They were a little shy, but check out the Curtis Students! I did you my end of semester workshops with them and they rocked!

They have such a great attitude, and are great musicians. Today they were reading down the tune summertime and soloing over it. Before that they were creating improv pieces out of modes. These are students who have done little or no improvising so far. They did a great job! I'll ask them if I can post a couple versions of there Summertimes.

Here is my Drop 2 version of "As Time Goes By". All I am doing here is playing the melody harmonized in Drop 2 voicing. When there is no melody, I fill it in a little but I was trying to keep it simple. I have attached the music to what I play in the video below in my comment.

This takes a lot of work to do smoothly on the vibes. It does not work for every melody, nor would you want to play like this all the time but I think it adds a sophisticated vocabulary to the instrument.

Here's some ideas to get started categorizing your material when your just starting out to play vibes:

1. Technique / Theory

A: Study the major scales and arpeggios(triads, 6th chords and 7th chords)
B: Study the dorian mode and minor 7 arpeggios
C: study the Myxolidian mode and dominant 7 arpeggios
D: Study the rest of the modes: Phrygian, Lydian, Aeolian, Locrian and Minor 7b5 arpeggio.

2. Four Mallet technique:

A: Study chord voicings in root position
B: Play a melody with a bass note of simple tunes
C: Practice 2-5-1 progression in all keys

This is the first part of a multi part series on modes. When I've posted everything you'll find it in the link above here.
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Chinese translation for Chinese students
有幾個方式去學調式音階，
第一種你可以想成都在C大調音階的關係（全部沒有升降記號）：
C音到C音Ionian,
D音到D音Dorian,
E音到E音Phrygian,
F音到F音Lydian,
G音到G音Mixolydian,
A音到A音Aeolian,
B音到B音Locian,

第二種方式，也是Tony喜歡用的一種方式：

把七個調式音階建立在同一個根音上，
比如Dorian就是把Ionian的3,7,音降低半音。
如果只是用第一種方式，沒有比較的對象，每一種調式聽起來都會只是在C大調中的聲音色彩。

Move those 5ths!

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I'm on my simplicity kick. More on that. How to work on a tune by starting with the melody and then chords and then a solo. Keeping it all simple so that you build a foundation.

(practice tape)

Gary Burton told me he was a guest of Duke Ellington's when they recorded 'The Far East Suite'. The most amazing track for me on that cd is 'Isfahan' and Johnny hodges solo. I can't believe how laid back he can play and how slow the tempo is and how happening it is.

Also when I practice I turn on the recorder and play and have a concept in mind and I work things out through tunes. For me they are the best vehicles for problem solving with playing, soloing and harmony.

This is me and my daughter having fun with overdubs. We each sang 2 or 3 times on top of each other to get the chorus effect that you hear. I think back to the days where I used to have a couple of cassette decks and a mixer to do overdubs. Each overdub got noisier and noiser.

Enjoy.

Barry

Finals are this week. The final is to play a clear simple solo over St. Thomas in several keys and play it solo. Harder than it looks.

Then I hung out with James and talked about quarter notes.

Then I did a lesson on quarter notes, based on James' lesson.

Talked to Andrew a little about it in his lesson as well.

So last night I decided to play a simple version of How Deep is the Ocean, based on all that. You know that's my goal, to be able to take simple and nice solos over tunes and do this solo. I just want to make as much musical sense as I can and get my message across.