Hi Folks,
Haven't been as active as I'd like to have been this summer, but wanted to take a minute to write a short blog. I don't always feel efficient in my practice sessions, but just had a nice one today and thought I'd talk about what seemed to work for me this time:

My opinion: You're never done learning tunes. I used to know a lot more than I do now when I was doing more standards gigs. I feel that the ones I know know I'm much deeper on though. I always learn more about music by learning a new tune.

Here's what I did this morning to work on a new tune:

This étude was a challenge for me in regards to accuracy, clarity and trying to be as musical as possible. Although we always could do better – I'm happy with some of the phrases and having a great time wood shedding again! I thank Tony for listening to my first draft of this étude as I got carried away when Mr. Friedman said, (notes that were stated in his method book) "phrasing is up to the performer" as I didn't dampen every note and in turn created "interesting harmonies :-)" However, this recording I tried to behave.

Chinese translation for Chinese students

Tony 演奏blues 曲式，左手演奏bass line， 右手即興旋律
這樣左右手分開演奏旋律線條，可以增強雙手獨立性。
一樣，我們可以創造一個bass line，保持非常非常簡單，所以你不會失去任何節奏感，也不會亂了拍子。
試著創造旋律，即興的樂句盡量有音樂性有調性，創造出悅耳的旋律。
如果覺得快要卡住，可以左手停在只演奏同一個音，但是還是要保持節奏。
兩手分開獨立演奏，創造簡單旋律，讓樂句聽起來悅耳，這些是練習的重點。

Chinese translation for Chinese students

在練習“左手演奏bass line不間斷”，是幫助加強獨立控制的技巧。
這一集比較不同的是，要自己創造出一條bass line,因為前幾集都是演奏固定的音。

這集開始，要移動左手了。
（tony示範演奏）你可以把tony的 bass line 學起來，也可以創造你自己簡單的bass line。
當你set好一個固定的bass line 後，右手可以開始即興（或右手左手一起即興），
有時候因為演奏旋律，而忽略掉bass 音沒關係（因為左手去幫忙右手演奏旋律），
但切記還是保持節奏感，跟到下一個音就ok。
創造出自己的bass line然後保持不間斷的演奏，是這集的重點。

Chinese translation for Chinese students

這集我們一樣要講如何練習bass line, 和給大家一個小方法。

在演奏solo時，踏板止音要跟隨的是旋律單音，而不是和弦。
因為如果踏板跟隨著和弦去止音，忽略旋律，會導致旋律混在起，所以最終得去用棒子止旋律音，
但是當你在演奏快速的曲子時，那會變成一種阻礙，
也許你會因此而拍子不穩，或是失去feel。

所以這集要講的重點是，練習止音跟隨著bass line，
不管左右手分開演奏，或是左右手共同演奏旋律，
重要的是保持左手演奏四分音符節奏，然後踏板跟隨著左手，要保持乾淨的聲音。
在練習這個時，保持在同一個音域容易些，因為你得不間斷的演奏那個固定的bass line,
試著用到不同的棒子，創造有趣的melody，想出一些有趣的樂句，發展個樂句。
重點是不間斷的演奏固定的bass line。

Had a fun time working on this solo vibraphone piece. Exploring feathering the pedal to articulate diminuendos.. As well as an ongoing quest: accuracy, phrasing, better groove/feel.

Superb playing, IMHO
There's a beautiful Tchaikovsky piece too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHnVWL0GY4
and ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wvMTDs5YGQ