Long time no blog...

Spent 1:40 working through some of Aebersold Vol. 1.

First 20 exercises along to CD track 2 then a bunch of improvisation along to the same track. The new room is finished so my keyboard has a more permanent home :)

Friday

30 Minutes Piano - Running through Grade 1 & 2 pieces.

30 Minutes arranging for Frith Street.

30 Minutes Drums. Yo Me Songo - working tricky parts up to minim = 70 and then playing the whole track at that speed along to Sibelius track.

30 Minutes Piano - Reviewing Grade Three pieces. These will take a bit more work to get back up to scratch.

15 Minutes Yo Me Songo

30 Minutes Bach Menuet in G

Thursday

30 Minutes piano:

Running through the same pieces as yesterday. I particularly like the Reinecke Allegro Moderato but think it sounds good played a lot slower than the composer orininally intended (nothing to do with the fact that it is easier to play!)

30 Minutes Bach Menuet in G

30 Minutes arranging a tune for Frith Street

Watched some of a Bob Berg DVD

30 Minutes Drums - Yo Me Songo. Playing A Section Patterns along to CD

Finding it difficult to stay focused today.

Tennis victory!

Also:

Today: 30 Minutes Piano - Same pieces as yesterday but mostly working on the Reinecke Allegro Moderato

Another 30 minutes Piano - Allegro Moderato and Wonderful Tonight.

30 Minutes Drums - Yo Me Songo Page One tricky bars over and over (lots and lots) from minim 50 - 70


Also this is why I LOVE Steve Gadd:

Tuesday

Played tennis AND went to the gym yesterday in an effort to work off a weeks worth of too much Italian food and red wine.

This morning:

30 minutes Piano. A run through each of the pieces from yesterday and then Biehl's Allegro Grazioso and a little look through Reinecke's Allegro Moderato. I'd forgotten how much I like some of these pieces.

I have to go to town today to sort out my phone which died while I was away :(

Back... (version 5)

I'm struggling a little to adapt to the daily routine after returning from Italy. I tried a little piano yesterday but gave up in frustration. This morning was much better. I've decided to run through some of the classical pieces I learned last year to refresh my memory.

This morning:

30 Minutes Duncombe Gavot/Kirnberger Minuetto

30 Minutes Vivaldi Autumn/Dunhill Song of Erin

30 Minutes Gedike Kummer

Drums: 40 Minutes improv & playing along to some Jeff Porcaro and Carlos Vega

Piano: 30 minutes Balazs Trudging

Hopefully more to come...

Seagulls! (Updated)

Seagulls woke me up early so I spent about an hour finishing off charts for Fridays gig.

Then spent about an hour practising my Italian.

An hour playing along to the CD of Set Two for Friday.

Gym session and a couple more hours Italian practice... getting into the mood now :)

More gig prep, tennis and gym

Charted out most of the tunes and ran through them on the V-Drums this morning. Played tennis... lost (the shame) and then hit the gym. Now: Wine Time!

Gig prep... Update...

Soent a couple of hours this morning listening to the CDs for Fridays dep gig, charting out some of the tunes then playing along on the V Drums. Looking forward to the gig - should be fun.

This afternoon I go into a rehearsal room with John B for some two drumkit madness.

The three hour, two drumkit session was fun as ever. Its always surprising to see what comes out in different contexts. I think I know at least one more lick than I realised. Some new ideas to work on too...

Killed myself at the gym. Again. I'm still fat though.

(Over) One Year On...

I just realised that I have been blogging (and piano-ing) for just over a year. I guess this is a good time to reflect on how I have progressed musically in the past twelve months.

I haven't managed to practise as consistently as I would have liked but have definitely made big improvements in my playing (both drums and piano.) I have just started looking at some Grade Five jazz material and my piano knowledge has helped a great deal in the transcribing and arranging I've been doing recently. Alter Ego is still developing nicely and I have two other semi regular projects on the go - Frith St and the Coastal Quartet of Doom.

Now I have access to the V drums at home I should be able to improve my drumming further and hopefully work towards the diploma.

Today:

30 Minutes Piano - All Blues Head @ 60bpm I was fairly pleased with how quickly this seemed to come together.

30 Minutes Yo Me Songo A & B Sections 60bpm

Sunday

Stockton Festival today. We opened the procedings on the 'jazz stage' I felt the set went really well although it seemed to be over in the blink of an eye. Plently of positive feedback so hopefully it sounded okay.

I stuck around to catch most of the other bands... always good to catch up with folks and hear some of the other local players. I musy get back into practice mode this week before I head abroad again!

Saturday update

Thursday we ran through the Frith Street tunes and recorded a take of each one. Things are taking shape...

Thursday night I went down to Darlington to see a band I will be depping with next Friday - a ten piece soul band with 3 horns and two backing singers... should be fun!

Yesterday was a day of rest (shopping, gym, eating and drinking)

Today I had a drum hang with John Blackburn. We watched drum porn, swapped stories, went out for food and most importantly he lent me his Roland V drum electronic kit... I can now practise at home much more easily (at least until November when John is next in the country)

Gig tomorrow.

Thurs

Yesterdays rehearsal was productive. I'm still tired from Swiss trip so I was flagging a bit towards the end. Went out for dinner in Wylam for the traditional pre-holiday Francis family send-off. More rehearsal today and then off to see a gig with the band I'm depping for next week. YET another late night :( Roll on Friday!

Wednesday AM

So much for holidays...

Rehearsal last night - great to be playing my own drums again.

I have full days of rehearsal today and tomorrow in preparation for some recording work next week. Also need to fit in a rehearsal for a dep gig I'm doing next week. Too busy for my liking! I'm supposed to be relaxing...

Tired

Got back from Switzerland this morning, following another VERY long coach trip. The 'tour' went really well and included open-air, lakeside concerts in Montreaux and Evian and concerts in Villars Sur Ollon and Les Diablerets. Lots of silliness and fun but not very much sleep!

Monday

Mega stress day yesterday followed by very disturbed sleep and now I'm off to spend about 30 hours on a coach full of kids... ouch!

