling into the horn. I had two primary goals in mind: create continuous gritty sound textures while maintaining an internal E to Eb melody, and to phase these sounds evenly into the E to Eb melody. During the improvisation I established the busy atmosphere of the sound clusters and tried to evenly cross fade the melody into the forefront. I then worked to evening phrase the gritty textures back in while masking the melody. Later on in the improvisation I abruptly cut to the middle octave humming sound, and again tried to evenly phase back into the sound clusters, and finally the melody alone.
The fingering used was as follows:
(Left Hand) For F, B-G keys, Low B // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C.
To create the E to Eb melody within the sound clusters, also add and then take away the Low Bb key in the left hand. When this melody is played by itself, a Db drone natural occurs because of the fingering system.
-Neil
The image “Head of a Women” accompanying today’s post by Naum Gabo (1917-20)