Skip to main content

Wuppertal 2015 - Spring Vibes !

Hey,

I was reading Pau'l post, wondering if Spring Vibes in Wuppertal had even happened, and I realised no one had the time to write/post a little something about it... so here I am!

This year was the 3rd times that Matthias Goebel had in hands the organization of our Winter European Workshop. And as usual it was a great moment to share ! I only arrived on Friday afternoon so I know I missed some very cool lessons/gigs/presentation, but I'm always happy to be there every year and meet my "vibes buddies"!

Pentatonic improv on Green Dolphin Street -V

Here's a clip on improvising with Pentatonic scales for the standard Green Dolphin Street. There is a post on the All Things Improvisation blog that includes this videoclip as well as a page listing the pentatonic scales being applied. Vibist Volker Heuken from Nuremberg, Germany did an excellent job transcribing the solo.

Here's the link to the All Things Improvisation blog: http://allthingsimprovisation.blogspot.com/2015/03/pentatonics-on-on-gr…

Spicing up a Standard - Harmonic Concepts as Applied to Stella By Starlight

Article from 1985 addressing harmonic concepts as applied to Stella By Starlight. Hard to imagine that I wrote this 30 years ago. The great thing about music is that I'm still working on these concepts. It never ends.

Here's the article:

https://drive.google.com/a/berklee.edu/folderview?id=0Bxbpdyow6QPOflF1W…

Four Note Groupings on Giant Steps (Take Two)

Berklee Improv Class - Applying the improvisational concept of Four Note Groupings over John Coltrane's Giant Steps. In my 39th year of teaching and it's still a pleasure to teach improv to these talented and motivated musicians. I feel fortunate to be able to pass on the information as well as learn and grow along with the students.

Thinking Out Loud by Steve Swallow

I love, love, love Steve Swallow's playing and his compositions. Thinking out Loud is a tricky one to improvise on because the keys change frequently and go all over the place. The goal is to try to improvise logical phrases that define the changes AND make sense melodically.

Analyze the changes carefully, figure out what chord scales you want to use, and practice moving from one to the next smoothly.

A PDF lead sheet is attached

Here's That Rainy Day by Tony Miceli (Etude)

Here's an Etude for Here's That Rainy Day. Print out the parts and 'get to work'!

I used lots of space in this etude. Short notes with rests. I like playing like this and I like the sound of the instrument like this. It's so easy to play too much stuff and VERY hard to just play a little.

The percussion part is a little different as you'll hear. But don't you think it's cool to play with simple percussion and ALL the music is there? The time, the rhythms and the harmony.