1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:01,670 The following content is provided 2 00:00:01,670 --> 00:00:03,820 under a Creative Commons license. 3 00:00:03,820 --> 00:00:06,540 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue 4 00:00:06,540 --> 00:00:10,120 to offer high quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:12,690 To make a donation or to view additional materials 6 00:00:12,690 --> 00:00:16,126 from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 7 00:00:16,126 --> 00:00:18,730 at ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,910 HARVEY: We have today some distinguished visitors, 9 00:00:25,910 --> 00:00:29,344 Tim Ray on piano and Eugene Friesen on his cello. 10 00:00:29,344 --> 00:00:30,760 And they along with another person 11 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,528 named Greg Hopkins form a trio called Tre Corda, named 12 00:00:34,528 --> 00:00:36,384 for one of the pedals on the piano. 13 00:00:36,384 --> 00:00:38,240 Tim Ray will explain it. 14 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,230 And as you know, they are giving a concert this evening. 15 00:00:41,230 --> 00:00:45,126 So you will all be coming to that concert, 16 00:00:45,126 --> 00:00:47,356 and I'll give you as I have before the concert points 17 00:00:47,356 --> 00:00:50,932 to write your concert reflections from. 18 00:00:50,932 --> 00:00:52,836 I'll send that out later this afternoon. 19 00:00:52,836 --> 00:00:55,216 That's at Killian tonight 8 o'clock. 20 00:00:55,216 --> 00:00:57,117 So you'll see the full group. 21 00:00:57,117 --> 00:00:58,450 But they're here this afternoon. 22 00:00:58,450 --> 00:01:01,796 So please give them a warm welcome. 23 00:01:01,796 --> 00:01:02,700 FRIESEN: Thank you. 24 00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:03,160 HARVEY: Thanks. 25 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:03,560 RAY: Thank you. 26 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:04,060 Thanks. 27 00:01:04,060 --> 00:01:09,294 So we're really glad to be here, and as Mark said, 28 00:01:09,294 --> 00:01:10,710 we're playing the concert tonight. 29 00:01:10,710 --> 00:01:12,418 So of course that's the first requirement 30 00:01:12,418 --> 00:01:16,030 for passing the class is that you have to come. 31 00:01:16,030 --> 00:01:17,877 We always make that joke. 32 00:01:17,877 --> 00:01:18,460 Nobody laughs. 33 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:19,520 HARVEY: It's not a joke. 34 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:20,420 RAY: It's not a joke. 35 00:01:20,420 --> 00:01:22,140 Oh that's why they don't laugh. 36 00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:22,740 OK. 37 00:01:22,740 --> 00:01:23,610 Now I get it. 38 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:24,860 HARVEY: I'm very serious here. 39 00:01:24,860 --> 00:01:26,990 RAY: OK yeah. 40 00:01:26,990 --> 00:01:29,695 In just a little bit, we want to get into playing 41 00:01:29,695 --> 00:01:34,420 and of course get you guys playing as well, hopefully. 42 00:01:34,420 --> 00:01:38,010 Just a little bit about what we do as a trio. 43 00:01:38,010 --> 00:01:41,240 As Mark said, our trumpet player Greg Hopkins 44 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:42,170 will join us tonight. 45 00:01:42,170 --> 00:01:47,690 And then you'll see Greg next week in the class as well. 46 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:49,140 We are a trio. 47 00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:51,630 We've been together-- gosh, I guess 48 00:01:51,630 --> 00:01:55,290 it's getting to be about 12 years now, the three of us. 49 00:01:55,290 --> 00:01:58,520 And we do, it's an unusual instrumentation. 50 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,930 I mean at least unusual in terms of traditional jazz trios 51 00:02:03,930 --> 00:02:05,380 because there's no base. 52 00:02:05,380 --> 00:02:06,650 There's no drums. 53 00:02:06,650 --> 00:02:09,520 It's also unusual in a classical setting. 54 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,630 Usually a piano trio with cello usually has a violin 55 00:02:12,630 --> 00:02:13,330 not trumpet. 56 00:02:13,330 --> 00:02:19,427 So we're a little bit of a hybrid kind of formation. 57 00:02:19,427 --> 00:02:21,510 And it's something I had the idea to put together, 58 00:02:21,510 --> 00:02:23,060 like I said, about 12 years ago. 59 00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:27,070 And a lot of what we do is we play music 60 00:02:27,070 --> 00:02:29,490 that we compose, Eugene and myself 61 00:02:29,490 --> 00:02:32,030 and Greg all write for this group. 62 00:02:32,030 --> 00:02:33,260 We're all improvisers. 63 00:02:33,260 --> 00:02:37,150 So of course improvisation plays a large part in what we do. 64 00:02:37,150 --> 00:02:38,850 But we also delve into classical music. 65 00:02:38,850 --> 00:02:42,970 We delve into jazz, Brazilian stuff. 66 00:02:42,970 --> 00:02:45,290 And that's all our backgrounds as well. 67 00:02:45,290 --> 00:02:48,500 I mean, myself, Eugene, Greg-- we're all classically trained. 68 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:50,690 Then we're also jazz players and do 69 00:02:50,690 --> 00:02:54,450 a lot of things outside of this group as well. 70 00:02:54,450 --> 00:02:58,340 So besides that, Eugene and I actually 71 00:02:58,340 --> 00:02:59,782 have to a duo that we do. 72 00:02:59,782 --> 00:03:02,240 We're going to actually play a couple of songs from our duo 73 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,920 repertoire because it's a little hard to do the trio 74 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:07,170 stuff without the third person. 75 00:03:07,170 --> 00:03:09,850 Although we might mess around a little bit later with that, 76 00:03:09,850 --> 00:03:11,690 get you guys involved. 77 00:03:11,690 --> 00:03:15,307 But anything you want to say? 78 00:03:15,307 --> 00:03:15,890 FRIESEN: Sure. 79 00:03:15,890 --> 00:03:18,030 I mean Mark just told us the first thing about what 80 00:03:18,030 --> 00:03:20,310 you guys have been studying so far. 81 00:03:20,310 --> 00:03:22,460 And how many of you would categorize yourself 82 00:03:22,460 --> 00:03:25,520 as classically trained musicians? 83 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:26,270 OK. 84 00:03:26,270 --> 00:03:28,500 Well that was my background as well. 85 00:03:28,500 --> 00:03:31,880 I was interested in pop music and rock 86 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,990 really when I was in college. 87 00:03:33,990 --> 00:03:37,290 But I spent most of my energy in really 88 00:03:37,290 --> 00:03:38,890 practicing classical repertoire. 89 00:03:38,890 --> 00:03:40,830 And it wasn't until I got out a music school 90 00:03:40,830 --> 00:03:43,840 that I started to get a little bit more serious about doing 91 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,680 the kind of ear training that you need for improvising. 92 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,320 And for me it's been a lifelong process. 93 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,590 I feel like I'm still learning a lot about that 94 00:03:53,590 --> 00:03:58,600 and learning to recognize chords and to learn how to contribute 95 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,185 to a harmonic environment just by listening 96 00:04:02,185 --> 00:04:04,750 and by pitching in. 97 00:04:04,750 --> 00:04:08,290 And but I've also had a chance to do a lot of work 98 00:04:08,290 --> 00:04:10,080 with classically trained musicians who 99 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,380 have never tried before. 100 00:04:14,830 --> 00:04:18,440 Kids of all ages, beginners, middle school, high school 101 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,550 kids, and even professionals who are really 102 00:04:21,550 --> 00:04:23,880 very afraid to improvise. 103 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:25,410 In fact, last year I had a chance 104 00:04:25,410 --> 00:04:29,010 to do a presentation at the American String Teachers 105 00:04:29,010 --> 00:04:31,490 Association on improvising. 106 00:04:31,490 --> 00:04:35,570 And I started this presentation by asking, 107 00:04:35,570 --> 00:04:38,470 what are some of the things that keep us classically trained 108 00:04:38,470 --> 00:04:40,520 musicians from improvising? 109 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,700 And there were about 100 people are so in that room, 110 00:04:42,700 --> 00:04:45,370 and everybody had something to say. 111 00:04:45,370 --> 00:04:48,320 I mean I didn't realize this could easily 112 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:50,430 have been the topic of that whole presentation. 113 00:04:50,430 --> 00:04:54,910 People really inherit, I think, in our training 114 00:04:54,910 --> 00:04:57,450 a tremendous amount of inhibitions. 115 00:04:57,450 --> 00:04:59,950 Some of it is the impossibly high standards 116 00:04:59,950 --> 00:05:03,190 that we are kind of imbued with as students. 117 00:05:03,190 --> 00:05:05,420 Some of which, of course, is really 118 00:05:05,420 --> 00:05:08,010 good for motivating our hard work. 119 00:05:08,010 --> 00:05:10,670 But a lot of which really makes us kind of 120 00:05:10,670 --> 00:05:15,510 cower when we're in a situation where we're encouraged 121 00:05:15,510 --> 00:05:17,520 to be creative and play something 122 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,040 that we haven't really rehearsed. 123 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:27,770 And so that's been kind of the impetus of my teaching. 124 00:05:27,770 --> 00:05:29,730 And one thing that's really helped 125 00:05:29,730 --> 00:05:34,270 me is setting some guidelines that were comfortable for me 126 00:05:34,270 --> 00:05:36,370 as a classically trained player. 127 00:05:36,370 --> 00:05:39,780 So one of the first ways that I felt I could improvise 128 00:05:39,780 --> 00:05:44,740 was no wrong notes, completely open, free improv stuff. 129 00:05:44,740 --> 00:05:46,610 And I understand you guys get to do that 130 00:05:46,610 --> 00:05:49,360 each week with Tom Hall, right? 131 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,159 Am I correct in assuming that at some point 132 00:05:52,159 --> 00:05:54,200 you do some improvising where you're not worrying 133 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,460 about chords or scales or things like that? 134 00:05:56,460 --> 00:05:58,610 It's really most about interaction, right? 135 00:05:58,610 --> 00:06:01,050 And how it comes together rhythmically maybe. 136 00:06:01,050 --> 00:06:03,210 I mean do you work on the rhythmic side of things 137 00:06:03,210 --> 00:06:05,520 more that way, or is it more intuitive kind 138 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:07,240 of communicating? 139 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:09,149 Could someone answer that for me? 140 00:06:09,149 --> 00:06:11,690 AUDIENCE: Different things, and different exercises, I guess. 141 00:06:11,690 --> 00:06:14,060 FRIESEN: So it's different all the time, 142 00:06:14,060 --> 00:06:17,140 different guidelines for your improv that you're doing there. 143 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:18,560 Gotcha. 144 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,460 Well that was-- the free improv part of things 145 00:06:21,460 --> 00:06:24,740 and not worrying about notes is a tremendous liberator for me 146 00:06:24,740 --> 00:06:26,730 as a classically trained player. 147 00:06:26,730 --> 00:06:30,820 And then the next thing was playing diatonically. 148 00:06:30,820 --> 00:06:36,840 Learning how to create something that really had heart, that 149 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:40,390 had shape, that had personal expression for me, 150 00:06:40,390 --> 00:06:43,860 but that was kind of limited in terms 151 00:06:43,860 --> 00:06:46,960 of how it wandered from key to key. 152 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,860 And maybe we could play "First Ride" as an example of that. 153 00:06:50,860 --> 00:06:51,360 RAY: Sure. 154 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:52,250 That's great. 155 00:06:52,250 --> 00:06:54,541 FRIESEN: I don't know where Tim wanted to go with this. 156 00:06:54,541 --> 00:06:56,550 We're just kind of winging this. 157 00:06:56,550 --> 00:07:00,500 But for me this piece that we're about to play 158 00:07:00,500 --> 00:07:04,590 was really one of the first improvs 159 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:07,445 that I did that was a real successful cello and piano 160 00:07:07,445 --> 00:07:07,945 improv. 161 00:07:07,945 --> 00:07:11,050 It happened to be recorded in a great cathedral 162 00:07:11,050 --> 00:07:13,160 in New York, Saint John the Divine. 163 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:18,439 And it had such a kind of formal quality. 164 00:07:18,439 --> 00:07:20,480 It's something that I wanted to play in concerts. 