12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 308
Date: 11/04/2013
Instrument: Tenor saxophone
Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Notes:
This morning I had a cord of wood delivered, and I got right to stacking it up in the wood shed. Living on Whidbey Island, it’s very special for me to have this wood. The sellers usually live in the areas they deliver to, and the wood is often harvested off their own land. Seeing the massive pile dumped in my driveway brings me right into the Fall and Winter. It’s also very special for me to stack it. I love seeing the tight pack with the jagged, cracked face of the stack. It represents warmth and abundance, and a direct connection to the land around me. After finishing the hauling and stacking of it this morning, I went in to practice with a light heart and a clear mind.
In this improvisation I oscillated between two semi-dissonant chords, with transitions into chromatic passages with ascending and descending chord shapes. The dissonant chords were interpreted in two different ways. The first interpretation opens the improvisation, with muted tones in the bottom part of the upper register sounding a minor third melody. The second interpretation included a more liberal playing of the two fingerings where I worked to capture new clusters and swooping overtones in the chords. This same interpretation eventually settles on another minor third melodic interval, this time played in the altissimo register. All of these shapes used the same two fingerings, which were played with the following fingerings:
Two semi-dissonant chords (with descending minor third melodic intervals)
(Left Hand) Fork F, 2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
The chromatic figure was played using the second of the above fingerings, with additional keys added and taken away to execute the figure. I interpreted this chromatic passage in a number of ways, including rapid articulation, speeding up and slowing down, accenting of internal tones, as well as bringing out higher octave pitches. The chromatic figures were played with the following fingerings:
Ascending:
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1,2, 3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low C# // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
Descending:
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1-3, Low C
(Left Hand) 1-2, Palm Eb only, Low B // (Right Hand) 1,2, 3, Low C
-Neil
The image of a wood pile accompanying today’s post from hikinginmainewithkelley.blogspot.com. This wood pile was come upon by the blog’s author while hiking in the back woods of Maine.