Tues

I haven't done my ET exercises in a while and when I sat down to do them today, I was really surprised at how well I did. I hit 100% for awhile and then I got confused with a major second. I still have trouble being able to hear the intervals in context, as a piece of music is happening, but I think I'm getting closer. My 1 4 5 work is helping with that as well.
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My 1 4 5 studies went well today. I'm getting stronger at navigating through them and more confident with approach tones. Sometimes I'll try playing chromaticly and land on chord tones at the strong beats. It's really helped my hearing/listening.
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I also spent a little bit of time transcribing the tim miller solo. I think I'm going to be mighty surprised as I look at this. So far, he's right in the chord changes and outline the chord shapes. This is going to be fun.

chopa cho

I worked on the recital pieces for my rehersal tonight. It dawned on me today that the recital is this Friday and I've got to get the pieces into my daily practice routine so that I'm comforatable with them for the performance. I put them down for a while as I was preparing for NEC auditions.
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Other than that, I worked a little on the "playing beautifully" thing and hitting the chord tones and approach notes on a 1 4 5.
simple and profound stuff.

cheepa cha

Other than the recital prep, the other big thing that I was working on tonight was playing beautifully. Tim Miller was talking about this when we both were admiring Keith Jarrett. He said that Keith had a profound sense of how to play a beautiful melody over any chord. I've been working with this mindset for about a week now. It has some dynamic and technical aspects to it, but it also has some theoritcal aspects as well. Today I've been focusing on playing a simple 1 4 5 progression via a melody line (unaccompanied). Basically, I just play through the changes and make sure I'm landing on strong intervals, or at the very least, outline the chord progression. As I continued, I moved in some chromatic approach notes on the "& of 4." This really helped me with my chromatic sensiblities as well as my over all ET. I think I'll be coming back to this exercie often.
Also, I think I record an example of this exercise so you can't get a feel for what such a thing sounds like.

Rock n' Roll Setup

Valerie's brother (Andrew) was in town late last week and I'm just getting back into the swing of things with practicing. I have the recital performance this Friday and our last rehersal tomorrow. I'm getting my showcase piece up and polished off so it can make tempo and that my right & left hands are in synch.
During a break, I came back to my practice corner and marveled in it's setup. I took a picture to share with the world:

It's kinda cozy. It reminds me of my dorm room days back at Berklee. 

Princess Leia

I had a transcribe Princess Leia's Theme for a lesson tomorrow. Here it is if anyone wants it. I barred the phrases rather than the rhythms. 

Audition Recap:

I've had a couple days to think about my experience. If I were younger, I think I would have been humiliated by my NEC audition day. My overall experience was that of humbling awe (if there is such a thing). I remember last year that I thought the audition process went so well. I really felt good about the whole thing. As this past year has gone by, I've learned so much and progressed immensely as a musician. As I took my Ear Tests, I was profoundly hit by how much I don't know all of these sounds. I can do well with ET tests when I take my time, sing the intervals or even play a couple notes to get my bearings, but that really isn't a mark of good ears. I don't have that instant recognition of intervals (except for a couple). I have to think a moment to intellectualize the pitches. During the Ear Test a chord was played and I recognized the chord. I had a good feeling of how to play that chord on my instrument and I had a good feeling of what notes I could play over it, but I couldn't identify it and I didn't have the skills to solfege my way through it. This is a concept that I really haven't looked at very much. ... The idea of hearing things and then responding to them can be a very intuitive process. I have my moments with this, but I don't have a lot of experience with looking at the theoretical perspective of playing by ear. I don't always know (by ear) that I'm playing the 9 or #11 of the chord that I'm on. I'm not sure if I need to, but I recognized for the first time that this is something to think about.....
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The singing portion of my exam didn't go so hot (in my opinion). I did much better last year because I worked so hard on the piece. This year I was more casual and in some sense didn't know the song that well. The chromatic scale was fine.
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During my audition, there wasn't much talking or questions. I just played my two pieces and they said thank you. There was an Ear Test where someone played a line on the piano and I had to sing it back and then play it back. I probably got 75-80% on that. I was particularly distressed at this situation because it's my strongpoint, but I didn't understand the melody that was being played. There is a lot about Jazz & Bebop that I haven't studied. I'm more of a tonal, straight through the changes kind of guy, and this led to me missing the context of this melody.
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the final part of the audition was to sing phrases over some changes and then to play over some changes. I don't think I did to well on that. I could make it rhythmically interesting, but I don't' have the pitch or ear control to hit the notes that I want. This is really when it hit me to how much I have to learn, or how I have to change my studies. My musicianship relies so much on my instrument and my intellect of what chord, scale or key were on at the moment. My ear makes executive decision but about the appropriateness of each lick, but I really don't hear to much ahead of what I'm playing. I hear possibilities, but not concrete ideas. I think this is also because I'm a little green in the jazz style.
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So, my feeling after the audition was that of being shaken-up a bit. I was surprised at how surprised I was. I really felt inadequate as a Master's candidate.
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I do recognize that there is a lot of "negative" thinking here. I'm looking into what I don't do very well (and that always is going to be a lot of things), but these things are skills that I think I need to make my music. Back to what I wrote earlier, about me being "humiliated" if I were younger: the difference is that now, the experience is a learning mechanism. I've learned that in some sense the current path I'm going on, isn't' going to bring me to where I want to go and that I have to work with focus in a different area that will probably require a decent amount of time and sweat. In that respect I'm really grateful for the experience because it helped show me what I'm doing wrong. It held a true mirror to my playing. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this spirit with me to guide me through my own musical journey (along with the help from some others).