165 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,440 So we transcribed it. 166 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,800 We went by went back and listened to the recording 167 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:26,780 and really transcribed it. 168 00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:30,980 It's like when you have an improv like this, 169 00:07:30,980 --> 00:07:33,750 it's kind of like capturing lightning in a bottle in a way. 170 00:07:33,750 --> 00:07:36,050 And if you want to duplicate it, you 171 00:07:36,050 --> 00:07:38,630 can take some of the themes and stuff as the starting 172 00:07:38,630 --> 00:07:40,730 off points, but in this case, it seemed 173 00:07:40,730 --> 00:07:44,080 to work so well as kind of a thought through thing, 174 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,060 that we play it as close as we can 175 00:07:47,060 --> 00:07:48,990 to the recording as possible. 176 00:07:48,990 --> 00:07:51,970 Now the piano part is pretty much Tim's invention. 177 00:07:51,970 --> 00:07:53,780 What he had from the transcription 178 00:07:53,780 --> 00:07:57,060 were a few right hand lines that Paul Halley, 179 00:07:57,060 --> 00:08:00,080 the original improviser, improvised. 180 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,430 But the cello part is really-- it's written. 181 00:08:03,430 --> 00:08:05,680 It's the same cello part that I originally improvised. 182 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:19,544 So this is called "First Ride." 183 00:08:19,544 --> 00:08:20,044 RAY: Ready? 184 00:08:20,044 --> 00:08:22,040 FRIESEN: Yeah. 185 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,535 [MUSIC PLAYING] 186 00:12:55,736 --> 00:12:56,780 [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] 187 00:12:56,780 --> 00:12:57,280 RAY: Thanks. 188 00:13:01,500 --> 00:13:03,790 and the construction had the third in that chord. 189 00:13:03,790 --> 00:13:05,830 I don't know if you caught that, whatever 190 00:13:05,830 --> 00:13:09,590 that machine is out there. 191 00:13:09,590 --> 00:13:14,380 RAY: So I'd love to get some of your thoughts 192 00:13:14,380 --> 00:13:15,950 and some of your questions. 193 00:13:15,950 --> 00:13:21,880 But basically that whole thing that you heard just now, 194 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:26,130 as Eugene said, was all originally freely improvised, 195 00:13:26,130 --> 00:13:29,420 but in a diatonic setting meaning we really never 196 00:13:29,420 --> 00:13:31,490 left the key of D major, right? 197 00:13:31,490 --> 00:13:32,934 I mean basically. 198 00:13:32,934 --> 00:13:35,350 I mean, you see I've got all these pages of transcription, 199 00:13:35,350 --> 00:13:38,770 but it's all-- we might try little exercise where 200 00:13:38,770 --> 00:13:41,610 we do that with some of you where diatonic-- we're staying 201 00:13:41,610 --> 00:13:44,730 in one key, but we're just moving the chords around, 202 00:13:44,730 --> 00:13:47,320 moving the roots of these chords around, doing 203 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:49,380 some improvisations, and then doing 204 00:13:49,380 --> 00:13:53,940 figures, motives, melodies based on that. 205 00:13:53,940 --> 00:13:56,810 Were there any questions, any observations, 206 00:13:56,810 --> 00:13:59,720 commentary, criticism? 207 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:00,505 Yes, 208 00:14:00,505 --> 00:14:01,130 HARVEY: Adrian. 209 00:14:01,130 --> 00:14:01,510 RAY: Adrian. 210 00:14:01,510 --> 00:14:02,010 Thank you. 211 00:14:02,010 --> 00:14:04,538 ADRIAN: I was wondering I guess whether like there 212 00:14:04,538 --> 00:14:06,274 was some sort of design framework 213 00:14:06,274 --> 00:14:09,498 that had been pre-planned, like even some chord 214 00:14:09,498 --> 00:14:11,480 progressions that you guys do? 215 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:12,282 FRIESEN: Nothing. 216 00:14:12,282 --> 00:14:13,490 ADRIAN: Everything was just-- 217 00:14:13,490 --> 00:14:14,073 FRIESEN: Yeah. 218 00:14:16,620 --> 00:14:19,300 RAY: Thanks. 219 00:14:19,300 --> 00:14:20,976 Cool, yeah. 220 00:14:20,976 --> 00:14:22,698 AUDIENCE: So the original theme actually 221 00:14:22,698 --> 00:14:24,340 reminded me a lot of Cannon in D. 222 00:14:24,340 --> 00:14:25,550 RAY: Of Cannon in D? 223 00:14:25,550 --> 00:14:29,246 AUDIENCE: Yeah, where you started. 224 00:14:29,246 --> 00:14:31,158 [INAUDIBLE] 225 00:14:31,158 --> 00:14:34,182 [PLAYING CELLO] 226 00:14:34,182 --> 00:14:35,140 FRIESEN: Is the melody. 227 00:14:38,550 --> 00:14:41,020 AUDIENCE: Yeah, I don't if it's just because of the title 228 00:14:41,020 --> 00:14:43,182 or just because it's [INAUDIBLE]. 229 00:14:43,182 --> 00:14:45,140 RAY: That might of had something to do with it. 230 00:14:45,140 --> 00:14:50,020 I mean, I'm sure you probably know when you're improvising, 231 00:14:50,020 --> 00:14:52,509 you know you're all you're always 232 00:14:52,509 --> 00:14:53,925 drawing from things that you know. 233 00:14:53,925 --> 00:14:57,020 Drawing from music that you've heard, drawing of course, 234 00:14:57,020 --> 00:15:00,230 from the people around you who are improvising as well. 235 00:15:00,230 --> 00:15:02,850 So there's certainly plenty of times 236 00:15:02,850 --> 00:15:05,190 when I'm improvising and I'll play something 237 00:15:05,190 --> 00:15:08,580 and I'll be like, Oh, I think that was the theme 238 00:15:08,580 --> 00:15:12,137 song to some TV show from the '70s without really 239 00:15:12,137 --> 00:15:12,720 intentionally. 240 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,260 I mean obviously jazz players will intentionally 241 00:15:15,260 --> 00:15:17,540 throw in little quotes for humorous effect. 242 00:15:17,540 --> 00:15:21,599 But oftentimes, they don't come out intentionally. 243 00:15:21,599 --> 00:15:22,390 They just come out. 244 00:15:22,390 --> 00:15:26,230 And that's sometimes the fun part of it. 245 00:15:26,230 --> 00:15:28,480 FRIESEN: I've heard it said that you are what you eat. 246 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,050 You know that expression? 247 00:15:32,050 --> 00:15:34,710 Certainly true for us improvisers. 248 00:15:34,710 --> 00:15:39,020 What you know and what you listen to really 249 00:15:39,020 --> 00:15:41,110 plays a huge part in what you access 250 00:15:41,110 --> 00:15:44,095 when you're really and truly improvising. 251 00:15:44,095 --> 00:15:46,220 Although there's another thing that I might mention 252 00:15:46,220 --> 00:15:51,930 about this particular piece is that at least for me, there 253 00:15:51,930 --> 00:15:55,180 was something about the acoustics of the cathedral that 254 00:15:55,180 --> 00:15:58,840 really activated my imagination in a different way 255 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,560 than it had ever been before. 256 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,740 The way that the cello just rose up in the room 257 00:16:05,740 --> 00:16:11,710 somehow shifted my focus from me and from my technique 258 00:16:11,710 --> 00:16:13,220 to the room. 259 00:16:13,220 --> 00:16:17,420 I mean it was almost like there was this other kind of presence 260 00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:19,860 in there that I was tapping into. 261 00:16:19,860 --> 00:16:23,890 And it was an important experience for me. 262 00:16:23,890 --> 00:16:28,190 And oftentimes when I'm in an improvisational situation, 263 00:16:28,190 --> 00:16:30,530 I place myself back in the cathedral 264 00:16:30,530 --> 00:16:32,140 because I really felt like that was 265 00:16:32,140 --> 00:16:36,500 where my voice as an improviser was born. 266 00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:39,470 It was the first time I had that experience of really being 267 00:16:39,470 --> 00:16:43,050 the music and not being a cello player or even being a person. 268 00:16:47,190 --> 00:16:50,030 RAY: Any other comments or questions? 269 00:16:50,030 --> 00:16:52,625 CHRIS: Not really a question, but after hearing 270 00:16:52,625 --> 00:16:56,432 that you said that the [INAUDIBLE] design [INAUDIBLE]. 271 00:16:56,432 --> 00:16:58,707 That was really inspiring that you 272 00:16:58,707 --> 00:17:00,705 managed to come up with something so varied. 273 00:17:00,705 --> 00:17:02,830 Because I am really interested in things like that. 274 00:17:02,830 --> 00:17:05,530 Because I really like the idea of trying to improvise 275 00:17:05,530 --> 00:17:07,800 like that. 276 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:09,150 Just a simple idea. 277 00:17:09,150 --> 00:17:11,686 And I guess that's my favorite way of improvising. 278 00:17:11,686 --> 00:17:13,938 But I always find a sense of struggle 279 00:17:13,938 --> 00:17:17,373 to come up of with a whole variety of interesting things 280 00:17:17,373 --> 00:17:19,819 maybe just from that simple beginning. 281 00:17:19,819 --> 00:17:21,756 That's really, really cool that that-- 282 00:17:21,756 --> 00:17:23,880 FRIESEN: Can you hear what he's saying well enough? 283 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:25,500 Yeah. 284 00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:27,550 I mean maybe one of the things he's hinting at 285 00:17:27,550 --> 00:17:30,890 is the power there is in limitation. 286 00:17:30,890 --> 00:17:32,990 That when you really set boundaries 287 00:17:32,990 --> 00:17:35,580 about what your language is going to be sometimes 288 00:17:35,580 --> 00:17:38,220 that can be really liberating. 289 00:17:38,220 --> 00:17:43,610 And in my case, with my limited improv skills at that time-- 290 00:17:43,610 --> 00:17:45,820 that was a 1986 when we did that. 291 00:17:45,820 --> 00:17:49,550 I was really a pretty new improviser then. 292 00:17:49,550 --> 00:17:53,670 The fact that we were in an environment 293 00:17:53,670 --> 00:17:55,530 where I could use my open strings, 294 00:17:55,530 --> 00:17:59,550 my harmonics, you know, I knew what key we were in, really 295 00:17:59,550 --> 00:18:01,150 helped me so much. 296 00:18:01,150 --> 00:18:04,040 There's something about that that just calmed me down, 297 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,360 and I think that that calmness and the incredible acoustics 298 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,880 of the place helped for this kind of magical moment 299 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:12,300 to happen. 300 00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:15,860 Because it's a special moment. 301 00:18:15,860 --> 00:18:18,590 A piece like that is something that 302 00:18:18,590 --> 00:18:20,760 really captured our attention in a special way. 303 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,620 And that's why we want to transcribe it. 304 00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:24,440 That doesn't happen every time we sit down 305 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,560 to play something compelling. 306 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:28,980 But it is amazing what can happen 307 00:18:28,980 --> 00:18:34,050 with kind of a limited palette of harmony, 308 00:18:34,050 --> 00:18:37,380 I guess you could say. 309 00:18:37,380 --> 00:18:41,640 How that can ignite this kind of passion and feeling 310 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,910 of warmth and rapture. 311 00:18:43,910 --> 00:18:45,620 And what are some other adjectives 312 00:18:45,620 --> 00:18:46,840 you would use for that music? 313 00:18:57,818 --> 00:18:58,830 RAY: Cool. 314 00:18:58,830 --> 00:19:00,190 FRIESEN: No they've got it. 315 00:19:00,190 --> 00:19:01,220 Some more adjectives. 316 00:19:01,220 --> 00:19:03,840 How would you describe it? 317 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:05,650 Does it sound like church music or? 318 00:19:08,821 --> 00:19:09,730 AUDIENCE: Just calm. 319 00:19:09,730 --> 00:19:11,630 FRIESEN: Calm. 320 00:19:11,630 --> 00:19:15,030 Maybe that's the diatomic part of it. 321 00:19:15,030 --> 00:19:18,137 It's very grounded in that way. 322 00:19:18,137 --> 00:19:19,091 RAY: Yeah, definitely. 323 00:19:19,091 --> 00:19:24,650 Yeah, I mean I think the other thing that-- I'm sorry, Chris. 324 00:19:24,650 --> 00:19:26,100 Thank you. 325 00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:29,840 Chris, at least in my mind was when 326 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,610 he was talking about sort of how much can come out 327 00:19:33,610 --> 00:19:37,290 of a very small amount of starter material, 328 00:19:37,290 --> 00:19:39,211 if you want to call it that. 329 00:19:39,211 --> 00:19:44,310 I think part of that is also as Eugene said. 330 00:19:44,310 --> 00:19:46,322 It's sometimes having the limitations of just, 331 00:19:46,322 --> 00:19:48,030 we're going to play in D major, let's see 332 00:19:48,030 --> 00:19:51,350 what happens, can trigger these things. 333 00:19:51,350 --> 00:19:53,570 I think some of the other thing too is sometimes 334 00:19:53,570 --> 00:19:57,920 when you're doing essentially what I would consider freely 335 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,200 improvising, you're always trying 336 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:03,770 to-- you're always listening. 337 00:20:03,770 --> 00:20:10,340 You're always trying to think in a larger form, a larger format. 