| David Beecroft
Sound Modality & Movement ideas & concepts for jazz saxophonists
|
| David Beecroft
Sound Modality & Movement ideas & concepts for jazz saxophonists
|
Breathing In
Making the reed vibrate
and the tone resonate requires that
the breathing muscles
(diaphragm) be ready to work and also
have a low muscle
tonus. This simply means that the
breathing muscles
must not hold tension when they are not required to.
Holding tension (high
muscle tonus) is a natural reaction that
the muscles have
to movement that feels “unsafe” or
dangerous to the
organism. This could be a response to
circumstances that
are physically or emotionally dangerous.
When the breathing
muscles hold tension, movement and
sensitivity are
impeded. Resonance suffers and playing feels
bad and often sounds
forced.
When you use your
breath to sound an instrument, (or sing),
your only chance
to let tension go is between breathing out
and breathing in.
In this moment the “breathing out” muscles
go from fully activated
(breathing out under pressure) to a
relaxed state, where
the “breathing in” muscles take over.
The response to
breathe in is normally automatic and
correct, but playing
(especially under stress) places
unnatural demands
on breathing that can cause the muscles
to feel unsafe and
therefore hold tension. The player will
begin to breath
in before the muscles used for breathing out
fully relax (if
they do at all). This is a situation where one
group of muscles
pulls against another. Worse yet is that this
inefficient way
of breathing can be learned and become a
chronic stress maker
that affects your sound, even when
there are no extra
stresses.
Reinforcing or relearning
a safe and relaxed “breath in” is
how to insure that
your sound is always as relaxed and
flexible as possible.
This is done before playing starts by:
1) finding your center
of balance, 2) becoming aware of the
movement your breathing
muscles make naturally and under
playing conditions
and 3) giving a feeling of safety to those
same muscles by
using your hands to very gently support movement.
1) Balance
For our purposes
“in balance” is the state or posture that the
body holds so as
to use as little energy as possible to keep
itself standing
and where every part of you is free to move.
This means that the
job of muscles is to keep the elements
that make up your
body neatly stacked one on top of the
other and maintain
life.
To feel what “in
balance” is definitely not, lean your upper
body backwards to
a point where you are uncomfortable.
Observe your breathing,
that is if you can still breathe. Out of
balance affects
your breathing. Many of us are not in balance
when we play.
Finding your center
of gravity.
Take off your shoes
and place your legs about shoulder
width apart so that
you are comfortable and stable. Bend
your knees slightly.
Your body’s weight is distributed
between four points,
the front and back of your two feet. With
your upper body,
gently and slowly sway backwards and
forwards. Feel your
weight shift between your heels and your
toes. Do the same
with your hips. Sway sideways with your
upper body, your
hips. Hold your arms out from your body
and feel how they
affect your balance. Lean far forwards, far
backwards and sideways.
When you lean backwards how do
your shoulders feel?
Your chest? Twist your upper body.
What happens to
your balance? Shift your weight from toe to
heel, left to right.
make a game of moving this “center”
around. Imagine
where your center is. Finally place your
center of gravity
equally between the four points of contact
your feet have with
the ground. Pick up your instrument and
feel how this changes
your center.
2) Breathing in
and breathing out
Shift your awareness
from balance to breathing. Simply
watch/feel your
breathing. After a while when you think that
you are breathing
normally look at which direction your belly
moves when you breathe
in and when you breathe out.
Because you are
not doing any work you should be
breathing lightly
and evenly. Note the little pause between
breathing in and
breathing out. When you breathe out softly
sound the letter
“f”. Do this until it becomes natural and easy.
When you come to
this little pause between breathing out
and breathing in
push firmly and quickly all of the air left in
your belly out between
your lips while sounding the letter “f”.
This should be a
pretty loud “FFFFFFFF”! Then relax. Let
your breathing return
to normal and repeat 6 or so times.
Observe what your
body does just after breathing out. If you
are not dead yet
you will have noticed that your body
breathed in all
by it’s self. This is a natural reflex. After a few
days of doing this
exercise and when you are somewhat
comfortable with
it you may assist this reflex by breathing in a
little bit more.
For a while play
exercises on your instrument that do not
require you to take
quick breaths. When you come to the end
of your breath observe
the reflex to breathe in and assist it.
Do not force it.
Wait until you are full with air before playing
your next phrase.
Take your time to learn a relaxed breath in.
This will help you
stay calm and maintain a relaxed sound
when you play.
3) Using your
hands to feel safe
The palms of your
hands are extremely sensitive. Probably
the only part of
your body next to your feet that you can
successfully tickle
your self on. This sensitivity is very
important because
it is a passive sensitivity that gives a
feeling security
because they want nothing from that which
they touch, (unlike
fingers that need to know about or
manipulate that
which they touch).
Place your palms
gently upon your belly so that your fingers
slightly cross each
other. We will repeat the last breathing
exercises using
our palms as our “eyes” to sense motion.
The only thing to
do here is to keep your palms on your belly
with an even touch,
neither firm, nor light and not wanting.
Their purpose is
to feel movement with out interference and
through doing so,
impart a feeling of security to the muscles
that move. That
is it.
Repeat exercise
#2 from above this time letting the palms be
sense organs for
movement.
The final step is
to play long tones to the end of your breath
on the notes that
are easily reached with your left hand, (G,
G#, A, Bb, B and
C), all the while using your right hand to
give a feeling of
security to your breathing muscles,
especially the muscles
that must relax quickly before you
breathe in. See
a breathing and speech therapist
A few pages about
breathing can’t hope to transmit the real
experience that
they allude to. I strongly recommend further
reading of books
about breathing and speech as well as
visiting, (at least
once in your life), an expert on the subject,
as the written word
leaves much to be desired as a medium
for transmitting
real experience and meaning.A final word on
breathing
Please don’t get
breathing confused with any marshal arts
kung-fu fuddle-duddle.
