NASA Day 1

Woke up bright and early this morning to hit the road to attend the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA--clever, eh?) Conference.  Which is a bit of a mouthful, so from now on, I will refer to it as Saxfest. This is my first Saxfest and I hope to get recharged (it is sort of a mini-vacation for me), pick up some inspiration, learn new things, and hear some good saxophoning.

After arriving at the campus of the University of Illinois and securing a parking permit (no sense feeding meters all day when a day pass can be procured), I headed to the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts to check-in and see what's what. 

The first thing I encountered was and ensemble showcase of the UMKC Conservatory.  It was lovely sounding entrance music as I got  checked in, met up with a couple fellow QCA friends, and refueled my coffee cup.

After coffee and reviewing the day's schedule, my friends and I took a look at the saxophones exhibit.  Here we found some vintage copy from saxophone ads for Conn, Beuscher, and Selmer companies.  Also available for perusal was a collection of saxophones from the era of the man himself: Adolphe Sax.

Also on hand was this Grafton plastic saxophone.  Charlie Parker used a horn like this we he hawked his good horn for drug money. 

Bass saxophone. Don't see these everyday.  Well, unless you own  one.

Then it was off to the Music Building for a recital of new music for saxophone.  The building is rather extraordinary.  My pictures don't do it justice, considering my camera is getting a bit dated (so much so that the last photo kiosk I took it to to print pictures told me that the resolution was too low.  Cheeky kiosk.)

The program for this recital featured music written within the last several years.  The last piece on the program was a world premier composed by Dorothy Chang, who was in the audience to talk about her piece.  New Stories for Alto Saxophone and Piano was performed by Joe Luloff and showed how versatile the instrument can be in conveying mood and imaginative landscapes.

After the recital, I wandered into a lecture about Bessie Mecklem .  Bessie was one of the first female saxophone soloists who had an active performance schedule in New York.  She recorded some with Thomas Edison, but unfortunately, the recordings have been lost.  What was most interesting takeaway from this lecture was the prevailing attitude towards woman musicians, particularly woodwind players, at the Turn of the Century.

Not really wanting to go too far from the lecture hall because I wanted a good seat for the Jeff Coffin clinic, I stuck around for the following discussion panel.

The panel discussion, titled "D.M.A or J.O.B. Pathways to Employment in the Academy and Beyond" was interesting to listen in on.  Even though I don't have current aspirations to get a DMA or to make a run for the very few jobs available in academia, I did find some inspiration in the advice given from the panelists. 

From my notes: "What do people hope to gain from their musical experiences?" and "What does it mean to be a teacher?"  Some interesting questions to consider.

Just after the panel discussion was the Jeff Coffin clinic.  Jeff Coffin on saxophones and Roy "Futureman" Wooten on drums.  They began with about 35 minutes of non-stop jazz interplay made up on the spot.  Both are entertaining performers, playing with tone color, sound effects, water bottles, and comic devices all without dropping a beat.  Coffin then asked us to list all of the things we heard. 

The listening exercise spun out into a discussion of the Five Fundamentals.

Coffin lists these fundamentals, in order of importance, as:
1. LISTENING (all caps because it is very important and required before the others can make any sense)
2. Tone/Dynamics (including emotional dynamics)
3. Harmony--This is a huge topic, so start small and start to connect the dots.
4. Rhythm/Time
5. Articulation --This can be an extraordinary expressive device.

With practice and mastery of these fundamentals, your opportunities for expression as a musician can increase dramatically.

An inspiring and energizing first day at Saxfest!

The Circle Part 2

Last time we took a closer look at the Circle of Fifths.

Here it is:

Sharp keys are found on the right side, reading around clockwise.  Flat keys are found on the left side, reading counter-clockwise.  Sharps and flats are added one at a time, and in always the same order, when keys are viewed in intervals of Fifths or Fourths (reading to the right or left, respectively).  The order that these sharps and flats are added are consistent and also present a pattern.  Sharps are added to progressive key signatures in this order:

                                 F  C  G  D  A  E  B

So, G major has one sharp, and it is F#.  D major has two sharps, and they are F# and C#.  A major has three sharps: F#, C#, and G#.  And so on around the Fifths side of the circle.

If you read around the keys on the left side, you will read in a progression of Fourths.  Flats are added in a consistent pattern also.  F major has one flat: Bb.  Bb major has two flats: Bb and Eb.  Eb major has three flats: Bb, Eb, Ab.  Let's look at the pattern that emerges from the order of the way the flats are added:

                                 B  E  A  D  G  C  F

Compare that to the order of sharps.  It is the sharps order in reverse!  Way cool!

Now, let's say that you only have access to a Circle with key names (it doesn't show you the signatures).  What are you going to do?  Well, the first answer is that you are such a well-prepared musician that you have the keys memorized (which you should strive for) but failing that, you can just memorize three key signatures and figure out the rest using the Circle. 