338 00:20:10,340 --> 00:20:14,570 You know I mean all the music that we love has sections. 339 00:20:14,570 --> 00:20:18,920 All the great Mozart sonatas they 340 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,190 have different sections that are contrasting. 341 00:20:23,190 --> 00:20:24,510 Same with a great jazz piece. 342 00:20:24,510 --> 00:20:27,230 They have different sections-- contrasting sections, 343 00:20:27,230 --> 00:20:30,530 loud parts, soft parts, a section that 344 00:20:30,530 --> 00:20:32,970 features a particular soloist, a section the features 345 00:20:32,970 --> 00:20:34,330 the ensemble. 346 00:20:34,330 --> 00:20:37,490 You know, these are all things we're 347 00:20:37,490 --> 00:20:42,550 trying to recreate in maybe not necessarily a conscious way, 348 00:20:42,550 --> 00:20:46,640 although I mean, you could be more conscious about it. 349 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,780 But even when you're just freely improvising, 350 00:20:48,780 --> 00:20:51,320 and again, you might be working on these kinds of things 351 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,570 already. 352 00:20:53,570 --> 00:20:56,570 You're always kind of listening for-- your listening 353 00:20:56,570 --> 00:20:57,330 as you're playing. 354 00:20:57,330 --> 00:21:00,230 You're kind of thinking like, OK maybe it's 355 00:21:00,230 --> 00:21:02,290 time to come down and do a quiet section. 356 00:21:02,290 --> 00:21:04,260 Or maybe this is building up to a big section. 357 00:21:04,260 --> 00:21:05,510 Maybe this is the climax. 358 00:21:05,510 --> 00:21:06,470 Was that the climax? 359 00:21:06,470 --> 00:21:07,020 I don't know. 360 00:21:07,020 --> 00:21:08,990 Let's see where it goes. 361 00:21:08,990 --> 00:21:11,120 But you're always kind of-- I don't 362 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:14,580 want to say that you're always judging and evaluating, 363 00:21:14,580 --> 00:21:19,450 but in a certain way the feelings 364 00:21:19,450 --> 00:21:23,800 that you develop when you play a great piece of classical music 365 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,860 or a great jazz piece, these feelings 366 00:21:26,860 --> 00:21:30,110 you're trying to recreate in a freely improvised setting. 367 00:21:30,110 --> 00:21:32,830 And often times you can go back and you 368 00:21:32,830 --> 00:21:36,500 can look through what you just did. 369 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:38,230 With my students-- Eugene and I both 370 00:21:38,230 --> 00:21:39,500 teach at the Berklee College. 371 00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:41,680 A lot of times with my piano students, 372 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:43,110 when we work on improvisation, I'm 373 00:21:43,110 --> 00:21:44,870 telling them you have to record yourself. 374 00:21:44,870 --> 00:21:48,320 You have to turn on your phone or whatever you've got, 375 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,380 something just really easy that you carry around with you. 376 00:21:52,380 --> 00:21:54,730 You record your improvisation, record your group 377 00:21:54,730 --> 00:21:56,200 improvisations. 378 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,750 And then listen back and go, Yeah this is great. 379 00:21:58,750 --> 00:22:00,200 I didn't like this so much. 380 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,530 You know because that's the way you learn. 381 00:22:02,530 --> 00:22:04,984 That's a great learning tool, and I think sometimes it's 382 00:22:04,984 --> 00:22:07,400 one of those obvious things that people don't think to do. 383 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,280 When, like I said, from my perspective, 384 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,160 it's a really great way to develop 385 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:14,420 a sense of what you're doing. 386 00:22:17,250 --> 00:22:22,530 So I'd like to play one more tune. 387 00:22:22,530 --> 00:22:28,740 And then we'll maybe open it up a little bit for you guys. 388 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:37,163 I'm wondering if we should do something like the big violins, 389 00:22:37,163 --> 00:22:39,200 maybe? 390 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:40,750 FRIESEN: Like the blues in E minor? 391 00:22:40,750 --> 00:22:43,470 RAY: Yeah. 392 00:22:43,470 --> 00:22:46,040 Do you want to? 393 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:47,410 FRIESEN: Yeah. 394 00:22:47,410 --> 00:22:50,046 Have you guys worked on blues? 395 00:22:50,046 --> 00:22:51,760 Yeah, I'm sure you have. 396 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,360 Well again, for me as a classically trained player, 397 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:59,090 the blues were and are really, really challenging. 398 00:22:59,090 --> 00:23:00,886 I mean just keeping the form together, 399 00:23:00,886 --> 00:23:02,760 I really had to have the paper in front of me 400 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,290 for a long, long time just to keep the twelve bar 401 00:23:05,290 --> 00:23:07,310 thing together. 402 00:23:07,310 --> 00:23:11,680 So but eventually it became internalized. 403 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:18,090 And here is a blues that I came up with. 404 00:23:18,090 --> 00:23:23,374 I remember watching the shock and awe invasion of Baghdad. 405 00:23:23,374 --> 00:23:25,290 I was just sitting in front of this big screen 406 00:23:25,290 --> 00:23:27,331 TV with my cello, and what I found myself playing 407 00:23:27,331 --> 00:23:33,020 was this one, Ray. 408 00:23:33,020 --> 00:23:35,515 [PLAYING MUSIC] 409 00:27:36,232 --> 00:27:38,712 [APPLAUSE] 410 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:44,580 RAY: Cool. 411 00:27:44,580 --> 00:27:50,790 So, I have so much playing that with you, Eugene. 412 00:27:50,790 --> 00:27:51,950 That's a gas. 413 00:27:51,950 --> 00:27:57,250 So obviously blues form, right? 414 00:27:57,250 --> 00:28:00,620 Were you're able to keep track of it? 415 00:28:00,620 --> 00:28:02,020 Mostly you could, right? 416 00:28:02,020 --> 00:28:08,890 I mean that's one of things, like I said before, as a jazz 417 00:28:08,890 --> 00:28:12,190 group we're unusual because there's no bass and no drums. 418 00:28:12,190 --> 00:28:14,270 But of course, when again this is something 419 00:28:14,270 --> 00:28:15,950 I preach to some of my own students. 420 00:28:15,950 --> 00:28:19,270 It's like we're kind of always the bass player. 421 00:28:19,270 --> 00:28:20,370 We're always the drummer. 422 00:28:20,370 --> 00:28:22,750 Even if you're playing a flute, you're still the drummer, 423 00:28:22,750 --> 00:28:23,410 right? 424 00:28:23,410 --> 00:28:26,670 And I think that's one of the things-- this 425 00:28:26,670 --> 00:28:30,990 is one of the kinds of playing that we do as a trio 426 00:28:30,990 --> 00:28:35,330 where we actually use those skills. 427 00:28:35,330 --> 00:28:38,800 We use those like, OK, let's-- we have this internal thing 428 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,280 going on, this internal metronome going on. 429 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,200 We don't need the ride cymbal necessarily 430 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,320 because we're keeping it together. 431 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,780 And then of course we because we like to have fun 432 00:28:48,780 --> 00:28:51,220 will throw caution to the wind and do 433 00:28:51,220 --> 00:28:52,490 some crazy stuff for a while. 434 00:28:52,490 --> 00:28:54,850 But still in the back of our mind, of course, 435 00:28:54,850 --> 00:28:56,600 we're listening, too. 436 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,080 We're keeping track of that time. 437 00:29:01,620 --> 00:29:02,790 Any questions about that? 438 00:29:02,790 --> 00:29:04,705 Comments? 439 00:29:04,705 --> 00:29:05,330 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 440 00:29:05,330 --> 00:29:10,070 I guess, I was wondering just how-- [INAUDIBLE] on the piano, 441 00:29:10,070 --> 00:29:12,580 you were like playing really quick fast notes like that 442 00:29:12,580 --> 00:29:15,355 [INAUDIBLE] the cello, you ended, 443 00:29:15,355 --> 00:29:16,730 you know every time you did this, 444 00:29:16,730 --> 00:29:18,240 you both ended at the same time. 445 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,450 And is it just that you've played together 446 00:29:20,450 --> 00:29:21,700 long enough that you sort of-- 447 00:29:21,700 --> 00:29:24,030 FRIESEN: Actually I think that the moments 448 00:29:24,030 --> 00:29:26,280 you may be referring to are the things about the blues 449 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,330 form, where we would come to the end of a phrase. 450 00:29:30,330 --> 00:29:35,390 And as Tim was hinting at, or articulating before, 451 00:29:35,390 --> 00:29:38,940 when you feel like something needs to change-- you know some 452 00:29:38,940 --> 00:29:41,000 of those double bars in the music, in this case 453 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,870 the end of the 12 bar form, where we are crescendo-ing, 454 00:29:43,870 --> 00:29:47,060 crescendo-ing getting crazier and crazier and crazier. 455 00:29:47,060 --> 00:29:49,820 It just feels like, Oh wouldn't that be a nice dramatic moment 456 00:29:49,820 --> 00:29:52,400 to just jump off the cliff back into the head 457 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,836 into that real, real simple thing. 458 00:29:55,836 --> 00:29:58,899 AUDIENCE: I think two of the times it happened at the end 459 00:29:58,899 --> 00:30:00,857 of the 12 bars, I think one was just at the end 460 00:30:00,857 --> 00:30:02,269 of a [INAUDIBLE]-- 461 00:30:02,269 --> 00:30:03,810 FRIESEN: And that's just lucking out. 462 00:30:07,090 --> 00:30:08,840 And I think that's probably what keeps 463 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,050 all of us doing this is just that lucking out 464 00:30:11,050 --> 00:30:13,940 part of the thing, just not really knowing what's 465 00:30:13,940 --> 00:30:15,200 going to happen. 466 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,400 And you know, none of us wants to rehearse 467 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:21,660 so much that you can depend on those things. 468 00:30:21,660 --> 00:30:23,490 I love the very expression, there's 469 00:30:23,490 --> 00:30:27,255 no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation. 470 00:30:27,255 --> 00:30:29,880 Have you ever heard that one before? 471 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,940 Because sometimes when you're really 472 00:30:31,940 --> 00:30:34,530 on the front of your chair, you know 473 00:30:34,530 --> 00:30:39,400 you're really listening in a way that is enhanced. 474 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,180 And I think that is the thing that keeps us musicians 475 00:30:43,180 --> 00:30:48,120 doing this is that incredibly intense process of listening 476 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:53,000 and presence, which by the way is transmitted to the audience. 477 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,160 And we get a lot of energy from the audience. 478 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,570 You probably know this already, the value 479 00:30:57,570 --> 00:31:02,630 of doing this in front of people is enhanced exponentially. 480 00:31:02,630 --> 00:31:06,570 And the quality of being in the audience when you're witnessing 481 00:31:06,570 --> 00:31:09,080 something that is happening in real time 482 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:10,910 is something tangible. 483 00:31:10,910 --> 00:31:14,140 Not only that, but as scientific research has pointed out, 484 00:31:14,140 --> 00:31:17,180 our brain research, listeners will 485 00:31:17,180 --> 00:31:19,920 have a similar kind of experience brain 486 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,710 experience as the performers. 487 00:31:22,710 --> 00:31:25,590 So we really get this vicarious kind 488 00:31:25,590 --> 00:31:27,480 of thrill, this kind of vicarious 489 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,740 high just from being in the presence of something 490 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:32,870 incredible that's going on. 491 00:31:32,870 --> 00:31:36,640 Which is why I'm quite sure that live performance will never 492 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:37,140 die. 493 00:31:37,140 --> 00:31:40,900 You know, once we get over this infatuation with the screens, 494 00:31:40,900 --> 00:31:44,530 I think people will be back at concerts 495 00:31:44,530 --> 00:31:45,730 and live events like that. 496 00:31:45,730 --> 00:31:48,040 And certainly the thing that keeps us musicians at it 497 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:52,230 because there again the enhanced listening that we 498 00:31:52,230 --> 00:31:55,320 can do in rehearsal is very different than it feels 499 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,000 like from playing for you guys. 500 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,980 You know there's an extra level of attention 501 00:31:59,980 --> 00:32:02,340 that comes to it that is-- 502 00:32:02,340 --> 00:32:05,320 And sometimes it's just a tiny little switch in your brain 503 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:07,570 that makes all the difference in the world. 