When you breathe in your belly
moves out. When
you breathe out your belly moves in. When
you practice breathing
as it applies to a blowing instrument
you are only doing
what you once did naturally as a baby.
You are not learning
something “new”, you are rediscovering
something “old”.
What is Time?
I was told pretty
early on that “time” is the most fundamental
and important aspect
of playing but it has taken me many
years to appreciate
the deapth of meaning hidden in these
words. Time isn’t
only the ability to play notes evenly with a
metronome or to
play in synchronization with other musicians.
It has everything
to do with concentration, imagination and
awareness of form.
Time is the “pulse”
that is felt in music.
Without time a string
of notes has limited meaning. Notes
played in time have
a clear tension and release. When there is
a pulse there can
be form. Sounds a kind of biblical doesn’t it?
“First God made
time and then He/She made Notes and on the
third day He/She
made chords...”
How does this information
relate to practicing?
First of all there
is no point to practice music without
awareness of time
because without time/pulse, music is simply
not music. To practice
is to focus on one aspect of your
playing... This
is true and it isn’t true. Practicing is to become
aware of, focus
on and then integrate. It is the last part,
intigration, which
is the most important aspect of practicing.
Intigration is playing
something in time, with awareness of how
the thing you play
relates to the pulse. This means that you
divide your awareness
by creating a pulse in your imagination
and then add that
what you practice to the existing time. You
do not focus more
on one than the other. That which you
practice is understood
in relation to the time/pulse.
How strongly you
feel the pulse or how deep your awareness
of the pulse is
determans how strongly other people hear the
tension that rhythmic
syncopation creates in your playing.
Play the three examples
below in 3 different ways:
1) just play the
top notes
2) just tap your
foot and think the eighth note subdivision
3) close the book,
tap your foot for 2 bars and then play
Most players focus
on what comes out of their horn first and
think about the
foot (pulse) after. Your job when you practice is
to turn this around.
You focus upon the time and subdivision
first and add the
notes second. Never let go of the pulse.
Never loose track
of where you are in the bar. Time comes
first. The notes
come second.
Continues...
Sound, Modality & Movement
This book
describes an approach to improvisation that is not
built up
from a patchwork of hints and tips. When you use
this book
you will have to think about your relationship to the
music you
like. It won't tell you exactly what to play in a given
situation,
that is not improvisation. This book points to the
source for
your "Sound". It provides an approach to learning
the unique
qualities of the many possible choices of
"Modality"
and shows you how to find melodies within these
choices.
It provides an organized approach to learning
technique
or finger "Movement" that supports the kind of
melodies
or phrases that you hear. It is a framework that
information
and experience can be placed into.
This book came about
as an attempt to unify all of the
various pieces of
good information, hearsay, lore and dogma
that become the
foundation of a improvising musicians
knowledge. In short,
if you have ever asked the question
"why" then this
book is for you.
"How" should you
approach learning improvisation?
How you approach
learning improvisation is based upon your
unique personality.
That which you find most important at
any given moment
in your study of music dictates what you
should spend most
of your time practicing. With that said you
should also know
that improvisation is a multi-level activity. It
requires many things
to work at once. It is a balancing act
where "Time" or
the rhythmic pulse is the rope, "Sound" is
the costume of the
artist, "Modality" provides the atmosphere
and story that enchants
the audience and "Movement" is the
skill or technique
that the performer needs in order to "pull it
off" convincingly
so that the audience is not even aware that
what they see is
a performance.
As ye practice, so shall ye play.
You should approach
your studies in a balanced fashion.
This book (and here
it comes) provides a balanced approach
that is still based
upon what you think/feel is most important
to learn.
Sound, Modality & Movement - Index
So, what’s this book
all about?
· Organization
· Why own
this book?
Practice Strategy
· Time Conception
· Fast, Long
& Perfect
· When you
can play it four times perfectly
· The inner
game of practicing?
· The Self
/ Your Self
Sound Production
· Breathing
& Feeling
· Breathing
& Moving
· Breathing
In
Tone exercises
· Making
the reed vibrate
· Bending
tones
· Overtones
· Articulation
Hearing Modality
· Making
melodies
· Symbol-centric
Vs. Sound-centric
· Chord symbols,
chords & chord voicings
Organizing Modality
& Harmony
· Sound-centric
approach
· 1st Expansion
- Tertian Harmony
· Organizing
Modality & Harmony
· 1st Expansion
- Tertian Harmony
· Chords,
scales & extensions
· 2nd Expansion
- Quartal Harmony
· Chords,
scales & extensions
List of possible scales Additional chords & scales
Modality, Melody
& Chords
· What is
a chord to an improviser?
· Telling
A Story
· Modal variations
for common chords
· V7-I Tertian
Harmony
· Modal interpretation
of melody
· Practicing
improvisation over changes
· Hearing
the changes
Moving Through Tonality
· Overview
· Diads
· Finger
warmup
· Triads
· Inverted
Triads
· Chromatically
Transposed Triads
· Scales
· Diatonic
Segments
· 4 Note
Scales
· Skipping
& Stepping
Hier finden Sie weitere Informationen auf der Homepepage von David Beecroft
Adresse:
Mike Duchstein , Kiehlufer 43 , D-12059 Berlin / Germany
fon: +49 (0) 30 / 686 39 62
fax: +49 (0) 30 / 682 37 569
e-mail: mike.duchstein@t-online.de