TR

I worked on a transcription of Tim Miller's tune "TR." This is a tune that I've had my eye (or ear) on for a couple months now. Now that the audition season is over I have some time to take a closer look at it. I'm unsure about the D/F# chord in the 10th measure and the rhtymn is probably a little more flexible in 15 & 16.
I'll work on the interlude and solo tomorrow. 

Echo

Well, I'm back from the audition. All in all, I don't think it went very well. I did so-so on the exam and didn't have a very clean voice execution of the tune I sang. The audition went all right, but they were surprisingly quiet. I was expecting a discussion, some quesitons about what I wanted to musically, or something like that. I didnt' have a very positive feeling leaving the audition.
The truth is that I don't know how I did or if I'll make the cut. I felt really great about my experience last year and didn't make it in. This year I feel pretty lousy, so who knows?
Either way, I'm going to take some time to refocus and plan a new tragectory to make sure that something is happening in September.

Today's The Day

My first step this AM was to do some ET tests while I changed my strings.
I kicked ass in Intervalic Ascending & Descending.
With Triads I i did ok. I'm hearing the #5 leading tone on the augementeds & the resolutions for the diminished chords.
7th chords are a piece of cake. The leading tone is the give away. Maybe it's just the Teoria, but I find it easier to hear the highest note in the chord. I wonder if it will be easier with an acoustic piano.
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I sang the CI piece a couple of time as well as the chromatic scale. The CI piece is tricky for my voice. I have so sing louder than I can this morning to get the high notes to come out.
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gnight

I'm going to bed a little earlier tonight and plan on waking up a little earlier tomorrow so that I can warm up before my Ear Test. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I don't have everything ready or as great as I would like to have it, but I have my musicianship to pull me through.

yep

I just learned how to use the "Print Screen" function on my keyboard. I always wondered how to get pictures of your desktop. Above is the Teoria web ET tests that I use. 

mmm

I did some ET exercises with lunch today and finally feel confident with the ear test. I still have more work to do in the long run, but I think I'll be able to ace this test (or at least 85% it).
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Here is my arrangement of Mary Had A Little Lamb that I'm going to perform tomorrow. The "Interlude" is mostly improvised (or at least it is now) and the vamp section is the solo section until the end.
I'll try to get a recording up by next week. 

dum da dum

I began this AM with ET interval training. I feel good about them today. Yesterday I was completely in the dark. I got lost in everything. Today I can really see the results of my work. Certain intervals are clearer and easier to identify. I'm going to try to keep coming back to this today.
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The other big things on my agenda today are to work on my two performances, sing the CI tune & the chromatic scale, as well as do some dictation in my spare time. I've got a full day ahead of me.
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almost there....

I finished up the night with a little more ET and then moved on to practicing. I wanted to get my fingers warmed-up for tomorrow and Tuesday, plus I had a little work on putting all of the pieces together for MHALL. I'm almost there. Maybe a little more work tomorrow, and then focus on improvising.
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tomorrow my big goal is to re-establish my connection to my guitar from an ET standpoint. My fingers know my pictches much better than my ears do and I want to rely on that on Tuesday.
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I've got a busy day today and spent a little bit of time working on ET interval training. I'm having a surprising time with 3rds. I keep messing them up. I'll have to work on that today.
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I used some ideas that Tim Miller gave me today for my MHALL arrangement. I think I've got both tunes down final. It's nice to have such a short time before the audition. A lot of my soloing ideas will be very fresh. I'm going to try to record a loop of both tunes into the iPod so I have something to improvise over the day of. That might be a bad idea, but i think it might be good to have just in case.
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As I mentioned earlier, today is a jam-packed day of activities. I'm going to try to spend the majority of my time doing ET exercises and dictating music while on the bus during my travels.
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Ohno Anton