504 00:32:07,570 --> 00:32:08,530 It's so amazing. 505 00:32:08,530 --> 00:32:11,190 You probably know this from the musical work you've done 506 00:32:11,190 --> 00:32:12,520 or the writing you've done. 507 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,340 Sometimes you'll sit down and you'll just, 508 00:32:15,340 --> 00:32:19,090 your body will just type something really cool. 509 00:32:19,090 --> 00:32:23,200 And you didn't even mean to do it, it just kind of happened. 510 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,194 You can't force that kind of thing. 511 00:32:26,194 --> 00:32:26,860 RAY: Absolutely. 512 00:32:26,860 --> 00:32:30,500 FRIESEN: Well, where should we go from here, Tim? 513 00:32:30,500 --> 00:32:35,740 RAY: So I wanted to do this actually. 514 00:32:35,740 --> 00:32:38,650 I wanted to hand out-- because I know some of you 515 00:32:38,650 --> 00:32:41,120 have to leave early. 516 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,930 So my thinking for this course-- you know, it is school. 517 00:32:44,930 --> 00:32:47,670 You do have to have an assignment. 518 00:32:47,670 --> 00:32:51,620 So I'm going to hand out a tune, and I 519 00:32:51,620 --> 00:32:53,290 want to get back to the improvising 520 00:32:53,290 --> 00:32:55,260 in a diatonic setting that Eugene and I were 521 00:32:55,260 --> 00:32:55,970 doing earlier. 522 00:32:55,970 --> 00:32:57,345 And that's what I want to do kind 523 00:32:57,345 --> 00:33:00,810 of with some of the rest of this class. 524 00:33:00,810 --> 00:33:03,900 But for the assignment, I actually 525 00:33:03,900 --> 00:33:05,460 want you guys to work on something 526 00:33:05,460 --> 00:33:08,430 similar to what we were just doing. 527 00:33:08,430 --> 00:33:10,930 We have a song, I'll pass it out now. 528 00:33:10,930 --> 00:33:15,530 We have a song in our trio repertoire called "Cargasian." 529 00:33:15,530 --> 00:33:17,320 This is it. 530 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:18,070 FRIESEN: Oh, cool. 531 00:33:18,070 --> 00:33:19,470 I love this. 532 00:33:19,470 --> 00:33:22,570 RAY: And basically, what I would like 533 00:33:22,570 --> 00:33:25,790 for you to do with this-- check that out. 534 00:33:25,790 --> 00:33:30,650 This is actually written by our trumpet player, Greg Hopkins. 535 00:33:30,650 --> 00:33:36,010 So of course, this is a concert page. 536 00:33:36,010 --> 00:33:38,980 So I guess actually I think our saxophone player is 537 00:33:38,980 --> 00:33:42,032 the only guy who's going to have to-- 538 00:33:42,032 --> 00:33:42,762 FRIESEN: Trumpet 539 00:33:42,762 --> 00:33:43,970 RAY: --do some transposition. 540 00:33:43,970 --> 00:33:47,590 But at any rate-- oboe, nice. 541 00:33:47,590 --> 00:33:55,630 So basically, like I said, we treat-- 542 00:33:55,630 --> 00:33:57,340 we'll play this tonight in our concert, 543 00:33:57,340 --> 00:34:00,830 so you'll get to here us do it as a trio. 544 00:34:00,830 --> 00:34:05,064 Basically as you can see, there's just a melody line. 545 00:34:05,064 --> 00:34:06,105 Did I give you one, Mark? 546 00:34:06,105 --> 00:34:06,605 I'm sorry. 547 00:34:06,605 --> 00:34:07,487 No, I did. 548 00:34:07,487 --> 00:34:08,679 FRIESEN: I'll take one, too. 549 00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:13,260 RAY: So there's a melody line, which you can see. 550 00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:15,850 And this is also a 12 bar blues form. 551 00:34:15,850 --> 00:34:20,300 So there's like a number one, number two, number three. 552 00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:22,340 These are the different sections. 553 00:34:22,340 --> 00:34:24,780 Number three you don't have to worry about. 554 00:34:24,780 --> 00:34:27,219 The chord changes so much, those are mostly just 555 00:34:27,219 --> 00:34:29,469 for my benefit as a pianist. 556 00:34:29,469 --> 00:34:31,500 When we play the melody, we all play in unison. 557 00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:33,870 In other words, like I said, no chords. 558 00:34:33,870 --> 00:34:35,909 It's all just playing this melody in unison. 559 00:34:35,909 --> 00:34:38,600 So of course, the first part of your assignment 560 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,790 is to be able to play the melody in time. 561 00:34:40,790 --> 00:34:44,070 It's similar tempo to what we just did. 562 00:34:44,070 --> 00:34:47,159 [HUMMING] 563 00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:51,614 Nice little medium swing kind of groove. 564 00:34:51,614 --> 00:34:52,530 You have to watch out. 565 00:34:52,530 --> 00:34:54,363 At the end there's some three four measures. 566 00:34:54,363 --> 00:34:58,700 You do have to play the three four measures. 567 00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:02,170 And then you see at the end on the bottom of the page, solo 568 00:35:02,170 --> 00:35:03,520 over G minor blues. 569 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,840 Now I know you guys have done some work with the blues. 570 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,120 These are very basic-- this is sort of a basic Minor blues 571 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:14,020 form, 12 bars. 572 00:35:14,020 --> 00:35:16,670 And basically, what I would like for you to do 573 00:35:16,670 --> 00:35:21,660 is to take some of the motives from the melody. 574 00:35:21,660 --> 00:35:24,650 And maybe Eugene and I will play it 575 00:35:24,650 --> 00:35:27,290 once real quickly just so you can hear it. 576 00:35:27,290 --> 00:35:29,200 Take some of the motives from this melody. 577 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:30,850 There's a few key things. 578 00:35:30,850 --> 00:35:33,350 I'm sure once you hear them, you'll be able to identify them 579 00:35:33,350 --> 00:35:36,560 or you can circle them or whatever. 580 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,400 Work with some of these motives. 581 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:42,910 Come up with some blues improvisational ideas. 582 00:35:42,910 --> 00:35:46,320 And then what I'd like to do when Greg and I come back 583 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,710 on Monday is we'll do essentially 584 00:35:48,710 --> 00:35:50,010 what Eugene and I were doing. 585 00:35:50,010 --> 00:35:53,590 I'll have you team up in maybe twos or threes 586 00:35:53,590 --> 00:35:56,390 and do some improvisation over the blues. 587 00:35:56,390 --> 00:36:04,130 And again a good way to practice that is sit down 588 00:36:04,130 --> 00:36:05,390 with a metronome, right? 589 00:36:05,390 --> 00:36:07,890 I mean obviously, sitting down with your friends is a better 590 00:36:07,890 --> 00:36:11,390 way to practice, but sitting down with a metronome, 591 00:36:11,390 --> 00:36:15,620 having the metronome go, just practicing improvisation. 592 00:36:15,620 --> 00:36:19,830 Like I say, we'll play through some of these figures 593 00:36:19,830 --> 00:36:23,740 and have you kind of identify some of those 594 00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:27,050 and maybe try to work those into some of your improvisations. 595 00:36:27,050 --> 00:36:28,550 Can we play this real quick, Eugene? 596 00:36:28,550 --> 00:36:30,030 FRIESEN: Let's find out. 597 00:36:30,030 --> 00:36:31,956 RAY: I guess we'll find out. 598 00:36:31,956 --> 00:36:33,080 FRIESEN: It's been a while. 599 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:37,690 RAY: So like I said, we always play this just 600 00:36:37,690 --> 00:36:42,270 in unison, the melody. 601 00:36:42,270 --> 00:36:45,020 On the way out, you'll hear tonight at the concert, 602 00:36:45,020 --> 00:36:47,380 we try to do a sort of a cannon with the melody. 603 00:36:47,380 --> 00:36:48,751 But we won't try the cannon now. 604 00:36:48,751 --> 00:36:50,250 FRIESEN: So for now we're just going 605 00:36:50,250 --> 00:36:51,915 to read through three sections? 606 00:36:51,915 --> 00:36:53,706 RAY: We're just going to read through them. 607 00:36:53,706 --> 00:36:55,710 FRIESEN: Just to give the sound of it. 608 00:36:55,710 --> 00:36:57,310 RAY: A one, two three. 609 00:36:57,310 --> 00:36:58,340 [PLAYING MUSIC] 610 00:37:59,905 --> 00:38:03,390 RAY: Right, we're ending, yeah. 611 00:38:03,390 --> 00:38:05,605 And then the nice diminished chord. 612 00:38:05,605 --> 00:38:07,230 That's what we always teach you, right? 613 00:38:07,230 --> 00:38:09,700 End on a diminished chord? 614 00:38:09,700 --> 00:38:10,842 Good compositional. 615 00:38:10,842 --> 00:38:12,900 FRIESEN: Isn't that a great melody? 616 00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:17,482 I mean, that's like just the coolest, Buddhist design never. 617 00:38:17,482 --> 00:38:18,440 RAY: It's like a haiku. 618 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,188 FRIESEN: All that space around you. 619 00:38:21,188 --> 00:38:22,940 AUDIENCE: Why do you put in bar lines? 620 00:38:22,940 --> 00:38:24,560 What's the point? 621 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:26,850 FRIESEN: I think the point is that we always 622 00:38:26,850 --> 00:38:28,890 are really aligned. 623 00:38:28,890 --> 00:38:31,112 We feel the beat together. 624 00:38:31,112 --> 00:38:32,070 And you have to, right? 625 00:38:32,070 --> 00:38:32,670 To play that. 626 00:38:32,670 --> 00:38:34,527 AUDIENCE: You have to, but I don't 627 00:38:34,527 --> 00:38:35,809 feel the bar lines at all. 628 00:38:35,809 --> 00:38:36,600 FRIESEN: Don't you? 629 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,322 Well, great. 630 00:38:38,322 --> 00:38:39,030 RAY: That's good. 631 00:38:39,030 --> 00:38:39,960 We like that. 632 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:41,376 FRIESEN: As Tim mentioned, we know 633 00:38:41,376 --> 00:38:44,310 we often do this in unison then we'll play it 634 00:38:44,310 --> 00:38:48,770 as a round at a bar and two beats, is that how we do it? 635 00:38:48,770 --> 00:38:49,520 Or one beat? 636 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,533 RAY: We start off the three of us on the way out. 637 00:38:52,533 --> 00:38:54,720 We play it unison together. 638 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:56,950 Like I said, coming tonight, you'll hear it. 639 00:38:56,950 --> 00:39:01,003 Then we do the improvisation, which is like-- Whoops, 640 00:39:01,003 --> 00:39:02,448 I lost my microphone. 641 00:39:05,790 --> 00:39:08,430 The improvisation, which is all three 642 00:39:08,430 --> 00:39:10,120 of us improvising at the same time. 643 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:13,080 It's not really like a typical, one person's 644 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,380 a soloist and another person's an accompanist. 645 00:39:15,380 --> 00:39:17,850 FRIESEN: It's really efficient time wise. 646 00:39:17,850 --> 00:39:19,360 RAY: It's true. 647 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,406 Makes for a nice short presentation. 648 00:39:22,406 --> 00:39:24,530 And then on the way out, yeah as Eugene was saying, 649 00:39:24,530 --> 00:39:26,810 we do a round. 650 00:39:26,810 --> 00:39:32,300 We start off trumpet and then one measure later is you. 651 00:39:32,300 --> 00:39:33,800 FRIESEN: At the bar, right. 652 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:35,200 RAY: One bar. 653 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:37,219 And then that piano comes in one bar later. 654 00:39:37,219 --> 00:39:38,760 So you get sort of this round effect. 655 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:40,860 And then when we get to section two, 656 00:39:40,860 --> 00:39:44,197 we condense it to two beats. 657 00:39:44,197 --> 00:39:45,780 And then when we get to section three, 658 00:39:45,780 --> 00:39:47,190 we condense it to one beat. 659 00:39:47,190 --> 00:39:49,980 So we're only separated by one beat apiece. 660 00:39:49,980 --> 00:39:51,920 It's kind of fun. 661 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,642 It's sort of a fun game. 662 00:39:54,642 --> 00:39:59,120 AUDIENCE: Why did you decide to, for example in measure seven, 663 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,690 write a C flat instead of the [INAUDIBLE]? 664 00:40:03,690 --> 00:40:05,700 RAY: That's a very good question. 665 00:40:05,700 --> 00:40:10,180 I mean you might have to ask the composer, Greg, who's not here. 666 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:17,880 But my guess would be, although there's no key signature. 667 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,180 I mean I think of this as in the key of G minor, 668 00:40:21,180 --> 00:40:22,270 which has got flats. 669 00:40:22,270 --> 00:40:25,240 So I think that's probably what he would say. 670 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:28,280 Although again, not having a key signature that probably 671 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:29,519 doesn't make a lot of sense. 