12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 292

Date: 10/19/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This afternoon while practicing I reached for a balance of pre-determined and indeterminate sound from my horn. I wanted to explore phasing from one sound spectrum to another, all the while looking for q union between what I needed to hear versus what the horn would offer to me. During this practice work, as well as my recording today, I maintained a primary fingering throughout with alterations to this fingering. Many of the sounds explored in this piece were practiced for about a half hour or so before recording, and only after feeling like I had a good grasp of what the horn was offering up to me did I begin this recording process. I opened the improvisation with the same area of sound I had left off on only moments before in practice. Mentally it therefore felt as though I was continuing a natural, calm process of searching and working rather than beginning anew. I began recording in mid-thought.

To approach this improvisation, I listened to the tight clusters, little percussive cycles and melodic figures, and was constantly on the lookout for a hook of some kind. Once I identified a hook that spoke to me I let this sound lead me to new areas on the instrument. These included little tone smears, rhythmic cycles, clusters, and more punctuated single pitches, etc. The primary fingering used during this improvisation was as follows:

(Left Hand) 1-2-3, Octave, Low B // (Right Hand) 1-3, Side Bb. I freely opened and closed the Side Bb, Low F# key, C, G and E keys in various combinations, playing some of them singularly and others overlaping.

-Neil

The image “Suspension Houses Project, Perspective sketch” accompanying today’s post by Bodo Rasch (1927-28).