The three to memorize: C major has no flats and no sharps.  Every tone in this scale is in its natural form.


                                    G major has one sharp.  That sharp is always F#.
                                    F major has one flat.  That flat is always Bb.


Now the trick using the Circle: Sharps and flats are always added in a consistent and predictable order.  If you need to figure out D major's key signature you would recall that F is added first....uh oh! Then what?! Look at the Circle.  Locate F.  Then read around clockwise. There is the order of sharps!  F C G D A E B 
So, D major would have F and C sharps. 



What about flats?  Recall that Bb is the first flat added, then it adds flats in the reverse order of sharps.  But if that is too much work, locate Bb on the Circle and read around counter-clockwise. There is the order of flats! Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb (Fb)


TAA DAAAAA!!
Who says music theory has to be boring?! 

The Circle Part 1

This is the Circle of Fifths.  From now on referred to as "The Circle".  The Circle (sometimes known as the "cycle", is super handy for those who are still a bit fuzzy in the ways of keys and key signatures.  At first glance, we see that it represents the key signatures arranged in a way that they increase in sharps or flats as one reads around in either direction.  We also see that both major and minor keys are represented.  What you may not see at first glance is all of the patterns.  Let's take a closer look.

Prerequisite knowledge: a key signature is the shorthand representation of the notes that need to be altered from their natural tones throughout a piece of music to play in the proper key.  The key signature remains in effect throughout the entire piece or until it is changed with another key signature.  Accidentals (a flat, sharp, or natural sign written into the music) can alter the effect of the key signature, but are only valid through the measure in which they are written.

The first pattern can be found in the sharps themselves.  The last sharp added to any major key is one half-step lower than the key name.  In the key of D major, for example, the last sharp added is C#.  C# is a half-step lower than D.  A# is the last sharp added in the key of B, and so on.

On the flat side, the last flat added is the key's fourth scale degree.  So, for example, in the key of Bb the fourth scale degree is Eb, which the last flat added to the signature. You can see this for yourself if you write out the scale and counting the scale degrees, starting with the key name note labelled as 1:

                          Bb       C       D      Eb      F      G      A      Bb
                            1         2       3       4        5       6      7     1 (8)

There's more awesomeness within the Circle.  Check back for Part 2!

Well, okay then

So, I had the thought of researching what instruments well known composers played as children, before they began composing.

Well, this isn't very interesting now, because after just a short search into the early years of Bernstein, Mozart, Beethoven and a few others, I now know that most of them played keyboard instruments or the piano. Except for Franz Joseph Haydn, who also played violin and sang as a young composer-in-training.  In addition to the harpsichord. The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument. Of course. 

And that is that.


:-/

Megacolon

Like any good zombie, MusicZombie is undead.  It may hibernate from time to time, run down and tired from lack of good brainy nutrition, but it will always reanimate in search of its food source.  Unless it gets a bullet in its own brain, of course.

So, back again, on a semi-even food-intake level.  This time found in the latest book from one of my favorite authors, Mary Roach.  I have read every book she's written, which include topics about spaceflight to Mars, death, and the physiology of sex.  Her latest is a trip through the alimentary canal (that's the food tube, to those of you who lack dictionaries).  Gulp takes the reader through the digestive system, starting with the nose and saliva and ending at the rectum.  Not topics that may arouse a drowsy MusicZombie...until the entry into the small intestine and colon, where Mrs. Roach explores what really killed Elvis Presley.

It is common knowledge (I think) that Elvis died in the bathroom, apparently straining and causing cardiac arrest.  What is not commonly known is that he possibly suffered from a disorder called Hirschsprung's disease (though without a complete medical history from birth, it may be impossible to know for certain).  Basically, this means that while still in embryonic development (in the womb, again for the dictionary-less among you), the nerve tracks that are being laid throughout the soon-to-be digestive tract fail to develop throughout the entire length of the food tube.  The end of the line is left without the nerves that direct peristalsis (the wave motion that pushes foodstuffs through the intestines).  As a result of this defect, fecal matter gets stuck, so to speak, and gets backed up.  The unfortunate soul with this condition must then rely on sheer mass of stuff coming in to push old stuff to forward.

So, Elvis had to deal with a wicked bout of constipation nearly his entire life.  Drug use, no doubt, complicated the condition.  This actually may help to shed some insight on Elvis's appearance in his later years.  His stretched out, overly packed "megacolon" can be offered for his larger physique, and reports of lackluster concerts.  His autopsy also showed an overly packed, grossly large colon.

And with that, we begin 2014 with MusicZombie!

Curiouser and curiouser...

Sure, it has a flute-like headjoint, but that key work is all clarinet.
Nice try, House on the Rock!

**Ahem** A flute solo.

Flute solo.

Creature style.