Listening

Get out of the improvisation box of articulation range Part 3 of 6

This is part three in the series I am referring to as getting out of the box. There are so many aspects of playing that have a range of options like dynamics, note range, harmony, dynamics, etc. But if you find yourself limited to only a narrow range of these musical attributes, you’re stuck in …

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Getting out of the box of dynamic range Part 2 of 6

In part two of this six-part series of getting yourself out of the box in your improvisation, I want to discuss dynamic range. When I refer to “the box”, I am talking about the limits young or less experienced improvisers find themselves in regarding musical attributes such as note range, articulation, harmony, and in this …

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Eye over ear

I’ve been looking through elementary school band method books. I’ve by no means looked through every method book out there, but I find something curious about the ones I have seen, and I’ve confirmed my suspicions with a few music teachers.The books are filled with diagrams of instruments, some music history, definitions of musical terms, and pages of staff …

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When intonation becomes a deliberate color

I have one last but very important thought to add about intonation that I think rounds out this series on pitch. Don’y come away from the prior two posts on intonation thinking that intonation is only about aiming for perfectly accurate mathematically calculated frequencies. That’s no more true than great musical time comes from hitting …

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This is just a fake book example for the type of website I can build for you. Just trying to use a little humor here!