Practice Plan
The first day I only logged 90 minutes of practice time -- mostly due to the faculty concert and having to run errands. Today, I had my instrument ready, a place to practice, and no evening obligations to get in the way. I was able to practice at 8am before rehearsals, during lunch break, after rehearsals wrapped up, and after dinner for a total of about 3 1/2 hrs, which is good. I should be able to match this tomorrow.
The most difficult charts are Ray's piece, followed by Don's piece. Ray's piece is 8 pages long, and rhythmically complex, plus it has a several runs and fast patterns in variations throughout. Don's piece
has several key changes and meter changes.
Today's Musical Calisthenics exercise
Tom talked a little about useful ways to practice scales. First, we altered which beat we started the scale on. First on '1', then on 'e', then on '&', then 'a', then '2', etc. It was harder than I thought. That was what Tom called, rhythmic permutation. Next, we moved on to alternating the scale. We started with C Major, then F, then Bb, Eb, Ab, C# (moving in perfect 4ths). Tom says there are only 3 ways to rotate through all 12 keys: chromatically, up a P4/down P5, down a Major 3rd.
Electives
Today was the first day for electives, which take place immediately after our lunch break. I attended Don's improv clinic today, which he usually does. Don talked about devices for improvising, including leading tones, (scale tones up and 1/2 step below melody notes), the minor and major blues scales, using alternate chords -- our example chord progression was a ii V7 I vi, and we changed the I to a iii on the 3rd 4-bar phrase to illustrate. Don also talked about using the diminished scale over the V7.
Tomorrow, I think I may do the engine room session with Jim & Allen, then the technology session with Rick on Thursday.
Rehearsal Recap
To nobody's surprise, Tom's rehearsal was methodical and worked through the chart in pieces, each section addressing different goals. Alan's rehearsal was very good too, and reminded me I needed to work out a few technical issues. Don's rehearsal went as expected -- he started at the end and worked backward in chunks. This composition is really neat -- I wish I could write like this.
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