Two hours of bus later…

I’m sitting @ UOttawa as I’m writing this. I believe the practice-blog will be “on and off” until 2010 (depends if I have access to a decent internet connection)

Happy Holidays!

Monday : Skipped a day. Website, emails, shores, supper with friends, etc.

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Tuesday.

A pretty good practice and website building day.

I practiced :

• Bach Invention #4, both part fast. Good!

• Etude on Bb rhythms changes in Bert Ligon Book

• Working on “2 beats each” minor ii-V’s in several keys (that’s hard for me)

• Composing a new tune, finished the “blueprint”. It’s called 85 rue Berri

• Sight-reading @ 116 (swing) in the book “Rhythms Complete”

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Teaching at night + getting ready to travel for christmas.

I don’t think I’ve ever written this anywhere on my website or blog, so now’s the time : In the fall of 2009, I had the pleasure of speaking (on the phone) with bassist Gary Peacock for 30 minutes. I got his contact through Clinton Ryder (my friend and favorite montreal-based bass player).

Clinton has been studying with Mr. Peacock for 2-3 years now and I felt like I wanted to do the same. By the way, Peacock is part of the Keith Jarret Trio and has played with Miles Davis and Bill Evans, just to name a few… so I called him!

It was a great conversation; basically, he gave me a lesson on the phone. They were two mains aspects 1-Hearing/listening/aural perspective on music  2-Acknowledge the HARD stuff.

On the hearing level, Gary is basically saying : “sing, always”. If you can’t sing it, you can’t hear it… then don’t try to play it! Seems obvious enough, but it gave the impression that I had to work on my ears for another 20 years(at the very least).

The second thing, assessing what is the hardest for you, is the reason why I’m writing these lines right now. Mr. Peacock told me to “write down the things you find really hard… that’s where the juice is!” And he also specified : “don’t try to get them better. Just write them down.”

I never wrote my “hard stuff” down…now’s the time!

What’s hard for me (as of December 22nd 2009)

• Being harmonically clear in improvisation
  • on minor ii-V’s at 2 beats each
  • in iii-VI then ii-V situations (2 beats each)
  • at fast tempos in general

• Hearing Octave displacement in melodic lines

• Fast passages from transcriptions
  • recently : Tom Harrell’s lines

• Laying back on the beat and control over inflections, nuance and phrasing
  • I don’t naturally tend to play triplets.

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I’m sure the “hard stuff” keeps changing, like our life and goals. I feel relieved simply because I wrote them down. Thank you Mr. Peacock.

“Practice in every key. You would have to be able to play in all 12 keys if you only played there three standard jazz tunes : All the Things You Are, Cherokee and Body and Soul.”

-Bert Ligon from Connecting Chord with Linear Harmony, p.82

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Analyze the three tunes. You will find the 12 key centers at least once. He’s right!

Today I taught 4 hours at the music school (last day of work before the holidays!) and went partying with friends after. We called it our Christmas time “warm up” festivities.

During the day, I practiced a few things. I had 1-2 hours of break between students. I worked mostly on minor ii-V outlines (from Bert Ligon) and playing Bach Invention #4 (in A minor, beautiful). I also looked briefly at Tom Harrell’s solo on Comrad Conrad.

Looking forward to the week that is starting again tomorrow : practicing, working on the website then going away to see my family.

Friday.

Nothing much happened. I composed for an hour or so and had to teach at night.

Lazy, slow moving day…

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Saturday.

Woke up at 4 AM (not a typo). To compensate for yesterday’s lack, I worked on JazzGuitarLessons.net 3 hours straight! Then…

aaahhhaaarhggg! Christmas shopping in the morning…

In the afternoon I practiced :

• Mostly fooling around with Bert Ligon stuff
  • Outlines for II-V’s and other progressions
  • “Etude” on Bb rhythm changes
  • Applications to How Deep is the Ocean

• Bach, Invention #4, part one. Sounds good.

• Playing and singing along to Tom Harrell’s solo on Comrad Conrad

• Jamming on some repertoire : How Deep… and Just Friends

I think this little session “put me back on the map”. I found the joy of playing came back rather quickly (I had a rough week for that, composing more than anything). I’m sure why exactly but that seldom happens (the “life” comes back) when I play standards by myself standing-up with my strap… weird!

Then I had to leave for my gig. It’s the last one before christmas, duo with Clinton Ryder (for the second time only!)

