Ben’s Blog

On Monday, July 23, 2007 I had a go at Suite # 5 in c minor at REP Studio with my good friend Nate at the helm. Nate did an amazing job of recording, engineering, producing and mixing. With my playing though, I thought I was a lot more prepared than I ended up being.

On Tuesday morning, I had to write down a few thoughts and had this to say at Gimme Coffee:
“Suite 5 kicked my ass. I got into the hyperventilate and hands clamping down thing and problems like that. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. As bad as I did on this suite, I have to remember my original goal: process not product. I simply marked a point in time for this suite. I have tons of work left to do [on this suite] most of it around timing, pulse and dynamics. But, it does create a “clearing” for the next suite (not that I’ll stop working on 5), and I’ve been needing to work on something new and totally fresh. 6 will be great for that.”

That’s pretty well said, I can’t add much to that. I’ll just say that 5 is a fantastic suite, and I didn’t even come close to doing it justice on my instrument.

I look forward to taking another shot at 5 in the near future, but until then take a listen.

bentorrey :: Jul.31.2007 :: The Quantity... :: No Comments »

I love my Bullet bass. It’s the first good electric bass I got. My brother spotted it in a little music store on 53 in Norwell–it must have been ‘85 or ‘86. We bought it for around $150 and I remember playing Rush tunes all the way home in the back of our 1980 Jetta. I couldn’t believe how good it sounded and how much easier it was to play than my first electric (a junky Kent).

It was my main bass for a couple of years and I really loved it during that time. But, since I really haven’t played it much since the early 90’s, I’ve decided to find a temporary home for it where it might get played some more and am relocating it to REP Studios for the time being. It’s just too great an instrument to sit in the basement, and between my my 5-string EAB (really my main instrument now), my 6-string, and my upright, I just don’t have time to play it.

I had to record some video of the Bullet before relocating it, so here’s 4 quick snippets that I put in a YouTube playlist.

Ultimately, I think I’d like to find maybe a high school music program that would like to keep the Bullet, or even loan it out to a young kid that will play it as a main instrument. I remember that ride home to this day, playing The Trees, and thinking, wow, this instrument really helps my playing.

On another note, I think it’s pretty amazing that my brother (at 16 or 17) was already so mature and selfless as to be coming home to tell me about a bass he saw and thought I might like. Thanks Matty!

bentorrey :: Jul.28.2007 :: Instruments :: No Comments »

[in case the above is hard to read--and for searchability--here's the text transcribed]

20070715–It’s 6:07AM according to the digital clock over here at the Ithaca Commons.

I’m just half a block from the legendary studio where T3stament recorded The New 0rder. I plan to see them tomorrow night in the Boston area, I can’t believe the coincidence.

I think I’d like to use this bit of magical morning time to transcribe that amazing intro of the first track.

The things guitarists do are amazing. The veritical reach across the instrument, the fluidity, the vocabulary.

So, I’m without a few things I typically need to transcribe. 1) my instrument 2 manuscript paper 3) the recording 4) a lot of time, but I figure let’s give it a go.

Luckily, # 3 won’t hold me back much, I feel like I can go ‘ASD’ - Amazing Slow Downer in my head on this clip.

[Starting to rain, need to relocate.
Nice Sound.]

Ok, I forgot perfect pitch. I don’t have that either, but that must be a Bb, setting up that heavy tritone vibe when they hit the low E’s.

So, basically it’s a heavy diminished lick that goes up through some inversions to a minor chord that builds up and then comes down. 

Rhythmically, straight 16ths although the groupings and articulations and pedal points all make it maybe seem not straight 16ths. So, I’ll break it into 4 phrases. 

20070719: OK, so I’ll give myself about a C- on that transcription. But, I did get the key right. Messed up the second measure there, should have started on a G. Having been over it with my instrument and listening to the recording I realize that I should have nailed that one, but it was fun.

As it turned out, I didn’t end up going to see Testament on 7/16 in Boston, too much traveling both weekends, so decided to spend the 3 hours I would have spent driving to the show, practicing.

bentorrey :: Jul.19.2007 :: Musical Thoughts :: No Comments »

I gave it a go Friday night and recorded Suite 1. It was incredibly hot in our little worship room, so after the Prelude I had to turn the fan on, which made the audio even less good. Prelude, Sarabande and Minuets were pretty decent. I posted them to a YouTube playlist. Allemande, Courante and Gigue weren’t good at all though, so I’ll have another go at the whole Suite soon.