Sunday

Not a good day. Ugh! :(

Must drink red wine...

Saturday

Big 2 hour gym session followed by starting to pack/get stuff together/load MP3 player/Charge MP3 player for Monday's Swiss trip.

30 Minutes Horacio Hernandez book - RH Clave LH melody exercises.

30 Minutes Piano Ssshh 40bpm - 76bpm

Friday

30 Minutes: Left Hand Cascara, RH permutation & Improv.

I need to go out and get books, clothes and currency for next weeks orchestra trip to Switzerland. Kerching! :(

Got all the above sorted, watched some jazz porn... Mike Stern and a bit of Bill Stewart

Went to gym, then made curry :)

Hopefully more practice tomorrow.

Thursday

Non music stuff - Played and won tennis again yesterday :) Also rang the doctors for an appointment and was told they aren't doing any appointments in person at the moment. They also asked if I had cold or flu like symptoms and made me a telephone appointment... swine flu lockdown?

Drums: 30 minutes Right Hand cascara, LH permutations & Improv. Then started LH Cascara RH permutations.

My new music has come through the letter box in the time I've been writing this blog. Time to go and check it out.

Piano: 30 Minutes Beginning to see the Light 60-72 bpm including soloing.

Won tennis... again. (Take that Pattinson!)

Went to the gym.

Now trying to resist sitting on the sofa and drinking wine. I may fail.

30 Minutes Trancrsiption/Arrangement of new tune.

Wednesday

Piano:

30 Minutes Bergonzi On The Brink Permutations 100, 104, 108bpm. I've just about reached my maximum tempo for now. Need to work through the patterns at these tempos a bit more before I get quicker.

30 Minutes Footprints 84-194bpm, then working on the solo section.

Drums:

30 Minutes Horacio Hernandez coordination studies. 60 bpm Left hand clave, right hand permutations then improv.

30 Minutes Horacio exercises. 60bpm Right Hand Cascara, Left Hand permutations.

I watched the companion DVD last night for a bit of added inspiration. I think that working on this material should really help my 'latin' playing - an area I've always felt needs improving.

Arranging:

About an hour working on a new tune for Frith Street Band.

More to come...

First day of freedom!

Spent about an hour working on the first chapter of Conversations in Clave by Horacio Hernandez.

Hopefully more to come later....

Monday

I managed 90 minutes of drum work:

30 Minutes Yo Me Songo
30 Minutes Afro Cuban 6/8 stuff in preparation for the tune Afro Waltz
30 Minutes uptempo swing to help with John Riley's Out In The Open

Sunday

I did a small group set last night using four of my quartet arrangements. I enjoyed playing the charts and it has given me a timely reminder that I need to do a few more of these - plenty to keep me busy over the Summer.

In addition I want to write a couple of percussion ensemble pieces to use for teaching, write an arrangement or two for Alter Ego and possible write a brass + drums piece to play with a few work colleagues. Longer term I may try to write/arrange a piece for one of the County Youth Ensembles... so many plans, so little time!

Today:

30 Minutes Sshhh from 40-60bpm

30 Minutes Footprints from 80-100bpm

Friday

Only one more day of 'proper' work til the Summer Holidays, I still have a few gigs, rehearsals, private teaching and a trip to Switzerland before I'm fully off but all of that stuff is more fun than the daily grind.

I spent about 40 minutes today working on Yo Me Songo. I'm going to try and book myself into rehearsal space fairly regularly over the Summer in order to supplement my practice pad work and keep things moving forward.

Thursday

Got to work early and spent 40 minutes working on Yo Me Songo slowly along to Sibelius at minim=60, 63, 66, 69 I finished up by trying it along to the CD to see how far I need to go with this. The answer? Very far!

Some more of the diploma music arrived today. It looks... meh... not so good.

Hoping to do some piano this afternoon too. Watch this space!

Wednesday

Piano:

30 minutes sight reading. Note to self - I need to do a lot more of this!
30 minutes Bergonzi On The Brink - 5 permutations 84-100bpm

Drums:

30 Minutes - Yo Me Songo

I've made up a little practice pad set to work on some of my new diploma stuff at home. I programmed Yo Me Songo bassline plus clave into Sibelius yesterday so I spent half an hour working on the first section. I'm trying to memorise the material as I go along and also seem to be latching on to the 'in the cracks' feel (neither straight nor swung) to make the patterns sound a little more Cuban and a little less English!

Busy Few Days!

The last few days have been hectic:

Thursday - Work, gym, gig
Friday - Work, rehearsal
Sat - Youth Band rehearsal, rehearsal, gig til v late
Sun - Youth band rehearsal, gig
Monday - Work, private lessons, gym, sleep!

I actually have a little time off in the next few days so I hope to get some more practice done. Since looking into the diploma I have started working on my uptempo jazz playing as one of the pieces is a rather swift 300bpm.
I ordered 'Funkifying the Clave' which contains two more tunes from the repertoire list. It arrived on Sat so I have flicked through it and listed to the CD a few times. I had some spare time at work yesterday afternoon so I programmed a bass Tumbao into Sibelius and practiced some of the basic patterns from the Songo chapter of the book and then ran through the different sections of the piece 'Yo Me Songo'
At the moment I am working at a VERY slow tempo!

Piano:

20 Minutes Scales
20 Minutes Beginning to see the light. A quick run through and then working on tricky areas.
30 Minutes Bergonzi. All permutations @ 72, 76, 80bpm

Stormy Wednesday

I've had a few days away from the piano but got back to it today:

20 Minutes Sight Reading & Bergonzi On The Brink all permutations @ 66bpm

20 Minutes Running through each of the three Grade 4 pieces. I've neglected Footprints and Sssh a bit recently.

In other news I'm considering sitting a Performance Diploma exam for drumset (for fun!)

I had a look at the repertoire list and have ordered some music, work should hopefully pay the fee but if not I'll do it anyway. It will be nice to get my teeth into some new material and will hopefull give me a 'fun' medium term goal. I'm not expecting it to be that hard but maybe I'm kidding myself!