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The gig was awesome (and you’ll notice, I seldom use that word.) Clinton and I had a great time playing and chatting. There’s a discussion that really struck me; it was about Clinton’s experience playing/working in different projects (including his own).

The last set was funny because we were both tired digesting the great meal the manager served us. Next one : January 9th (every two weeks). That’s the greatest steady resto gig for me.

I just figured something out : I was 11 days without gigging. That seldom happens! Tonight I’m playing the restaurant (last time before Christmas break) and I’m really looking forward to it. Music is always better when you leave it for a while and come back; it feels “fresh”.

Before the gig, I worked on :

• Composition exercises from Jazz Composition book (Ted Pease)

• Bach : Two Part Invention #3 (practicing both parts at fast tempo, great!)

• Started to write a tune (for me). I’ve got a solid vamp and some melodic ideas.

• From the Ligon Book : etude on Bb rhythm changes.

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The gig was fun, as I expected. The only downside was that we had to play Christmas tunes…

Tuesday,

Wrote a bunch of music (including two 32-bar songs as an composition exercise) and taught an hour of guitar at night. I also went skating (feels good!) and had a long meeting with the boys from the Planet Earth Projet. I’m responsible for building our webiste. We’re starting the project again, hoping to gig with new material in the spring.

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Wednesday,

Also more music today wrote music, based on guide-tones this time, as an exercise. I’m getting my “writing chops and reflexes” back! Yay! (It’s all in the ears…)

I decided to pickup the guitar today for “real” practice : it has been left alone for too long. I practiced the third Invention from the Bach book (both parts) )and jammed on some other stuff. I’m trying very hard to listen and sing everything I play now.

I taught 3 hours @ night.

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All in all, a “not bad” middle of week for me.

The new week begins.

I thought I’d practice like a madman but I didn’t.

During the day, the only practice I did was practicing composition (!), if such a thing exists. I’m working through some writing exercise from a Jazz Composition book… I’m doing that in the optics of writing MORE MORE MORE… for my own personal project (that doesn’t exist yet, by the way). See yesterday’s post.

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At night, I attended the last Burritoville Jam before Christmas and then hosted another jam/open mic with this blues/rock project I’m in.

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After both jams, I worked on defining what “my music” is. I wrote and draw on paper. It’s getting there!

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Good day. Talked about the universe, galaxies and stars life cycles and birth with my girlfriend before going to sleep. (?!)

I usually teach/gig on saturday and sunday : this weekend I’m free!!!

Here’s my Saturday practice :

• Bach Invention #3
  • Part 1 almost mastered. It’s hard.

• Tom Harrell’s solo on Comrad Conrad
  • Playing through what I know so far
  • Practicing the double-time line slowly (5:08-5:18)
  • I know 1.5 choruses! Yeah.

Then I spent time with the girlfriend (we ate, discussed, watch a movie, etc.) and I finally got a pair of skates @ Canadian Tire! Yay!

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Sunday.

Woke up VERY early (a bit before 7 AM) and worked on :

• JazzGuitarLessons.net
• My Musical Carreer in general (*reading, studying, planning*)

In the afternoon, I went ice skating for the first time in 5 years. Felt great, I love it.

I didn’t really “practice” today, but I played my guitar for an hour or so. I was focusing primarly on singing along and composing simple melodies.

At night, I worked another 2-3 hours on the website… it never ends! Video editing takes forever and I’m also trying to get a “buzz” going on with link-building.

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This chilled out weekend I realized something : I don’t have a straight-ahead musical project that I can work on and cherish. Yes, I have :

• Gigs (mostly cocktails)
• Teaching in person
• Teaching on Skype
• JazzGuitarLessons.net (that’s a big project!)
• This Practice Blog
• My personal practicing/composing
• The Planet Earth Project (we’re starting again in 2010!)….

…but with all of this, I don’t have a definite “band”. I don’t have good enough recordings/demos of myself playing the things that I like. And heck, I don’t even know what that thing is…

…a jazz trio? Me singing ‘lone with my guitar? An octet with two accordeons?

Who knows!?!!!

I want to start working on that career of mine; being what they call a “cultural business”. Write, record, promote, play gigs, tour, etc. I will dedicate most of my free time :

• First, deciding what it is
  
• Then, working on it

I have to find what type of music this project will consist of and then write a whole lot of piece. I think that lines up to be my 2010 year. The year 2009 was the “website year”, 2010 will be the “music project” year.