672 00:40:29,519 --> 00:40:30,060 I don't know. 673 00:40:30,060 --> 00:40:31,520 What do you think? 674 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:33,140 FRIESEN: I think you're right now. 675 00:40:33,140 --> 00:40:35,440 RAY: But I think the idea is that it's in a flat key, 676 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:40,812 and so C flat would be a little bit more conventional, for lack 677 00:40:40,812 --> 00:40:41,520 of a better word. 678 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,880 I'm sort of one of those guys where I actually 679 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:47,037 prefer to see B natural if I'm sight reading something. 680 00:40:47,037 --> 00:40:48,620 AUDIENCE: There is a B natural, right? 681 00:40:48,620 --> 00:40:51,180 RAY: That's true that's true. 682 00:40:51,180 --> 00:40:51,680 OK. 683 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,095 Well, now you've completely stumped me. 684 00:40:55,095 --> 00:40:57,250 FRIESEN: It could be the software, too. 685 00:40:57,250 --> 00:41:01,530 RAY: It could be the notation software, which is oftentimes 686 00:41:01,530 --> 00:41:06,100 when musicians make unusual choices, it's not actually 687 00:41:06,100 --> 00:41:08,732 a choice, if you know what I mean. 688 00:41:08,732 --> 00:41:10,315 HARVEY: Can I just make another point. 689 00:41:10,315 --> 00:41:13,151 I think it would be interesting to ask 690 00:41:13,151 --> 00:41:14,734 Greg about when he comes by on Monday. 691 00:41:14,734 --> 00:41:18,860 Because actually a lot of these phrases in number one and two 692 00:41:18,860 --> 00:41:23,197 seem to be almost three beat phrases if you look at it. 693 00:41:23,197 --> 00:41:23,905 RAY: That's true. 694 00:41:23,905 --> 00:41:26,112 HARVEY: --it really anticipates and it then it 695 00:41:26,112 --> 00:41:28,024 goes into three, per se. 696 00:41:28,024 --> 00:41:30,414 So it's an interesting [INAUDIBLE] 697 00:41:30,414 --> 00:41:33,210 with the kind of five integral beats or whatever. 698 00:41:36,089 --> 00:41:36,880 RAY: I would agree. 699 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:37,671 Yeah, you're right. 700 00:41:37,671 --> 00:41:40,739 They're not typical phrase lengths. 701 00:41:40,739 --> 00:41:41,530 Yeah, you're right. 702 00:41:41,530 --> 00:41:44,620 There's a lot of threes, three beat phrases. 703 00:41:47,650 --> 00:41:50,610 Anyway, the other thing I just wanted to point out quickly 704 00:41:50,610 --> 00:41:55,330 was just, like I said, you see obviously, 705 00:41:55,330 --> 00:41:59,940 if you're looking for motives to grab onto. 706 00:41:59,940 --> 00:42:01,657 Well, maybe you can tell me what's 707 00:42:01,657 --> 00:42:03,490 one thing you might circle if you were going 708 00:42:03,490 --> 00:42:05,910 to try to pick out things that make this melody 709 00:42:05,910 --> 00:42:07,880 unique or different or interesting? 710 00:42:15,530 --> 00:42:16,920 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 711 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:18,520 RAY: Right. 712 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:23,310 The little ascending thing at the beginning, right? 713 00:42:23,310 --> 00:42:26,630 You see that towards the end. 714 00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:34,190 You see it actually all over the place. 715 00:42:34,190 --> 00:42:36,434 The second line. 716 00:42:36,434 --> 00:42:37,225 And the third line. 717 00:42:40,630 --> 00:42:43,230 Little ascending intervals. 718 00:42:43,230 --> 00:42:46,890 That's a nice one. 719 00:42:46,890 --> 00:42:49,276 How about the thing in section two, the repeated note? 720 00:42:53,570 --> 00:42:56,340 That comes back again and again in section two, right? 721 00:42:59,741 --> 00:43:01,490 And then the other thing I would point out 722 00:43:01,490 --> 00:43:04,650 would be maybe this sort of quarter note triplet 723 00:43:04,650 --> 00:43:07,630 thing, which comes in once in the first section 724 00:43:07,630 --> 00:43:11,750 and then comes in again in the second section. 725 00:43:11,750 --> 00:43:15,450 Again these are all things you can 726 00:43:15,450 --> 00:43:19,150 try to incorporate into an improvisation. 727 00:43:19,150 --> 00:43:20,530 So like I said, this would be-- I 728 00:43:20,530 --> 00:43:23,970 think will be an interesting thing to work on. 729 00:43:23,970 --> 00:43:30,310 And we'll get you guys playing on this tune on Monday. 730 00:43:30,310 --> 00:43:31,130 Cool. 731 00:43:31,130 --> 00:43:34,520 So let's see. 732 00:43:37,380 --> 00:43:39,450 Getting back in kind of the diatonic thing. 733 00:43:39,450 --> 00:43:42,130 I wanted to do that. 734 00:43:42,130 --> 00:43:44,000 Get you guys playing a little bit. 735 00:43:49,986 --> 00:43:51,360 I guess I'll hand out this thing. 736 00:43:55,400 --> 00:44:00,040 So basically, I mean this is something you probably 737 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,710 don't even need to look at, but what we're going to try now, 738 00:44:03,710 --> 00:44:05,890 get into a little bit, is just G major. 739 00:44:05,890 --> 00:44:08,970 And we're going to spend some time in G major. 740 00:44:08,970 --> 00:44:11,240 So I hope you like G major. 741 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:15,330 Conveniently a transposed to A major for those of you 742 00:44:15,330 --> 00:44:16,442 who don't read. 743 00:44:16,442 --> 00:44:18,400 FRIESEN: Did you do the transposition yourself? 744 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:19,930 RAY: I did the transposition myself. 745 00:44:19,930 --> 00:44:21,650 This was not done on a computer. 746 00:44:21,650 --> 00:44:24,420 This was done by hand, the old fashioned way, 747 00:44:24,420 --> 00:44:25,740 with a needle and thread. 748 00:44:28,580 --> 00:44:31,501 Anyway, like I said, I don't even necessarily 749 00:44:31,501 --> 00:44:33,000 why I'm handing this out because I'm 750 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,040 sure you guys all know what a G major scale is. 751 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:37,950 Well, Mark doesn't. 752 00:44:37,950 --> 00:44:40,190 We'll get Mark clued in. 753 00:44:46,530 --> 00:44:48,910 But I thought this might be an interesting thing 754 00:44:48,910 --> 00:44:51,417 to spend some time with. 755 00:44:51,417 --> 00:44:53,500 And if we have time at the end, maybe Eugene and I 756 00:44:53,500 --> 00:44:57,610 will play another piece from our repertoire, our vast repertoire 757 00:44:57,610 --> 00:45:01,150 of duo songs. 758 00:45:01,150 --> 00:45:08,960 But basically, like I said, the whole idea 759 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:13,650 of doing improvisation in a diatonic setting-- which 760 00:45:13,650 --> 00:45:16,070 as you heard from the first piece we played, 761 00:45:16,070 --> 00:45:21,440 can really go as far as you want it to go, 762 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:26,417 or it can stay kind of small, is a really, I 763 00:45:26,417 --> 00:45:28,000 think, an interesting way to practice. 764 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:29,708 And I think it's a really interesting way 765 00:45:29,708 --> 00:45:32,550 to kind of develop a lot of the improvisation skills 766 00:45:32,550 --> 00:45:35,910 that you use in other kinds of improvisation, including atonal 767 00:45:35,910 --> 00:45:37,680 and jazz. 768 00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:40,440 Like I said, any kind of improvisation 769 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:44,380 you do, I think the diatonic version of improv 770 00:45:44,380 --> 00:45:48,090 is I think a good way to-- it's a good, as Eugene said, 771 00:45:48,090 --> 00:45:51,190 limitation, a good way to restrict the amount of things 772 00:45:51,190 --> 00:45:53,750 you have to think about. 773 00:45:53,750 --> 00:45:57,410 So it sounds like someone is knocking on the door. 774 00:46:00,230 --> 00:46:01,240 Let's do this. 775 00:46:04,231 --> 00:46:05,980 I haven't really necessarily planned this. 776 00:46:05,980 --> 00:46:07,610 But I'm going to do this. 777 00:46:07,610 --> 00:46:11,260 Eugene and I will do a little bit of a G major improvisation. 778 00:46:11,260 --> 00:46:14,570 The other thing I'll point out on the bottom of this page, 779 00:46:14,570 --> 00:46:16,785 again these are all diatonic chords. 780 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:21,080 Chris, you're a piano player, right? 781 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:25,106 Are there any other piano players here today? 782 00:46:25,106 --> 00:46:25,606 Cool. 783 00:46:32,850 --> 00:46:35,990 So but for anybody who's doing chordal instruments-- I 784 00:46:35,990 --> 00:46:41,150 see the banjo and the guitar-- obviously, one of the things, 785 00:46:41,150 --> 00:46:45,270 and of course Eugene is as well versed 786 00:46:45,270 --> 00:46:47,160 in playing chordal accompaniments, 787 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,330 probably more so than pretty much any other cello 788 00:46:50,330 --> 00:46:52,770 player I've ever met. 789 00:46:52,770 --> 00:46:54,017 It's one of his strengths. 790 00:46:54,017 --> 00:46:56,350 Again it's something you'll see more evidence of tonight 791 00:46:56,350 --> 00:46:56,975 in the concert. 792 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,900 But you see I've just drawn out some basic diatonic chords. 793 00:47:03,900 --> 00:47:05,950 If we're in the key of G major, these 794 00:47:05,950 --> 00:47:07,190 are all just seventh chords. 795 00:47:07,190 --> 00:47:07,680 And it's not necessary. 796 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,680 It doesn't mean you have to play seventh chords. 797 00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:13,060 But these are examples. 798 00:47:13,060 --> 00:47:20,380 G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D seven, E minor, 799 00:47:20,380 --> 00:47:22,880 and then the minor seven with a flat five 800 00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:25,420 if you go to the seventh degree, F sharp, right. 801 00:47:25,420 --> 00:47:31,300 So these are all, in terms of harmony, good source material. 802 00:47:31,300 --> 00:47:32,800 It doesn't necessarily mean that you 803 00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:36,690 have to move them around a lot or move around at all. 804 00:47:36,690 --> 00:47:39,790 Of course, but it's again, thinking back 805 00:47:39,790 --> 00:47:42,170 to that first tune we played, just 806 00:47:42,170 --> 00:47:46,410 using a major scale as a source material, 807 00:47:46,410 --> 00:47:49,010 there are just so many options in terms of harmony. 808 00:47:49,010 --> 00:47:53,060 Sometimes like I said, those of us who come from a jazz world, 809 00:47:53,060 --> 00:47:57,260 we're used to things moving more, moving quickly 810 00:47:57,260 --> 00:48:00,670 and in a less diatonic fashion. 811 00:48:00,670 --> 00:48:04,550 But again, like I said, just in the diatonic areas, you know, 812 00:48:04,550 --> 00:48:06,530 you've got 7 chords right here. 813 00:48:06,530 --> 00:48:08,030 And then you've got all these chords 814 00:48:08,030 --> 00:48:09,410 with different kinds of roots. 815 00:48:09,410 --> 00:48:14,570 You know you've got G major with a third in the bottom. 816 00:48:14,570 --> 00:48:19,900 You can do a C major with the fifth on the bottom. 817 00:48:19,900 --> 00:48:22,540 You can do again, like I said, all of these things. 818 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:35,930 You've got a lot. 819 00:48:35,930 --> 00:48:39,280 Even just in the diatonic realm, you've got a lot of options 820 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:40,900 as chordal instruments. 821 00:48:40,900 --> 00:48:47,580 So let's do a short little improv in G. Can we do that? 822 00:48:47,580 --> 00:48:54,000 And then we'll get you guys to come in on this. 823 00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:59,002 Actually and Alex, you're a vocalist. 824 00:48:59,002 --> 00:49:00,210 ALEX: Yeah, I'm doing vocals. 825 00:49:00,210 --> 00:49:00,790 FRIESEN: You're doing vocals. 826 00:49:00,790 --> 00:49:01,289 All right. 827 00:49:01,289 --> 00:49:02,220 Cool. 828 00:49:02,220 --> 00:49:02,730 All right. 829 00:49:02,730 --> 00:49:05,750 So we'll get you all involved. 830 00:49:05,750 --> 00:49:07,670 So actually let's do this. 831 00:49:07,670 --> 00:49:09,560 We'll start. 832 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:11,650 At some point, I'll get you. 833 00:49:11,650 --> 00:49:12,940 We'll swap places, Chris. 834 00:49:12,940 --> 00:49:15,190 But for now, Eugene and I will start. 835 00:49:15,190 --> 00:49:20,320 And then maybe James, we'll get you to come in. 836 00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:21,860 At some point I'll give you a nod, 837 00:49:21,860 --> 00:49:24,010 and you can come in and join us. 838 00:49:24,010 --> 00:49:25,780 And maybe one of us will drop out, 839 00:49:25,780 --> 00:49:27,420 or we might just keep going. 