Sunday

After another gruelling 2 hour gym session I sat down at the piano and identified my main short term goals. These are:

Complete Grade 4 Jazz Piano - 3 Pieces, Scales, Sight Reading etc etc
Delve deeper into improvistation using the Jerry Bergonzi material.

I need to make sure that my practice includes all of these areas in rotation rather than focusing on one or two things at the expense of others.

Piano:

20 Minutes Grades 1-4 scales/arpeggios

20 Minutes Beginning to See the Light

Drums:

20 Minutes: Benny Greb Dynamic Workout and Sticking Workout

Saturday

20 Minutes - See the light. This piece is hard (for me anyway!)

20 Minutes more. Running through the whole piece now.

20 Minutes more seeing the light.

Drums:

20 Minutes.

I Dusted off the practice pad to work on some of Benny Greb's Technique Ideas. I went through the Rhythmic Alphabet playing each 'letter' for four bars at 60 bpm using the following methods:

Singles with accents
Diddles 1
Diddles 2
Single Stroke Doubles
Flams

Flams need to be worked through slower, I'll do the rest quicker next time.

20 Minutes more Benny Greb stuff:

Dynamic Workout @ 40bpm for semiquavers, 60 bpm for triplets (both hands)
Sticking Workout Triplets (Both Hands lead, Both stickings)
Diddles 1 (triplets, both hands lead, voth stickings)

20 Minutes more drums.

Finished off the 'Words' chapter of Benny Greb, including the groove exercises played on a pad (a la David Garibaldi) the is actually a great way to work on drumset stuff as you hear any inconsistencies much easier than you do with the sound of a full kit masking the errors!

Lazy Wednesday

Piano:

15 Minutes scales.

15 Minutes ..see the light.

Tuesday

I've been neglecting the blog a bit recently - must make more of an effort!

Lots of drum time today (thank God for school trips) I'm still working on the John Riley comping exercises along to verious backing tracks.

I've also been having a lot of fun working with David Garibaldi's Tower of Power loops, using them to work on DG's stuff and some of my own ideas. Whatever you play feels pretty good when you're playing along with the rest of TOP. Being able to change the tempos of the loops is great when you're working on challenging new material.

Piano:

15 Minutes reviewing all scales/arpeggios. One run through of each pattern.

15 Minutes getting back into Beginning to See the Light.

15 Minutes running through some old Grade One pieces for fun.

Sunny Sunday

Well I finally won at tennis again today after a short losing streak - hopefully I can continue to occasionally defeat Pattinson!

Not much piano practice recently although I have revisited some of the easier pieces I did last year which has been good fun.

I went to the annual Wylam Tennis Club BBQ yesterday which would have been very nice and Summery if it wasn't for the torrential downpour... Shame it wasn't today.

So much for lazy Wednesday!

Busy week.

Monday = work and then rehearsal.
Tuesday = 90 minutes drum practice (John Riley/Groove Essentials/Garibaldi) Work then private lessons

Today I hit the gym and did some admin work at home. I almost fell off the wagon last night. I'm about halfway through my 'dry' month and really fancied a glass of red last night. Luckily my laziness won as it would have involved a trip to the shops. Sadly I have (yet) another rehearsal tonight.

Piano:
15 minutes - Beginning to see the light.

Sunday

This morning I had a rehearsal with one of the youth ensembles then:

Piano.

15 minutes scales - Grade 4 next section.

20 minutes Beginning to see the light, adding in the next section.

Another 3 hours finishing my new arrangement.

Been using Spotify a ton this week. As a result I've ordered a copy of Horace Silver's The Hardbop Grandpop. It's Mint! Check it out :)

Saturday

30 Minutes Transcribing & then arranging a new tune for Frith St Band.

15 Minutes Scales

30 Minutes more Frith St

15 Minutes Beginning to See the Light

3 more hours transcription/arranging

Friday

30 Minutes John Riley triplet comping along to Jazz Ramp

Thursday

Two hours Drums:

30 Minutes John Riley comping along to Jazz Ramp MP3

30 Minutes Gadd/Weckl licks along to Jazz Ramp MP3

30 Minutes Gary Chaffee Fatback exercise along to Groove Essentials playalong

30 Minutes Groove Essentials Grooves 16-20 along to backing tracks

Piano:

15 Minutes: Bergonzi On The Brink as yesterday bu 65bpm

15 Minutes: Beginning to see the Light

Finally got my copy of the Five Peace Band live disc today :)

Wednesday

15 Minutes Grade 4 Scales - First Page only, lots of repetitions.

15 Minutes Beginning to see the Light

15 Minutes working through some of the 'easier' classical pieces I learned last Summer in an attempt to build up a bit more repertoire and brush up on my reading skills. This was harder than I thought it would be!

15 Minutes Jerry Bergonzi On The Brink 60bpm. Five permutations and then mixing up permutations. 3521 needs work.

First Day Back

I managed an hour and a half of drum practice today:

John Riley quaver comping, Riley triplet comping, and two new licks - One Steve Gadd pattern and a Weckl one.

I practised all of these along to the 21 minute Jazz ramp MP3.

I've been enjoying the results of integrating more 'new' technology into my teaching. Using more audio examples and MP3 playalongs, playing along to Sibelius, Using DVDs etc

Piano:

15 Minutes: Grade 3 scales

30 Minutes: I'm Beginning To See The Light

Teacher Training Day!

A final day off before my last few weeks of the academic year. In an attempt to improve my health (and reduce my waistline) I joined the gym and decided to give up alcohol for a month last weekend. So far its going ... okayyyy. Hopefully it will have been worth it when I hop on the scales next month.

Today:

15 Minutes: Grade 2 scales.

15 Minutes: I'm Beginning To See The Light

15 Minutes: Footprints

15 Minutes: Shh

Sunday

Its been a busy month! Rehearsals, Switzerland, a week of shows, gigs, reports, practice, arranging, gym, tennis etc...

