Vibraphone Masterclass – Left Hand Accompaniment on “Poor Butterfly: Here are some of my thoughts and techniques for left hand comping on this great song from 1916. Hard to believe this song was written that long ago. I’m more or less playing in a four to the bar feel ala pianists like Errol Garner, George Shearing, Art Tatum, Dave McKenna and Teddy Wilson. I really enjoy playing in this style and playing tunes like this.

Just what it says! Dan and myself doing Little Suede Shoes.

I also put the parts on here if you want to try playing.

The metronome mark is 60 bpm. you should be able to line it up in a sequencing program. i actually used 120. Dan sent me the original file with a bpm of 60. it lines up great.

This is my solo vibraphone arrangement of a beautiful Christmas Carol. The harmony is from the English composer Harold Darke's 1911 setting. It presents a few technical challenges with slide and double stop dampening. I am still working on it myself as I stay out of the bleak midwinter in Minnesota. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Old rehearsal of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)!" Just Vibe and Vox and spur of the moment, but still rather nice.

Ed posts a lot on vibes workshop. Maybe this is already there, but since i'm thinking about technique and music, I thought this was pretty amazing.

It kind of floors me to watch this. Just think about all the upkeep that has to go on in Ed's head! Dampen this, pedal, dampen with my hand, staccato here, play this chord, dampen this melody. I laugh sometimes watching Ed play. It's amazing and funny how Ed is controlling the instrument.

While we are talking about technique and music, check this out. This is so Beautiful and there's so much technique in here! The technique is astounding and the musicality and passion is incredible! David is a master at using technique musically. He blows me away.

Get the whole cd here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/weaving-through-motion/909622329

Merry Christmas and Good Vibes from McMurdo Station, Antarctica:

Yesterday (Christmas Eve in Antarctica), I had the great honor of participating in one of the coolest events I’ve ever done. I performed my arrangement of The First Noel, which I call “Noel Antarctica” for various U.S. Field Research Camps around Antarctica including the South Pole, Shackleton Outpost and Wais (West Antarctic Ice Shelf).

I just watched this John Piper video as well as Ed Saindon performing All the things you are (part of his Vic Firth Series). It's fascinating watching these guys play. They have spent countless hours developing their technical skills and they bring out really great sounds on the instrument.