Hey everybody,

I've not met a lot of you, but this may be a chance for those in/near Philly. My "Combo" from the US Naval Academy Band is playing Rose Tree Park (near Media PA) on Wednesday July 1st at 730pm. I hope some of you can make it. Please come up and say hello if you're there.

Thanks,
Blake Cramer

(ps. I play vibraphone.)

Hey Guys! I had such a great time with you all!

I'll be setting up the classroom very soon. So the workshop is not over yet!

I'll post again when the classroom is set up.

This last week was a great week for the mallet instruments here in Boston. Gary was in town two Saturdays ago with his quartet and they put on a great show.

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Here's a photo of myself, Stefan and John Daly. This was at the Limerick Vibe Hang. Stefan is a funny guy! And also talented!

first of all, i can´t say enough thankyous to nico and tony for such a great weekend. the workshop for me was more then great and bet it was for everyone who was involved.

OK, this is the morning after the incredible hectic workshop weekend.
Got out of bed 3.30 this morning as I promissed Tony and Sharon to get them to the Airport. After that back to sleep for a few hours and then off to the factory.

We're taking an easy day today, first cleaning up the shop after the weekends' hurricane ;-) that went thru and putting everything back on its place.

This beautiful song composed by my friend, Gabor Cseke.
Royal Castle of Gödöllő, 2008.

This is a little example of chord-tone tapping I gave by using it in playing over Bill Evans' "Nardis." Please keep in mind that my goal was to show how you could use this technique, not to take the most interesting and tasteful solo over Nardis that I'll ever play!

This is the second lesson on using Irish techniques for vibes- this is the same concept as 'neighbor-tapping,' but this time with chord tones. This technique is not unlike one you'd expect to hear from piano/organ players like Ray Charles, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, Dr. Lonnie Smith etc etc etc. It's not really ground-breaking for the vibes, actually; I've heard Joe Locke and Tony make great use of this technique. What's different here is the emphasis on dampening the upper chord-tone... give it a listen, you'll hear what I mean.