I have been a little too busy to blog but hoping to get back into the swing of things now that things are starting to wind down.

Today:

15 minutes - I'm beginning to see the light, first sixteen bars slowly.

15 minutes scales - I've decided that I now have too many scales to go through them all each day so today I did just Grade One scales but more repetitions, tomorrow I'll do just Grade Two and so on...

15 Minutes - Footprints 80bpm, focusing on solo section.

15 Minutes - Ssh including end.

Saturday

Another busy week of Birthday meals, work and writing of reports (on those rare occasions when the County Server is actually working) has meant little piano time.

Drum wise:

Tuesday: 2 hours John Riley comping exercises.

Weds: 1 hour Riley

Thurs: 30 minutes Riley 30 minutes improv

Fri:
1 hour hand technique - Bill Bachman triple strokes
30 minutes: John Riley.

With the Riley material I am trying to adapt my hi hat technique a little, using the heel/toe method which generates a nice sound whilst also slightly improving the feel (to my ears anyway) No wonder so many of the old school guys played this way!

Since starting to work on the Riley material I have been pleased with the physical improvements but need to remember to achieve a balance between the pure mechanical exercises and improvising with the same materials to fully work them into my vocabulary.

I've also been slightly shirking my arranging/composition this week. Hopefully now I have my new laptop and 3 days next week in Switzerland things will change.

Also I have somehow become FAT again. Things will have to change!

Birthday weekend

Out of usual routine this weekend. Still playing plenty but not working in set blocks of time.

I've worked through a second Grade 4 jazz piece - "Shh" and was pleased with how easily I managed to read through most of the piece. I also started work on I'm Beginning to See the Light which seems a little trickier.

Thursday practice

2 hours drums - Lots of John Riley stuff.

Rehearsal after work.

No Lazy Wednesday

Had to make up for Mondays missed time today.

Did an hour of John Riley stuff.

I intend to spend a bit of time exploring his regular time - double time approach.

I've also been more aware of my body in recent practice sessions. I notice that I tend to look down a lot (bad) and find myself holding my breath a little (also bad) Oddly I don't seem to do either of these in rehearsals or gigs.

Tuesday

1 hour drums: John Riley stuff.

Another really good rehearsal last night. I'm starting to feel like the practising I've done over the last couple of years is really paying off. I changed the way I approach practising and it has really helped. I now feel like the hours spent in the practice room DO result in improved (and more musical) performance... I didn't always feel this way in the past.

15 Minutes Footprints

15 Minutes Bergonzi On The Brink all permutations 60bpm

Monday

A combination of very minor car problems and my stupidity and lack of mechanical knowledge led to my car going into the garage today and me having to cancel work.

This means I should get a bit of extra practice done.

30 Minutes - Footprints from 80-100bpm with attempted soloing. This is a coordination challenge.

30 Minutes Bergonzi - Lady Duck 5 permutations then mixing it up. Along to slow and then fast playalongs.

30 Minutes Scale workout.

Sunday

30 Minutes Footprints all the way through at 80bpm. No right hand solo... yet.

30 Minutes scales.

The 'just do it' philosophy has led me to try and make contact with a really good piano/jazz improvistation teacher who used to lecture at Leeds. I'm hoping to get occasional lessons from him. I've been thinking of doing this for a while but decided to stop thinking and start doing.

30 Minutes all jazz quick studies Grades 1-3. Its a while since I did any sight reading practice and I was really pleased with how easy this seemed. The improvised sections were comfortable too.

Saturday

30 Minutes Footprints Head plus left hand part for solo at 60-72 bpm. The writen voicings for the solo section are definitely trickier than the ones in the earlier jazz grades. It may take a while to feel comfortable enough to solo freely over the top. That being said... the 'Just Do It' approach always seems to work out in all areas of music and life at the moment.

30 Minutes scales including first 5 Grade 4 ones.

And now... to the Tynemouth Lodge!

Friday :)

I did an hour of drum practice today as it was 'Charity Day' at one of my schools. This meant that students were far too busy being dressed as giant bananas etc to come to drum lessons. I practised the John Riley triple comping exercises working up and then back down the metronome.

Listening: More Chris Potter. I have listened to the whole thing now. Link here:

http://urge2burge.wordpress.com/

When I got in I finally made a start on my reports then hit the piano:

15 minutes Footprints head at 60bpm. There are a few Kramer Voicings (TM) in this arrangement.

15 minutes scales.

20 minutes Bergonzi Lady Duck

Tired!

I spent 90 minutes today working on some of John Riley's exercises.

I was intending to do an hour of piano when I got in but I'm exhausted. Still getting over a cold so I've given it a miss for today.

My listening the last few days has been centred around six CDs of Chris Potter masterclasses I came across at the weekend - some very interesting ideas are discussed and there are a couple of really good playing examples... cue massive Chris Potter listening phase...

Quick catch-up

Mondays rehearsal went well - lots of fun and the arrangements sounded good (I think!) so I have approval to do some more :) I'm looking forward to gigging with this band. Its a little different and should be goof fun all round.

Yesterday I managed two hours of drum practice. I mainly worked on some of the exercises from John Riley's DVD, playing along to the bass line backing tracks that come with the package.

I have made a start back into proper piano practice today:

30 Minutes Footprints - first section at 60 bpm

30 Minutes scales

Sadly I have all my reports to wite in the next few weeks :(

Long time no blog....

I haven't posted for a few days so here's what I've been up to:

Wednesday's gig was extremely enjoyable. I felt relaxed and the ideas seemed to flow. Hopefully I'll get the chance to play with these guys again.

I've been working on my arrangements for the Frith St band and am really looking forward to hearing the fruits of my labour at Monday's rehearsal. Hopefully the tunes won't completely suck! It was VERY satisfying to hear my arrangements played the other week at my first 'Coastal Quartet' rehearsal.

I finally sold my Sonor drums and immediately re-invested part of the proceeds in equipment by treating myself to a World Max Black Dawg snare drum :)

The tennis courts are now fully operational. Victory was mine yesterday... read it and weep Pattinson!

