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I have more stuff to post, just need the time!

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.

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

My first real attempt at stride vibes, also a very early take. Any advice on independence would be awesome.

Thanks

P.S. I'm still working on the whole "Playing with your mouth closed" technique, I'm having a harder time with that than anything else.

There are a lot of potential solo gigs out there for vibes players at local eateries, cafes, street fairs, etc. Granted they don't pay much but it is a great opportunity to work on your repertoire and your solo chops.

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Here's a lesson from a while back. I didn't dig it so I never posted. I didn't think I really did a good job Illustrating it. Maybe it's not so bad, but I think the idea is important.

It's about role playing, thinking like you're a different instrument. I think putting your brain in a different point of reference can really help your playing.

Let me know what you think.