840 00:49:27,420 --> 00:49:32,450 So we'll just do a little bit of round robin, 841 00:49:32,450 --> 00:49:34,486 bring you guys in, brings guys out. 842 00:49:34,486 --> 00:49:37,090 We need your note cards, Mark. 843 00:49:40,870 --> 00:49:44,160 You guys have all seen the Aardvark Big Band, right? 844 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,900 Do you still use the note cards? 845 00:49:46,900 --> 00:49:48,500 I always love that system. 846 00:49:48,500 --> 00:49:52,460 Mark's got the system of like, to cue the entire band, 847 00:49:52,460 --> 00:49:58,390 he holds up a card that says letter E. It's great. 848 00:49:58,390 --> 00:50:02,180 HARVEY: Our festival jazz band direct, he's now swiped that. 849 00:50:02,180 --> 00:50:03,520 RAY: Oh, he swiped it from you. 850 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:05,395 HARVEY: Big concert on Saturday, and everyone 851 00:50:05,395 --> 00:50:08,862 was using his own card. 852 00:50:08,862 --> 00:50:11,567 Imitation is the sincerest form of-- 853 00:50:11,567 --> 00:50:13,799 [LAUGHING] 854 00:50:13,799 --> 00:50:15,340 FRIESEN: The sincerest form of theft. 855 00:50:20,795 --> 00:50:21,420 RAY: All right. 856 00:50:21,420 --> 00:50:25,120 So like I said, I haven't really planned this. 857 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:27,447 So we'll see where this goes. 858 00:50:27,447 --> 00:50:28,280 Why don't you start? 859 00:50:31,154 --> 00:50:33,549 [PLAYING MUSIC] 860 00:52:10,753 --> 00:52:11,253 RAY: James. 861 00:53:15,584 --> 00:53:17,500 Sorry I've forgotten your name, next to James. 862 00:53:17,500 --> 00:53:18,488 AUSTIN: Austin. 863 00:53:18,488 --> 00:53:18,988 RAY: Austin. 864 00:54:47,010 --> 00:54:48,504 How about some trumpet? 865 00:55:35,316 --> 00:55:37,308 Want to put some oboe in there? 866 00:55:43,481 --> 00:55:43,980 Uh oh. 867 00:55:43,980 --> 00:55:44,479 Dry reed. 868 00:55:47,898 --> 00:55:49,710 That's OK. 869 00:55:49,710 --> 00:55:52,984 Adrian, can you come in on some guitar? 870 00:55:52,984 --> 00:55:53,567 Oh, I'm sorry. 871 00:55:53,567 --> 00:55:54,150 You're Adrian. 872 00:56:22,220 --> 00:56:23,190 Try some chords. 873 00:56:23,190 --> 00:56:24,860 Try C major. 874 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,140 RAY: Can we get some flute? 875 00:56:50,140 --> 00:56:50,640 Yeah. 876 00:57:08,918 --> 00:57:10,888 And some banjo? 877 00:57:10,888 --> 00:57:11,388 Yeah. 878 00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:21,756 Nice. 879 00:57:21,756 --> 00:57:22,256 Yeah. 880 00:57:30,500 --> 00:57:32,250 Alex, want to try some long tones?. 881 00:57:39,016 --> 00:57:40,012 Yeah, yeah. 882 00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:47,980 Nice. 883 00:57:53,458 --> 00:57:54,950 Try some oboe? 884 00:57:54,950 --> 00:57:55,450 Yeah. 885 00:57:59,930 --> 00:58:00,430 Nice. 886 00:58:03,416 --> 00:58:03,916 Yeah. 887 00:58:13,874 --> 00:58:14,374 Yeah. 888 00:58:19,354 --> 00:58:21,346 Nice. 889 00:58:21,346 --> 00:58:23,350 Wanna try some flute, Adrian? 890 00:58:23,350 --> 00:58:23,950 Yeah. 891 00:58:23,950 --> 00:58:27,631 We'll get the whole thing going. 892 00:58:27,631 --> 00:58:29,619 Yeah. 893 00:58:29,619 --> 00:58:32,598 Chris, why don't you jump in? 894 00:58:32,598 --> 00:58:33,098 Yeah. 895 00:58:41,544 --> 00:58:42,044 Mhm. 896 00:58:53,472 --> 00:58:53,972 Yeah. 897 00:59:17,328 --> 00:59:17,828 Yeah. 898 00:59:42,678 --> 00:59:43,200 Nice. 899 00:59:43,200 --> 00:59:43,700 All right. 900 00:59:46,130 --> 00:59:46,630 Beautiful. 901 00:59:46,630 --> 00:59:48,930 That was great-- that was great. 902 00:59:48,930 --> 00:59:49,530 Yeah. 903 00:59:49,530 --> 00:59:52,730 It is-- it's hard to jump out there, right? 904 00:59:52,730 --> 00:59:54,927 I know, especially when your reed's not wet. 905 00:59:54,927 --> 00:59:55,760 AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER] 906 00:59:55,760 --> 00:59:57,190 HARVEY: Then it's really hard. 907 00:59:57,190 --> 01:00:01,420 But no, seriously though, it's hard to put yourself out 908 01:00:01,420 --> 01:00:02,960 there sometimes. 909 01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:05,340 And again, I know you guys have been 910 01:00:05,340 --> 01:00:08,130 working with Tom on some improvisation. 911 01:00:08,130 --> 01:00:11,930 I imagine you've probably been doing some group stuff. 912 01:00:11,930 --> 01:00:17,560 There's always a little safety in numbers kind of mindset, 913 01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:19,160 which, I know, is totally cool. 914 01:00:19,160 --> 01:00:22,750 But, you know, frankly, what's nice is that I could tell you 915 01:00:22,750 --> 01:00:24,260 guys were all listening. 916 01:00:24,260 --> 01:00:26,590 You're kind of trying to find the group, 917 01:00:26,590 --> 01:00:32,470 find the place to go, find the place to be, where you're not 918 01:00:32,470 --> 01:00:34,530 where you're not sticking out-- you're 919 01:00:34,530 --> 01:00:37,570 contributing without going too far. 920 01:00:37,570 --> 01:00:39,912 Which is great, listening is obviously 921 01:00:39,912 --> 01:00:40,995 one of the biggest things. 922 01:00:44,060 --> 01:00:46,462 You have anything you want to try with these guys? 923 01:00:46,462 --> 01:00:47,170 FRIESEN: Oh sure. 924 01:00:47,170 --> 01:00:48,700 PROFESSOR: We have a whole room full of musicians 925 01:00:48,700 --> 01:00:49,877 who are versed in G major. 926 01:00:49,877 --> 01:00:50,710 FRIESEN: Oh, I know. 927 01:00:50,710 --> 01:00:53,380 That's so great. 928 01:00:53,380 --> 01:01:01,460 I might just say that, in terms of you are what you eat, 929 01:01:01,460 --> 01:01:03,110 I've always been intrigued with how 930 01:01:03,110 --> 01:01:05,180 to practice to become a better improviser. 931 01:01:05,180 --> 01:01:09,090 I mean, at first I thought improvising was just 932 01:01:09,090 --> 01:01:11,590 a state of being. 933 01:01:11,590 --> 01:01:16,640 It really was not anything you can prepare for. 934 01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:19,070 But that could not be further from the truth. 935 01:01:19,070 --> 01:01:24,750 You know, preparation plays a huge part 936 01:01:24,750 --> 01:01:27,450 in being a good improviser. 937 01:01:27,450 --> 01:01:30,220 So sometimes I think about using-- 938 01:01:30,220 --> 01:01:32,820 if you think of your brain in two different parts, you know, 939 01:01:32,820 --> 01:01:34,960 the left brain and the right brain. 940 01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:38,860 You think of that left brain as being the rigor 941 01:01:38,860 --> 01:01:40,680 part of your brain, the part of your brain 942 01:01:40,680 --> 01:01:43,790 that is curious about music. 943 01:01:43,790 --> 01:01:48,880 Odd meters, scales, seventh chords dominant chords, 944 01:01:48,880 --> 01:01:53,400 chord substitutions, diminished chords, diminished scales. 945 01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:55,710 All these things are exotic foods 946 01:01:55,710 --> 01:01:58,422 that are just very enjoyable for us musicians. 947 01:01:58,422 --> 01:01:59,880 We get fascinated with them, and we 948 01:01:59,880 --> 01:02:01,600 want to spend time with them. 949 01:02:01,600 --> 01:02:04,060 They're are like my kids when I got them art supplies. 950 01:02:04,060 --> 01:02:07,740 They would not only use the art supplies as they were intended, 951 01:02:07,740 --> 01:02:10,400 but of course, they wanted to taste it, and put it 952 01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:14,170 on the walls, and on their clothes, and on your clothes. 953 01:02:14,170 --> 01:02:15,570 It was everywhere. 954 01:02:15,570 --> 01:02:19,600 They wanted it to be a full body sensory experience. 955 01:02:19,600 --> 01:02:25,340 It was something kind of elemental as a major scale 956 01:02:25,340 --> 01:02:27,490 and the modes of that scale. 957 01:02:27,490 --> 01:02:30,480 Each of these modes and each of these keys 958 01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:35,180 are things that you may understand with facility 959 01:02:35,180 --> 01:02:38,550 at first glance, and yet, there's 960 01:02:38,550 --> 01:02:42,840 no way of predicting how your understanding of them 961 01:02:42,840 --> 01:02:47,080 will be enhanced by your spending time with each one. 962 01:02:47,080 --> 01:02:51,250 So for example, I have a CD of drones. 963 01:02:51,250 --> 01:02:52,810 It's just-- maybe you have these, 964 01:02:52,810 --> 01:02:55,290 too-- it's just a root and a fifth 965 01:02:55,290 --> 01:02:58,280 and a couple of different octaves in all 12 keys, 966 01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:00,930 and each track on the CD is six minutes long. 967 01:03:00,930 --> 01:03:04,210 So one day, I might say, OK, today's Phrygian day. 968 01:03:04,210 --> 01:03:07,000 And I'll go through, and I'll just let the CD roll. 969 01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:10,640 And I'll play six minutes improvised in Phrygian mode 970 01:03:10,640 --> 01:03:14,020 through all 12 keys in that day. 971 01:03:14,020 --> 01:03:16,580 Just as an example of how you can use drones, 972 01:03:16,580 --> 01:03:18,580 as a very simple example. 973 01:03:18,580 --> 01:03:20,380 But I think what I wanted to say, mostly, 974 01:03:20,380 --> 01:03:25,590 was that your curiosity and your loving attention to each 975 01:03:25,590 --> 01:03:28,840 of these musical elements is something that goes deep 976 01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:33,720 inside your being, inside your inner musician. 977 01:03:33,720 --> 01:03:36,570 And then these become the tools that you 978 01:03:36,570 --> 01:03:39,920 use, the colors that you use, to really portray 979 01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:43,200 your expressiveness, when you're in a situation 980 01:03:43,200 --> 01:03:47,240 that you can access these things intuitively. 981 01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:49,290 So one of the things that I really love 982 01:03:49,290 --> 01:03:51,000 is odd meters, for example. 983 01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:52,972 I've been fascinated with the odd meters. 984 01:03:52,972 --> 01:03:54,680 And we haven't really spoken about rhythm 985 01:03:54,680 --> 01:03:58,670 that much, but really, the success of this improv we just 986 01:03:58,670 --> 01:04:01,790 did was really mostly about this little motor 987 01:04:01,790 --> 01:04:04,050 that we set up at the beginning of it, 988 01:04:04,050 --> 01:04:06,070 and varying it in so many different ways 989 01:04:06,070 --> 01:04:09,780 with syncopation, and keeping it moving along. 990 01:04:09,780 --> 01:04:15,170 And using the odd numbers in rhythm, 991 01:04:15,170 --> 01:04:18,940 I think there's a lot of power and a lot of energy in there. 992 01:04:18,940 --> 01:04:23,190 So we could think about 3, for example. 993 01:04:23,190 --> 01:04:27,970 Even 3/4 is such a magical kind of place 994 01:04:27,970 --> 01:04:30,600 to be in, because with quarter notes, 995 01:04:30,600 --> 01:04:35,870 with in each quarter note, we have 12/16 in each bar. 996 01:04:35,870 --> 01:04:38,230 And 12 is a great number. 997 01:04:38,230 --> 01:04:42,310 It not only has all this astrological significance, 998 01:04:42,310 --> 01:04:46,270 but, of course, is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. 999 01:04:46,270 --> 01:04:47,900 So for us musicians, there's just 1000 01:04:47,900 --> 01:04:52,650 a whole storehouse of energy and rhythmic tension and propulsion 1001 01:04:52,650 --> 01:04:55,590 available with that number 12. 1002 01:04:55,590 --> 01:04:58,910 So let's take 3/4, and, first of all, 1003 01:04:58,910 --> 01:05:01,290 let's just play some kind of pattern 1004 01:05:01,290 --> 01:05:06,200 that we are subdividing with the quarter pulses. 1005 01:05:06,200 --> 01:05:07,785 Can you play along with me? 1006 01:05:12,410 --> 01:05:13,660 Anything you can come up with. 1007 01:05:13,660 --> 01:05:15,622 You can just play 16th notes, but really 1008 01:05:15,622 --> 01:05:16,830 feature those quarter pulses. 1009 01:05:19,610 --> 01:05:22,801 Can I hear all the 16th notes, but just accent the quarters. 1010 01:05:22,801 --> 01:05:23,301 Keep going. 1011 01:05:30,657 --> 01:05:31,157 Nice. 1012 01:05:33,886 --> 01:05:34,594 That's beautiful. 1013 01:05:37,531 --> 01:05:38,031 Great. 1014 01:05:38,031 --> 01:05:40,010 Let's try another way now. 1015 01:05:40,010 --> 01:05:41,830 I'll keep this quarter pulse, but now we're 1016 01:05:41,830 --> 01:05:44,330 going to come up with a pattern, where we accent every three 1017 01:05:44,330 --> 01:05:45,192 notes. 1018 01:05:45,192 --> 01:05:46,650 So this is essentially, we're going 1019 01:05:46,650 --> 01:05:51,830 to be playing four groups of three notes in the same amount 1020 01:05:51,830 --> 01:05:55,950 of time as we were playing three groups of four notes. 1021 01:05:55,950 --> 01:05:56,610 Do you follow? 1022 01:05:56,610 --> 01:05:59,020 So we were doing 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4, 1, 1023 01:05:59,020 --> 01:06:01,880 now we're going to do 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1024 01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:03,760 1-2-3. 1025 01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:07,050 So find a three note pattern where you can really 1026 01:06:07,050 --> 01:06:10,210 feature the first note of each. 1027 01:06:10,210 --> 01:06:12,520 Go ahead. 