Tim Paxton (cello) with Simon Coverdale (piano) gave us a lunch time recital today - Beethoven's variations on "Bei Mannern" from Mozart's The Magic Flute plus a cello sonata by Shostakovich.
We also had a talk in advance and followed the score. This was really useful. I didn't know the music, and so it was great to talk it through and know what to watch for - interrupted cadences and appoggiaturas!! The Beethoven was beautiful. Simon and Tim were great performers. Tricky stuff played with such skill and charisma. I loved the flourish at the end of one movement where Tim shot his bow straight up the air. Maybe I might try it! I really enjoyed the introduction each of them did of the pieces. It added to the performance and painted a picture for us - particularly the Shostakovich piece. At one point, Tim described one the movements as a human heart bleeding in the desolate freezing snow! You can just imagine it! The music depicted the hard times of a difficult political regime in the Soviet Union. It wasn't very accessible and I'm not completely sure if I liked it. Its hard core classical. But I can appreciate the skill and passion that it was performed with and it was interesting. I'll listen to it again. But I like some of Shostakvich's music. He sounds an interesting man who had to walk a tighrope all his life - trying to please his political masters - while also being true to his feelings and the suffering of the people. He has written his memoirs, which sound an interesting read. It said that he always carried a toothbrush around with him in case the black cars came to arrest him and he was never heard of again!
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We were filmed today improvising country music. It was good fun. The backing was in G meaning that Improvisation was mainly in G pentatonic. Good key for the fiddle - not so good for some of the other instruments. Ah well. It was the other way round when we were playing B flat blues.
I also played in the backing band for both classes. We played a couple of different chord sequences (one straight G, C and D, and one using G, Em, A7, D D7). Sounded really nice. I thought everyone did well. There were some great improvisers! Improvisation tomorrow. We will be filming country improvisation. I have come across some great fiddlers while I've been doing my research on country music. I mentioned Kenny Baker in my previous blog about bluegrass music. I have been listening to his playing today. Amazing. He was known for his long smooth bows. He played with Bill Monroe's band for a while and became one of the most emulated country/blugrass fiddlers. He died last year aged 85. Here he is playing Jerusalem Ridge with Bill Munroe playing mandolin (in 1985). What a couple of legends. " I think Bill Munroe's importance to American music is as important as someone like Robert Johnstone was to blues, or Louis Armstrong. He was so influential I think he's probably the only musician that had a whole style of music named after his band." Ricky Scaggs There are lots of styles of country music. Its difficult to choose one but I've decided to research Bluegrass more. I like the instruments traditionally used in bluegrass - fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar. Violins often double stop with open strings to underpin the rythmn and harmony. Unlike practically any other strain of american music, bluegrass can be traced - as the quote above says - to particular time and a particular group of men. Kentucky born mandolin player/bandleader Bill Munroe and a select handful of musicians he gathered in his band, The Bluegrass boys. Monroe and his band transformed the traditional country string band music into something fresh and exciting and revolutionary. They did this by giving it a syncopated beat along with close, him pitched lead and harmony vocals on favourites like "Uncle Pen" and "Muleskinner Blues" . Munro also elevated the mandolin from a accompaniment to fully fledged lead instrument and Earl Scruggs did the same for the five string banjo. Here he is paying Uncle Penn above at age 82. Their music - which they forged more than fifty years ago has endured and has regained popularity in recent decades. Film soundtracks such as the 2000 feature film "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" has helped. It starred George Clooney and featured vintage bluegrass music in a quirky film. It also included contemporary new grass musicians like Alison Krauss. The soundtrack sold millions, won five grammy Awards and sparked another revival. Bill Munroe's Bluegrass Boys deserve most of the credit for the bluegrass style. The line up during he late 1940s was Earl Scruggs on five string banjo and vocals, Lester Flatt on guitar and vocals, Chubby Wise on fiddle, Cedric Rainwater and Bill Munroe himself on mandolin. To this day, the band's recordings are the bible for bluegrass. In 1948, two of the Bluegrass boys left and set up their own band (Flatt and and Scruggs). Their band, Foggy Mountain Boys was influential too with the banjo playing lead. In 1955 they added resonator guitar to the line up. With the spread of bluegrass mountain radio, others began to be influenced too. In particular the Stanley bothers started covering some of Monroe's songs int heir own mountain style. They enjoyed great success. They also feature on the O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack. Virginians, Jim and Jess McReynolds also became popular in the 1960s. They blended bluegrass with mainstream country and experimented with electric instruments. Also in the 1960 the Osbourne brothers from Kentucky became popular through country radio- which had often steered clear of bluegrass. They made this breakthrough by using distinctly unbluegrass instruments, like steel guitars, drums and pianos. Other ensembles such as Don Reno and Red Smiley and fiddler Kenny Baker would enrich and expand upon bluegrass tradition during the 1960s and 1970s. Newgrass By the 1960s Washington DC became the centre of bluegrass innovation. This was in partly because many musicians from Kentucky and Virginia had moved there in search of work. Young talented musicians were pushing the boundaries of traditional bluegrass using electrified instruments and eclectic styles. Bands like Seldom Scene and the Country Gentlemen emerged with more complicated lead instrumentals and smoother vocals. They were also beginning to sing songs written by the people like Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and even Eric Clapton. Since the 1970s, bluegrass has enjoyed a huge revival with bands like Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury, IIIrd Time Out, Blue Highway, Claire Lynch and Rhonda Vincent. Here is a video of the fantastically tented Nickel creek. They started out as a straight bluegrass band but are transcending that now. And here is another great You tube link to Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Bela Fleck is one of the most phenonomal banjo players around. He is also a great fiddler (listen to his recording of Down in the Swamp). His band has just got back together after a twenty year break and they are pushing the boundaries with their album "Rocket science". More on that in a further blog. The recording below is from "The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from The Acoustic Planet Volume 2. Enjoy!
