The free jazz lessons were the toughest for me also…
I’m by no means proficient at playing Free Jazz, but do try and play the style at times when the mood hits me. You really got to be in the mood to play it and have it make any sense I think.
From what I have learned so far (personally), is that free jazz is so different than anything else that it’s one if those styles (IMHO) that you really have to “Lock In” and become extremely comfortable on your bass with. Simply being ’proficient’ probably won’t cut it - you kinda have to become ‘one‘ with the bass while at the same time going to that “Happy Place” where all the other musicians are at and communicate with them at a combined level using your bass. I know this all sounds silly, but I truly feel that is the case.
that’s funny. what I understood at the time I did this lesson is that the real thing to learn is that “those things doesn’t work”. some kind of proof why the scales are useful. (and why playing off-scale sounds like sh*t unless you know exactly what you’re doing)
well … I’m not much a jazz guy, as you all already know … … maybe I missed the point, 'don’t know.
Hahaha… Maybe what I was trying to say is that it doesn’t hurt to be a little… “happy” when you’re playing it?.. Gotta remember @terb, I’m still going through some health issues that may be requiring me to be in a bit of a (natural) happy place myself…
haha no problem at all, my comment was very general (not an answer to your post) and I was just saying my feeling at the time I did the lesson be happy my friend, I very sincerely hope you are
It was the first lesson for me that I could not play while watching my display. However, the tune was short enough to remember it so I could watch the fretboard.
A modern take on madrigals. My madrigals group in the late '60s had 13 members: 2 first sopranos, 2 second sopranos, 2 first altos, 2 second altos, 1 tenor (me), 2 baritone and 2 bass. Madrigals are a cappella songs from the late renaissance and early baroque era. I was the only one in the group who could play the piano, so my job to start each song was to arpeggiate a 7-note “chord” (the first pitch for each of the 7 parts), and then it was off to the races. If you lost your way in your part, there was no way to get it back by listening to one of the other parts (I had no second, but we were arrange such that no voice pairs stood next to each other). You had to know your part and sing your intervals perfectly.
The explanation sounds chaotic, but taken together? It sounded awesome.
Here’s a modern arrangement. We used the original scores when we performed.
As a side note, this choir director doesn’t know how to stage voices. Higher voices on the lower levels. Lower voices on the upper levels. Higher frequencies rise more than lower ones, making the ladies in the back top row harder to hear. [sigh]
… maybe I missed the point, 'don’t know.
