Wednesday 23rd September:
Now I have attended one of the jazz band sessions and my second one will be tomorrow. This is an exciting opportunity that despite having the restrictions on the number of wind and brass instruments (as well as the mandatory of practising in sections and not as a whole ensemble), I am quite excited for this ensemble and what we will be doing.
The piece we are working on right now is “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing” by Stevie Wonder and the bass part is quite easy now (especially when compared with the bach pieces in Chamber ensemble) so it is a nice and easy start. I think the biggest difficulty is just the rhythm if anything because I have noticed, just like with the orchestra piece, that sometimes, I have difficulty switching from the classical way of thinking and the 20th American century music (or rather African American as jazz, blues and rock all originated from African American culture and was “stolen” by white American musicians). This is because classical music includes baroque and romantic have an emphasis on the one and three of the beat while jazz emphasises more on the two and four so switching from that to that is a bit difficult. Also the switch from the swing style of eighth in jazz and the tight and articulated notes in classical.
The rhythm isn’t complicated, but it has happened when I practised that I mess up the syncopated rhythms (as the 2 and 4 make it feel more like syncopation). But really, my main emphasis is having fun with this piece and with the people around me. An interesting thing about this piece is that has the feeling of Latin rock and a little bit of bossa nova. Anyways, I will aim to develop my skills in music including in jazz and continue learning on my relatively new instrument (though with experience in the cello and piano has helped me with the double bass).
#LO1, #LO2
Thursday 12th November:
Today we had our recording session for a jazz piece we have been working on called Fables of Faubus by Charles Mingus. It is a politically motivated piece that was written n as a direct protest against Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, who in 1957 sent out the National Guard to prevent the racial integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine African American teenagers, in what became known as the Little Rock Crisis. The piece is played sardonically and there are even elements of cacophony that makes this piece not only difficult to channel the right emotions but also a very unique and different piece. The jazz bass piece wasn’t too difficult in terms of rhythm and I guess the only most difficult thing was the notes which are in F minor which has a lot of flats.
Now because my instrument is an accusing piece and is very quiet when played pizzicato (using plucking of the fingers rather than bow) I usually have some pickups plugged into an amp so I can hear even when the drums, guitar and all other instruments are being played. When we did the recording piece, we didn’t have the amp but a speaker plugged in so that in the editing stage, the bass will be heard. However, that meant I could not hear my self-playing so I was playing blindly and had to rely on muscle memory (there are no frets). This made it quite difficult. Despite this new experience of recording and playing without an amp, I still had lots of fun and it was the first time I wore a suit so that was interesting. I hope that soon, we can play as a live performance but for now, because of the coronavirus, recording sessions will have to suffice.
#LO2
Thursday 17th December:
This was the last session for this year and I am truly grateful for the experience. I will still be continuing Jazz band next year and I will definitely keep playing jazz and the double bass in the future, hopefully in University. Below is an image of one of our recording sessions for the Fables of Faubus piece which we showed to our community through a streaming video. It was great and fantastic to share that experience and I will not forget this experience. I have been able to improve on my listening skills, my walking bass lines, new double bass techniques like slapping, and playing with others effectively without any need for a conductor, just by listening. It has been so fun to play music and one way I have shown this passion is that recently I have used LogicPro to record my own jazz and funk pieces playing all the instruments like a one-man orchestra which has been really fun. I will continue playing music for the rest of my life and I will never forget this experience.
#LO1, #LO4