As I am listening to and improvising country music, I can't get it out of my head. I set out to compose a tune last week and - needless to day - it turned out to be a country song.
However I seem to lost the sound in my Sibelius. I was about to phone the helpdesk when I discovered that my support ran out last week. Typical. Grrrr. This is no doubt down to me and not the package. Its amazing. I quite like the song. I am under the weather a bit this week. I had the surreal experience of a cataract operation on Monday. No I am not that old - its been from a previous injury and retinal work. The wonder of medical science. Its truly amazing if scary. The interesting thing was listening to all the sounds while the operation was being done. There was actually electronic music (almost). What was making the sounds I don't know. Lasers or something? I wish I had recorded it. In fact I might ask them to one day and write a tune!. Anyway I have my feet up this week recovering. But I have put the time to good use. I have at last edited the sound files I recorded of the Folk Band a couple of weeks ago and exported them back into MP3s. Here are the above tunes which I performed in January. Hope you like them. Improvisation yesterday. I love it. Playing country music in G pentatonic with a flat 5 too. Chords? Simple I, IV, V ( although in country the order of the chords is simetimes more mixed - rather than following the blues progression). Double stopping is a big feature in country fiddling. Then played funk! THAT was good fun. The stress is on beat 1 and is 1/16th beats - fast and using modal approach eg D mixolydian and Dorian (with a flattened third and seventh , in other words). I have been listening to a lot of country to soak in the style, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, The Dixie chicks, Hayseed Dixie, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Naturally I particularly like anything with fiddles in and country music has a lot of fiddle accompaniment and fiddle singing. Bluegrass in particular lends itself well to the fiddle. Bluegrass instrurments often include, guitar, fiddle, banjo - all my favourites. I am thinking about buying a tenor banjo - such great instruments - and they can be tuned to fiddle an octave down. I don't think they would be difficult to learn to play for a fiddler. I am thinking of writing a country song for composition. But I like some the songs with minor chords. Witchata linesman, Landslide, Like a Rolling Stone - which I play it on guitar. I might write a song.using similar chords. Here is a great Bela Fleck and the Flecktones with a great track Big Country with a range of instruments that are unusual for country - strays into other territory. Sounds like us on a Wednesday morning! More improvising, 36 bars in A and Bb blues scales last week. What is the blues scale? 1, 3b, 4, 5b,5 7b. The minor pentatonic will also work (which is basically the same as the blues scale but without the 5b). If you play these patterns over the chords (major chords) it should fit well. We have also been playing modes i.e changing the scale depending on the chords and flattening the 6th. Learned a sort of blues rhythm/chop from Darol Anger and Richard Greene on YouTube - both great blues fiddlers. I've also been playing and listening to the Blue Reel by the wonderful late Oliver Shroer. Read about the "blue devils" (basically being in a miserable and depressed state) in Oxford music online. Visited the local library and borrowed "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues". Its a great round up with internet links and unusually gives an A-Z of contemporary artists (post 2000). Chord progressions in 12 bar blues are often I, IV, V progressions. We have also been exploring slightly more complex patterns based on II, V progressions - which gives more of a jazzy sound. Started an intensive three week performance block today.
Volunteered for a workshop on singing this morning. Lots of us play other first instruments but fancied a go and there were also singers who maybe wanted to try something out of their own comfort zone. After that, I played my fiddle in a folk group with Jenn Butterworth from the Scottish Consevatoire. We were playing Bruce MacGregor's tune "The Road to Skye" from his excellent album Loch Ness. Its a great tune with a real groove and a bluegrass/country edge. Lots of opportunity to double stop and play harmonies. More singing in the afternoon - this time performing. I sang the "Now Westlin' winds" by Robert Burns. Its a wonderful song protesting against the Autumn shoot which must have been quite a brave thing to do in Burns' day. That was interesting …. and a learning curve. Microphone technique - too close, too far - not easy! There were lots of great performances from people and all styles of music. We all had our challenges and had a great afternoon learning from each other. Good question. A wide range of skills, knowledge and experience, and professionalism.
We can't all hope to have all of them. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and different personalities. But there are obviously some core skills that will make life easier as a blues musician if you have them. Technical ability on your instrument, knowledge of the blues scales and modes to the point that those are internalised and you can play them at will. Good listening skills - to identify the changes in chord progressions and - especially if you play a melody instrument - great improvisation skills. I have been pracising this in class and at home. You tube has great resources, including blues recordings from all the greats, blues backing tracks and improvisation lessons and tips. This means not just having the technical ability and theory but being creative, flexible and relating well to other musicians. This only comes with practice, practice and practice and needs discipline, organisation and commitment. You need to build your blues repertoire and knowledge of the blues so if someone asks you what you think of a blues style you can hold your own. If gigging you need performance skills, the ability overcome nerves and to focus and, of course, reliability. Always be professional and on time, dress appropriately for the venue/audience be polite and polish introductions etc. Do your research on styles, riffs, lyrics etc and be secure about what you intend to play - with some extras. Pay attention to the business side too with business cards and your contact details. You never know who might be in the audience and want to employ you. Network if possible to build your profile and increase your chances of follow up work. Have a good time - the blues is all about being steeped in the music. |
Fiona Harrison
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