12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 326

Date: 11/22/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

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

Notes:

This improvisation came to me immediately as I began practicing this morning. In it I used a simple folk melody played through a series of split tone and multiphonic fingerings. Buried internally within the chords, the melody used the pitches Gb, Ab, Bb, D during the ascent, and the Bb, Ab, Gb on the descent. As the melody ascended, I used fingerings which added a new key as each pitch climbed higher, and then subsequently began releasing one key per pitch during the descent. The improvisation overall was felt in a 6/8 meter, with occasional diversions way from triple into duple phrasing. I played the bulk of the material at medium tempo but gave myself the liberty to transition into slower or faster tempos at all times.

During the piece I used a familiar technique of phasing in and out of octaves, exploring the beautiful colors hidden within the chord structures. When diverting away from the cyclical 6/8 feel, I would often create punctuations in either the upper register or lower register, while then interjecting the 6/8 melody once again. At other points I faded out the melodic cycle, while cross-fading in the Concert D (the highest tone in the melody) which them came to dominate the sound spectrum as a sustained pitch. Even during these brief moments of sustain, I wanted the improvisation to possess a feeling of forward motion at all times.

The fingerings and primary melodic cycle were as follows (in order of execution)

(Ascending)

1. (Left Hand) 1-2, Low Bb // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C

2. (Left Hand) 1-2, Octave, Low Bb // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C

3. (Left Hand) 1-2, Octave, Palm Eb key only, Low Bb // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C

4. (Left Hand) 1-2, Octave, Palm Eb key only, Low Bb // (Right Hand) 1-2-3, Low C, High F

(Descending)

5. Same as fingering 3.

6. Same as fingering 2.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by Elias Friedensohn.