I spent some time this evening working on dictation. I transcribed most of the tunes of the white album. It's a good album for this because just about every song starts with vocals. It was good to do the work. It's amazing, but everything that I'm working on really comes down to the fundamentals of know intervals. That is the most important part. I'm going to spend the rest of my evening working on ET drills
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ta ta ta

I've decided to perform "Ellen's Tune" as the second tune on my audition. It's a song that I wrote a couple years ago for my mother. I've also decided to do the audition with the loopstation. I have some resevations about doing it, but it seems like it's the most appropriate for the style of music that I'm playing (my style). I think it will be viewed as a plus.
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I"m behind on my dictation studies. I've got to work on that today.
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I've solidified my arrangements of the two tunes. Now all I have to do is practice and record the results, listen to some great soloists and rock on!
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I did some more good work cleaning up my MHALL arrangement. I think I need to put aside for the day. I have more work to do on other things.
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choey

17/20 Melodic Intervals (ascending & descending). I wanted to do some extras because I think there will be more on the test.
13/20 Harmonic Intervals.
7/10 Triads. I think I'm getting the hang of the aug/dim chords. Now I have reverse myself again. Answer the correct answer.
5/10 Seventh Chords. I bombed the big chords today. I forgot about the minor7b5 and got lost in a couple minor chords. I'm trying to hard.
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...

The majority of my work today has been on the arrangement of Mary Had A Little Lamb. It's been an exhausting process with ups & downs. I'm satisfied with the work that I've done for the day and I recognize that it still will need some more work on Saturday & Sunday.
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I also spent some time memorizing and singing back the CI tune & doing a few ET exercises in my free time.
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I've got a lot of work to do this weekend and monday. I think I can make everything come together, but it will be signifcant work.
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Hep Hep

8/10 Melodic Intervals. I screwed up a minor 2nd and a Major 7th. Classy
4/10 Harmonic Intervals. Stupid mistakes today.
9/10 Triads. I really had to work hard to clean up my aug/dim confusion.
7/10 Seventh Chords. The triad workout helped. Plus my intervalic identification overall is better.
4/5 on Scales. I only did 5 because I'm doing pretty well with them and they are not on the test, but still a good work out.
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I was reading my post from yesterday and realized I never did my dictation that I mentioned. I didn't do much else besides my morning work yesterday. Today I have some time for work and I want to work on dictating some Beatles melodies and harmonies. I think that would be fun.
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Grr

7/10 Melodic Intervals. One of those that I screwed up was an octave. I've got work on this stuff a little harder. I can't make silly mistakes like that.
6/10 Harmonic Intervals. I'm still having trouble with the minor 6ths.
5/10 Triads. I can't believe how I screw up my diminshed & augmenteds. I really hear them as totally opposite of each other. I've got spend some time on that today. I've really got to clean up some things that have been confusing me.
7/10 Seventh Chords. That's more like it. I've know myself to be better with the seventh chords. Everything sounds clearer with the 7th chords.
8/10 Scale Identification. This one is very easy, especially after all the warm ups with the other stuff. Plus, some of the scales are give-aways just by the amount of notes they have.
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Later today I'm going to have to do that melodic dictation again. I need to get some experience with that. I do well with it, but I need practice.

Choo Choo

I spent my warm-up time on the chromatic scale. I don't sound to bad on it. I just need to get it little more precise.
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I also spent some time looking at the CI tune; just trying to memorize and identify the intervals. I have to shake this idea that music is hard. Sometimes when I hear an octave, I think it's got to be something else. That sounds to easy.
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I typed some random intervals (within C major) into Encore, all at quarter notes, and then i transcribed them back; one bar at a time. It was tricky, but good. There is so much more context to ET like this. I can hear the leading tones and stuff. I've got to work on this with chords as well. I think midi files will be a good tool for this.... download a couple tunes and transcribe them.
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I have a client confrence call this evening, so I had to glance at some tunes that I wanted to play. I have to warm up more on the classical guitar than I need to do the tunes themselves. I haven't played that instrument in a while.
I was playing through my regular standards and I had a deeper appreiciation for the notes I was playing. I could "hear" the melodies more (if that makes any sense). Still lots more work to do, but I'm making progress until then.
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Wednes

Good Morning ET Tests:
6/10 Melodic Intervals. I screwed up a minor third twice and almost screwed up a major second. I need to trust myself more.
8/10 Triads. I hear augemented & dimished triads opposite of each other. If I go against my instinct, I'm usually correct. I've got work on hearing them as individuals.
5/10 Seventh Chords. Yeah, I was all confused with this today. I can heard diminished easier as 7th chords, but for some reason today, the minor 7ths had me baffled. It's good to know where my weakness are. This is something I can clean up.
9/10 Scale Identification. I've added this into my tests just in case. I'm going to try to warm up with it tomorrow. that might be helpful.

