Brush doubles, kids these days, and Mr. Wooten's book

A while ago a fellow teacher asked me which way I make circles when I play brushes, circling in (R.H. clockwise, L.H. counter clockwise) or circling out (hands opposite) and I realized by this point I did this both ways. I think if you want to be a serious brush player, this is worth pursuing.

Circling out sort of pushes the sound out whereas the other way pulls the sound in and they feel quite different. Also, and I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating, the more repertoire of motion we have on the brushes, the more flexibility we will have to create. I've enclosed a couple of exercises to help us work on going between the two directions.

Next...

I recently heard some younger people play and has a couple of impressions I'd like to share.

I think sometimes we are led to believe that it's very important to be different. Being original is very important but that has to be leavened with taste and judgment. I remember often trying to do things to show how hip I was (no H.H. on 2 &4 ever, unusual sound source choices, going against the grain of forms, never playing downbeats, etc.). That's all well and good but often when I listened back, it sounded like crap. Why? Because I often had no reason to do these things, other than my own ego, I hadn't done the listening research to know when to do these things and how to do them effectively, and finally many basic elements (my own sound, time, sense of taste) were not strong enough. Keeping these things in mind is an important part of maturing as a musician.

Finally.......

I got a great book by Victor Wooten on the recommendation of George Colligan. It's called The Music Lesson.

I'm only halfway through it but I already feel like a better musician (and person) for having done so. It's really brilliant. Definitely worth checking out.

Thanks. That's it for today. Ta!

Great advice from George

This is a great post from Pianist/Melodicaist/Drummer/Killer Musician reposted from his great blog jazztruth.

"What Should I Practice Over The Summer?"

April 14th: As the school semester is drawing to a close here in sunny Manitoba(yes, it was snowing yesterday, HA!), I have been making sure my students get their last lessons in. Many of my students have asked an intriguing question: "Professor Colligan, what should I practice over the summer?" (Intriguing because I still can't believe that anyone would call me Professor Colligan. My beloved late father used to call me "beanhead," "neversweat", and "bud", albeit endearingly. Nevertheless, the fact that I have attained any position of authority is still a surprise to me.)

Of course, I nostalgically look back on when I was really practicing in great quantities: between 1991 and 1994, when I diligently practiced the piano 4 to 8 hours a day. Luckily, I was also playing a lot of gigs, so I always had a way to apply the concepts I was practicing. I worked on a lot of different things: technique, sight reading, transcribing, rhythm, composing, and trying to learn tunes; hopefully, I could play the tunes I was learning in all keys. I was sure to keep my practicing focused, and to be conscious of the time I was spending on making my weak areas stronger, as opposed to glorifying my strengths(a common habit among young players). However, I always left time to play for fun, and especially tried to throw all the discipline to the wind when I played trio gigs: whatever happened, happened and let's just try to make music. That's pretty much what I do now.

My advice to any musician trying to make the most of his or her summer is as follows: First of all, the temptation to "take a break from music" is probably pretty strong. However, if you don't touch your instrument at all for two weeks straight(or more, God forbid), then you risk actually losing the ground that you've hopefully spent all year trying to gain. So I propose that you at least play every day, but only for very small sessions. Sure, enjoy the spring weather (or if you are in Winnipeg, get out your sled and mittens.....HA!). But just play enough to get a taste of what it feels like to play your respective instrument, and then go off and enjoy yourself. At a certain point, you'll be ready to get back into it.

What's the flat 9 on Ab7?

Also, keep in mind, you may have been one of the people complaining that "I would be practicing my instrument more, but I had so much other work to turn in for my other classes!" OK, well, now you don't have any classes, so no excuses! Get in the shed! That's why the summer vacation is actually great for practicing: so much free time! Bring an instrument to the beach if you can. At least, bring an ipod with some solos or tunes you want to learn.

The idea of breaking up your practice sessions is good because you don't want to practice tired for too long: you can actually end up doing more harm than good-physically and mentally. I find this especially if you are practicing something which requires more than one new concept. When something is really technically challenging, the best thing to do is slow it down, maybe so slow that it sounds nothing like music. If you really practice slow and focused, it gives your mind a chance to digest the information. Also, it always your body to choreograph the motions you are using.(I always give as an example of how I was trying to get my piano fingerings together. I practiced Bach Two Part Inventions slower than humanly possible. It started to really annoy anyone within earshot: "What are you doing? Can't you play some music?" Keeping the Inventions slow helped my technique tremendously. But it took a lot of concentration.)

I find oftentimes with students, and myself, that when we think we have learned a tune, or a lick, or a solo, we really haven't. We might be able to sort of play it, with a lot of slop and hesitation amongst some flashes of competency. This is because we are in a rush to play something well, and we don't give whatever it is a chance to sink in. I compare it to taking a cake out of the oven before it's done: you are so eager to eat it, but it's not fully cooked, so it doesn't taste quite right. Let your practice sit in the oven a little longer.

