12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 217

Date: 08/05/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

In my practice session today, I worked to incorporate harmony within my single pitched melodies. For this improvisation I maintained this concept by, in the moment, gravitating towards a small number of multiphonics and split tones with very predictable patterns of sound. With the chord structures clearly in my mind as I was playing, I tried to get myself in the headspace of a pianist, in that I wanted the flexibility of independent melodic voices, harmony, and a combination of the two together, and finally to make these relationships very intimate and balanced with one another. Specific sections of the improvisation are centered more heavily on single pitch melodies, and others on phasing melodies in and out of chords. In other musical moments, such as the mid point of the improvisation, moving between one chord to another chord with no single note melodies became the point of action.

Some selected multiphonics/split tones used during this improvisation were as follows (in the tenor key)

F (quarter step flat), Ab, Gb

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys

E/C#

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Palm Eb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C

F#(low octave) G (middle octave), C# (upper octave)

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys // (Right Hand) E-D keys, Low C

Ab, Bb (quarter step flat)

(Left Hand) B-A keys, Low Bb // F-E-D keys, Low C

F, Eb

(Left Hand) Fork F, A-G keys, Low Bb // (Right Hand) F-E keys, Low C

-Neil

The image “Map” accompanying today’s post by Jasper Johns (1961)