Tear down

That wolfgang piece is so beautiful. It's like the best of Keith Jarrett & Mick Goodrick stuck together.... I've got to work on this.
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The piece in entitled: Spiral, from his Solo album. Sorry for the excess posts, but I forget how excited I get about transcribing.
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Wolfgang is using some harmonic tricks that Keith uses. The harmony plays a very dynamic role, coloring and changing the feel and emotion of the piece. It's fucking brilliant. I'm trying so hard to understand it.
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Transcribing really helps with my ears. I can hear intervals and melodic phrases so much easier, and it puts the whole thing in context for me. The ET tests can be a bit too abstract for me. They are important to be able to do, but they really aren't music.
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I also spent some time tonight singing up and down in 1/2 steps, as well as one octace chromatic scales. This isn't the most important part of the test, but I no reason to be neglecting it like I have been.
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For the rest of these days I have a daily prescription or transcribing (melodic & harmonic). chromatic scale singing, memorization of the CI tune, ET tests and performance prep (including composition).
That's not too bad.
It's all doable.
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Wolfgang - Spiral Part II

 

Wolgang

 

Wolfer....

I transcribed the first 20 seconds of a Wolfgang tune. It really helped me with the creative jam I was in. And somehow it increased my speed and clarity as well. Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe.....
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comp

I'm working a lot on my audition tunes today. I've got to prepare three tunes. Two tunes that they will ask for and a third, just in case.
I always have trouble with this. I'm working on writing two new tunes, but they sound like the other pieces. It would be good to get some different sounds
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A week to go.....

ET Morning Tests:
7/10 Melodic Intervals.
6/10 Harmonic Intervals. The minor 6th was getting me on both harmonic & melodic intervals. I've got to work on that one.
5/5 Triads (I'm consistantly mixing up my diminished and augmented triads. I just hear them oposite. Once I identified that, I just went against my instinct: the opposite of what I thought the chord was. I've got to work on that.
5/10 Seventh Chords. It's hard to say that 7th chords are easier for me when I get such piss-poor results as 50%. I'll have to work more on this.
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So this concludes day one of morning ET test workout. I have some work to do with a little bit of everything. I think these morning tests can help. They are more scienitific than the test I've been doing before and it's easy to isolate where I'm weak.
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Shovel

I took my headphones & ipod with me as I went shoveling today. It took me the better part of an hour to get the parking spot cleared out. I spent the time familarizing myself with the CI tune as well as some Gamelan repetoire.
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My other signifigant practice time was with recital prep. Tonight's rehersal is the piece that I had to work the most on. Everything has come together for it. It's a fast piece with some unusual voicings, so I basically had to memorize it. I've got it well down and up to tempo for tonights rehersal.
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Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to do an ET exam first thing in the morning. Given my ET test is first thing in the morning, I think this will be a good exercise.
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ET: I'm doing well on my ET Harmonic test. I'm using my guitar to check ones that I feel hesitant on. This is a helps me from making incorrect impluse judgements. Most of the time I don't need the guitar, or when I do I was right in the first place. I'm very fascinated on how I hear the minor 7th as one particular note. It's a sound that I hear as a unit. Unfortunatley, 3rds are impossible for me sometimes. The major third sounds to dark and the minor sounds to bright. Whoops, how did that happen.
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ET Melodic (ascending & descending): I'm doing much better on these as well. I'm getting more comforatable with this format, so I have less to think about when I'm doing this. I've trained myself to recognize these notes. It's a neat experience.

From Sunday:

The melody doesn't fit correctly in the transcription of #8. I'll revise it if I decide to put it in my book.
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ET: I'm doing much better on the tests. I need to keep working on them, because the more time I spend with them, the better I get.
Today I spent time with the test with and without the guitar. I started with the guitar and then I found that I didn't need it. It was getting in the way. I knew the intervals much faster. I kept this up for a while and then I reached diminishing returns. I'm still surprised that I work like that. I need some time to warm up and then I can hear just about anything, and then after a certain point, everything sounds the same or worse (a minor 3rd sounded bigger than an octave to me today). It's like I lose all my bearings and don't know which way is up. I have to work on that. Today was the first time I glimpsed at the abiltity to "mentally hum" the notes to myself without actually humming with my voice. I think this may be helpful for times wehn I get a little confused.
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ET Triads: I did so-so on the triads. For some reason I'm hearing augmented triads as tighter than diminished. Woe is me.
I'll have to work on those again tomorrow.
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Transcriptions

Below are some Keith Jarrett transcriptions that I've written out. They are all from his Solo Album: Radiance.
The tabbed version is from last night. I liked the harmony in the first part of the tune, so I wrote out the part that I liked.
The lick I have listed is from a vampy track and it was the one lick that I liked the best.
The chord and melody transcription is from a track that I've been working on for the past couple of days. I liked the harmony on it, so I transcribed the chords a few days ago, and I then I came back to it today to see how the melody fits over it. This is the part of the tune that I like the best. It's a very simple melody with a wild sense of harmony underneath it. This has been the model for my arrangemnet of Mary Had A Little Lamb.

