Here's a snipet of stella. memorize it and play through all the keys. it's just a piece. think of it unravelling in front of you.
I asking talking with Barry about what an opening or break lick is. I thought maybe other people might be confused so here's an example. You play the head and when you get to the end, it's usuall the last 2 bars the band goes whack and stops and you play into the top of the tune. Get the music out for 'Groovin High' and check this out.
didn't i give you a bunch of things to work on? i don't see them.
friedman dampening and pedaling.
and lets do this. pick a tune that you know really well. memorized. play it for a few days and then let's do a skype lesson and talk about the tune. i'll show you how i think of the harmony.
cool? get the friedman book.
I had this idea today. Just trying to figure out how to implement it as well see if there's interest.
I want to start a tune club for the summer. I would like it to be very disciplined. The idea is we learn 2-3 tunes a week.
I got it... we could do it like this. Week Challenges. I'll post the tunes say on a Wednesday. We all study the tunes all week and then post by the the following 7th day your version. I (or maybe Phillipe!) will make play along tracks. Just rough for you guys to learn the tunes. Everyone has to submit the tune by the 7th day.
I'm fasinated by lines so today I studied opening licks. I put them down in a Finale doc and thought I'd post them.
I sat and listened to them until I could pretty much play them, then I went over to the hunk of metal and tried to slowly play the lick without messing up. Then I sped it up and put it through all the keys.
You guys should try it. Licks are attached.
Mike Balter is a member now of vibesworkshop.com!
If you don't know Mike he's just the most fun, easy going, coolest guy and knows more about mallets then probably anyone on the planet. He's a real stick meister.
He has done SO much for the mallet world. We're lucky to have him!!
He said he'll answer any mallet questions he can, so if you have any questions feel free to post here.
WELCOME MIKE!! YOU DA MAN!
Come Hang Out!!
It's an interesting coincidence that the week after Gary was blogging about working with Astor Piazzolla, I received a phone call from a friend of mine inquiring if I wanted to play some tango gigs with him as a duo - he would play violin and I would play accordion. So I said okay on the condition that the music has to be played right - no shucking and jiving through a group of tango tunes, and Lou (the violinist) was completely on board with that.
Steve Giordano (gt)
John Swana (tp)
Tony Miceli (vb)
http://www.mogulus.com/mallet_channel
We'll play for a little bit and then I thought we'd talk about playing without a bass player and playing solo on our instruments for a little bit.
I wanted to address something that I have struggled with for a long time- attaching my self-esteem to my ability to play. I have always struggled with technique and regular practice habits, mainly due to the incessant self-flagellation I inflict during the practice sessions I manage to put together. Plus, part of me feels like if the music business is as bad as everyone says, why spend my time learning to be a great vibraphone player only to be damned to eternal penury playing door gigs in generic jazz quartets?