12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 273
Date: 09/30/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: A room in my childhood home.
Notes:
The morning I was at my childhood house in Edmonds, practicing between my commitments for the day. We grew up across the street from an elementary school, the same school I went to as a kid. As with all children, one of my strongest memories was the liberating feeling in my body and soul at recess time. The playground was on the other side of the street from our house, and every day as a child I would explore my adolescent world and grow on this playground, feeling the fresh air and weather on me. But unlike other kids I always felt the comfort of being able to see my house while playing. This made my home all the more special–even the seasons felt like a part of my house. Playing in the maple leaves, running in the rain or kicking a ball around the pavement with my house in the foreground made it feel like my home was the world.
By chance today I happened to begin recording right when the kids were let out for recess. No matter how many years pass or how the world changes the joyful sounds of kids at play, their chatter, hollering and screaming from across the street stays the same. I recorded two pieces today, and in trying to capture this amazing nostalgic feeling my first improvisation was good, but the spirit of it wasn’t in there. I decided to record again, this time taking in what was around me–an open window in my mom’s house facing the street and the playground–endless little kids running around in the Fall air that’s now growing colder–the wind blowing. I recorded this piece towards the end of recess and the bell telling the kids to line up for class can be hear ringing in the recording. The kids kept on playing, like we all used to do. And eventually their chatter gets quieter as they formed their little lines next to the building.
In this piece I wanted to compliment the environment outside the window. Cars were driving by and the wind was blowing a bit. I used very simple melodic figures in G major: 3-2-1— // 3-5—–3-2-1—–, with wide, breathy vibrato.
-Neil
The image “(Untitled) People In Trees” accompanying today’s post by David Korty (2003).