What are you practicing today?

[Ed Svoboda]

Today I'm planning on hitting long tones on Bari. Particularly on the low end of the horn. After that I'll run a page or two of the Rubank Advanced.

[SteveSklar]

nothing .. working on a Noblet 40 restoration.but i have these Lazarus studies that are itching for me to play

[Gandalfe]

We have a concert on the 31st of this month so there are:

Poet & Peasant
Variations on a Korean Folk Song
Festive Overture
All have parts I can't play well enough yet. I'm on alto and soprano sax for this concert. Nope I didn't get that delicious alto solo on P&P; it wasn't my turn.

Then there's the new Woodinville Big Band that I fought two years to make happen and this month we finally exist. I've transposed the tenor sax solo to Motem Swing (from the Best of Basie CD) but I'd luv to know who the guy was playing the part if anyone knows.

[saxmanglen]

Practice? Hmm? I should give that a try.....:???:

[rleitch]

http://mattotto0.tripod.com/id32.html

Triads (i.e. after work, supper, playing with Henry, dishes, marking, wife, hockey game, etc...)

[Merlin]

I've got the first preview of Cabaret at 2 p.m. today, so the only practicing I'll be doing is getting re-acquainted with a few high maintenance licks in the book.

I'm prepping a schedule for myself with flute and bassoon practice at the core to keep those horns in shape.

[Ed Svoboda]

http://mattotto0.tripod.com/id32.html

Triads (i.e. after work, supper, playing with Henry, dishes, marking, wife, hockey game, etc...)

There's some cool stuff there. I've downloaded some of it and will add it to the large pile of stuff that I have.

[fluteypiccolosax]

scales for school audition.


mozart's concerto in d
and excerpts from capricco italien for my bsyo audition.

[Ed Svoboda]

Still mostly hitting long tones and various exercises like what Rory posted. Almost totally on bari although the other night I did play some tenor and alto.

I spend a lot of time noodling around for interesting melodic ideas. I need to spend a bit more time on sight reading as it is one of the weaker elements for me.

[Merlin]

I got the bassoon out yesterday afternoon, and it felt pretty good.

I've got another preview today, so I'll make tomorrow flute day.

[HaRon]

I have a concert with two communitybands on the 24th so I'm going thru all the peices for that as much as I can.
On the 25th a gig with the band I just started in, enough to get under the fingers for that and on the first of June I have 3 gigs, again the two communitybands and also the BigBand.
Hopefully after that I can get back to shedding my scales, arpeggios etc, because I would really like to get a better grip at all the basics instead of only playing charts.

[WoodwindDoubler]

hmmm ... Well for the summer i'm sticking to flute, clarinet, tenor and alto.

For saxophones ... Sound, time, harmony ... playing melody through harmony in time LOL ... tunes.

Clarinet/Flute ... Learning a lead reed book for a professional show currently on stage that I will never actually get to play ... HAHA ... but I'm going to see it so that should be fun ;o)

[Gandalfe]

Clarinet/Flute ... Learning a lead reed book for a professional show currently on stage that I will never actually get to play ... HAHA ... but I'm going to see it so that should be fun ;o)Actually that's a very cool idea if you can find the music for the show. I'd like to do that next year with some of the theater productions I've turned down already. Since I know the directors, it should be doable.

[WoodwindDoubler]

Actually that's a very cool idea if you can find the music for the show. I'd like to do that next year with some of the theater productions I've turned down already. Since I know the directors, it should be doable.

For sure! .. I LOVEEEEEEEE musicals :o)!!! Tee hee hee!

I'm hoping if I play my cards right I can hang out in the pit for 1 show. I've done that so far for Wicked, The Drowsy Chaperone and White Christmas in Toronto.

[metbysax]

FLUTE and PICC:
Scales /Arpeggios
Taffanel and Gaubert
Marquarre
3rd Octave
Filas 90 Top Register Studies
Etudes
Demerssman 50 Melodic Studies

TENOR SAX:
Teal Saxophonist's Workbook
Frackenpohl Sonata

Working out the Houlik Classical mouthpiece I got on Thursday. :)

[Merlin]

For sure! .. I LOVEEEEEEEE musicals :o)!!! Tee hee hee!

I'm hoping if I play my cards right I can hang out in the pit for 1 show. I've done that so far for Wicked, The Drowsy Chaperone and White Christmas in Toronto.

Get your schedule together, and you can do it for a show in Stratford too!

[WoodwindDoubler]

Get your schedule together, and you can do it for a show in Stratford too!

YAAAAAAAAAY!!!! ... I can't wait to come out and see you guys!

Trust me as soon as I'm done with the Jazz and Blues Fest I will be getting my ducks in a row to come visit! :o)

[Gandalfe]

Moten Swing - has a tenor sax solo that I transcribed from the best of Basie CD. Tough nut to crack... for me. 8-)

[Merlin]

Flute.

I just got a copy of the Trevor Wye Practice Book for the Piccolo, so that'll be getting worked into my daily routine.

[WoodwindDoubler]

I spent a TON of hours today composing/arranging.

[Merlin]

I spent a TON of hours today composing/arranging.


Try some saxophone quartets. My group will play them.

