Tomorrow, for the first time, the whole group I assembled is going to play together - for the first time, I'll hear my compositions played by eight people, two violonists and a violist included. For the first time, after this weekend, I'll have a recording in my hands, a recording of two of my own songs, written on the train from Bern to Basel and back.
I will have to deal with a recording engineer, microphones, the right places and seating arrangements, I will direct the whole thing musically and at the same time try to keep the whole bunch punctual, happy and more or less well-nourished.
And, for me the hardest thing of all, I'll have to will myself into a place where I'll feel self-confident enough to play what I can play, to see something in my head instead of just playing some "right notes" in my solos.
I know it takes a lot of experience, and maybe also a bit more looseness, to get at that point in an always rather stressful studio situation. I guess I'll get there someday. For tomorrow, I just hope I'll be so excited by the new sound that the music behind it will be stronger than my own nervousness. And if I'm not entirely happy by the result - well, then that's apparently what improvisers have to live with. There will always be a next time.
So, officially stated here: this weekend is about firsts - firsts are allowed not to be perfect. Let's see what I can get out of them!
Showing posts with label bachelor of arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bachelor of arts. Show all posts
2011/01/14
2010/11/05
workin' on it
... on my bachelor project. it pretty much takes up most of my free hours, I'm organising players, rehearsals and recording dates and trying to arrange at full speed. While I have lots of ideas for pieces which I try to blend into songs (or whatever the word is for these little tunes), I find it very hard to concentrate on the whole. I know that I want a good concert, which means: I want to show solid and somewhat idiomatic jazz piano playing, but I want the sparks too, I would like to take first steps in the direction of my own personal voice, whatever this may mean.
I would like to include strings, which sounds a little off, doesn't it - I'm a pianist and I already have a guitar on board, too! But still - the sound of a string quartet is very different, and I hope to combine all of those instruments in a convincing way.
It is also very hard, in my opinion, to include meaning, without it sounding cheesy or naive - it would just be nice to be able to express something. I guess you can't play well without some kind of an urge, but how to communicate this to people in the audience maybe not used to jazz, is at the moment beyond me.
So, lots of questions, as always, which will maybe dissolve by time, and of course, while thinking can't hurt, too much of it most definitely can.
But it's really fun, too! It's a project, my first real grown-up musical project! Any tips from anywhere very welcome!
I would like to include strings, which sounds a little off, doesn't it - I'm a pianist and I already have a guitar on board, too! But still - the sound of a string quartet is very different, and I hope to combine all of those instruments in a convincing way.
It is also very hard, in my opinion, to include meaning, without it sounding cheesy or naive - it would just be nice to be able to express something. I guess you can't play well without some kind of an urge, but how to communicate this to people in the audience maybe not used to jazz, is at the moment beyond me.
So, lots of questions, as always, which will maybe dissolve by time, and of course, while thinking can't hurt, too much of it most definitely can.
But it's really fun, too! It's a project, my first real grown-up musical project! Any tips from anywhere very welcome!
2010/09/29
A Day In The Life
I'm in the library of the jazz school right now and doing something illegal, or frowned upon, or taboo! I'm writing. All around me, saxophones are blown, drums are being worked on, people are singing or humming or tapping or clicking. It's a maddening atmosphere. The air is full of promise, so many talented people, some playing all day long, or so it seems, some quickly pouring coffee down their throats before getting back to their mini-practise-labs.
This morning, in the train, I put a 15/8meter beat on my laptop, practised crossfading rhythms on my way to the bus, and in the bus listened to two songs by Avishai Cohen, at school I practised for a while, got carried away, and forgot a meeting with a teacher. Later, in a arctic-cold room, I listened to another teacher talking about some new assignment, we'll have to do five reharmonizations of tunes, play them, solo over them and record them. In ten minutes, I'll go practise some more, then I'll have my piano lesson, will look at the 15/8-beat again, listen to some more Avishai Cohen, maybe do some arranging on the computer on the train, and will be home at about 5pm. Then I'll listen to John Coltrane: Coltrane and Cannonball, will briefly write about it for another assignment. At 7pm sharp, I'll stop working, and slowly my feet will touch ground again: I'll have to do laundry, do some cooking and cleaning, and maybe later I'll see the Paraglider who is playing a gig tonight.