Great to practice a performance though. Need to work on memorization, relaxation, breathing, phrasing, dynamics, all the usual stuff.

I also think I might have warmed up a bit TOO much actually, running both suites 1 and 5 before I started. Physically I was already a bit drained when I started. The EAB takes a bit more out of me than does a regular electric.

bentorrey :: Jul.08.2007 :: Friday Night Concert Series :: No Comments »

Dexter was one of my all-time favorite Blase Cabaret tunes, recorded in 1994 on our Clockin’ self-release. I recently found a copy on tape and walked the neighborhood listening to it with fresh ears.

I really like the little intro bass solo. I really dig the tone and note choices. It has sort of a bluesy H3ndrix feel that fits the tune nicely. It might be the most Jay Anderson-type (ie, space, phrasing) solo I got on tape from those years. I might have made a bigger deal out of the minor bluesy feel right at the end there, but I’m happy with how it was laid down. Take a listen.

Copyright 1994. Blase Cabaret. Music and Lyrics by Jamie O’Neil and Nathan Richardson.

bentorrey :: Jul.07.2007 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: 3 Comments »

I’m proud to announce the Friday Night Concert Series. This is something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Takes a bit of an explanation though.

I’m reading Margret Elson’s great “Passionate Practice” book as I’m thinking about a fall recital. I’ve never been a good public performer, nerves always got the best of me. I realize that I need to give some more performances.

So, my idea is to follow the recommendations in Passionate Practice and give practice performances of the first 5 Cello Suites (# 6 is still far from ready). I’ll record them on my video camera then post them up to YouTube in a playlist for each suite. They won’t be perfect, but it will be great practice for me, and hopefully a few people may enjoy.

As the book recommends, I’ll attempt to recreate the exact situation of a performance: clothing, timing of the performance, what to eat beforehand, etc. I’ll do practice run throughs at least a week beforehand.

Why Friday night? Well, my “musical week” runs Saturday AM to Friday PM, so on a Friday night I’m as far from a musical life as I get in a week. If I can work to shake off the “IT mind” on a Friday night and make some nice music, then I can do that at any time.

bentorrey :: Jul.06.2007 :: Friday Night Concert Series :: No Comments »

In 1996 I was working on becoming a professional musician. I was working as hard as I could on that, but I was paying my bills by being a professional busboy.

One Sunday morning early in 1996, I arrived a little tired from a double-shift the day before. The band starting setting up for brunch, but I didn’t pay much attention. I had heard a lot of music on that job, and very little of it excited me very much, to be honest.

The bass player started to play and I stopped dead in my tracks, leaving a pile of dishes in my wake. “Who the hell is that?”, I asked Brother Mark, a fellow bass player and waiter. “Don’t know?”, replied Brother Mark, keeping his usual cool. “Do you hear that tone?” The bass player was warming up with a killing soukous pattern. Perfect tone, time and groove. Who is this guy? I’ve heard that tone before…but where?

The band took a break after a bit and I introduced myself to Wesley Wirth. Within a week I had taken my first lesson with Wes. I guess you never know when your mentor might appear, is the mini-lesson of this story.

In getting back to playing recently, and specifically in working on the Cello Suites, I knew I had to see Wes again for a lesson. Although he doesn’t play classical much, I knew his insight on the suites would be invaluable. I went to see him before recording # 2, and planned to do one session with him for every suite, but got behind on finances.

But, what he taught me in one lesson has carried me through 4 suites, and I don’t think he’d mind if I shared it with my blog audience of 5-7 bass players plus me, myself and I.

Wes listened to the suite 2 prelude and said, “Accentuate the drama of the piece. Find and lift up that ’sublime’ moment of each piece.” I said, “like that moment in Rouxinole (a favorite Nascimento tune we often talked about) when the bass player hits the 10ths there?” “Yes, like that. Make the most of it, more than you think you have to, so it’s caught on tape-the feeling of that moment.”

Here’s an example of going after that moment from a really simple etude-like piece Roncalli’s Sarabande. If I was trying to play this measure (the G/B after the A minor bar) exactly as written, I’d definitely worry about sustaining the B for all 3 beats, but really wanting to go after some drama requires letting it be implied and going after a “moment” with the G to F# melody there. You really don’t lose track of the harmony there, it definitely still feels like a G chord with a B in the bass.

roncolliosarabandemoment.AVI

bentorrey :: Jul.01.2007 :: Musical Thoughts :: No Comments »