Busy few days...

I haven't done much piano/drum practice in the lastfew days but I have been very busy with other musical activities.

I've finished one of my new arrangements and I'm halfway through the second.

I had a rehearsal today for a gig tomorrow. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the gig. I'm also really glad that I bought my new cymbal set up. I think the improved sound makes me play differently (hopefully better!)

I'm about to relax with the new John Riley DVD. It arrived this morning and I've been looking forward to seeing it for a long time having gained so much in the past by working through John's books.

Arrangements...

Okayyyyyy...

I seem to have talked myself into being 'comissioned' to write a few arrangements in exchange for actual money. I felt terrified at first but I'm quite pleased with how things are taking shape so hopefully I'm adding a new string to my musical bow.

This has meant a reduction in piano practice but its all good musical experience :)

Wednesday Practice

20 Minutes Bergonzi On The Brink - All permutations at 60, 63bpm

20 Minutes All permutations along to CD then mixing up permutations.

Sold some old drum stuff today - I got £50 for it (Kerching!) I'm looking into selling one of my kits next week too so hopefully that will raise a bit of cash too.

20 Minutes: Neat Feet

Full Day

Yesterday was pretty full-on.

Spent about five hours doing arrangments for new quartet. I only just finished in time to make my first rehearsal - was actually loadingthe car while they printed out!

First rehearsal went well - fun fun fun :)

Second rehearsal was great too. It was good to hear the guys playing through my 'hot off the press' arrangements. The new cymbals sounded terrific and I think actually made me play differently (better?)

I'm looking forward to doing some more arrangements in preparation for next time.

First day of 'real' holiday

There is so much I want to do in the next couple of weeks and simply not enough hours in each day. Two weeks is not long enough!

30 Minutes: All Grade 3 pieces several times up to speed.

30 Minutes: Jerry Bergonzi Lunar - Five Permutations along to slow playalong.

Played Tennis... lost.

Came home and spent about 2 1/12 hours on arrangements fot tomorrow.

Sunday

Not much chance for hands-on practice in the last few days. I have been doing plenty of listening/reading/watching though.

I got the Modern Drummer Festival 2008 DVD and there are a lot of really good performances and interviews spread across four discs. I especially like Bill Stewart's band and Dafnis Prieto's sextet.
Also listened to lots of Mike Brecker (for a change) in addition to plenty of Dexter Gordon and Hank Mobley.

I need to get cracking with some arrangements - I hope to have four or five done by Tuesday.

Today:

20 Minutes Scale workout.

Friday

My shiny new stuff is sitting in the house but I won't get to use it until next Tuesday. I have two rehearsals on Tuesday so I'll have a chance to hear how things sound in context.

Piano:

30 Minutes Bergonzi - On The Brink. Five permutations at slow tempos 60-66bpm. My fingers need to catch up with my brain for this

I'm having the ultimate day of drum geek-ery today:

My new issue of Modern Drummer arived in the post, shortly followed by the four DVD set of Modern Drummer Festival 2008. I also spent about five hours completely dismantling, thoroughly cleaning and replacing the heads on my drum kit. Hopefully it will have been worth all the work when I get to play them along with my new cymbals on Tuesday!

New Cymbals...?

I went to one of the local drum shops to try out a few cymbals recently and have arranged to go to their warehouse to pick out a few new toys. Hopefully I will get a new set up in the next couple of days. It won't be cheap but its years since I spent any money on equipment. The set up I have now is really better suited to the loud R&B band I was in a few years back than my current playing situations.

30 minutes: Scale Workout

Looooong walk whilst listening to Michael Brecker's Tales from the Hudson.

30 Minutes Bergonzi - Mixing up permutations on Lady Duck. I tried On The Brink as well but this needs more work!

UPDATE:

I bought new cymbals. I am now poor.

Lazy two and a half weeks day.

Its the first day of my Easter break today. I'm hoping to get a lot more practice, composition and playing done and I should be having first rehearsals with two new bands - a lot to look forward to.

Piano:

30 Minutes scales/arpeggios workout.

30 Minutes Bergonzi - Tunes 3 and 4 with basic 1234/1345 patterns

1 Hour working on an arrangement. I hope to have a few done by this time next week. They are fairly bare bones but I need to get reacquainted with Sibelius!

30 Minutes working on Michael Garrick's Neat Feet which is really starting to come together now :)

I've been taking care of some teaching admin too so its been a fairly full day so far.

Another 90 minutes working on arrangements.

Yesterday's Practice

I only managed an hour today:

30 Minutes Bill Bachman Singles on practice pad

30 Minutes working on some drum ideas for a couple of tunes I intend to work on in one of my new musical ventures.

It was a long day and by the time I got in I just wanted to celebrate my new found freedom from work so I chose red wine over piano practice!

Monday

Things are falling into place in preparation for my Easter break :)

Got a long day tomorrow and then I'm off - plenty of time to relax, practise and prepare for some new musical ventures.

Today:

20 Minutes Scales

3 Hour rehearsal

Sunday

30 Minutes Noodling. I tried playing through some 2-5-1s in verious keys and had a try at comping through a few tunes in the real book.

30 Minutes Scales.

30 Minutes Bergonzi. Lady Duck all permutations along to slow and fast versions on the CD. On the Brink basic patterns along to slow playalong.

1 Hour Composition.

Saturday

Piano:

20 Minutes Scales (at correct tempo for Grade 3.)

20 Minutes Bergonzi all permutations on Lady Duck and On the Brink at 60 bpm.

20 Minutes Neat Feet. All traditional metronome markings from 60-100bpm, ironing out a few reading errors as I get more comfortable with the piece.

30 Minutes Ted Pease Composition exercises.

20 Minutes Scales.

30 Minutes Bergonzi: Lady Duck 1234/1345 and the three permutations. I did one chorus of each at 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 bpm and then played along to the CD four times - one for each permutation and then moved into mixing it up a little and improvising using these notes.