KJ #8

edit (2/13/06): The melody is all off here. All of those lead up notes should anticpate the bar. I don't know what I why I wrote it that way. I'll probably rewrite next month.

edit (9/15/06): Here is the corrected version: http://www.brendanburns.com/blog/?p=93
or just the image: http://brendanburns.com/pics/keith8.png

KJ #12

 

KJ #9

 

From Saturday:

ET: Apparently, I've done a lot ET tests today. I practicing harmonic and melodic intervals, mostly with my instrument. I'm correcting myself on my instrument before I check my answer. Everyonce and a while I can do a whole string in a row without thinking about it, but most of the time I don't know how to trust my own instincts. I have a really strong sense of these intervals, I just have find out how I understand them.
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I'm doing worse on ET lately. For some reason I'm confusing all of the intervals. Maybe I'm overthinking them, but I'm not doing very good with them right now. I'm going to try to do some transcribing and then come back to it.
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It's so amazing what a little piece of information can do. I was tired, fatigued and overall exhausted with everything that I have to put together. I just wanted to take a nap, but there was a part of me that remembered that transcribing and playing really makes me feel better. I sat down and ran through a Tim Miller tune and ended up writing a tune (hopefully for my CI audition). After a couple of run-throughs, I let the tape recorder do it's thing. When I listened back to it, I was surprised by the results (if you are usually surprised, is that still a surprise?). My playing needs some work on the time. I could hear when I lost focus in the tune and when i was very clear on the changes. I need to take more pauses and I need to slow down. That seems like it's something I can do: less
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ET: The only thing I'm concerend with regarding my ET tests is that I really on tricks to remeber the melodies. I need switch to a more concrete understnading
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So I sat down with my instrument for a while with the ET test on and tried to really solidify the intervals. I really tried to "think" about the intervals and identifiy them. I went back to the test after that and I found that I didn't need my guitar. In fact I didn't need to sing my "jingles." I just kept clicking through the answers. I would mess up the ocassioanl interval, but it was really quite wild. I knew I had it when I started recognizing descending minor 7ths. For me, those have always been hard.
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Light work day today. I didn't do much practing and I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight. I'm focusing my efforts today just on ET exercies, memorizing the CI tune and playing the tune for the recital.

Sunny

my right shoulder is giving me a little promblem this morning.
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I'm wroking on ATTYA this am. I took something that Tim said in my last lesson to mind. He was talking about freeing-up or loosening up in my playing. He said to think of the tune as flowing sections and to just to hear the melody flow through the piece as the chord changes. I tried using the viewpoint playing through the changes today. I played the changes into the loop station a lot faster than usual, almost at cut time or two beats for each measure. I played a 4 feel over it to keep my tempo maintainable. The changes were happening so fast that I could really think about playing each one of them. So I "loosened-up" and played the key centers: Ab going into C, Eb going into G, etc. It was a neat experience in that I've been playing the changes so long now that it's really a part of me now and some of those licks are under my fingers. I basically have a stronger melodic sense of how to use the major scale over this tune. This may sound as a simple or obvious thing, but it's taken me a while to get the hang of it. As I'm playing this way, I'm remembering Paul Desmond, and all the other players that I've been listening to's licks.
The other thing that I think is fascinating is that I couldnt' do this when I sat down with Tim. It takes me a couple of days (sometimes months) to be able to understand what he was talking about. And don't mean in an intellectual way, but more from a realistic way. It's like: "eat your vegetables, they're good for you," makes a lot of sense and I can understand it, but when I do really understand and eat my vetetables?
blah blah blah
- Bob Loblaw
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my hands are fatiguing a little bit and my shoulder's aching a tad. I've got to set aside some time for cool down and relaxation.

