When I did my arrangement of White Christmas, I used an open voicing on the Cmaj7. Turns out that it was a Drop 2 of a Major 7th (Closed G B C E -> Drop 2: C G B E). Now I can put a cool name to that voicing.

Since St. Patty's Day is coming up, I started working on Drop 2 voicings for "Danny Boy". I am starting out with a closed voice arrangement. I will use that for the first repeat. On the second repeat, I will play the tune again with the open Drop 2 voicing. It is starting to sound really nice.

Barry

Lennie Tristano, George Shearing... 2 masters of drop 2 voicings. (Was Shearing?) I'm going to listen to more Lennie, but I played on the piano today and I thought of him immediately.

I've been really shedding all this. A couple points I'm thinking.

Don't take those scales and voicings literal. Any sideways movement of chords can have drop 2s.

Make up a simple line in a key or mode. Harmonize the melody in closed position (move the chords sideways), then do drop 2.

Check this Stefon Harris video out!

what about friday night? i work straight thu the weekend. also thursday night.

theres a small chance i'd be around wed. night.

A colleague of mine is active in a site for Progressive Rock fans. We finally found a link between both our passions: a PR band with mallet percussions!

Don’t expect the vibes to be a star there. It’s first of all Progressive Rock:

- Guitars rule: bass, acoustic and electric guitar, chapman stick, warr guitar, and an instrument unique in the world: The Leode. That very large handled guitar, created by the player himself, after he had lost the use of his left arm in a road accident.

in 2001 i was a member of jupiter hollow. my originally role was playing b3, rhodes, over time we melted in the gigs ... i found this track of a recording session we did.. never was released ... thought you all might enjoy a bit of oregon music

T

I was playing the C6, Fdim chords (with the various inversions) in Dana's drop 2 lesson. As I was playing, I heard the song, "Once in a While", and thought it might be a good tune to apply the Drop 2 voicing for chord melody.

I would like a little guidance on the application of the lesson. I understand the example of playing the C Maj Bebop scale with the C6 or the diminished chord underneath, but I am not sure about applying chords to an arbitrary melody.

Hello everyone,

I have a vibraphone clinic coming up that I wanted to mention. The clinic will take place on Saturday, March 28th in Ogden, Utah as part of a PAS Day of Percussion hosted by Don Keipp.

The clinic will focus on mallet technique and address the following topics: pedaling, dampening and the fulcrum grip. Time permitting, I’ll also talk about improvisation, comping and solo vibraphone playing.

Here is the contact information:

Dr. Donald Keipp
WSU Department of Performing Arts
1905 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-1905
dkeipp@weber.edu
801-626-7073

Joe Locke has made available free lead sheets (for a limited time) from his catalogue.
Included is music from:

Force of Four
Rev-elation
Sticks and Stings and others, at the link below:

http://www.joelocke.com/shop/

Hi everybody,

I'm back from my week of holidays in the Alpes, and thought I could send you some post cards!

I think you'll have to be patient with the loading...

Enjoy!

MN