30 Minutes more Bergonzi. On the Brink permutations 60-100bpm

Jeff Tain Watts and Friday Practice

Drums:

1 Hour practice pad stuff - Bill Bachman Singles and Alan Dawson Rudimental Ritual.

Piano:

15 Minutes Neat Feet

I Came across these the other day:

Thursday

Drums:

45 Minutes 3/4 comping using a mixture of John Riley material and improvised ideas. I'm doing this to address a slightly weak area and prepare for one or two of the tunes I hope to be playing in one of my new projects.

30 Minutes Bill Bachman Double Strokes & Alan Dawson Rudimental Ritual

Piano:

15 Minutes working on the last 3 Grade 3 scales.

15 Minutes Bergonzi Lady Duck using the 3 permutations - 4 choruses of each one at 60bpm. Its hard work but I can feel myself getting better as I play through the piece in this way.

15 Minutes Neat Feet working from 60bpm to 100bpm (somewhat sketchily!)

Lazy Wednesday

I'm feeling very positive and excited about music at the moment. I'm looking forward to getting started with a new band featuring a number of people who I always enjoy playing with. I have also been a little more proactive than usual in the last few days and have instigated another new playing project . Rehearsals for both things should begin in the next few weeks - I can't wait. At least one of these projects should force me to flex my composition and arranging muscles (weak as they are!)

Yesterday I managed 90 minutes of drums:

30 Minutes Bill Bachman singles/Rudimental Ritual.

60 Minutes toying with some drum ideas for my new quartet.

Last night was my brother's 'Good Luck In America Part 2' dinner so I was busy eating rare steak and drinking red wine rather than practising piano!

Today:

20 Minute scale workout - all Grade 1-3 scales/arpeggios except C minor pentatonic, C blues and F bluues scales. I will start with these next time.

20 Minutes Pieces - Running through Barrelhouse and Moon then concentrating on Neat Feet including solo at 60 bpm

20 Minutes Bergonzi Lady Duck/On The Brink along to CD. Next session I will try some of the permutation exercises.

20 Minutes composition exercises.

Another great day...

Another great day of music yesterday. I really enjoyed seeing a number of familiar faces playing well in the Sage concourse and enjoyed catching up with some more old friends. I bought the last two Joshua Redman CDs and a live Elvin Jones disc before the evenings gig.

The Joshua Redman trio was outstanding last night. I think Greg Hutchinson is my new favourite drummer!

Today:

15 Minutes Grade 3 jazz scales up to C minor pentatonic.

15 Minutes Neat Feet sketching through the entire head - not solo section yet.

15 Minutes Bergonzi On The Brink 100-120bpm then CD playalong. I definitely could not do this a week ago... Progress!

15 Minutes Composition - Ted Pease melody exercises.

I think the structured aproach will help me achieve my current goals but will be more effective when I have a little more practice time available. Roll on Easter Holidays!

Fun yesterday... practice today

I enjoyed catching up with a lot of folks yesterday at the Jazz Festival. I even got up and played in the Jam session. I Also spoke to a very good local pianist about actually getting some lessons at long last. I heard lots of good music played and I played a couple more very tasty cymbals. I can see myself becoming considerably poorer in the next week or so! I also put the wheels in motion as far as developing a new playing situation goes...

Today:

20 Minutes scales workout - ALMOST ready to move on to some new patterns.

20 Minutes Pieces: 4 times through Fly Me to the Moon and Barrelhouse Blues, then working on Michael Garrick's Neat Feet - first 8 bars.

20 Minutes Bergonzi On The Brink 80bpm-120bpm using 1234/1345 patterns.

I'm considering structuring my piano time for a while by devoting equal time to each of the following areas:

Pieces
Technique (Scales/Arpegggios)
Improvistation (Bergonzi Melodic Structures)
Composition

Saturday

20 Minutes Grade 3 Jazz Piano scales - mainly trying to nail that pesky D minor pentatonic.

20 Minutes making a start on Footprints. I felt I needed some fresh material and a new challenge. I worked slowly through the first 20 bars.

20 Minutes Bergonzi: On The Brink using 1235/1345 working with the click from 60-96 bpm

Friday

45 Minutes on the practice pad working on Bill Bachman singles and Alan Dawson's Rudimental Ritual.

Tried our some verrryyy nice (and verrry expensive) cymbals this afternoon...

20 Minutes Scales - The fingering for D Minor Pentatonic over two octaves with both hands together still a sticking point... yes you read correctly - I suck.

20 Minutes Bergonzi Assignment 1 - Lady Duck along to CD, On the Brink along to click.

Tiring Thursday

Drums:

1 hour practising looser time and solo ideas inspired by some of Adam Nussbaum's playing I listened to yesterday.

30 Minutes - Bill Bachman Singles

I may be too tired for Piano tonight - I'll catch up tomorrow and at the weekend.

Return of Lazy Wednesday

20 Minutes Scales:

Jazz Grade 1-3 scales up to and including D minor pentatonic over two octaves - another tricky fingering.

20 Minutes:

New Grade 3 piece - Neat Feet by Michael Garrick. First 8 bars at 60bpm

20 Minutes:

Improvistation practice. Jerry Bergonzi Assignment 1 - Lady Duck along to CD. The turnaround is much more comfortable today.

Went for a massive walk whilst listening to two Michael Brecker CDs. The combination of a great day and some fantastic music put me in a very good mood :)

20 Minutes scales - I need to nail D minor pentatonic over two octave with both hands together!

I like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubgLFD-gTm8

20 Minutes More Bergonzi working through Tune 2 "On the Brink"

Tuesday

Drums:

Bill Bachman Singles as a warm-up.

1 hour trading fours with myself trying to improvise with variations of the licks I practised 1000 times each last week.

Piano:

20 Minutes Scales - concentrating on the different fingerings for B flat Lydian and F Major.

20 Minutes 'Swing Fun'

Back into the swing of things (I hope!)

I've had a very hectic few weeks - lots of work, trips away, weekend and evening work, rehearsals, gigs, family dinners etc... I'm looking forward to a more 'normal' week.

