Blues For Martha (Graham)

Greetings, all!

Here's another piano track from my upcoming CD. This one was improvised in what I like to call a "Brisk 20th century style". With somewhat dissonant harmony and strong rhythms, it's very similar to what I do stylistically in Martha Graham style dance classes. (I've been a Dance Class accompanist for a really really really long time now...)

Over the course of 20 years playing Graham Classes I've developed a serious working musical vocabulary, one I felt worth documenting.

The title was immediately obvious on listening back. I posted it in celebration of Martha Graham's birthday, just a few days ago (May 11th). Thanks for listening!

- Neil

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others." - Martha Graham

Martha Graham on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham

Digging into Ableton LIVE vers. 8

I'm always ready to take a plunge with gear and software that I'm into. I've been using LIVE since version 3, so I'm no stranger to the concepts, but having recently upgraded to 8, there are "some things" I need to learn. Actually quite a lot of things. Actually an enormous number of things...! For me, the best way to do that is "trial by fire". While not "on stage" per say, working in the Dance Class forces me move quickly as the exercises are often short, and always at different tempos/time signatures. A slow 4; a fast 3; etc. I have to build up loops in LIVE, and then 30 seconds later throw them away and start over. And that happens about 30 times over the course of a single class.

Needless to say, I learn to work fast....! It's daunting at first, but I find a "no fear" approach is best. I have a lot of instruments set up ahead of time (in a template); that way, hitting Record on various trax on the APC 40 gives me access to different sounds - marimba, strings, bass, percussion, and so on. Plus, I always have the piano to fall back on, if I simply can't get things going quickly enough.

And of course everything helps in my push to become a certified Ableton Trainer. :)

Here's the Class Rig I'm currently messing with:

The ozone is for entering little ostinatos: percussion, bass lines, pads etc. I hope to have some awesome demonstrative videos up soon, so keep a eye on this space (but don't hold your breath!).

Thanks! :)

2010 Musician's Concert at SUNY Purchase

Here's the link to the post about the concert tonight with the musicians from the Dance school........

OK, you get the idea.

http://pdogrecords.com/wordpress/2010/03/18/cod-2010-musicians-concert/

- Neil

Prepared Piano: another sonic universe

One of the many things I've gotten good at over the years is playing Dance Classes. It seems I've learned about all of the different varieties and Dance forms, and the associated music and history that goes with them. One of the most interesting styles is Cunningham, named after the late choreographer Merce Cunningham. Merce worked very closely with composer John Cage, who developed the technique known as "Prepared Piano" whereby you actually change the sound of the instrument in various ways, usually with small bits of rubber, screws and washers, felt and all manner of small objects. In the few John Cage Prepared Piano pieces that i've performed the setup of the piano was very time consuming: each string to be treated (usually 20 or so - you couldn't do all 88, it would take forever) was dealt with in a specific and different way. You need to measure how far from the bridge you put the little screw in between the 2nd and 3rd strings of the high Eb. An intense process that yields amazing results. But what if you don't have the time for all that setup? Dance classes move along rather quickly...

I became fascinated with the possibilities of prepared piano in the dance class, but I wanted to be able to change the sound(s) more easily. I already had a kit as described in Richard Bunger Evan's book "The Well Prepared Piano" [http://www.richardbevans.com/wellpreparedpiano.html#WWPanchor], and based on the essential concepts I added a group of found objects: several rather large weights, of which I covered on half with felt; bits of wood; metal rods, and other odds and ends, and put them in the kit. The end result is that I can acheive a great variety of different sounds; and by moving these objects around in different configurations (see photo), I can easily change the sounds - or even remove the preparations entirely - very quickly. I call it my "instant prepared piano" kit. All this makes for much wonderful sonic mayhem. :)

I'm including an audio clip I posted on Soundcloud, recorded with the iPhone in the Dance class on Nov. 5th Enjoy. :)

<span>Prepared Piano improvisation 11 5 09 by nailmusic</span>

Neil

Filed under: Dance