12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 254

Date: 09/11/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: The rec room of my childhood home in Edmonds, WA

Notes:

I developed this improvisation early this morning, and did so after quickly searching for two chords with a complimentary sound profile. I wanted to find two chords that struck me and to commit to working with them. I’ve become very interested lately in using more traditional voice-leading in my solo music, and this improvisation alternates between two chords that explore this idea. Though the pitches between the two chords descend, there are non-traditional components to the harmonic motion that give the implication of more complex voice leading. For example, the top-most pitch descends by a whole step, but the bottom most pitch descends by only a quarter step. In the harmonic make-up of the first chord, there are two clearly audible pitches, versus the second which has three. This third pitch is a minor third below the melodic voice, and when this is introduced into the sound field it almost gives me the impression that the voice has moved up, when it reality it simple just enters abruptly. The more muffled, subdued timbal sound of the pitch likely influences this impression.

The fingerings and pitches used in the two chords were follows (in the tenor key of Bb) :

Chord 1. Pitches: Middle octave F (quarter step high), Upper register F

(Left Hand) B-A keys, Octave, Palm F only // (Right Hand) F key, Low C

Chord 2. Pitches: Middle octave (quarter step high), Upper register C and Eb

(Left Hand) B-A keys, Octave, Palm Eb only // (Right Hand) F key, Low C

-Neil

The image “Enrique Metinides” accompanying today’s post is of the photographer himself, photograph by Eunice Adorno (2010).