Drums:

30 Minutes trading 4s, 8s, 12s with myself (alternating time playing and soloing)at a variety of tempos trying to improvise lots of variations of the Steve Gadd ratamacue lick.

Piano:

20 Minutes:

Warm-up with Jazz Grade 1 quick studies.
Swing Fun - all written sections at 60bpm apart from the tricky descending chromatic run in bars 22 and 23. I tried this at 40bpm and it still wasn't quite comfortable. I've now bought the Jazz Grade 4 book too so I'm hoping to finish Swinf Fun asap to get stuck into that.

20 Minutes:

Jazz Grade 3 scales. Quick run through G Dorian and C mixolydian and then concentrating on the strange fingering for B flat Lydian.

20 Minutes:

Jerry Bergonzi 'Lady Duck' using 1235/1345 patterns along to slow playalong. This is much better than it was the other day. The only sticking point is the last four bars and that is more of a technique issue than a lack of understanding.

10 Minutes: Running through Fly me to the Moon and Barrelhouse Blues

Quick run through

Just 20 minutes to spare before work this morning. I ran through Fly Me to the Moon and Barrelhouse Blues several times each at the marked tempos. Its definitely time to focus on Swing Fun - my third Grade 3 jazz piece.

A piffling 30 minutes

30 Minutes Bill Bachman singles.

I intended to do some piano when I got in but I was soooo tired. Work again tomorrow. Sunday is my first day off in weeks - been working every day and most evenings recently. I'm exhausted!

Long, busy day.

Drums:

1 hour Gary Novak lick 1000 repetitions

30 Minutes Bill Bachman Singles

30 Minutues playing 12 bars time/12 bars solo trying to incorporate some of the patterns I've been doing the 1000 reps of.

3 hour rehearsal. I'm totally sick of my drum kit. I really need new stands (which work and aren't rusty) drums which I actually like the sound of and cymbals which don't sound like a radiator.

...Playing was okay though.

...by the seat of my pants.

Tonight I was doing a concert with one of the youth bands whose percussion section I coach. I had a frantic phone call this afternoon asking if I could stand in with one of the other bands whose percussionist had let them down at the last minute. With zero rehearsal I sight read the stuff through time signature changes, tempo changes etc etc and felt I did a pretty good job. Oddly I find things like this more stressful when my students and their parents are around because I definitely don't want to look like a chump in front of them!

The concert was at a local private school and their facilities and equipment were RIDICULOUS. Far far far better than we have in the entire county and this was just one school... if only all schools were this well funded and resourced...

Gary Novak & Return to Piano

I finally got round to listening to a Gary Novak clinic I found online a few weeks back. Some very interesing ideas in terms of learning to make the most of your ideas on the drums - using the same pattern with different note rates etc... I think I have a new lick to practise 1000 times tomorrow!

I've also been looking into buying a new drum set and selling my two old ones. I'm currently fishing around for prices...

Piano wise:

20 Minutes Fly Me to the Moon 100-144bpm

20 Minutes Barrelhouse Blues 60-88bpm

20 Minutes Improvisation - having a little play with some of the ideas in Jerry Bergonzi's first book (chapter 1!)

20 Minutes Jazz Piano Grade 1, 2, 3 scales/arpeggios (up to B flat Lydian) I need to start at this point next time so that I make sure to cover them all, including the ones with trickier fingering!

Tuesday

My Tuesday School has a ski trip this week so I had plenty of spare time today in addition to my pre-work practice.

I managed 2 1/2 hours of drum practice working on some of the ideas I got from my recent idea exchange with John. I'm still experimenting with the 1000 repetitions idea but doing 100 at each tempo working up the metronome in increments of ten. it definately works but it is exhausting.

I have also been regularly practising the Bill Bachman single strokes exercises quite a bit in the last week. Its the first 'pure technique' practice I have done in quite a while.

I should really practise piano today but I'm sooooo tired. I have spare time during the day tomorrow - I'll catch up then.

Busy, Tiring week

I was away with work all week - Lots of rehearsing but very little individual practice time. I did do quite a bit of playing though and took turns with a colleague transcribing a Youngblood Brass Band arrangement. Its ages since I have done any non-drum transcription and I was pleasantly surprised by how easily it came. Using Sibleius makes things a lot quicker (and easier to check!)

I have another very busy week ahead - different gigs/rehearsals on every night this week so it may be next weekend before I really get back into the swing of things in terms of piano practice :(

Sunday

I didn't get much done yesterday because of work, hopefully today will be a bit better...

15 Minutes Barrelhouse Blues from 66-80 bpm and then one run-through at the marked tempo of 100.

15 Minutes Swing Fun

15 Minutes Grades 1, 2, 3 Scales/Arpeggios

Saturday

Piano:

30 Minutes practising Huw Warren's Swing Fun.

Friday

40 Minutes Composition:

I sat at the piano when I got to work and started re-working through Ted Pease's Jazz Composition: Theory and Practice. I was fairly pleased with the results of the first few melody exercises.

1 Hour Drums:

30 Minutes Bill Bachman Singles (as featured in the new Modern Drummer)

30 Minutes doing 500 bars of Gaddamacues

Piano:

15 Minutes Barrelhouse Blues from 63-76bpm

15 Minutes Fly Me to the Moon & Swing Fun

Thursday

When I was a teenager and didn't have a set of drums yet I used to go find it difficult getting to sleep because there was always music going on in my head and I was so excited about the prospect of going to school the next day and practising or working on tunes I was writing. Although I sometimes go through periods where I lose my motivation a little it usually comes back stronger than ever. I feel really inspired to work at things at the moment and I'm hoping this will translate into improved performace.

In conversation with my friend John the other day we discussed an idea based on one of Mike Mangini's theories. John claimed that he once practised a particlar lick for 1000 repetitions non-stop and that he has never needed to work on it since but has pretty much mastery of it at a variety of tempos. It seemed to work for him so in the interests of science I gave it a try. I selected a lick that I can play but have never felt 100% comfortable with - the Steve Gadd ratamacue. I managed 500 repetitions but got interrupted when my first student walked in! It took about half an hour but it definately did some good.

