The end is in sight...

I had a full day yesterday and no guitar time. Late in the evening I received an email going over the NEC ear test and audition. My CD will be mailed to me on Friday. The test and audition seem mostly the same as last year with some new things. None of it looks too hard as long as I'm prepared and have some momentum behind me. To prepare for this I'm going to try to do everyone of the tests everyday. Here's the Rundown:
ET Tests:
identification of melodic intervals: ascending & descending.
identification of harmonic intervals.
identification of triads plus one extension
Harmonic & Melodic Dictation

I will be asked to sing chromatic scale
& 16 bars of the CD they are going to send me.

During the Audition itself someone will play a melody for me on the piano and I will have to sing it back and then play it back.

These are things that lend themselves nicely to practicing. From what I do know of myself, the most important part is momentum.

I remember this month from last year. I was more nervous last year (fear of the unknown), but I remember being excited as well. This is a test that really requires a lot of me and brings out of a lot of good things from me.

I can see the finish line and I know what I need to do to get there. I'ts a pretty good feeling.

Rainy Sunday

Same ol stuff today. I'm working on Liza White's pieces for her compositional showcase in March and my ATTYA with simple voicings and good time. I'm making progress everyday. Slow and steady. I fell into a couple good grooves improvsing over ATTYA today. By sticking to simple voicings, scales and arpeggios I have the ability to see a little more extra stuff. I can be a little more creative with my tools because I know how to use them pretty well. I'm crossing my fingers on the whole experience. I think it will all work out of the best, but I really don't know... The faith of practice.

SAt

I agreed to particpate on a BU Compostion Student's recital in March. Rehersals are coming next week and I'm spending some time working the fingerings over. It's a tricky piece with a lot of tight voicings. The compsoser uses voicings like Ralph Towner & Bill Frisell that incorporate open strings to get clusters on the guitar. So that's going to be some daily work for me for a bit.
Also on the Agenda is the ATTYA with the new perspective that everything is easy. I've been using familar forms and plyaing against the metronome on 2 & 4. It's revealing some time issues I have. There's always more work to be done: clean up your time!

Gama

Working on the same old stuff. I had a cold & a new computer last week to keep me distracted from guitar. This week has been mostly me getting back my technique. I'm better today than I was yesterday and better tonight than I was this morning. Ahhh practice.
Right now I'm working with a metronome improvising through forms on ATTYA. My time is a little sloppy. I think part of that is my current lack of momentum and part of it is a chronic problem of not having good time. Time: It's something to work on.
In other news I'm reviewing the forms for the Gamelan concert tomorrow night. This is might first performance with the group. I'm looking forward to it. I have to iron my costume tongiht.

Forms

I had a lesson with Tim today and we did more of the same from last week. We're working on changing the way I think about playing and I'm finding it very helpful. Right now were playing ATTYA and using familar forms, scales and arpeggios. For some reason I was thinking of too much before and looking at very simple and easy things makes the whole thing come together for me. I spent most of tonight's practice looking at the first section of the tune using the forms and adding in an Altered substitution for the Eb7 chord. It took me a while to get the sound of it together. Good work though.
I'm also trying (as NEC audtions approach) to use more of the ET test sporadacilly throughout the day. Nothing too scientific, but I got to get back to it. I"m a little behind in this category.

Intervals - Ear-training

Here's the ET test that I like to practice. I'm only including it because I'm trying out the "Blog This" button in Firefox. (I got a new computer this week)
Intervals - Ear-training

This is someting I was working on in October..... just trying out some new toys. 

WIR

Here’s a quick look back at the past week:
I had a very satisfying practice session in my car when I had an hour to kill between car repair and a lesson. I had my headphones, ipod and my Gamelan score to keep me busy. My big lesson from Tim Miller this past week was to utilize my stregnths more. I frequently make things too hard for myself. I know a lot of material and should play with that. The idea of improvising should be fun and invigorating. This is a lesson I preach to my students, but seem to have a hard to applying it to myself. It’s very easy for me to look at my playing and see all of the things that I don’t know or need improvement. It’s harder for me to feel comforatable with my strengths. I have a feeling it make take a while for me really learn this lesson solid.
I’ve been using this new approach to my practicing. I dusted off All The Things You Are and tried improvising over chord shapes and scale forms that I know well. The process was fulfilling because I it gave me less to think about with kept me from screwing up.
I also spent a little more time with Wes & Wolfgang this week.

Sche

We’ll I’m back into the swing of things. My schedule has been taken up a notch and I’m trying to get some practice in early in the day just in case other things get busy later in the day. On top of that the NEC auditions are coming up soon and I need to be thoroughly prepared for the ear tests. Right now, I’m working on Wes’ Unit 7 & a Wolfgang Muthspiel solo. They both are using very "guitaristic" techniques and shapes when improvising. These two solos are providing a lot of valuable information for me. I’m also beginning to hear solos in general a differently. My ears are getting stronger and it’s easier and more beneficial to transcribe than it was even 6 months ago.
I’m not going to keep track of my daily ET tests as I previously had mentioned. I’m going to try to the test more sporadic throughout the day and try to keep an overall balance of the material that I’m studying. It doesn’t make sense for me took look at the scores or set up a system right now.

Happy New Year

I had a good and relaxing Holiday break. I got to travel for the first time with the Klein. It fits nicely in the overhead bins. Though, I don’t know how it would do with more passengers or more luggage on board.
During my two-week break I ebbed and flowed with practicing and work. Now, back in Boston, I find myself working on Tim’s spread vocing triads, Wes Montgomery’s: Unit 7, and general ear training/transcribing exercises.
I’ll try to be more regular with this journal. I’ve got to get back into the habit.