That's just for today, but days are rather similar. I'm often wondering not only about other people's lives, but also about their day-to-day routine, I mean: how exactly does a day go for a police man? Or a social worker?
This morning, in the train, I put a 15/8meter beat on my laptop, practised crossfading rhythms on my way to the bus, and in the bus listened to two songs by Avishai Cohen, at school I practised for a while, got carried away, and forgot a meeting with a teacher. Later, in a arctic-cold room, I listened to another teacher talking about some new assignment, we'll have to do five reharmonizations of tunes, play them, solo over them and record them. In ten minutes, I'll go practise some more, then I'll have my piano lesson, will look at the 15/8-beat again, listen to some more Avishai Cohen, maybe do some arranging on the computer on the train, and will be home at about 5pm. Then I'll listen to John Coltrane: Coltrane and Cannonball, will briefly write about it for another assignment. At 7pm sharp, I'll stop working, and slowly my feet will touch ground again: I'll have to do laundry, do some cooking and cleaning, and maybe later I'll see the Paraglider who is playing a gig tonight.
That's just for today, but days are rather similar. I'm often wondering not only about other people's lives, but also about their day-to-day routine, I mean: how exactly does a day go for a police man? Or a social worker?
2010/09/04
How Small The Worlds
I'm going to risk a few generalizing statements today. Playing with people studying at another jazz school than I last week, and talking about plans for the (professional) future, I realized once again how strongly jazz musicians are influenced by their upbringing, meaning their educational environment. I guess it's human to orientate yourself, wherever you are, to the leading ideas.
In my jazz school there is a rather international vibe. A lot of the teachers have studied in Berklee, or Graz, and we have many masterclasses by jazz stars such as Mark Turner, Eric Harland, or Esperanza Spalding. The best students talk about their plans to study abroad after the bachelor's degree. There is idealism in every corner. People are talking about getting better, about bands, and cd projects, and getting reassured by the teachers who have led very interesting lifes. Discussions about money, about the future and about a job are very rare.
In the other jazz school, the leading subject seems to be different - I've found a more down-to-earth approach. Of course people talk about getting better and their cd projects, too. But a lot of the people put an end to their jazz studies after the bachelor. One statement that I've heard more than once is that with a master's degree in performance you don't have a profession, and with a master's in composition you'll just end up writing for carnival groups (called Guggenmusik in Switzerland). If you want to be a teacher, you will study pedagogy, but if not, you'd better try to find a job that guarantees some financial stability and practice your instrument on your own. I have never heard statements like these in my jazz school.
There are a lot of other differences. For example, a subject I will elaborate on a later date, in the city I live in there is a large jazz scene. Newcomers can play in lots of restaurants or small bars, gig that are neither paid well nor attended by many people, but still, there is often more than one jazz concert a night. In the city I study in there are much fewer jazz locations, jazz concerts concentrate in one bar, open from wednesday to saturday.
I'm often astonished how quickly a rather self-orientated, self-sufficient subscene can build itself, and how quickly you find yourself believing that in there, you'll find the truth - not knowing that just a hundred kilometres away, there is a very similar subscene holding on to a totally different set of truths.
I guess I'm in a good position - studying there and living here!
In my jazz school there is a rather international vibe. A lot of the teachers have studied in Berklee, or Graz, and we have many masterclasses by jazz stars such as Mark Turner, Eric Harland, or Esperanza Spalding. The best students talk about their plans to study abroad after the bachelor's degree. There is idealism in every corner. People are talking about getting better, about bands, and cd projects, and getting reassured by the teachers who have led very interesting lifes. Discussions about money, about the future and about a job are very rare.
In the other jazz school, the leading subject seems to be different - I've found a more down-to-earth approach. Of course people talk about getting better and their cd projects, too. But a lot of the people put an end to their jazz studies after the bachelor. One statement that I've heard more than once is that with a master's degree in performance you don't have a profession, and with a master's in composition you'll just end up writing for carnival groups (called Guggenmusik in Switzerland). If you want to be a teacher, you will study pedagogy, but if not, you'd better try to find a job that guarantees some financial stability and practice your instrument on your own. I have never heard statements like these in my jazz school.
