It’s almost september and I know I “should” be doing a long updated report on the state of my practice and musical life in general … but I won’t! Generally, september brings me to re-consider the whole (“big picture”) of my life. But now …
Still practicing a lot of the choir tunes today … Here’s what I practiced “for me”, on the jazzier side of things :
.
At night : Badminton + teaching.
Practicing from 8 AM today!
.
Played a nice trio session with two musicians I respect dearly. We played a few standards and many originals. The session was also a great learning experience because of some rhythmic ideas we worked on (metric modulations…) My sincere thanks to : Clinton Ryder and Mark Nelson.
.
At night : teaching + drinks with friends.
A few pratice sessions throughout the day. Scale patterns, 3-4 tunes and other stuff.
Also : badminton + teaching at night.
Got the JV project accepted in front of Jury in the afternoon.
This week, two days were almost “twins” : I practiced the same things, was teaching at night… and even played badminton on both days!
Practice session (for both days):
.
So now for the difference between both days : on Tuesday, I played a session with the great saxophonist Frank Lozano. Beforehand, I was visualizing the session as going “yeah!” all the way through… it, of course, didn’t happen this way. Frank has at least the same amount of experience as the rest of the band combined (guitar/bass/drums)!
After the first tune (Stablemates), it became more of a workshop/masterclass for us. What a humbling experience! I expected to walk in and be “one of them” and I simply ended up having a free lesson… that’s bitter & sweet at the same time. For me, that’s also the time when I learn the most.
.
On the very practical level, the aspect that struck me the most (and probably the topic on which Frank Lozano insisted the most) was playing “of the half note” or playing “of the whole note”.
.
That is :
If the bass/drums are playing an up-tempo swing kind of feel, improvise by emphasizing the half-note. It makes you play lines as if you are implying the actual half-time (but the form of the song is still passing by as is).
The end result is improvisation rhythmically anchored in beats 1 and 3 of each bar of 4/4. (The half notes!) … and it grooves very hard!
If it’s very fast, it’s even possible to imply the whole note of each bar (it’s like “quarter-time”).
In short : less work, more groove. (By work, I mean struggling on long streams of 8th notes instead of relaxing with quarters, half and whole notes…)
[On a personal note : I guess the opposite is also possible and common. Playing faster value on slower tunes, like ballads for example.]
What a great session/lesson it was!
Sunday : 9 to 5 teaching. Lots of students… tired in the morning.
.
I had the opportunity to practice 1.5 – 2 hours because some students didn’t show up.
I worked on :
That’s a lot more practice than my “usual” Sunday I must say! Great.
Monday morning : very productive (teaching, website, shores, etc.) As always, too much stuff to do and so little time… I tried to check the “to do’s” off my list as efficiently as possible.
.
Finally sat down to practice around 2 PM :
.
Buritoville jam around 5 PM. Very few people BUT it was fun playing
There’s a new kind of “freedom” in my playing and I feel delighted to play even the simplest stuff. I play very “detached”, yet, very interested and curious (and hungry!) for “the next note”.
.
At night : beers and hot-dogs + sleep early.
A lot of playing/composing by myself today. Nothing too structured : blowing on tunes, exploring some voicings. I’m starting to like that “un-organized” approach more and more!
.
At night, teaching 4-9 PM and practicing piano. I’m getting better and better at blowing/comping a simple Bb blues on the keyboards! Yeah!
Yet another 9 to 5 Sunday of teaching.
I had the opportunity to practice some piano in my breaks (exercises by Oscar Peterson and some blues)
Today’s musical activities (ooouuh, new terminology here!):