I've heard that as a rule, you can't play something perfectly unless you can play it 10 times in a row without mistakes. So here's my advice: whatever you are trying to play, slow it down, play it perfectly 10 times in a row, and then speed it up a few notches. Then play it 10 more times perfectly. Keep this up until it's right. Obviously, this could take time and concentration, and if you get to the 8th time and mess up, you have to go back and start all over again! Ouch! This type of practice will do wonders, but I think you can see why you wouldn't want to do that for 5 hours straight.

Another thing that helped me tremendously was keeping a practice journal. I gave all my students this year an old fashioned paper organizer so that they could write down what they practiced every day. I also made sure there was enough room for a tune list. The tune list was divided into three parts: Tunes that they knew well and were continuing to improve on, tunes that were "works in progress", and tunes that they wanted to learn. I would urge students to continue to do this throughout the summer. Learning tunes is always a great answer to the question,"What should I practice?" because there are always more tunes to learn. (See my article about Harold Mabern-he's forgotten more tunes than most of us know!)

So my advice here is not so much what to practice as it is how to practice. Practice smart, be patient, and don't overdo it. Enjoy your summer, but you can still enjoy it and get to your instrument every day.

And of course, if you are young, single, childless, and living with your parents, then realize that you'll never have this much free time again, so use it wisely. That is, if you are serious about improving....

I just had a GREAT time playing with George last week, and believe me, he's practiced what he preaches! I'm going to try to follow this advice this summer myself, on drums, harmonica, and piano.

Thanks, see you soon.

Ted

Heroes

Salut!

Just a quick post today.

You know, there are a lot of musicians out there and I think that a lot of performers aren't aware of some of the talent in Canada. I have, therefore benefited from people and institutions hiring American musicians for gigs and recordings. A while ago, I felt strange about this, feeling I was playing with great musicians that were being "bought' for the occasion. After doing some of these gigs however, I started to see that many of these well known and experienced players enjoyed the experience, and in some cases this has led to some long term and very profound musical collaborations. I have learned a lot from some of these people and I think in 90% of the cases, the musicians wanted to play. Even in the few examples where the decision was purely monetary, so what? Everyone has to make a living and even if we think a great musician is playing with people for the money, that may help fund their next great project.

I guess I'm mentioning this because I finally bit the bullet and contacted someone who has been a musical hero of mine for some time. Even though he ultimately couldn't do it ( he was booked solid for the next few years, and not being a young man, couldn't commit that far ahead) we had a very positive exchange and he wanted to hear more of my music, which I sent out this week.

I guess what I'm taking from this is; if any of us want to work with someone, try and get a hold of them and see if you can make it happen. Most musicians want to play and unless they're too busy or expensive, go for it. I have learned so much from some of the people I've gotten to work with and I plan to contact more of my heroes in the future to see if we can work together.

Look out Justin Bieber, the duo tour is coming and because you're Canadian, I can probably get a grant!

5 Beat Idea 2 ways

Hey,

This is a simple idea I stumbled upon today.

It's a little lick around the drums that's 5 notes long.

Like so:

.

As you can see, I put the idea into 4/4 to make it a bit more user friendly.

Here's a video of me playing it while (sort of) singing "A Train".

I also tried making the lick into a 15 note grouping so instead of it being a 5 note grouping that goes over the bar, in the bridge of the next example (again I'm thinking of A Train as I play) I'm playing 15 notes that are equidistant in the space of two bars of 4/4. Check it out, it has a feeling of slowing down in the bridge.

Whew! This is going to be another post that my Mom tells me she doesn't understand. Sorry!

Inside the Drummer's Studio Installment 3

Hey everybody,

Today I'm interviewing Pianist/Composer/Journalist Peter Hum.

Here's a picture of him:

...and here's some bio information.....

Based in Ottawa, Peter has played with the leading jazz artists in Canada's capital, including John Geggie, Rob Frayne, Mike Essoudry, Roddy Ellias, Vince Rimbach and Mike Tremblay. He considers himself very fortunate to have performed with some of Canada's leading jazz artists, including Sonny Greenwich, Pat LaBarbera, Phil Nimmons, Reg Schwager, Kelly Jefferson, Johnny Scott, Mike Allen and Mike Rud.

As I mentioned before, Peter also is a journalist with the Ottawa citizen and writes an excellent blog for them. You can check it out here.

Considering Peter's range of experience as a musician, blogger, etc., I thought it would be instructive to ask him a few questions. I found his answers to be very illuminating and I hope you do too.

1. You're a journalist, musician, blogger, as well as a husband and father. How do you juggle the many roles you have in your busy life?