AM

ET: I started this AM with some ET tests without my instrument again. I'm doing far better, but I feel I'm a little slow with some intervals. after I while I reached a point of diminishing returns and got confused with everything. Overall it was a good exerience, and it's great to see that I'm getting the hang of this stuff.
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I've started a specific singing exercise for the chromatic scale. I'm starting with four notes of the chormatic scale, playing them and then singing them. After a while I get the sound in my ear and I can just sing the grouping up and down with no assistance. Tomorrow I'll try 5 or 6 notes and progressively build myself up to the full thing. Right now when I try the full chromatic scale I end up being really flat for a while and then compensating to get to the octave. I tend to make the 1/2 steps smaller than they need to be. If only my voice had frets.
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ET

I'm doing much better on my ET tests. I had a busy business day, but not some much time for guitar-in-hands practicing. I took adavantage of some down time late this evening and work on the ET tests at Teoria. I'm working very slow with ascending and descending intervals and I'm trying to very clear with my descions. If I make one wrong I try to figure out how I screwed up. Most of the time though, the wrong ones I've chosen are because I've made a silly mistake or I've hit the wrong button. I haven't been keeping track of how well I've been doing or how many answers I've got right, but I have been getting close to 100%. My only problem now is being able to do it faster. There are a couple of notes that I really have to think about in my head and sing a little bit to get it right. That's not very professional. I need this stuff down pat. It's a fun exercise in that in some respect, I know all of these intervals, but I dont' have it together enough to explain or demonstate my knowledge. Working trough this really clarefies what it is that I'm hearing and I think will do amazing things for my playing.
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after I've written all these good things about myself, I can't believe how I can be confused about a minor 2nd. Sometimes it feels like there is a football field in between those two notes.

smooth

Ben @ Mr. Music fixed the Klein just fine today. I had twisted the wires from their sockets because I had loose nut on the volume knob. Every time I would turn down, I would aslo twist the wire from it's connection. It was a quick and easy fix and much appreciated. As I switch back to the Klein my fingers are too high on the fretboard. I had adapted to the Tele string hieghts and now I have to readjust.
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I spent more time on my arragement and I'm feeling very good about it. I going to have to put it aside until tomorrow because I have so many other things that I need to do today.
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I had a nice revelation today about the recital piece that I'm working on. The meter marking for the piece is an eigth note at 188 (bpm) and until now I thought it was a quarter note at 188 (bpm). That's a big difference. I was practing the tune at 100 to 110 and thinking: How is this going to be possible?
Now that I know that, I'm on easy street.
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MHALL

I spent the beginning of my today working on my arragement of "Mary Had A Little Lamb." It's coming together a little bit more.
I was in correspondance with Ran Blake after my audition last year. He said that he didn't remember me specifically and that he had no records of how I did, but he did say the thing you can always work on to make yourself better for CI is to work on your imagaintion. As I'm preparing this tune and arranging this tune this is what I'm focusing on. Using some Keith Jarrett voicings and elements doesn't hurt either.

Code Red

My evening took an interesting turn last night when my Klein's volume knob broke (or at least I think it was the volume knob). So, from 7:30 on, I had no sound from the Klein. This did not make me happy, but I don't have time to dwell, so I took out the old tele from the closet. The tele has a better sound than the Klein. But the tele feels like a very large boat. The action feels funny and the strings are a little wider apart. I just did the best I could last night and tried to look past it.
I continued on with my Keith Jarrett work. I was transcribing a little tune that he has on his Radiance album. It's a beautiful and simple tune. I used his ideas and came up with an concept for my audition. I'm working on an arrangement of "Mary Had A Little Lamb." After the audition I'll get a recording up showcasing it. It was just an idea last night. We'll see where we are today with it.

grinding up the hill

Either my strings are bad or Keith Jarrett's Piano is at 441. I'm on day two of set of strings I think I've worn them out. I've done this before, so I'm betting that they are just crappy dispoable strings. I've got to find a new string manufacuter for the Klein.
The thing about it is that it's just a minor rub that sort of irritates my whole being. I've got to take some time and relax every once in a while.
So I'm transcribing licks from Keith Jarrett's Raidiance album and it's a lot of fun like yesterday. I have to hunt for melodic material sometimes, but the whole process is good. I'm also getting a glimpse at his use of harmony, as I play a cool like and see how it's weighted against his left hand notes. He's got this I, IV, V tune that is so beautiful with the use of the sus on the V chord to open the progression: | Vsus4 | IV | V | I | & he makes sure to play the sus 4 in the melody on the first chord and voice-lead it into the IV chord. The sus4 on a V chord is also the tonic of the tune and it's interesting to hear such a stable note sound weak. There are so many simple and profound things I pick up on when I'm working on this stuff. He's such a great player.
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My voice isn't doing that well today. I'm working on singing back lines and I can't do it very well. It could also mean that I'm not hearing it very well. Either way, today has a difficult start with my transcribing today. I'm going to try a little bit more and then move on to something else.
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I had a big problem today with my tone and my amp. It's fresh back from the shop and it still has some problems with it. Plus, since it's been tweaked, it's running a little different. I sat down (after a few hours of frustration) and set my levels and added a reverb pedal too the mix. The reverb was the big thing missing for me. I like my reverb. Big & spacey is good for me.
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mmm hmm

