"When Sunny Gets Blue" - Working on this classic for the sabbatical project which combines solo vibraphone playing techniques along with various improv concepts. It's been really nice having the sabbatical to write and shed. But, I'm looking forward to getting back to school in the Spring semester to get back in the groove and see the students. It's energizing to be there and interact with the students. Keeps me on my toes. :) The two books (solo vibraphone playing and dampening and pedaling) are basically finished. I now have to go through and edit.

The start of an ongoing project! After parsing the physical skills, philosophical issues will get teased out, and then I'll create segments particular to drum corps problems. Hopefully a contribution of something new to Vibes Workshop!

Shawn

My first post. Going through some old tapes I found a recording (1991) of my duo Mallet Unit. Roland Stolk wrote the piece and plays the vibes. I play the marimba on this tune Foreign Breakfast. Hope you like it.

This is a solo on Joe Henderson's "Recordame" that Dave recorded for me in a lesson when I was studying with him at Berklee most likely in '73. He played this in the lesson unaccompanied and I had taped the lesson and transcribed it after. It's probably on a cassette somewhere but I can't locate it. Anyways, it's a great display of Dave's playing at that time and shows a high level command of language, nice improv concepts and his strong time feel.

I just attended PASIC for the first time. I enjoyed it, but for me there were also a number of frustrating moments that I wanted to give voice to, because I think frustrations like these are sometimes invisible if you're not experiencing them firsthand. Here's a link to my blog if you want to read it with photos and nice formatting. I'll also paste the whole entry here.

***Please note that this post may not reflect the opinion of all female percussionists and is not intended to; it is my own personal experience and observations.***

Fast tempos are hard, slow tempos are hard. I think tempos are hard period.

I spend so much time playing and recording and checking the feel and the tempo. Sometimes it's 3 hours later and I'm on the same tune looking for a take that I think is acceptable. Where the time seems to be ok.

I love playing by myself and trying to make a piece of music. Check out Peter Bernstein's solo guitar album. Well and check out my solo vibes album. Both are on Itunes. I think for some musicians it's really something to work towards; playing alone and playing well. And playing time.

“I Loves You Porgy” – a great ballad by Gershwin. One of my favorites beautifully played by Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. I’m using some chord changes from Bill and Keith as well as a few of my own. Also using voicings from by book Voicing Concepts for the Jazz Vibist.

Someday My Prince Will Come” with Jan de Haas and Piet Verbist. One of the songs that was taped during my clinic presentation on November 7th at the Antwerp music conservatory. I had a great time presenting classes for the vibraphone and improvisation in Antwerp and also at the conservatory in The Hague. My thanks and appreciation to Koen Wilmaers and Carlo Willems at the Antwerp conservatory and Miro Herak at the conservatory in The Hague. Also thanks to Vic Firth and Yamaha.

Dave Samuels' Archive Update: Happy to report that Berklee College of Music will be archiving all of Dave Samuels’ music collection which includes studio and live recordings (Reel to Reels, Dats, CDs), videos, music educational material as well as all of his compositions and arrangements from his recordings as a leader and sideman. The material spans his entire career as a musician and educator. Dave was very organized with his material and it seems that he saved everything including compositions and recordings that other musicians gave him.