Vibraphone

David has turned out to be a very very kind and wonderful cat on the site. It's truly a gift to have him. He's always offering suggestions, being so helpful. He's been an idol of mine for a long time. And listen to him. Joe and I were talking about his duets with the sax player (Peter Weniger). Beautiful music and a real command of the instrument.

And right now he's hanging out in South Africa having a great time I think.

An old rooster, getting ready to retire from his gig on the farm, invites some up-and-coming young roosters to audition for the choice gig. The first young rooster shows up, and scats Dizzy's Groovin' High solo. Nothing happens. The sun doesn't rise. No dogs bark.

The next young rooster steps up, and does Bird's solo on Night In Tunisia, and still nothing happens. A third, quite pompous rooster comes up, and scats Trane's Giant Steps solo. Nothing. No rising sun. No barking dogs.

Here a recent take of Wine & Roses (to get going with posting here)
Through practice of permutation from Bergonzi's Melodic Structures I recently started finding a way to bridge the "gap" between playing the head with chords (I generally start out learning a tune by fitting the chords under the melody first- as written on the pdf) and horizontal lines, in other words: move on from a "stiff" head to being able to improvise over the changes.

The steps I figured out playing more freely & horizontal were:

I got a call sometime back asking if I was interested in playing the percussion book for Bye Birdie at my alma mater Upper Merion High School. They're putting on the show March 18, 19 and 20. They've hired a choreographer and the pit orchestra is made up of some good student musicians plus some professionals. I said yes without even thinking because this is a great chance for me to get my hand back in playing multiple percussion, something which I have been doing with a community symphony orchestra I am involved in.

It was Saturday evening, my mobile phone rang with a SMS from my guitarist friend Bernard: "Turn on to France 2!" (French TV channel) So did I...

It was the French music awards evening "Les Victoires de la Musique", the overture tune. They had chosen to make a little medley in tribute to Michael Jackson, with a bunch of French musicians of the moment.

This is the official announcement of the University of Delaware Workshop with David Friedman and myself.

I found this on YouTube the other day. It's a nice piece, but I don't know the group.
Anyone know?

Listen to this. I've given examples before. This works perfectly on the vibes. Can you imagine playing a jazz ballad with this 'style' of playing?

There's so much to learn from Bach. He's figured it all out. So maybe the vibes are not like the guitar or the piano, they're like the violin!!!! :-)

The pdf's for this lesson are under the 'Check This Out Section'.

Barry was talking about preparing for a gig he might or might not do.

It hit me while I was practicing. Every one should spend time 'preparing' for a gig. Even if you don't have one, or feel like you're not good enough. Whatever!!!

When I post my solo pieces, I'm always preparing for my solo vibe CD. I might never make this cd, but I'm always preparing for it. That gives me a level that I have to achieve with each piece.

I fantasize about making a solo cd. So I'm always preparing for it. That means I'm practicing 'for real'.