Jazz Combo
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Karina
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Eatin' B-Fast
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Jazz Band
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Whodunnit
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Alice in Wonderland
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Zebrano
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Reflection
The 20 minute set above is a culmination of five months' work. The process begins with sight-reading different pieces, which synthesizes Cultural Competency, Critical Thinking, and Conscientious Learning. The goal is always the same: read a piece of music as accurately as possible in real-time. To take the responsibility of recreating the composer's intentions, and eventually to incorporate personal artistic liberties, I had to take into account the tradition and history of both the music and the composer. That informs how I'd deliver the stylistic elements of the piece, which (of many factors) can include form-related dynamics, articulations, technique, or rhythmic relationships. To produce the music, both information about and personal responsibility for my part - such as rhythm, notes, and form - needs to be related to concurrent events in other band-mates' parts. After sight-reading, I have to judge whether the piece can be significantly improved over the next set of rehearsals and Communicate my opinion. The months of rehearsal that follow will continue requiring Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Conscientious Learning. In the process of refining the piece, I have to listen for areas where our section could be struggling, ask for time to identify, resolve the issues through sectionals and practice, and find solutions from others that can help us solve our problems.
For the performances, I thought we played better than our performance at Sacramento State's Festival. Intonation, especially among the brass, can be improved by focusing on listening and adjusting immediately, and I could have played out more for the saxophone section's balance.
The Saxophone Soli for Whodunnit, a spy-swing piece, went well, but after the soli, our sixteenth-note figure for the call-and-response shout section rushed. Although our entrance after the shout section was mistimed, we recovered immediately and kept playing. The remedy to the previous two issues is rehearsing with active counting so that we can make sure where we are in the piece rather than relying on compositional cues.
For Alice in Wonderland, the Trumpet-Saxophone-Guitar Balance for the melody worked well, but some of the brass and melodic intonation could be improved. As in the previous piece, counting was again an issue for us, especially going from a three feel to a two feel. Although this jazz waltz was written in 3/4 time and felt in one under three subdivisions, there are times where the arranger gives the 3/4 a two feel using the "composite-ness" of the six eighth-notes and quadruplets to make a two feel. I always end up miscounting the solo section, which causes form issues for the after my solo. It might be because of the four-bar band introduction to the 28-bar solo section. Since I'm used to playing solos with multiples of 8-bar phrases rather than 7-bars, I probably play four bars outside the bounds of my form to make the 8-divisible 32-bar form. To keep the structure and to reduce the overplaying, I made a backing track on Musescore by superimposing the 32-bar melody to the 28-bar form with the four-bar introduction and the changes. I practiced ending my solo so that I wouldn't exceed the form too much, but I fell into the habit during the performance. I can continue working on timing the form or see whether making it an open section might make it easier to end. I was happy that I experimented with some scales that could play both the written changes and some tritone substitutions. I used my (Eb) D Minor Pentatonic scale [DFG(G#)AC], in my C Major/G Mixolydian Key Signature, with an added #5 also (relative to Major) to use the D Minor Blues Scale. Since I liked the sound of the #5, I tried to see where it could be applied. After looking at how it's used in the piece, I changed the ii of the ii-V chains in my G Major (A- alt), to Eb Major. From here, I made a synthetic scale [D(E)FG(Ab)A(Bb)CD(Db)] that had the tritone tones, the pentatonic tones, and reflected my Key Signature (C Major/G Mixolydian). Then I refined it to essential notes [DEFG(Ab)A(Bb)C], inverted it to make a more familiar scale (Melodic Minor) [FGAb(A)BbCDEF], and inverted it again to its seventh mode to give me a b4 relative to E Locrian (third mode of C Mixolydian) with some other tones [EFGAbBbCDE], giving me the Altered Scale.
Zebrano was an energetic, but heavy, latin chart. The brass backgrounds could readjust dynamics within the section to improve the balance. The brass and the saxophones over-articulated some phrases. The brasses did so at the beginning, and the saxes at the end of the secondary melody soli. By working on interrupting a stream of air, instead of stopping it, can lighten the piece, and allow for phrase-shaped dynamics. We might benefit from adding contrasting dynamics to the piece to make it more engaging. There are ensemble entrance issues at the fall after the trombone solo break and the drum solo, in addition to rhythms for saxophone backgrounds. Just as in Whodunnit and Alice, it can be fixed by taking more personal responsibility for counting.
- Nihal Nazeem
For the performances, I thought we played better than our performance at Sacramento State's Festival. Intonation, especially among the brass, can be improved by focusing on listening and adjusting immediately, and I could have played out more for the saxophone section's balance.
The Saxophone Soli for Whodunnit, a spy-swing piece, went well, but after the soli, our sixteenth-note figure for the call-and-response shout section rushed. Although our entrance after the shout section was mistimed, we recovered immediately and kept playing. The remedy to the previous two issues is rehearsing with active counting so that we can make sure where we are in the piece rather than relying on compositional cues.
For Alice in Wonderland, the Trumpet-Saxophone-Guitar Balance for the melody worked well, but some of the brass and melodic intonation could be improved. As in the previous piece, counting was again an issue for us, especially going from a three feel to a two feel. Although this jazz waltz was written in 3/4 time and felt in one under three subdivisions, there are times where the arranger gives the 3/4 a two feel using the "composite-ness" of the six eighth-notes and quadruplets to make a two feel. I always end up miscounting the solo section, which causes form issues for the after my solo. It might be because of the four-bar band introduction to the 28-bar solo section. Since I'm used to playing solos with multiples of 8-bar phrases rather than 7-bars, I probably play four bars outside the bounds of my form to make the 8-divisible 32-bar form. To keep the structure and to reduce the overplaying, I made a backing track on Musescore by superimposing the 32-bar melody to the 28-bar form with the four-bar introduction and the changes. I practiced ending my solo so that I wouldn't exceed the form too much, but I fell into the habit during the performance. I can continue working on timing the form or see whether making it an open section might make it easier to end. I was happy that I experimented with some scales that could play both the written changes and some tritone substitutions. I used my (Eb) D Minor Pentatonic scale [DFG(G#)AC], in my C Major/G Mixolydian Key Signature, with an added #5 also (relative to Major) to use the D Minor Blues Scale. Since I liked the sound of the #5, I tried to see where it could be applied. After looking at how it's used in the piece, I changed the ii of the ii-V chains in my G Major (A- alt), to Eb Major. From here, I made a synthetic scale [D(E)FG(Ab)A(Bb)CD(Db)] that had the tritone tones, the pentatonic tones, and reflected my Key Signature (C Major/G Mixolydian). Then I refined it to essential notes [DEFG(Ab)A(Bb)C], inverted it to make a more familiar scale (Melodic Minor) [FGAb(A)BbCDEF], and inverted it again to its seventh mode to give me a b4 relative to E Locrian (third mode of C Mixolydian) with some other tones [EFGAbBbCDE], giving me the Altered Scale.
Zebrano was an energetic, but heavy, latin chart. The brass backgrounds could readjust dynamics within the section to improve the balance. The brass and the saxophones over-articulated some phrases. The brasses did so at the beginning, and the saxes at the end of the secondary melody soli. By working on interrupting a stream of air, instead of stopping it, can lighten the piece, and allow for phrase-shaped dynamics. We might benefit from adding contrasting dynamics to the piece to make it more engaging. There are ensemble entrance issues at the fall after the trombone solo break and the drum solo, in addition to rhythms for saxophone backgrounds. Just as in Whodunnit and Alice, it can be fixed by taking more personal responsibility for counting.
- Nihal Nazeem