I stumbled across an interesting video last night too:

Wednesday 25th

20 Minutes running through all of the Jazz Grade 1 & 2 scales. My hands are starting to remember what to do!

20 Minutes playing Barrelhouse Blues from 60-72 bpm.

20 Minutes running Fly Me to the Moon from 120-144bpm and then sketching through a third Jazz Grade 3 piece - Huw Warren's Swing Fun at a slow 60pm.

I then spent three hours in a rehearsal room with my friend John swapping ideas and marvelling at his expensive new kit. It was supposed to be two hours but we were having too much fun so we stayed for an extra hour! What with all the talking and set-up time we probably only got about 90 minutes drumming done but I really enjoyed it and have come away with a few new ideas to work on... I'll have to do this again sometime.

I also dug my Jazz Composition: Theory and Practice book out of storage so I intend to brush up on that - particularly next week when I'm working away and won't have my keyboard.

Tuesday 24th

I managed just over two hours of drum kit time today, mainly working on ideas inspired by some of the stuff I heard Sebastiaan De Krom play last Thursday with Steve Grossman.

I also spent about 40 minutes working on some of the material in Gary Chaffee's Technique Patterns book. I'm using it with one of my students at the moment and its been a few years since I last played through it. I'd forgotten how much fun it is and how good it makes my hands feel.

Piano:

20 Minutes Barrelhouse Blues at 60bpm. This is coming together fairly well. Almost ready to start upping the tempo.

20 Minutes Fly Me to the Moon 120-144 bpm then lots of times at 144.

Inspiration/Education

My good friend John brought these to my attention today:









Awesome stuff. Its interesting to see that Brecker seems almost shy and very humble here. I'm going through a big Brecker phase at the moment!

Monday

30 Minutes drums:

Trading fours with myself using Weckl Nine idea, paradiddle-diddle plus foot/feet and flammed rolls. Playing with diferent note rates and trying to come up with variations of each idea/combining the different ideas.

Piano:

20 Minutes working St Thomas up to minim = 60. More study is needed before I feel freedom improvising over the changes. I understand it but need more practice before I can... well... put it all into practice!

20 Minutes working Fly Me to the Moon up to the marked tempo - 144 bpm and then playing the whole thing a bunch of times through with solo section.

20 Minutes sketching through a new piece - Barrelhouse Blues at 60 bpm. I got through the whole piece with solos but it is far from fluent!

30 Minutes Improvisation

Last week I got the John LaPorta Method for Jazz Improvisation and worked through the first three 'lessons'. Tonight I spent half an hour on lesson four. This is a little trickier than the first three and the playalong tune is quite quick. I will need to repeat this lesson a few times before moving on.

Sunday

About 15 Minutes:

Running through all of the AB Jazz pieces I have looked at so far.

40 Minutes:

Swing it and C 66-84 bpm

Contemplation 69-84 bpm (accidentally worked beyond the marked tempo here!)

Softly as in a Morning Sunrise 72-88 bpm

St Thomas 96-112 bpm

I'm hoping to get a bit more done shortly...

Another 40 Minutes:

Fly Me to the Moon working up to the marked tempo. Some mistakes here and there but coming together fairly well.

A quick run through some other pieces at marked tempos to see how they sound.

21/2/09

20 Minutes

Swing It And C working from 60-80bpm. I like playing this piece and it seems to put me in a calm frame of mind (most unlike my normal self!)

Im still loving the Blue Note 7 CD.

20 Minutes

Contemplation from 66-80 bpm
Softly as in a Morning Sunrise 69-84 bpm

I'm starting to feel more comfortable soloing on these tunes now.

Another 20 Minutes

St Thomas 92-108 bpm. Starting to get my teeth into the more challenging changes in this tune.

C Jam Blues 112-132 bpm. This is almost up to speed now and (surprise surprise) I'm most comfortable soloing on this tune.

20 Minutes AB Jazz Grades 1 & 2 scales and arpeggios at 60 bpm

20/2/2009 - 2 1/2 hours (so far)

20 Minutes:

Michael Garrick "Swing It and C" Sketching through the whole piece and then working on the first page at crotchet = 60

20 Minutes:

McCoy Tyner "Contemplation" several times at crotchet = 60 and then working up to 72bpm. I could definately make the solo section a bit more interesting!

20 Minutes:

Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, working from 66-80 bpm and then at 100 and 126 as an experiment. This piece is coming together fairly quickly - an encouraging sign.

In the solo section I'm attemting to play thematically and working on highlighting the guide tones of each chord.

20 Minutes:

St Thomas 88 - 104 bpm. I need to get more comfortable soloing on this tune.

10 Minutes:

C Jam Blues 108-126 bpm

10 Minutes:

Jazz Grades 1 & 2 Scales and arpeggios. These need more work as it has been a while since I regularly practised scales with both hands together *hangs head in shame*

20 Minutes:

More work on 'Swing It And C' playing the whole piece through at 60 bpm

30 Minutes Fly Me To The Moon. This was my first attemp and the piece came together fairly quickly. The "learn lots of pieces to improve my reading" idea seems to be working well.

I'm still alive and still practising...

This is my first post in about two months. It has been a hectic time in many ways but I'm still practising and (I hope) improving.

Having gone through a number of Grade 1-4 pieces I started to realise that although my facility was improving I was learning by sheer repetition rather than actually reading the music. In order to try and rectiy this I have gone back to the early grade jazz pieces and am learning as many new pieces as possible in order to make myself read a lot more. It seems to be working so far. I'm also enjoying playing more familiar material and improving my fairly modest comping and improvisation skills.

Last night I went to see a fantastic gig. Steve Grossman/Damon Brown quintet with the phenomenal Sebastian De Krom on drums. I loved every minute and have had a huge grin on my face ever since. Swinging band and great soloing all round - thats how its REALLY done!

Also got the new Blue Note 7 CD in the post this morning. It also sounds great and I'm feeling very happy and excited about music at the moment :)

I will put my practice details in a different post.