The short answer is that I don't need that much sleep and I don't watch much TV.

During my 9-to-5 life, about 80 per cent of my time is devoted to journalistic chores – reporting and writing, editing, choosing what stories and pictures go where for certain sections and pages, and very lightly managing some colleagues. But unless I'm working on a big story, none of the chores takes up a big chunk of time. So each work day usually consists of many small chores, and in between themI find time to blog.

That said, I listen to a ton of music at home, in the car, before I go to bed, while on vacation, while I'm doing those journalism chores, and so on. So the listening kind of blurs in with everything else. For example, I was at my boy's bedside at the hospital last month while he recovered from eye surgery. He was sleeping off the anesthetic, and my wife was getting a bite to eat in the hospital cafeteria. So I pulled out my iPod and listened to some of the new CD from Nordic Connect, the band that includes the Jensen sisters. There's a Christine Jensen song, a slow lyrical waltz called Yew, that hit me – its vibe was right in line with the relief I was feeling that my son's operation was over. I gave the CD a good review – but for other reasons too.

The blog, which I volunteered to do back in early 2008, has added a lot of work to my life. But my job satisfaction has also increased. No one's forcing me to, but I blog like crazy, because it's in line with my daily newspaper grounding. I also get a small, subversive pleasure from blogging each day -- it would be unthinkable to have so many words about jazz in the newspaper, but there I am, banging off all that jazz-related copy under the radar of all my colleagues.

Being a musician, unfortunately, comes after being a newspaper guy and a blogger, and after being a husband and father. Upcoming gigs and projects dictate how much time I spend at the keyboard in the basement, which is usually in the morning or at night. These days, I'm happy to say that I have some new tunes in the works.

It sometimes crosses my mind – when various deadlines come together -- that I've got too much on the go, but I'd be unsatisfied if I did less. I'm sure that everyone else also grapples with balancing work and everything else, anyway.

2. Has your role as a music reviewer had an effect on your own music? How?

On the plus side, I've been inundated with new jazz CDs – free! -- for at least the last decade and a half. So I can never complain about a shortage of stuff to check out. Trying to make sense of all the discs and concerts has definitely helped to focus my own musical priorities.

Of course, reviewing is not the same as transcribing or really delving into someone else's music. All I need to do is to come up with something that I think is accurate and reasonable in assessing the CD for readers – two or three listens will do, more if I'm not so keen on the music. In exceptional cases, certain discs have prompted me to listen in a more technical way, usually with an ear open for compositional and arranging details.

Apart from the reviewing, I've found interviews I've done with musicians have been motivating or left strong impressions – almost like lessons, perhaps. Conversations and even e-mail exchanges I've had with Herbie Hancock, Jon Cowherd, Marc Copland, David Braid, Aaron Parks and Frank Kimbrough were pretty rewarding.

On the minus side, I've been inundated with new jazz CDs – free! -- and despite all the pleasures and stimulation from that music, I do wish it didn't keep me away from the piano quite so much.

3. What can young musicians learn from journalists in terms of how to deal with the press?

What press? After he won his Juno last month, John MacLeod kidded: “No one covers jazz right now.” Since Mark Miller and Geoff Chapman retired, there's been less jazz coverage in the Toronto papers, I think. Paul Wells doesn't write about jazz much anymore. Marke Andrews left the Vancouver Sun. Len Dobbin's left us. My impression is that the Canadian newspaper folks who regularly write about jazz are me, Chris Smith at the Winnipeg Free Press, Roger Levesque for the Edmonton Journal, Irwin Block at the Gazette, and Adrian Chamberlain at the Victoria Times-Colonist. And generally, we're only writing about musicians if they're coming to town. I guess there is the alternative press, and magazines like The Whole Note and CODA, and of course, the blogosphere, for better or for worse.

For musicians who contact journalists – rather than hire a pro to do that -- I have a few tips. The first, which perhaps applies more to dealing with newspapers, is to directly contact the writer on the jazz or music beat if possible, rather than the arts editor or assignment editor or any more general point of contact. In my experience, reporters want to pitch and work on their own ideas, rather than stories that are assigned. Also, it helps if you're as familiar as possible with the ways in which the newspaper (or magazine or website) packages its information, so that you can suggest what can written or reported, be it a recommendation for the gig on a “critics' picks page,” an advance feature leading up to a gig, or a review of the gig or of your CD. If you can pitch in a concrete way, or raise a range of possibilities, then you've done some of the thinking for the poor, overworked journalist. Finally, I'll mention that it's a good idea to build in a lot of lead time when you pitch – contact the media early, say three weeks or a month in advance, at least, of a gig or CD release.

