The live music budget was a bit blown out this month, but I’ll have to set that aside and be sure to see Brian Bromberg tomorrow night at Sculler’s! Yeah!
Funny because I’ve been listening to a few of his records a lot lately, Wood especially, and the sound of his upright is just unbelievable, and unbelievably recorded.
Really looking forward to the show tomorrow night.
bentorrey :: Mar.25.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »
So, here’s the best way to write these out in my opinion. I’ve been reading a lot of lute tablature songs lately, and this method works really well. What do you think? I’d probably put fingering suggestions next to notes in the score for each hand as well, probably only when there’s a shift to not clutter things up.
What I did to make this was do a bass and guitar part, then hide the tablature for those parts, then I added another part below those two with tablature only, and then wrote in the notes and scanned that. I have no idea (yet) how I can make GuitarPro do notation like this so that I end up with decent files to play along with or to export out MIDI files, but I’m sure I can figure that out.
Anyway, here’s a quick video. Not a very good take (2nd of 3) and clunky on timing. I need to practice this one A LOT with the metronome.
bentorrey :: Mar.22.2008 :: Repertoire, Songs & Dances from the Stuart Masque :: No Comments »
I was very fortunate to have seen Pat Metheny with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez last night at the Somerville Theater with my brother. What a fantastic show!
There were so many fantastic moments in the show, but one that I’ll mention was a concept we’ve been working on in the Tufts ensemble.
They were coming to the end of a tune, a real burning up-tempo piece from the new record. They then did a perfectly synchronized fade out. As they faded the tune out though, the intensity stayed exactly the same, as did the tempo. It just got softer gradually, until they stopped.
That’s incredibly hard to do. As you get softer its hard not to lose some of the intensity, or slow down. It was so beautifully done.
In general, Antonio Sanchez might be the drummer with the widest dynamic range I’ve ever seen. Right through all those changes in dynamics was this fierce intensity though. He glares at the cymbals as he’s playing, as if they’re a moving target. It was my first time seeing him play, so think I noticed that a lot. I’ve seen Pat and CM so many times with different lineups, so I was more prepared for being blown away by those two.
What a show!
bentorrey :: Mar.17.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »
This week I took a look at # 177, the First of the Temple Masques. Still thinking of my “book” idea, I want to run something by my imaginary audience.
Take a look at the score below. Here’s how I’m reading the score on my 5-string bass, E-A-D-G-C. With the left hand part, I’m playing the C on the 8th fret of the E string. With the right-hand, I’m playing the G on the 19th fret of the C string. And then it just goes from there. So, my question is, I think it’s a lot easier to mention that than to transcribe it with tablature into two staffs with 8va’s all over the place and both parts in bass clef.
I’m also not sure if I see the value in putting my fingering choices all over the score. I think maybe general fingering suggestions up front might be more helpful than a really hard to read score with all these fingering directions.
Anyway, I’d love some feedback from anyone that might try to learn one of these pieces.
I discuss a few of the fingering choices in this video. Hope you enjoy.
bentorrey :: Mar.15.2008 :: Repertoire, Songs & Dances from the Stuart Masque :: No Comments »
This is a really nice little piece. Instead of presenting the tablature version, I wonder if it makes more sense to just talk over some of the fingering choices. So, here’s the score, and then a video where I’m talking about my approach to playing this one on electric bass.
I’m starting to think that a book of transcriptions with tab would be overkill. These are pretty easy pieces to read, and that’s the real “project” in it: could I get comfortable enough with my technique that I could actually be reading these pieces and play well enough to accompany a renaissance dance troup? That would be cool. Reading them forces me to not be stuck looking at the fretboard. Anyway, I talk about that in the video.
bentorrey :: Mar.08.2008 :: Repertoire, Songs & Dances from the Stuart Masque :: No Comments »
So, here’s a look at the Gray’s Inn Masque arranged for High F bass (E-A-D-G-C-F). Definitely best if you start the top line with the first finger and stay in position (the numbers below the first staff are right-hand fingering suggestions). Gray’s Inn Masque arranged for “High F” Bass (E-A-D-G-C-F)
And, here’s a GP5 if you want to practice the first phrase in GuitarPro. Gray’s Inn Masque for Guitar Pro 5
I took a whack at this on my 5-string (high C), which definitely requires a lot more shifting but works pretty well. Take a listen if you like.
bentorrey :: Mar.05.2008 :: Repertoire, Songs & Dances from the Stuart Masque :: No Comments »
I haven’t had much time or energy to blog of late. I must admit, I sometimes wonder what my “blog habit” does for me. Between weeding through spam comments for enhancement meds and reading very low traffic analytics, it sometimes feels like I’m blogging into the wind. So, if you have read any of the stuff here and found it helpful, please drop me a comment or email sometime when you get a chance.
Anyway, my April Bach project has been put off for the time being, I guess I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was. I worked almost exclusively on the 2 and 3 part inventions for a few months, and I think my playing of them got a little stale. So, I’ll continue working hard on them, but I’m going to take on some new projects to keep things fresh.
I’ve also been working on a new music room setup. I decided to paint the room a nice bright orange color. It’s pretty close to the Home Depot color, and should give off some good energy.
With the new room, and not worried about the April project deadline, I’ll get going in earnest on a few projects that I’ve had on the back burner. The one that’s most related to my blog’s topic is a “book” I’d like to write. I’m always looking for nice two part music that I can play on bass. Stuff like the Bach Bourree in e minor, but a bit easier. In the Tufts Early Music Ensemble we’ve been studying dance songs from the Stuart Masque. I’ve been struggling to play some accompaniment parts for those on the lute. The pieces are really pretty and work out quite well for two-handed bass. Since they are dance music though, I have to break out my good friend the metronome and really work with that to get my timing hammered out.
Anyway, the project idea would be to arrange a set of them for bass and hit the studio to record them, then sell a book of the arrangements with the music available for purchase on iTunes. I will probably decide to post some of them as I go on the blog and get some feedback. I’ll post some samples soon.
bentorrey :: Mar.04.2008 :: Musical Thoughts :: No Comments »
