02/12/2016 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation)

Neil Welch Continuous Resonance Solo Project 2016

Date: 02/12/2016
Location: Thornton Creek House in Seattle, WA
Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Notes:

My improvisation today focuses primarily on a tempered pitched free improvisation with figures played in a slurred fashion. However, I began with only tempered pitches but gradually introduced more gentle pitch bends into my phrases, then shorter articulations, some screaming into the horn and finally a few quarter tones. As my activity would rise in quickness and intensity I would always return back to more subdued slurred phrasing before rising back again.

The image Eclipse (2010) accompanying the post today by Bill Jensen.

02/10/2016 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation)

Neil Welch Continuous Resonance Solo Project 2016

Date: 02/10/2016
Location: Practice Room B at South Whidbey High School
Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Notes:

I recorded this improvisation at a high volume but played very quietly into the mic. I wanted to bring out the percussive qualities of aggressive tonguing against the reed in equal balance to pitches coming from the horn itself. These two focus areas are then intersected by a third, which are the tones coming from the key cups striking the body.

The image Winter Group 3: Red, Green, Blue, and Gold (2009-11) accompanying the post today by Pat Steir.

02/07/2016 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation)

Neil Welch Continuous Resonance Solo Project 2016

Date: 02/07/2016
Location: Thornton Creek House in Seattle, WA
Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Notes:

In this piece I continued my current focus on singing into the horn with colorations in wide and narrow chord structures. I began by singing in mid register and progressively moved higher and higher, then resetting back in the mid register and beginning the climb in pitch again. I did not restrict myself to any specific sung pitches or fully adhere to climbing and then resetting, but used this only as a loose framework.

During this piece I wanted the singing to feel as though it were a natural part of the chord structures. For instance, I would sing upper register tones set against lower register fingerings, but then move my sung pitches into the low register and replace this now missing tone by introducing an upper register pitch from a multiphonic chord.

The image The Seeming Literal, Thus Faithful (2012) accompanying the post today by Justin Matherly.

02/06/2016 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation)

Neil Welch Continuous Resonance Solo Project 2016

Date: 02/06/2016
Location: Thornton Creek House in Seattle, WA
Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Notes:

I worked to pair tempered pitches alongside quarter steps, multiphonics, split tones and various other color textures in this piece. My aim was to maintain a fluid narrative not bound by any one approach, and open to follow the various pathways my mind seemed to wander down. For example, I began with aggressive swipes inside dense layers of activity, with the swipes occurring at fairly regular intervals. But as the piece progressed the swipes were replaced with occasional brittle chirps in the upper register, which were then replaced by a focus on double tonguing in tempered pitches with harder multiphonics interjected around them.

The image Let’s Walk to the Middle of the Ocean (2015) accompanying the post today by Mark Bradford.

02/02/2016 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation 2 of 2)

Neil Welch Continuous Resonance Solo Project 2016

Date: 02/02/2016
Location: Main performance hall at Chief Sealth International High School. Seattle, WA
Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Notes: Improv 2 of 2

I recorded this improvisation during a morning of extreme frustration. I mistakenly deleted a number of improvisations from the month of January while working on my computer before practicing/recording today. I felt almost in a state of mourning as I recorded this piece and a second improvisation.

While improvising this piece I tried to create layers of pointillist melodic activity that were intentionally imbalanced. I want some layers to rise of higher than others all the while maintain a drone beneath.

The image accompanying the post today by Kim Hiorthoy.