Hello all – I am working on a set of pieces and the first movement is a solo vibraphone piece titled "Meditation" the piece itself will be called "Thoughts" here is a rough sketch of the first movement. I know for the "acoustic traditionalist/purist" might not like my sound as I'm trying some reverb with pickups and other little gadgets. About two years ago I started teaching an audio class; which has got me interested in everything sound!Take care and I hope all of your doing well. Jim PS I would appreciate any feedback – I'm not the super Pro, but love playing vibraphone :-)

okay, so when I first started studying in Berlin, David told me to write an etude every week. which was super challenging a couple of years ago. but seeing the progress I made through this - not only with my technical skills but also challenge myself creatively - I found it to be a great great way of making progress.

i filmed the whole thing for you. hope you find motivation and inspiration with this.

thid etude is about comping yourself with the left hand. i made this whole thing in about 30 minuets. maybe 40. so its not perfect, but you get the idea.

Hello all – I am working on a set of pieces and the first movement is a solo vibraphone piece titled "meditation" the piece itself will be called "thoughts" here is a rough sketch of the first movement. Take care and I hope all of your doing well. Jim

Correction - Think of the D mixlydian phrygian chord as a D triad with an Eb.

Attached is an example of how to play The chord part of Flamenco Sketches on the vibes.

This is one of my typical morning improvs. I decided beforehand it would be a linear improvisation IN TEMPO. That means that of utmost importance was the time.
The second important element was SMOOTH PHRASING and TONAL FREEDOM. The latter was achieved by moving through diverse tonalities, starting with, for example, an F minor scale and switching arbitrarily to , for instance, F# major.
The last "rule" I made for myself: Beginning with an idea and ending with the same idea or something else. The important thing being A BEGINNING and an END:

I just want to share a couple of projects with you, that I'm working with in Berlin right now and during the time I wasn't activ here.
this first band - CHAT NOIR - is the band Giovanni Perin used to play in! When he left Berlin to go back to Italy they asked me to play with them and its been pure joy for me. I love these guys.

Milt is using Albrights right? Malletech is resurrecting them BTW!

This is pretty cool. Here are the most popular lessons on the site.
https://www.vibesworkshop.com/views/lessons/popular

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Very sad news. Mike Balter sold his company to Zildjian. I saw it in an article in a newspaper online. I kind of wish I would have known in advance, as it was a bit of a shock.

I love Mike Balter. Like Steve Weiss he is an icon in this business. Mike is also a really good percussionist and drummer. It was great to endorse a company like his, as it felt like being part of a family business. We will see what the future holds. Mike said to me "Everything will be the same!". I laughed and said back "Nothing will be the same!". Mike is one of a kind.