[Gandalfe]

Try some saxophone quartets. My group will play them.Ditto. However my guys/gals aren't as talented as Merlin's folks.

I'm still lookin' for someone to arrange a sax quartet TTBariBass version of Inspektor Gadget for my samely-named fledgling sax quartet.

[RCNELSON]

TODAY or should I say this evening: TENOR: long tones, C Major, G Major and D Major scales (I may actually get them up to 16th notes at quarter=120 yet), and then almost an hour with the Aebersolds: SATIN DOLL, SOLITUDE from the Ellington, FREDDY FREELOADER and SO WHAT from the Miles, and QUIET NIGHTS OF QUIET STARS from Jazz Bossa Novas.

[WoodwindDoubler]

Nice ... I shall work on some sax quartet stuff then :o)

What I was working on yesterday was a fully arranged blues chart that i wrote for my high school jazz band yesterday. I'm sitting in as a special guest, so they are going to play it at their gigs Fri and Sat at the Fest :o).


Now onto today... I'm TRYING to write a simple but not lame bass line for my chart. The rhythm section is a mystery to me.

[SteveSklar]

pulled out a customers alto - Vito - early one with the wraparound keyguard from Bb to C.
and played some jazz standards.

nice instrument. I really like the old Vitos for the tonal quality and thta dark honey gold lacquer.

keywork is a little clunky but a nice sounding horn. should be better after i fix it :)

[Gandalfe]

pulled out a customers alto - Vito - early one with the wraparound keyguard from Bb to C.
and played some jazz standards.

nice instrument. I really like the old Vitos for the tonal quality and thta dark honey gold lacquer.

keywork is a little clunky but a nice sounding horn. should be better after i fix it :)Full rebuild or pad and adjustment job?

[rleitch]

Bebop scale patterns with simple enclosures (and restraint).

[Gandalfe]

Just working the blues scales over and over and over...

[bpimentel]

Practicing this week--
Flute: scales and intonation exercises
Oboe: scales, intonation, Schumann Romances, Britten Metamorphoses, and oboe d'amore parts for a double reed quartet performance at the IDRS convention
Clarinet: scales and intonation
Bassoon: scales, intonation, and more IDRS convention stuff
Saxophone: scales, intonation, Feld Elegie (soprano), Ibert Concertino (revisiting)
Recorder: Telemann Suite

Whew. Oh, yeah, and studying for comprehensive exams. Funny how the closer those get, the more motivation I suddenly have for everything else.

[SuzyJo]

The Dirty Blues from an Aebersold book.

[Merlin]

I spent time this morning on flute and picc, using the Trevor Wye Tone and Technique books and the Piccolo Practice Book.

Tomorrow's gonna be alto time. I've got a lobby gig at the Festival Theatre right after the Cabaret matinee at the Avon. And it's with the music director of the festival!

[sideC]

I've been practicing my flute for about a half hour a day before I pick up my alto. Back in the day I doubled flute when I had to, but I haven't played any flute in the last ten years or so. So I'm trying to build some chops by picking out whatever tune that is in my head while I'm unpacking the horn. So I guess that's like a form of ear training. Then I read a random tune out of a fake book, and take one chorus of improvision on it's chord changes. On a scale of 1 to 10 for flute playing skill, I'm about a 3. So a chorus of chord changes is quite the challenge, and really serves to help strenghten my chops. Then I do a page out of an old exercise book whose name escapes me at the moment, but it's like a good beginner flute book. So by this time I can hear Theobold Boehm spinning around in his grave, so it's time to pack up the flute and move to the alto.

I practice tunes their chord structure on alto. If I have a gig coming up that require certain tunes that I eithier don't know, or that I have to brush up on, then I'll shed those tunes. I get the sheet music from the bandleader, or if I'm leading, I have to find the music or take it off a recording. Once I have the music, my job is to research the sheet to make sure that all of the melody notes and all chord changes are correct. Tunes out of fake books always have at least one wrong note, or one wrong chord change in them. So if I don't get the sheet music from the actual composer, or their representitive, I check each note and chord change by listening to the composer's recording of the piece. Once I determine that my information is correct, I play the tune usually twenty times a day, ten times melody, ten times chord structure. Depending on the tune, I can memorise a tune in about a week. If the tune is more involved, it takes longer. I can never learn a tune too well, so I'm never completly finished learning a tune.

Right now, today, I'm brushing up on some familiar but busy tunes, Along Came Betty, Pensitiva, and Con Alma. I know all of these, have played them on gigs, but I enjoy playing through them, it's good practice. The melodies aren't easy, and the chord changes can be pretty tricky.

[Gandalfe]

Bass sax solo feature piece for Concert Band. I'm gonna try to stand instead of sit, gonna mic the piece, add some jazz licks to the written word, and have some fun with the cadenza.

The concert is on 6 Dec at the Seattle Center House. (Be there or be square.) Guess who bought the music for the band? 8-)

[Merlin]

An hour on flute & picc (scales and etudes)
An hour on oboe (more of the same)
An hour on alto sax (scales and the Bedard sonata for alto/organ)
An hour on soprano sax (scales, etudes and The Celtic concerto)