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Just Got the New MalletKat

Wow. I just got the new malletKat and have been playing it. I think Mario did it with this one. He's changed the feel of the instrument and put in Kurtzweil sounds. It's pretty amazing.

I was always a MalletKat fan, but thought of it as an addition to the vibes. I could go out with a band and play on only this and all would be good. The experience was incredible.

I'm thinking about recording some quick improvs to let you guys hear what you can do with this!

Don't Play So Many Notes....

Hey everyone,
I was just thinking/talking about phrasing and how many notes one can fit into a phrase.
I always remember teachers and mentors telling me to play fewer notes when I was in school, however I would listen to them play and there would be 4 million notes in a single measure. What i've learned since that time is that they should have told me to concentrate on phrasing. To Me, phrasing is the difference between an enjoyable and engaging solo/composition and an un-enjoyable one.

The 15 Minute Rule

You guys know about the 15 min. rule. I keep a timer with me, in fact I keep it on my desk. When my schedule is absolutely nuts, I figure out 15 min. here and there or I can practice. Since it's only 15 min. is not that big of a deal. A block out a couple times turn on the timer on and focus and practice for the 15 min. I find this could really help on those crazy days where you seem to have no time to practice all. I just thought I would pass along to you guys.

A Beautiful Theatre

I'm playing in a beautiful theatre tomorrow night here in Romania. I have a great band and am having a good time!

Here's a 360 degree photo, click and hold and move the image.

Delaware 2012

Yo guys. Just a heads up while we get some things together here!

Here is the registration for Delaware: https://crayola.hcs.udel.edu/conf/registration/music/registration.html

We are about to send about 1000 flyers out to schools around the country and we only have 20 spots and we've been filling them up the last few years. So I wanted to give VW members a head start.

The Delaware workshop looks like it's going to have myself, Friedman, Samuels and I'm working on Behn Gillece and Mike Pinto. In addition there are some heavy MalletKat players coming (names are coming) .

Vibe Diary Feb. 23

I've been actually having a lot of fun, playing with metronome and really thinking hard about rhythm and how certain rhythms should sound. Sometimes I'll play a phrase of a tune or something I just played over and over, just listening to it against the metronome on 2 and 4. It's really fascinating to me how certain rhythms lay against the 2 and the 4.

I'm thinking about doing the same things against other things such as a clave (just got a clave app for my iphone) and bossa rhythms etc.

Anyone else thinking along these lines?