Hello JJB,
The first rehearsal of Jumpin’ Jazz is under our belts. You tackled some challenging music and did a great job on the read-throughs. Whether you played a few notes, followed along, or enjoyed playing most of the black dots on the page, I hope you have fun! Special congratulations to those of you who are starting out in jazz. Reading the jazz charts takes some getting used to, but you will find that those tricky rhythms amount to about 40 different combinations of jazz rhythms, and each week you will add some of these to your rhythm reading repertoire. Next week we will spend some time breaking down a few rhythm patterns and playing them with precision, slowly.
Practice Tips:
10 – 15 minutes: long tones, scales, arpeggios, articulation exercises (slur, staccato)
30 – 45 minutes: Listen to the piece you are about to practice. Is the piece in swing style (first eighth note sounds longer, and the second is shorter, to sound like skipping or waltz) or is it straight eighths? Select a section of 1- 8 measures in length, and practice playing it slowly at first, counting 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &,1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & , 1 & 2 & (etc) Try playing the section faster gradually, as your fingers learn their way. The next day, review this section slowly, try it gradually faster, and tackle a new measure or two using the same strategy.
Rehearsal Notes:
6:30 Full Band: Music Room 154 For anyone who missed our first week, we got to know each other and welcomed some new-to-jazz and some new-to-ONHB musicians. Our enrolment is close to 40 and we have a fairly well-balanced ensemble, including a tuba and F horn in our sound! Music was distributed for all six pieces. Please arrive by 6:00 on Monday if you are missing any parts. Announcements are indicated below.
7:30-7:45 Refreshments in Room 142
7:45-8:45 Full band: Music Room 154
Listening Links
We have several charts for this session – one review piece and the others are new to us. Go ahead and listen! These pieces represent a range of difficulty, but are definitely doable, even if we don’t perform the more difficult pieces until the winter session.
So What (Miles Davis arr Sweeney) https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=2470822
Aint’ Misbehavin’ (Thomas “Fats” Waller arr Ford) (piano solo)
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=2467587
Moondance (Van Morrison arr Lopez) https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=2701897
Stay Cool (Vince Gassi)
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=10093335
Into the Sun (Sorenson) last piece (Latin – reggae) from the book we used in January (purple and black- Standards of Excellence for Jazz (Pearson and Sorenson) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nue-pMTg20
Round Midnight (Cootie Williams and Thelonius Monk arr Smukal) *tenor sax solo
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=10277614
Announcements:
St John’s Music apologizes for the delay in getting in the book selected for this year: First Place for Jazz You can see an overview and intro by Dean Sorenson at this youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgHE4BQzew
This book is a great start to learning the scales and the basics for playing improvisations with confidence. We will learn a couple of the pieces in this book to develop our skills. I will pick up the books for all who put $15 in the envelope at rehearsal.
You are invited to contribute $2-$5 for juice, cookies, veggies and/or fruit. If you wish to bring fruit, home baking or cheese and crackers to share one week, it will undoubtedly be appreciated! For those who have dietary restrictions, simply bring your preferred refreshment.
Volunteer Positions:
Social Sparkplugs (2 – 3 musicians) We need two or three! Thanks Jen (piano), for being the first to volunteer!
Refreshment set up and pack up: Thank you again, Jen. Anyone else in the front row want to help with this, since it is easier for you to slip away 2 minutes before 7:30.
Refreshment buying: Thank you, Marcia and Irwin!
Potsdam NH Band Invitation to play music together: Dinner provided by Potsdam NHB: End of October or Early November (Saturday)
Band Rep. Art Stewart
Mark your calendars!
The ONHB second Annual General Meeting is October 28 at 2 pm at Woodroffe United Church.
Concert Date is Sunday, Dec. 16 in the afternoon at Brookfield H.S. Please plan to carpool, as we want to leave parking spots open for our guests.
When you have time, check out the New Horizons International Music Association at http://newhorizonsmusic.org/