1028 01:06:12,520 --> 01:06:17,876 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1. 1029 01:06:50,140 --> 01:06:51,820 I can tell you guys feel it already. 1030 01:06:51,820 --> 01:06:53,560 That's really, really fun to do. 1031 01:06:53,560 --> 01:06:57,150 So let's see if we can a little round, where we'll 1032 01:06:57,150 --> 01:07:01,080 start with the people doing the quarter pulses, and after, 1033 01:07:01,080 --> 01:07:03,240 let's say, two bars, the other group 1034 01:07:03,240 --> 01:07:04,980 will come in with the quarter pulses, 1035 01:07:04,980 --> 01:07:08,620 while the first group shifts to the three pulses. 1036 01:07:08,620 --> 01:07:09,850 OK. 1037 01:07:09,850 --> 01:07:13,060 And Chris, you can be on this side-- up through, 1038 01:07:13,060 --> 01:07:17,680 let's see, one, two, three, four, Ja-- up through Jacob, 1039 01:07:17,680 --> 01:07:21,400 and then the rest of you are in the second team, OK. 1040 01:07:21,400 --> 01:07:24,794 We'll start with two bars of 3/4 doing the quarter pulses, 1041 01:07:24,794 --> 01:07:26,585 and then we're going to evolve to the three 1042 01:07:26,585 --> 01:07:28,989 pulses, the dotted eighth note pulses, 1043 01:07:28,989 --> 01:07:30,530 while they come in the quarter pulse. 1044 01:07:30,530 --> 01:07:31,050 Clear? 1045 01:07:31,050 --> 01:07:32,386 One? 1046 01:07:32,386 --> 01:07:33,670 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] not clear-- so what's going on? 1047 01:07:33,670 --> 01:07:35,170 FRIESEN: After two bars, you come in 1048 01:07:35,170 --> 01:07:36,500 with a quarter pulse figure. 1049 01:07:36,500 --> 01:07:38,390 AUDIENCE: And then they'll switch? 1050 01:07:38,390 --> 01:07:40,200 FRIESEN: They'll switch when you come in-- 1051 01:07:40,200 --> 01:07:41,491 AUDIENCE: And we'll just stay-- 1052 01:07:41,491 --> 01:07:43,610 FRIESEN: And you'll switch after two bars. 1053 01:07:43,610 --> 01:07:46,160 You're going to go to the dotted eighth note figure, 1054 01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:47,520 the three figure we just did. 1055 01:07:47,520 --> 01:07:49,130 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 1056 01:07:49,130 --> 01:07:50,380 FRIESEN: We just cycle. 1057 01:07:50,380 --> 01:07:53,050 We'll just come back to what we were doing before, OK? 1058 01:07:53,050 --> 01:07:54,950 1, 2, 3. 1059 01:07:58,310 --> 01:08:00,230 2, 2 switch. 1060 01:08:05,391 --> 01:08:05,890 Switch. 1061 01:08:09,940 --> 01:08:10,930 And switch. 1062 01:08:15,875 --> 01:08:16,375 Switch. 1063 01:08:22,810 --> 01:08:25,319 OK, you got it? 1064 01:08:25,319 --> 01:08:27,960 Let's try a little duet, just quickly, and see if we do it? 1065 01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:30,310 Does everyone feel comfortable with this? 1066 01:08:30,310 --> 01:08:33,270 Let's try a flute and oboe duet. 1067 01:08:33,270 --> 01:08:35,580 And you don't have to choose which roles you have, 1068 01:08:35,580 --> 01:08:36,901 and you don't have to switch. 1069 01:08:36,901 --> 01:08:38,609 But let's say the first person who starts 1070 01:08:38,609 --> 01:08:41,990 will start with a quarter note kind of feel. 1071 01:08:41,990 --> 01:08:46,729 And this is just about rhythm, it's not so much about melody. 1072 01:08:46,729 --> 01:08:52,550 So see if you can just make this kind of poly-rhythm evident. 1073 01:08:52,550 --> 01:08:55,830 We've got the 4 and the 3 going simultaneously. 1074 01:08:55,830 --> 01:08:57,670 So let's try a flute and oboe duet. 1075 01:08:57,670 --> 01:09:01,420 It's going to be like a 45 second, or 49 second world 1076 01:09:01,420 --> 01:09:01,919 premiere. 1077 01:09:44,430 --> 01:09:48,540 That's it, yeah guys, good for you. 1078 01:09:48,540 --> 01:09:51,859 What do you think? 1079 01:09:51,859 --> 01:09:54,292 Do you like it? 1080 01:09:54,292 --> 01:09:55,750 AUDIENCE: It feels like a template. 1081 01:09:55,750 --> 01:09:56,400 I feel like if we-- 1082 01:09:56,400 --> 01:09:56,900 FRIESEN: Exactly. 1083 01:09:56,900 --> 01:09:57,780 AUDIENCE: --got very used to this, 1084 01:09:57,780 --> 01:09:59,321 we could do lots of innovative things 1085 01:09:59,321 --> 01:10:01,110 once this becomes second nature. 1086 01:10:01,110 --> 01:10:02,600 FRIESEN: Exactly right. 1087 01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:05,070 It's a template. 1088 01:10:05,070 --> 01:10:06,570 That's a great way of looking at it. 1089 01:10:06,570 --> 01:10:07,861 Let's try another one of these. 1090 01:10:07,861 --> 01:10:12,180 Let's try a James and trumpet duet. 1091 01:10:19,370 --> 01:10:21,140 I'm sorry to interrupt already-- this 1092 01:10:21,140 --> 01:10:24,440 is totally cool-- you don't have to play all the 16th notes. 1093 01:10:24,440 --> 01:10:27,060 You can play a resulting rhythm that just plays down 1094 01:10:27,060 --> 01:10:30,340 a funky quarter note feel, for example, you know I mean? 1095 01:10:30,340 --> 01:10:31,640 And feel free to switch. 1096 01:10:31,640 --> 01:10:33,420 In fact, let's make that a little rule of this duet. 1097 01:10:33,420 --> 01:10:35,170 That at some point you're going to switch roles. 1098 01:10:35,170 --> 01:10:35,669 OK? 1099 01:10:40,629 --> 01:10:41,670 Don't try to plan it out. 1100 01:10:41,670 --> 01:10:43,591 You'll just screw it up. 1101 01:10:43,591 --> 01:10:44,466 AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]. 1102 01:11:44,156 --> 01:11:45,280 FRIESEN: Good for you guys. 1103 01:11:45,280 --> 01:11:45,750 Yeah. 1104 01:11:45,750 --> 01:11:46,250 That's cool. 1105 01:11:48,702 --> 01:11:50,160 What I love about it, too, and what 1106 01:11:50,160 --> 01:11:51,900 we haven't talked all about-- and that 1107 01:11:51,900 --> 01:11:57,560 is how to make an accompaniment, in a kind of pure 1108 01:11:57,560 --> 01:11:59,250 and very exposed setting like this. 1109 01:11:59,250 --> 01:12:01,940 And you guys are really good at that already. 1110 01:12:01,940 --> 01:12:07,700 I found you gravitating towards that melody and accompaniment 1111 01:12:07,700 --> 01:12:13,110 role between you, which is a great musical instinct. 1112 01:12:13,110 --> 01:12:14,437 I love how you did that. 1113 01:12:14,437 --> 01:12:16,270 RAY: And something that a lot a horn players 1114 01:12:16,270 --> 01:12:17,890 don't think about because you're thinking-- 1115 01:12:17,890 --> 01:12:18,530 FRIESEN: So true 1116 01:12:18,530 --> 01:12:20,196 RAY: --about playing melodies and leads. 1117 01:12:20,196 --> 01:12:21,640 FRIESEN: I know, I know. 1118 01:12:21,640 --> 01:12:23,180 I really notice it because the cello 1119 01:12:23,180 --> 01:12:25,290 has this tradition of accompanying. 1120 01:12:25,290 --> 01:12:28,900 The written repertoire is really 90% 1121 01:12:28,900 --> 01:12:30,190 playing accompaniment roles. 1122 01:12:30,190 --> 01:12:32,390 So I really appreciate it when I come 1123 01:12:32,390 --> 01:12:35,050 across a violinist or a trumpet player 1124 01:12:35,050 --> 01:12:37,810 who is sensitive to that-- or a drummer-- who's really 1125 01:12:37,810 --> 01:12:41,290 a great accompanist, really appreciate it. 1126 01:12:41,290 --> 01:12:45,250 Anyway, just as an example of how a kind of musical element-- 1127 01:12:45,250 --> 01:12:49,060 in this case, the four against three-- with curiosity, 1128 01:12:49,060 --> 01:12:52,920 as you experiment with this, you will gradually 1129 01:12:52,920 --> 01:12:55,840 find yourself wanting to compose stuff. 1130 01:12:55,840 --> 01:13:01,426 You'll be improvising stuff that you get attracted to and just 1131 01:13:01,426 --> 01:13:02,800 through being drawn to something, 1132 01:13:02,800 --> 01:13:07,750 with your natural curiosity with the musician's love for music. 1133 01:13:07,750 --> 01:13:09,850 You'll find yourself wanting to expand it, 1134 01:13:09,850 --> 01:13:12,581 and with your loving curiosity, it 1135 01:13:12,581 --> 01:13:14,330 will grow into something that could either 1136 01:13:14,330 --> 01:13:19,550 be a composition, or just part of your personal vocabulary, 1137 01:13:19,550 --> 01:13:21,502 for your personal comfort. 1138 01:13:21,502 --> 01:13:23,290 I think that's kind of what we do, 1139 01:13:23,290 --> 01:13:30,960 is collect this quiver full of musical arrows of all 1140 01:13:30,960 --> 01:13:32,650 kinds of different descriptions. 1141 01:13:32,650 --> 01:13:35,700 And rhythmically, it's just a huge, huge great world. 1142 01:13:35,700 --> 01:13:40,440 So I envy you, that you've got this long life ahead of you 1143 01:13:40,440 --> 01:13:43,320 to check all this stuff out. 1144 01:13:43,320 --> 01:13:44,490 I do, too. 1145 01:13:44,490 --> 01:13:46,730 I'm doing the same thing. 1146 01:13:46,730 --> 01:13:47,961 RAY: Indeed. 1147 01:13:47,961 --> 01:13:49,335 FRIESEN: Where are, we time wise? 1148 01:13:49,335 --> 01:13:51,464 HARVEY: We have about maybe five minutes more. 1149 01:13:51,464 --> 01:13:52,130 RAY: Yeah, cool. 1150 01:13:52,130 --> 01:13:57,820 I just wanted to mention that Eugene, as I mentioned, 1151 01:13:57,820 --> 01:14:00,090 we both are teaching at the Berklee College, 1152 01:14:00,090 --> 01:14:02,730 and if you ever get a chance to hear-- 1153 01:14:02,730 --> 01:14:05,340 and I don't know if you guys wander 1154 01:14:05,340 --> 01:14:08,010 all the way across the river to Boston, 1155 01:14:08,010 --> 01:14:10,530 there's another city over there-- they've 1156 01:14:10,530 --> 01:14:11,990 got some cool things going on. 1157 01:14:11,990 --> 01:14:15,550 Anyway, no seriously, if you ever 1158 01:14:15,550 --> 01:14:21,200 see a notification for a group called the Berklee World String 1159 01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:23,840 Orchestra, it's led by Eugene. 1160 01:14:23,840 --> 01:14:27,310 It's a string orchestra, as you might expect. 1161 01:14:27,310 --> 01:14:30,210 It's got all the string players, many of the string players 1162 01:14:30,210 --> 01:14:31,460 to go to Berklee. 1163 01:14:31,460 --> 01:14:34,944 And one of the things that's remarkable about this group, 1164 01:14:34,944 --> 01:14:36,360 besides the fact that many of them 1165 01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:39,360 are actually really good improvisers, 1166 01:14:39,360 --> 01:14:41,950 is that Eugene does amazing work getting 1167 01:14:41,950 --> 01:14:45,510 them to play rhythmically-- and getting them to play rhythms 1168 01:14:45,510 --> 01:14:49,430 in all kinds of different styles of music, world music. 1169 01:14:49,430 --> 01:14:50,720 A lot of original stuff. 1170 01:14:53,920 --> 01:14:56,030 A lot of remarkable repertoire that they do. 1171 01:14:56,030 --> 01:14:59,410 But like I said, a lot of it is based on-- at least 1172 01:14:59,410 --> 01:15:01,940 my concept of what Eugene does-- is based 1173 01:15:01,940 --> 01:15:05,550 on working with rhythms with this ensemble. 1174 01:15:05,550 --> 01:15:09,140 And without a doubt it's worth checking out, 1175 01:15:09,140 --> 01:15:10,627 if you get a chance to see that. 1176 01:15:10,627 --> 01:15:12,210 FRIESEN: One of the ideas of the group 1177 01:15:12,210 --> 01:15:16,520 was to activate the great world of rhythm, especially 1178 01:15:16,520 --> 01:15:21,650 from Africa, and South America, and North America, 1179 01:15:21,650 --> 01:15:24,170 with jazz-- well, all over the world-- 1180 01:15:24,170 --> 01:15:25,620 without a rhythm section. 1181 01:15:25,620 --> 01:15:28,990 So all the rhythms are really spread out 1182 01:15:28,990 --> 01:15:30,600 and written into the parts. 1183 01:15:30,600 --> 01:15:36,560 There's this great interlocking, [INAUDIBLE] and all the parts 1184 01:15:36,560 --> 01:15:38,910 are rhythmic, and I think pretty fun to play. 1185 01:15:38,910 --> 01:15:41,090 And that's the experiment-- making 1186 01:15:41,090 --> 01:15:44,420 rhythmic use of string instruments. 1187 01:15:44,420 --> 01:15:46,630 RAY: So we just have a few minutes left. 1188 01:15:46,630 --> 01:15:49,990 Are there any other questions? 1189 01:15:49,990 --> 01:15:50,997 Yes. 1190 01:15:50,997 --> 01:15:53,122 AUDIENCE: So I was talking to someone the other day 1191 01:15:53,122 --> 01:15:54,981 about perfect pitch. 1192 01:15:54,981 --> 01:15:56,480 There's this notion that some people 1193 01:15:56,480 --> 01:15:58,206 have inborn perfect pitch. 1194 01:15:58,206 --> 01:16:01,940 And they are, from birth, are annoyed 1195 01:16:01,940 --> 01:16:04,770 if something is a couple cents sharper than they 1196 01:16:04,770 --> 01:16:05,933 remember it being. 1197 01:16:05,933 --> 01:16:06,766 Something like this. 1198 01:16:09,360 --> 01:16:12,140 I don't have anything like that, but as I 1199 01:16:12,140 --> 01:16:16,740 listen to more and more music, the different pitches 1200 01:16:16,740 --> 01:16:18,630 start to feel different. 1201 01:16:18,630 --> 01:16:21,500 And they have these distinct sort of personalities. 1202 01:16:21,500 --> 01:16:23,366 And we haven't talked about this much, 1203 01:16:23,366 --> 01:16:25,366 and I haven't heard people in improvisation talk 1204 01:16:25,366 --> 01:16:26,680 about this at all. 1205 01:16:26,680 --> 01:16:28,310 But you use that kind of thing? 