There are a lot of other differences. For example, a subject I will elaborate on a later date, in the city I live in there is a large jazz scene. Newcomers can play in lots of restaurants or small bars, gig that are neither paid well nor attended by many people, but still, there is often more than one jazz concert a night. In the city I study in there are much fewer jazz locations, jazz concerts concentrate in one bar, open from wednesday to saturday.
I'm often astonished how quickly a rather self-orientated, self-sufficient subscene can build itself, and how quickly you find yourself believing that in there, you'll find the truth - not knowing that just a hundred kilometres away, there is a very similar subscene holding on to a totally different set of truths.
I guess I'm in a good position - studying there and living here!
2010/06/30
Hello summer!
Only a short one for today: it's over! Exams, concerts (well, almost: one left for tomorrow!) ended today.
A warm welcome to the summer break: two and a half months in which one will have to plan, or at least start thinking about, the next big thing to come: the bachelor project. Which people to play with. Concerts to plan, so that all the nice people who support me so much through my doubt-and-irony-ridden days will finally see what I'm doing. A network to be built, so that after the studies there will be contacts and ideas left. Wow, sounds serious already!
But let's not forget: hello summer! long weekends with my friends, and two weeks in Germany with The Paraglider. It's gonna be grrrrreat (isn't this what the Kellogs Tiger says in the US?)!
And lo and behold: two cheesy summer quotes, just for the sake of it:
In summer, the song sings itself. ~William Carlos Williams
A warm welcome to the summer break: two and a half months in which one will have to plan, or at least start thinking about, the next big thing to come: the bachelor project. Which people to play with. Concerts to plan, so that all the nice people who support me so much through my doubt-and-irony-ridden days will finally see what I'm doing. A network to be built, so that after the studies there will be contacts and ideas left. Wow, sounds serious already!
But let's not forget: hello summer! long weekends with my friends, and two weeks in Germany with The Paraglider. It's gonna be grrrrreat (isn't this what the Kellogs Tiger says in the US?)!
And lo and behold: two cheesy summer quotes, just for the sake of it:
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus
2010/06/24
A night at the opera, and: I almost did it!
I've just had a crazy week. Exam time is almost over, everything went well (very well even) until now. I am so unbelievably proud and happy - one week to go and I'll have finished my fourth semester as a jazz student. I did it! I did it, I DID IT! Now, and if only for practical reasons, deciding time is over. In one year, I'll have my bachelor of arts in jazz performance (just saying it out loud makes me proud, writing it down is even better!) One year. 32 weeks of lessons. Not so long any more, and stupid would I be, would I give up now. I'll still have to take one step after the other, and I'll still have to face doubts (appearing out of nowhere like whiny old-lady-ghosts). And: I won't know what the heck I'll do afterwards, how I'll face everyday life as a part-time jazz musician. But I guess I'll have my music degree after all!!
For christmas, The Paraglider had given me opera tickets for yesterday, "Der Freischütz" von Carl Maria von Weber. Me, almost presentable in a nice dress and boots, with drum sticks looking out of my bag, in the Zurich Opera House! Known for pretty conservative productions, nice old building, red carpets and balconies with a view over the Lake and the city - an evening out at the Zurich Opera is really quite the event. I loved it! The Paraglider and me did some pretty ignoble things like drinking out of the faucet in the toilet and ordering a McDonalds-menu not five minutes after the last curtain. And: it's forbidden to take pictures, but I still did it, rebel that I am.
The Paraglider has a natural ability to fit in environments like that, while I may for a second look like I do, but the next will with absolute certainty do something inappropriate. I know he has a great career as a cultural manager ahead of him, he really has all the potential!
For christmas, The Paraglider had given me opera tickets for yesterday, "Der Freischütz" von Carl Maria von Weber. Me, almost presentable in a nice dress and boots, with drum sticks looking out of my bag, in the Zurich Opera House! Known for pretty conservative productions, nice old building, red carpets and balconies with a view over the Lake and the city - an evening out at the Zurich Opera is really quite the event. I loved it! The Paraglider and me did some pretty ignoble things like drinking out of the faucet in the toilet and ordering a McDonalds-menu not five minutes after the last curtain. And: it's forbidden to take pictures, but I still did it, rebel that I am.
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