And then there's a musician's Internet presence. I can recommend having a nice simple website that prioritizes what the press needs (a clean bio, downloadable photos in high and low res, music samples), in addition to what fans and potential customers would want. Of course, everyone is using Facebook, Twitter and their own blogs to establish their Internet presences and network too. That kind of stuff is a must these days, although I am mindful of a few musicians who are considerably heavier at their Net-based self-promotion than they are when it comes to playing, and I think that's a danger.

4. As a piano player, you never seem to have a problem with what I would categorize as "boisterous" drumming. How have you reconciled this with the fact that piano often has trouble competing with the volume of the drums?

Well, I've always viewed boisterous drumming very positively!

I was very fortunate that in my early days of playing, my key experiences were with Chris McCann in Kingston, and then with you and Dave Laing and Dave Robbins in Montreal. You were all very influential in terms of what I enjoy hearing from the drums – great, personal time feels, that going-for-it vibe, lots of interaction, and lots of boisterousness. At the same time, the music that I loved most usually featured Elvin Jones, Tony Williams or Art Blakey – very overt, play-it-like-you-mean-it musicians. More recently, I've driven great distances to see gigs featuring Bill Stewart and Brian Blade.

OK, in some instances boisterous drumming has made it harder for listeners to hear the piano – I do feel sorry for McCoy having to project with Elvin and Rashied Ali. But me, I can't recall asking a drummer to play less or play more quietly. Crucially, the drummers were good, musical ones, and that intensity from the drums felt good to me and was warranted. The soloist was usually generating the pull that elicited an intense reaction from not just the drums, but from everybody playing. By consensus, the music wanted to go where it did.

As much as I love playing ballads and quiet but intense stuff, I want the music to reach the point where it makes a visceral, urgent bond between the band and the listeners... and boisterous drumming certainly helps.

5. Can you name a live performance and recording that has had a profound effect on you?

The most recent show that hit me really hard was when I saw the Brian Blade Fellowship for the first time. Four of us drove from Ottawa to see the band at the Village Vanguard in 2008, and I was so impressed (all of us were, I think) for a number of reasons. The group's vibe, which takes its lead from Brian, was so deep and positive. Not surprisingly, the crowd was totally enthralled, reacting to the music with whoops and exhortations – the concert was a communal experience that really united the musicians and the listeners. I was paying attention to musical details too – how songs were arranged, how certain pieces were structured to create longer journeys. I wrote at length about the concert here:

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/jazzblog/archive/2008/06/18/road-trip-brian-blade-and-the-fellowship-band.aspx

I think some of the shows that affected me most profoundly were the ones that I saw early on in my jazz-fan days. I have more sentimental memories of concerts that I saw when I was in high school and university: Sonny Rollins and Jack DeJohnette at the Astrolabe in Ottawa, Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan at the Cock and Lion in Ottawa, Keith Jarrett with Jack and Gary in Toronto, Quest in Toronto, maybe on the very next night. I'm also happy that I got to see some great musicians before they passed, like Woody Shaw a few times, Jaco Pastorius with his Word of Mouth band, Joe Farrell and Zoot Sims.

As for recordings, I'm similarly sentimental when it comes to the big jazz-fusion and ECM albums from the late 1970s: Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert, My Song and Survivors Suite, the Pat Metheny Group white album, Weather Report's Heavy Weather, Chick Corea's My Spanish Heart. They're deeply embedded in my memory. When I was a little older, Miles Davis' My Funny Valentine and Wayne Shorter's Blue Note CDs – Speak No Evil especially – were very big for me. I'm one of those guys for whom Herbie can do almost no wrong.

But to pick music that might not be everyone else's lists, l'll name two that made a big impression on me when I in high school. I took them out of the Nepean Public Library, which is to say almost at random. I really liked the Dexter Gordon album Bouncin' With Dex. I remember thinking that Dexter's sound was special, and that Tete Monteliu was so energetic and playful. Another album that really cast a spell was Kenny Wheeler's Gnu High, which I surely latched on to because Keith Jarrett was on it. But even back then, Kenny's writing and playing really caught my interest. I thought then Smatter was just the coolest thing, and I still do.

6. Should I have used affect in that last question? (Peter was an English major even before he was a journalism student.)

No!

Transcendent

Hey all,

Just a brief post today. I'm a bit mired but will post more stuff soon.

I discovered this tune today (Lawns) and this gorgeous performance by Carla Bley and Steve Swallow.

.....There's a lot of music out there, Some of it technically proficient, some of it groovy, burning, swinging etc. That's all great but then sometimes music reaches you deeply and reminds you that there are things much greater than musicians as individuals and our sometimes petty concerns.

This would fall into that last category for me.

Brief Broadview Commercial

Hey,

Just came back from a very fun CD release for Broadview's Debut, Two Of Clubs on Addo records. Thanks to everyone who came out and if you missed it, you can order it here.