In the next couple of days I need to remember the improtance of transcribing. It seems like if I transcribed Keith Jarrett every day until I had the audition I would be in a good place.

up & down

ET: I've done this before, but doing ET exercises first thing the morning does not work for me. I've got to get better at this because the ET Test is at 9am. My ears are better after I've been playing for a bit.
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I took some time today and worked on my setup. My first rehersal is tonight so I've got to review my traveling gear.
I'm still having trouble with the GK amp and the sound and feel isn't right with my guitar. I'm going to try to change the strings and see if I can put this behind me. Sometimes a bad sound or tone can really bum me out. This is one of those times.
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changing the strings helped considerably. D'addarios suck. I should remind myself to change my strings the night before the audition. Okay... New strings = happy brendan...
I spent some time doing melodic dictaion with Keith Jarrett's Koln concert. It helped inspire me for an improvisation based on his chord progression and some Gamelan rhthyms and concepts. I think I can work it out in time and it's probably going to be something I'm going to use on my audition. It's such an interesting sound to get out of the guitar. If things go right I'll probably get a recording of a verion up on the website by March. The improvising was creatively and personally fufuliing. I had a rough and difficult day as far as playing & practicng goes. This was a nice turn around. The changing of the strings was also a way of sheding all the negitive thoughts or emotions. It was neat.
In the meantime, I've been working on ascednign/descenign intervals on and off throughout the day. Things are going about average right now. It's kind of amazing how much progress I've made. I know much of it has to do with the year in passing, but lately, as I've taken my msuciianship and playing up a notch, I'm really surprised at how quicktly and steadily I'm making progress. It gives me good hopes for the audition this year.

Another oberservation I've made over the past few days is that I've gotten so much better at utilizng my time. i use the clock with a lot more autority now. At ___ time I need to do this.. or at ___ time I need to stop doing this. I ahve a lot to do and for some reason I have the discipline to make it happen. That's maturity for ya.

ET: I'm noticing a big seperation in my abilty to idenify intervals aurally and by intetifing intervals on the guitar. I can hear the intervals just fine, and when I play them on the guitar they come out right. But when I think about the interval, I use my old berklee do re me backround and think aobu the musical staff. I had this one instance where I thought the descending intervals was a minor thrid, but wehn I went to play it on my guitar, my fingers corrected me and played a major second. It seems like the thing to try is to play

it continues

I know I'm not stupid, but I sure feel that way sometime. I had the oppurtunity to record myself tonight practicing throught attya and it was horrifing. I've got to work more with the metornome. I'm getting tired and lost throughout the tune.

I tried recording myself a second time with the metronome at 160bpm and me playing eigth notes. It's not as bad as the previous. I'd be curious to see what it sounds like when I bring down the tempo a bit. When I play quarter notes at that tempo I seem to play chord tones. eighth ntoes are the way for me.

ET: I working and ascending and descending intervals this evening. I'm getting much better at them. I think I've just gotten better over the past year and now I'm honing it for the ET test. The whole test aspect of it is difficult.

I ended the day with a little recap on what I have to tomorrow with the recital tune. Tomorrow is the first rehersal.

keep it going

Per order of the Great Tim Miller, I'm spending more time working on faster versions of ATTYA, both with recordings and with the metronome. It's sort of a trial-by-fire method of learning the changes. I get a little lost sometimes while I play the tune and I think it's because I'm following the chord changes in my head. Tim says I need to feel it more like a blues. A blues form is more intutive and instinctive.
I tried a little bit this afternoon and I'm notcing myself getting better at string lines in bewteen changes as well letting go in the form and taking a breath. Before, pausing would cause me to get lost. As I do this, I spend more time listening to the form and as a result I can hear notes that I want to play. There's been a couple times when I heard a chromatic note, but didn't play it. It wasn't in my fingering, but it was in my ear. It's a neat process. I'm trying to spend a lot of time with the Paul Desmond version I have because I like it so much. I figure the licks will start pouring in. Next after that seems like Keith Jarrett's version would be nice.
also on the to-do list today is Gamelan and the Recital pieces.
work work work

ET: I'm getting much better with the descendings. I'm using the tests not only as a way to measure my progress, but also to train my ears with some of the more difficult intervals. I had previously had trouble with major and minor 6ths. They sounded like dive-bombs to me. Now I'm beginning to hear them as cleary as I do the ascending version. I still have some work to do, but the raw materials are there.

