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)