1206 01:16:28,310 --> 01:16:31,210 So you feel like the pitches have different feelings, colors 1207 01:16:31,210 --> 01:16:33,330 to them that you can use? 1208 01:16:33,330 --> 01:16:36,380 The same thing, maybe transposed up a couple steps 1209 01:16:36,380 --> 01:16:37,325 would feel different? 1210 01:16:40,030 --> 01:16:44,760 RAY: Yeah, that's an interesting question, actually. 1211 01:16:44,760 --> 01:16:45,440 I do. 1212 01:16:45,440 --> 01:16:49,910 I feel like different notes, different keys, 1213 01:16:49,910 --> 01:16:53,410 have different feelings to them. 1214 01:16:53,410 --> 01:16:57,720 I mean, I'm one of those people that has perfect pitch. 1215 01:16:57,720 --> 01:17:00,042 I don't necessarily-- to get back 1216 01:17:00,042 --> 01:17:01,500 to what we were saying originally-- 1217 01:17:01,500 --> 01:17:04,670 I don't necessarily know if the piano 1218 01:17:04,670 --> 01:17:08,620 is tuned at 442 versus 440-- maybe 1219 01:17:08,620 --> 01:17:12,040 there are people that tuned in-- I'm not. 1220 01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:15,780 But I suspect most people aren't. 1221 01:17:15,780 --> 01:17:20,005 But yeah, it's something, and it's interesting, 1222 01:17:20,005 --> 01:17:22,380 too, the other thing I thinking about as you were talking 1223 01:17:22,380 --> 01:17:26,910 was, from an improvisational standpoint, 1224 01:17:26,910 --> 01:17:30,390 often people sometimes come up to me, and they ask me, 1225 01:17:30,390 --> 01:17:31,500 do you have perfect pitch? 1226 01:17:31,500 --> 01:17:32,500 I say, well, yeah, I do. 1227 01:17:32,500 --> 01:17:35,900 And they go, oh, that must make it so much easier to improvise. 1228 01:17:35,900 --> 01:17:38,850 Well, no, it's not that easy. 1229 01:17:38,850 --> 01:17:41,270 It's not that simple. 1230 01:17:41,270 --> 01:17:47,110 And I know, again, only speaking from my own experience, 1231 01:17:47,110 --> 01:17:50,320 it does help in some small ways, I suppose. 1232 01:17:50,320 --> 01:17:53,790 If, you know, Eugene and I walk out on a stage, 1233 01:17:53,790 --> 01:17:58,190 and without talking about it, he just starts bowing a note, 1234 01:17:58,190 --> 01:18:01,980 having perfect pitch will tell me, oh he's started on A flat. 1235 01:18:01,980 --> 01:18:05,940 But once he starts playing, and I start playing, 1236 01:18:05,940 --> 01:18:07,440 you don't think about perfect pitch. 1237 01:18:07,440 --> 01:18:11,422 I'm not analyzing, oh, his D is a little sharp. 1238 01:18:11,422 --> 01:18:13,130 And I don't know, that's going to bug me. 1239 01:18:13,130 --> 01:18:14,560 No, no, no. 1240 01:18:14,560 --> 01:18:16,190 I'm not going to-- if I were to try 1241 01:18:16,190 --> 01:18:18,984 to be that analytical in the moment, it would drive me nuts. 1242 01:18:18,984 --> 01:18:20,900 AUDIENCE: I was more talking about aesthetics. 1243 01:18:20,900 --> 01:18:23,460 I was more talking about what sort of a bearing 1244 01:18:23,460 --> 01:18:28,920 does the aesthetic of different keys have on your feeling-- 1245 01:18:28,920 --> 01:18:32,940 FRIESEN: Well, in my case, my experience of music 1246 01:18:32,940 --> 01:18:35,900 is related to the cello because I've had this thing in my lap 1247 01:18:35,900 --> 01:18:37,400 since I was 10 years old. 1248 01:18:37,400 --> 01:18:40,660 So when I hear a note, I can kind of 1249 01:18:40,660 --> 01:18:42,860 imagine where it is on the cello. 1250 01:18:42,860 --> 01:18:46,070 And that's the way that I know what note it is, 1251 01:18:46,070 --> 01:18:50,170 but it's also the way I can visualize what key a melody is 1252 01:18:50,170 --> 01:18:52,880 going to sound good in, because of how 1253 01:18:52,880 --> 01:18:55,878 it will sound on the cello. 1254 01:18:55,878 --> 01:18:57,402 Yeah. 1255 01:18:57,402 --> 01:18:58,860 And then I think an interesting way 1256 01:18:58,860 --> 01:19:03,640 to play with that is to transpose as much as you 1257 01:19:03,640 --> 01:19:06,030 possibly can in all 12 keys. 1258 01:19:06,030 --> 01:19:08,480 You know, start with a simple melody, and just 1259 01:19:08,480 --> 01:19:12,760 the head of a tune, or an eight bar phrase, or 16 bars, 1260 01:19:12,760 --> 01:19:14,510 and try playing it all 12 keys. 1261 01:19:14,510 --> 01:19:16,100 And take your time. 1262 01:19:16,100 --> 01:19:18,240 If you're like I am, it'll take a long time 1263 01:19:18,240 --> 01:19:20,410 to get through 12 keys at first. 1264 01:19:20,410 --> 01:19:25,250 But eventually, you begin to open to how the intervals work, 1265 01:19:25,250 --> 01:19:29,090 and hear how your instrument sounds in all those 12 keys. 1266 01:19:29,090 --> 01:19:31,570 And that's another way to sensitize yourself 1267 01:19:31,570 --> 01:19:35,345 about how you react emotionally to what key something is in. 1268 01:19:35,345 --> 01:19:38,170 It's very personal, but it's very real. 1269 01:19:38,170 --> 01:19:39,562 That was a good question. 1270 01:19:39,562 --> 01:19:40,270 RAY: It is, yeah. 1271 01:19:40,270 --> 01:19:44,327 And I think, just one short comment, 1272 01:19:44,327 --> 01:19:46,160 because we talk about with improvisation, we 1273 01:19:46,160 --> 01:19:49,810 talk about feelings and being in touch with how things feel, 1274 01:19:49,810 --> 01:19:51,340 and how things sound. 1275 01:19:51,340 --> 01:19:53,530 And I think the key that something's 1276 01:19:53,530 --> 01:19:55,140 in is one of those things. 1277 01:19:55,140 --> 01:19:59,510 One of those things that gives you information. 1278 01:19:59,510 --> 01:20:03,264 If I sit down and play a B minor chord, 1279 01:20:03,264 --> 01:20:05,180 that's going to give me a certain feeling that 1280 01:20:05,180 --> 01:20:06,971 would be a little bit different if I played 1281 01:20:06,971 --> 01:20:10,190 an A minor chord or a B major chord. 1282 01:20:10,190 --> 01:20:14,830 So that all kind of gets mixed in, for me at least, 1283 01:20:14,830 --> 01:20:15,800 the key something is. 1284 01:20:15,800 --> 01:20:16,580 I think it does. 1285 01:20:16,580 --> 01:20:20,610 It gets mixed into how I how I approach it as an improviser. 1286 01:20:20,610 --> 01:20:24,270 And which is why what Eugene says a great idea, you know, 1287 01:20:24,270 --> 01:20:26,080 you learn to tune, and you say, OK, 1288 01:20:26,080 --> 01:20:29,570 cool, I'm feeling really good about playing blues in F. 1289 01:20:29,570 --> 01:20:33,000 And now try blues in D flat. 1290 01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:34,727 It's going to feel really different. 1291 01:20:34,727 --> 01:20:37,060 Partly because you probably don't play in D flat as well 1292 01:20:37,060 --> 01:20:38,768 you do in F, but partly just because it's 1293 01:20:38,768 --> 01:20:40,100 going to sound different. 1294 01:20:40,100 --> 01:20:43,940 So I hope that answers your question a little bit. 1295 01:20:43,940 --> 01:20:45,510 Any other-- Yeah. 1296 01:20:45,510 --> 01:20:46,010 Adrian? 1297 01:20:46,010 --> 01:20:47,634 AUDIENCE: So you mentioned [INAUDIBLE]. 1298 01:20:51,389 --> 01:20:54,078 Do you have any other useful exercises sort 1299 01:20:54,078 --> 01:21:02,640 of like [INAUDIBLE] practice certain improvision skills. 1300 01:21:02,640 --> 01:21:06,578 RAY: Excercises for practicing improvisation? 1301 01:21:06,578 --> 01:21:09,830 AUDIENCE: Just like for practicing songs [INAUDIBLE]. 1302 01:21:09,830 --> 01:21:14,800 RAY: Right, yeah there's so many. 1303 01:21:14,800 --> 01:21:17,381 FRIESEN: There's some great technology, too, 1304 01:21:17,381 --> 01:21:19,130 you guys have probably checked out, right. 1305 01:21:19,130 --> 01:21:21,980 I mean, everything from a looper pedal, 1306 01:21:21,980 --> 01:21:25,260 so you can make your own loop, and practice along 1307 01:21:25,260 --> 01:21:27,772 with it to Band in a Box. 1308 01:21:27,772 --> 01:21:31,000 And iReal b, the iPhone app, where 1309 01:21:31,000 --> 01:21:35,810 you can play tune, in any key, in any tempo. 1310 01:21:35,810 --> 01:21:37,540 Those are all great things. 1311 01:21:37,540 --> 01:21:40,320 I think it should be driven-- in my personal opinion-- 1312 01:21:40,320 --> 01:21:43,480 it should be driven by your curiosity for what you really 1313 01:21:43,480 --> 01:21:44,590 love. 1314 01:21:44,590 --> 01:21:48,490 You know, any time it becomes an intellectual exercise, 1315 01:21:48,490 --> 01:21:52,430 it's something to be aware of. 1316 01:21:52,430 --> 01:21:55,740 I would counsel to gravitate towards things that you're 1317 01:21:55,740 --> 01:22:01,480 really, truly drawn to that gives you 1318 01:22:01,480 --> 01:22:02,990 an emotional response. 1319 01:22:02,990 --> 01:22:05,280 We talked about the one side of the brain, 1320 01:22:05,280 --> 01:22:07,660 the rigor side of the brain, and the other, 1321 01:22:07,660 --> 01:22:10,740 I sometimes refer to as the surrender part of the brain. 1322 01:22:10,740 --> 01:22:13,300 In other words, when I improvise, 1323 01:22:13,300 --> 01:22:18,360 I often place myself in this kind of more open mode. 1324 01:22:18,360 --> 01:22:21,035 It's where the music just is there, 1325 01:22:21,035 --> 01:22:22,410 and I'm contributing to the music 1326 01:22:22,410 --> 01:22:24,110 without having to analyze it, or try 1327 01:22:24,110 --> 01:22:26,250 to remember anything I practiced. 1328 01:22:26,250 --> 01:22:28,995 It's really just a way of being with your imagination 1329 01:22:28,995 --> 01:22:33,320 and with your more open, emotional state 1330 01:22:33,320 --> 01:22:34,710 inside the music. 1331 01:22:34,710 --> 01:22:37,360 That's something that's hard to practice in school. 1332 01:22:37,360 --> 01:22:40,300 So that's why it's so important to find a place 1333 01:22:40,300 --> 01:22:43,320 to practice that you're comfortable in, that hopefully 1334 01:22:43,320 --> 01:22:46,217 sounds good for your instrument, and spend some time there, 1335 01:22:46,217 --> 01:22:48,425 just making the connection between how you're feeling 1336 01:22:48,425 --> 01:22:50,220 and how it sounds. 1337 01:22:50,220 --> 01:22:52,680 How comfortable you are and what you love. 1338 01:22:52,680 --> 01:22:54,360 RAY: Yeah, I think that's great. 1339 01:22:54,360 --> 01:22:56,540 I think that's great advice. 1340 01:22:56,540 --> 01:23:02,540 I mean, just again piggybacking a little bit 1341 01:23:02,540 --> 01:23:08,015 on what Eugene was saying, oftentimes, you'll find things. 1342 01:23:08,015 --> 01:23:10,390 You'll find things that excite you when you're listening. 1343 01:23:10,390 --> 01:23:14,460 You'll hear something at a concert or on a recording, 1344 01:23:14,460 --> 01:23:15,910 and you'll go, wow that's great. 1345 01:23:15,910 --> 01:23:19,820 And I think this is how most of us 1346 01:23:19,820 --> 01:23:22,180 do it, and have done it, for our lives. 1347 01:23:22,180 --> 01:23:27,700 For me, I would be in college, sitting in a class and Mark 1348 01:23:27,700 --> 01:23:29,190 Harvey, or whoever my teacher was, 1349 01:23:29,190 --> 01:23:34,350 would put on a recording of, you know, Bill Evans. 1350 01:23:34,350 --> 01:23:36,700 And I'm like, wow, I've never heard this before. 1351 01:23:36,700 --> 01:23:39,075 I've never heard someone play the piano like that before. 1352 01:23:39,075 --> 01:23:42,520 And then it's like, OK, now I got to go check out Bill Evans. 1353 01:23:42,520 --> 01:23:46,110 And now, after having done that, my playing 1354 01:23:46,110 --> 01:23:47,610 has little bit of that in it, right? 1355 01:23:47,610 --> 01:23:51,240 Because he's one of my favorite pianists. 1356 01:23:51,240 --> 01:23:54,710 I think that's sort of what Eugene is saying. 1357 01:23:54,710 --> 01:23:58,310 Stuff that you're drawn to, explore it, jump into it. 1358 01:23:58,310 --> 01:24:00,410 It can be anything and everything, 1359 01:24:00,410 --> 01:24:03,970 but then once you start exploring it, 1360 01:24:03,970 --> 01:24:05,780 then you'll find resources. 1361 01:24:05,780 --> 01:24:08,370 You'll find transcriptions of Bill Evans solos, 1362 01:24:08,370 --> 01:24:09,950 and, of course, recordings, which 1363 01:24:09,950 --> 01:24:13,510 are very easy to get, mostly, nowadays. 1364 01:24:13,510 --> 01:24:18,170 And like I said, there's a lot of good resources 1365 01:24:18,170 --> 01:24:20,290 out there for working on improvisation. 1366 01:24:20,290 --> 01:24:24,060 But just find things that you're drawn to, even if it's just 1367 01:24:24,060 --> 01:24:28,160 six measures of a John Coltrane solo. 1368 01:24:28,160 --> 01:24:30,170 It's like, I love those six measures. 1369 01:24:30,170 --> 01:24:31,650 I got to learn those six measures. 1370 01:24:31,650 --> 01:24:33,740 I got to get them-- I got to have them. 1371 01:24:33,740 --> 01:24:37,380 And you learn them, and you start playing on them, 1372 01:24:37,380 --> 01:24:39,129 or it could be anything. 1373 01:24:39,129 --> 01:24:40,670 FRIESEN: The stranger your interests, 1374 01:24:40,670 --> 01:24:42,900 the more interesting of a player you'll end up being. 1375 01:24:42,900 --> 01:24:45,650 RAY: It's true. 1376 01:24:45,650 --> 01:24:46,740 So, cool. 1377 01:24:46,740 --> 01:24:48,650 FRIESEN: You are what you eat. 1378 01:24:48,650 --> 01:24:50,300 Watch your diet. 1379 01:24:50,300 --> 01:24:51,930 RAY: Watch your diet. 1380 01:24:51,930 --> 01:24:52,530 So. 1381 01:24:52,530 --> 01:24:54,330 HARVEY: Wise words on which to end. 1382 01:24:54,330 --> 01:24:57,630 Let's give him hand. 1383 01:24:57,630 --> 01:25:00,080 FRIESEN: Nice to hang out with you guys.