With my ATTYA studies I've been playing along with the metronome as well as a couple of recordings for the past couple of days: Gerry Mulligan & Paul Desmond, Stand Getz & Chet Baker, Bill Evans & Eddie Gomez, as well as the Pat Martino Band version. They are all pretty fast clips of the tune and it's a workout to stick with them. It's helping though. I'm not quite sure what's going to happen, but I'm closer to seeing the form from a bigger sense. It's something about the way I'm visualizing the changes or hearing them. Something's changing.

One thing that hasn't changed is that I get tired and lost while playing through the recordings. Part of it is physical and part of it is mental. I still think it's hard enough that my brain gets a little bit tired as I'm playing.

Schmarmy

Things are running late for me today. I had a small bit of time to work early in the day and I spent it looking at the recital piece. Yesterday I had trouble looking/reading part of it because of enharmonic and difficult fingerings. Today it was a piece of cake. I frequently tell my students that you are what you played yesterday, and that is playing true for me today.

I received the CI CD today. It's much easier than last year. It's just two "A" sections from the head of some tune. I'm going to have fun learning it. Last year was a lot of work for me. This isn't so bad.

I took a second and longer look at the recital piece today. I really focused on the more difficult passages and tried to memorize the grips and phrases. There are some challenging parts to this piece and sometimes my left hand hurts when I play it. I'm too much of an over-achiever for this. I need to take it easy with this piece.

hmm

ET: I'm still having trouble with the descending intervals. Anything bigger the a 4th is tough for me.
For ascending, my minor 6ths are getting better. Everything else is pretty okay. I've just got to work more on my descendings. When I'm just working on my descendings alone, it's decent (still need some work), but when I mix it up with the ascendings I always seem to over shoot my targets. Sometimes a minor 3rd sounds like a 6th. I know, in some sense that makes sense, but not when you are taking a test

Frodo

I didn't start quite as early as I would have liked today (slept in a bit). First on my agenda was to practice for my recital rehersal that is coming up on Monday. I'm tempted to write out the score in tablature because the voicings are so unique and diffiuclt to read. But, every time I think of doing that, I just tell myself to tough it out and memorize these grips. Now that I think of it, it may be helpful just to write it out in tab so that my brain can get a good hold over it. blah blah blah....
Over the past couple of days I have paired this recital work with my ATTYA work within the same practice session. I think its' intresting that it works well that way. I get burnt reading and memorizing grips, then I improvise for a little while with the metronome. Then I get frustrated or defeated with that and start the whole cycle over again. The two exercises compliment each other in a way.

Every once & a while I'll have a sour day on guitar where my tone and feel are terriable. Today is one of those days. I have a feeling that my guitar's neck is moving again. It's been raining all day and it's fretting out a little. I also got my amp back from the shop and it's still broken. I think these minor frustrations accumlate into my playing.

Thor's Day

I've noticed that the past couple of days, I've saved practicing until the end of the day. After I've completed my busywork and to-do's. This has left me with a lot of pressure at the end of the day and a lot of tension throughtout the day, as I wish I was practicing (in some sense).

Today I'm trying to appreicaite my tendancies and move practice time to earlier in the day. I still have stuff that I need to do, but practicing is important and deserves have time of its' own.
I've been preparing for a recital with a BU student. It is her senior composition recital and I'm playing on 3 pieces. One of the pieces is "difficult." I put "difficult" in quotes, because everything is attainable, as long as you have enough time. This one piece has a lot of small intervals and interesting finger shapes with good usuages of the open strings. It also has a fairly complex rthymn structure around it. Needless to say it's something to work on and someting that I've been having a good time at figuring out. I've been working on this piece since last Thursday and now, a week later, I can play it at about half speed. This is pretty okay, given the first rehersal is Monday. It's been fun to watch me incrimentally get better at it day after day. It's just one of those pieces that takes a while to process and remember.

On my ET tests today, I played around with melodic dictation (ascendignn & descending) intervals. I did pretty okay. My weakness is on big descending intervals... anything bigger than a major 3. That's not too good. I've got work on that.

ET

I'm devloping some good momentum. I'm surprised at how difficult it is to find extra time to practice in the day. Being self-employed, you would think that it would be easy. Not so.

I had some to work with the Teoria ET tests. At first I was just doing harmonic intervals, because that's the hardest for me. I was doing pretty well and then I moved on to melodic intervals (ascending & descending), but this time I was also playing them with my guitar. On the test I will be asked listen to a melody, sing the melody and then playback the melody on my instrument. I thought this would be a good exercise to do, adn I was right. I was doing very well with my instrument in hand. I can "see" the notes more clearly with the guitar. I was doing so well, that I didn't want to stop. I like this type of playing. It really works out big kinks for me.

I've got much more work to do tomorrow.